DVIDB's Teacher and Intervener Forum: Community
Connections to Build Our Future
Amy T. Parker, National Center on Deaf-Blindness,
parkera@wou.edu,
& Nicole Johnson, Kutztown University,
njohnson@kutztown.edu
"Face time" has more than one meaning in today's world of virtual
connections. Actual face time, with people gathering at the same time, in the
same place is getting harder to come by for professionals in special
education. With shrinking travel budgets and demanding work schedules, it
seems more challenging to persuade administrators that face-to-face
professional development and dialogues are essential. Particularly for the
rare fields of visual impairment and deafblindness, having time together for
authentic connections is all the more important because there are fewer
colleagues that understand our roles in local communities.
At this year's CEC Convention in St. Louis, DVIDB hosted a Teacher
and Intervener forum which functioned as a type of community town hall and
mini exhibit arena. Instead of a traditional town hall gathering in a civic
building, we met on one of the topmost floors of the St. Louis Marriott Grand
hotel. With windows on three sides of the room, a view of the downtown, the
mighty Mississippi river, and the Arch, its silver surface gleaming in the sun,
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