Hey friends! I've got some great predictions for the upcoming school year and ways that you can rise above all of the beautiful, wonderful, unpredictable things that might be coming your way.

Predictions for the 2021-2022 School Year 

Welcome back to the podcast, my friend, can you believe it is August already? This is wild. Where did last year go? Where did this summer go? I'm not really quite too sure. But here we are. In my home right now we are all prepared for school. By the time this gets released, we will be enjoying our last few days as last time morsels of summer, before we all jump into the school year, and our friends all around us have already begun their school year. We heard the words many times before, but there's nothing certain about our lives anymore. Everything is coming in crazy waves. And yes, needing to pivot, meaning to be flexible, or needing to stay above all of the drama, really be there for our learners.

So today, we're just gonna get into it. I've got some predictions about the new school year and ways that you can step into the new school year with your best foot forward. And at the end, I'm also going to be sharing how I myself and our really small, wonderful, beautiful organization here in Allied are here to help guide you and support you on your journey really does take a village to get you off that Lonely Island. You don't need to be there. We're here for you. And I want to see you succeed. So pop in those earbuds, go on that walk, start your car, go on your drive, go to work wherever it is, however you are listening. I sincerely hope that you enjoy this episode. And I will say that, I'd love for you to send me a message on Instagram or Facebook at Allied Independence. I am currently on a social media break. But I will get back to you as soon as I get back next week.

Okay, let's just start exactly where we need to start, which is at the truth, the raw, unfiltered truth that this is our third year dealing with a pandemic. So if you feel tired, if you feel like you are not sure whether you're coming or going if you were ready to finally relax, and are begrudging the extra cortisone levels that come with re-navigating this issue again, when we thought maybe we were in the clear. I just want to preface it all by saying that's okay. You're allowed to have your feelings. You're allowed all of the grief. You are allowed all of the sorrow. You are allowed all of the anger, the misery, the frustration, the bitterness. It is part of the game right now. And there's a lot of toxic positivity out in the world. And I think that we need positivity. Absolutely. But when it gaslights you, or if it overshadows how you're actually feeling and makes you feel like you can't deal with the actual feelings that you are experiencing. I think that's when we have to be real with ourselves and just turn it all off. Shake it off, deal with what we are going through and then begin to rise above.

So these predictions today, hopefully will help you rise above. But I want you to know that they're all rooted in whatever the opposite of toxic positivity is. This is absolutely not meant to gaslight you, or ignore the fact that what you're going through right now is hard. The truth is, our second graders right now have never known a K-12 schooling experience without a pandemic. No, I'm not saying that's bad. It just is what it is. I think we needed to shake things up. I think our entire educational institution and system are so old and broken and we keep just trying to like patch them. We all go threw in some puzzle work. Not like puzzles, but you know, the instructional strategy of puzzle work for classrooms. Like, oh, that'll be banded, we'll fix it all. It just can't be fixed that simply. There's too many moving parts. And too many, “This is how we were taught to do things, this is how things have always been done.” Too much data that we rely so heavily on to know which way to go. It's formatted in this system. 

So maybe it's not bad that they've never known anything different. Just like our learners are, I'm just gonna say, our students, or children with visual impairments, when they don't know life without a visual impairment, it's only the meaning that we put on it, that holds anything to us. It's only the meaning that we put on an event that actually makes it mean something. And as much as we want to say that we don't want any bad things, we don't want any bad feelings. We don't want any sorrow, any grief, any pain. The truth is, we want some things to not be happy. We don't want to be happy, when there are certain things in life that happen. But in this case, we really do get to make it mean whatever you want. So I'm going to choose to look at all of it as the positive, we have the experiences already, this is our third year dealing with this. So we could say “Man it sucks this is our third year dealing with this.” Or we can say, “Wow, I already have so much knowledge. I already have experienced so many things have already been so creative. I've already done this, I've already come this far.” And if we could just change our thoughts and change our perception a little bit about how we look at the situation. Same sentence, different thoughts behind it that create different feelings and different results. So looking at this from the positive, here's some of my predictions.

1. Don’t give up on those virtual lesson, lesson plans, and materials just yet

Our numbers are spiking again, at the beginning of the school year, or not into flu season in the United States yet. We've got logistical. We’ve got funding issues. We've got political battleground, that we're the only people getting caught in the middle of it are the children. And the people that actually aren't making the rules having to bear the brunt of egos in the political system. This isn't a political podcast, we're not going to get into beliefs right and wrong. But when I'm seeing at least here in Texas, is that not everybody's on the same page. And we've got a lot of stuff to figure out as a community. So with all of that in mind, and the fact that I personally, at least March in 2020 was like, “Oh, everything will be fine by June. And I keep being like, oh, everything will be fine. Oh, we're just last until January. Oh, maybe just till the summer” and here we are starting our third year going into this.

I think that depending on where you are, and the level and medical needs of your learners and their family numbers, we're going to still be doing some virtual lessons, I think we're also seeing the end of our traditional snow days, as long as the rural areas, and low income areas can have access to internet on snow days. And I know that before COVID, this is something that was being implemented in various parts of our country in the United States. So we think that once schools have it figured out and learners have their own devices, and they can have asynchronous lessons at various times, we're gonna see more emphasis on virtual learning just all around. And don't forget about like rainy days, that's a really great day to have an own lesson, or you've already gone and reviewed the street crossing, or you've taken video of it, or you're pulling up a PowerPoint, or you have a worksheet of some sort, you can begin to get creative with these, just like teachers use PowerPoints all the time in our lessons. And I know that we typically walk around with our learners all the time, outside or in the building or wherever. And we don't often sit down. If you guys have a timer and need to take a break, or your learner needs to sit down for a little bit while you're doing, you want to like switch it up, part of your lesson be travel and then half of your lesson be sitting down. These are really easy ways for you to engage your learner and you already have a lot of the materials around, we've learned how to be creative last year, we learned how to just say, Hey, ask your mom to go get a thing or you go get that thing out of your house, you don't need a bunch of stuff, all you need is a little creativity, and the ability to think outside of the box, or not even the ability, the willingness to think outside of the box.

So don't get rid of your virtual lesson plans just yet. I know we all are eager to get back into the building, and actually see our winners in person. But I do think especially as flu season comes around, and snow season, and then rainy season, depending on where you are in the United States or in the world, we're gonna start to see our entire profession lean on virtual instruction even more. And that's good, our new normal is good, we get to recreate it, it's like we have these building blocks that were kind of blown up a little bit. And now we get to put the pieces where we want them to be.

2. Mindset is going to rule over everything

It really all starts with ourselves. We can have all the strategies, all the tools, all the tips, we can gather all of the professional development in the world. But if we aren't taking the time to actually fuel ourselves, in our minds, we're gonna have a much more difficult time than the person who doesn't take any professional development, and has a good attitude about things. And don't forget, like this mindset stuff, a lot of times they think it sounds really woowoo, and if you and I are friends in real life, side note I'm super woo and I love it. But I like to adjust my mindset from a little bit more practical situation. Yeah, so I take my crystals out on the full moon. And yes, I sage my house. But my mindset stuff is more like gratitude. To get me in a happier mood. Understanding that life is 50 50 not every day has to be a good day. And that's okay. Although I'm not happy, in a bad mood, I would rather be happy but you know, sometimes things are the way they are. And I like to adjust my mindset from the understanding that my thoughts are just thoughts. That's it, our brains are wonky. They're not evolved for this century, this day and age, we still have a brief frontal cortex that wants to keep us safe. It may be a frontal cortex, not a prefrontal cortex. I'm not 100% sure, but it wants to keep us safe. So it's gonna take every little thing and turn it into the same hormones as if a bear was chasing you and there's no bear. If someone on the sidewalk just looked at you the wrong way, was actually going to die from it. But we want to think that we are because that is a survival mechanism. And if we can target our thoughts, then we can target our feelings then from there. That changes our action. And that produces the results. Like I said before, everything that happens is neutral. We're the ones that assign meaning to everything in life. And if we want to have a good life, it's up to us to assign the meanings to the circumstances that happen, that things that happen. It's up to us to assign meanings to those things that produce the results that we want. Because we get to live the results that we want. We can't do that for angry, grumbling. That's exactly what we're talking about this month.

And Clarity, will notice a heavy emphasis on the mindset this year. And then Impacting Independence, it will have already passed. Hopefully, the replay will be up soon. Our live training with Kristin Messegee, who's my personal life coach I asked to come in, because she teaches it way better than I can. Because I don't have a master's degree in life coaching. Surprise. So I asked her to come in, because I'm not nearly as good as explaining it. You know, that's the basic premise. I do you have an episode with her. You can go back and look, it's from March of 2020. Absolutely fantastic. And a great starting point for like, Yeah, no, I haven't been in pretty yucky mode. And maybe I just want to start off with giving myself grace and allowing myself to be there. And then I'm gonna eventually work my way out of it. And I will say, seeking medical help, also super cool. So if it's more than just, I'm gonna write some things down on a piece of paper. That's also okay, too. I have medical intervention for my anxiety and depression. And we’re all good friend. Do what you got to do stay in line.

3. Collaboration

Last year, it was like we took an entire deck of cards, left it all up in the air, right? It has like 52 card, pick up in two seconds. So you got to pick up like, whatever cards you could, whatever cards are the most important, and the rest may have on the wayside. Or you may just be struggling to pick them all up. I don't know. Maybe our priorities have shifted. Our viewpoint has shifted. We have, I think, a greater gap, or maybe a new understanding, or just maybe a new perspective on collaboration now. No. It's always been really important. You'll hear in our episode in two weeks with Dr. Nick Casias, all about his work in that kind of go into a conversation about it. Super cool. But for now, bringing it back to right here, what we have is we've seen a lot of parents drop off, right, like they are struggling to keep their head above water. Us as O&M specialists are with their learner 1% of the time. TVIs teaching Braille maybe 5% of the time. So overall, parents or other caregivers are with some of the visual impairment 99-95% of the time, and we are the experts, the 1-5% that's not a lot.

We also saw a lot of parents are really step up, and really join in on the lessons, get engaged. I know I have a much better relationship with my learner's mom than I did. And we've always had like a good cordial relationship. We've a language barrier. But now like, I can text her, and I use Google Translate. Which is why I don't call because I'm contract. And you know, that's another thing to get somebody on the phone and like, Hey, can you schedule time to talk to mom and whatever I can just like text her on my own. And it's super easy. I'm actually going to text her later today because I want her opinion on some things before we go into the new year and the new IP and it just makes it like so easy communication when the parent is actually there in your class, because they have to be in it because they share a living room and they’re in the same place. Or because the learners multiple environments and the adult has to be there to help them do things. You've seen the entire spectrum, but I think we've seen a little bit less of the in the middle in between, because it just wasn't the same situation last year, as it has been in the past.

Now, we know that generalization is the most effective way to increase our learners skills, which period because we don't have to be there, right? Like if you go to the gym, once, maybe, let's say, once a week, to work out with a personal trainer, you'll make some results, it'll be cool. But if you go to the gym every day, and see that personal trainer, or see the personal trainer assistant or something of that nature, you're going to make much faster results. Same goes with any skill, the more you practice it, and the more people in your life that have the same expectations of you, the more you're going to get that skill into your system. And the faster it's going to come out, the faster we're all going to see it because all skills are multi causal. This is not anything new. All skills, need all of the mechanisms of the skill in order for you to see it. Whether you had parents or caregivers who were on the side of the spectrum, where they just couldn't know. And I'm like, there's no blame, there's no shame. But there are things in my life where I'm like, “Oh, God, I cannot like cannot even deal with that right now.” Or maybe the parents or the caregivers were like, right there with you. And now the learner is doing things better, because their parents were more empowered to actually help them and know what to look for. And it was ingrained in their daily life. Whichever one for each learner, I still think that if we can increase our visibility with the learners, caregivers, and other team members in a nice, positive, like, honey catches more flies than vinegar way. Maybe that's just my way, maybe you're like “Kass, No, you have to be mean, like this is how people do things. And this is how people respect you.” And if that's working for you, you do you, boo. But to me, I think being nice about it in the long run will get you further results. And that's just my personality. Being visible to them, will help them know, get to know, like, and trust you. And once you can gain their trust, that is where we want to be. Because if somebody doesn't trust you, if they don't trust that you have their best interests at heart, they are not going to do what you ask them to do. Outside of you being right there.

Those are my predictions for the new year, I think we're gonna lean more into virtual learning. I think we as a collective are learning that we need to focus on our mindset, and collaboration, all of those things. And we're going to start to see how our own and field because we've been collaborating so much more, how much further we go. Think about all of the extra webinars, all the extra support that has been happening. It has been so beautiful to see and to be able to take part in when I was able to this profession has grown so much over the past year, because we are collaborating within ourselves even more than ever before. And it's that collaboration, and it's that communication, that connection that allows us to not feel like we're on a lonely island all by ourselves. I remember being in contract position in super rural area. My first year contracting, and I had no idea who anybody was. I couldn't figure out who the VI's teacher was I couldn't figure out who the special Ed-Director was. I was just like signing contracts here, kids folders rented out because you don't have access to their documents and go. I was like okay.

I remember when we first started the symposium, it was the connection with other O&M specialists that when I had to make a decision, do I stay at my current job and give up the symposium? Or do I continue running the symposium and see where else, what else people need? What other guidance I can provide from the experiences that I've had and the things I've learned. Which one I was going to do, right your stay with my current job or leave and start my own company. Which way was I going to go? The thing that drew me the most, to sticking with Allied and actually creating something that I and I would say all of us are proud of, not all of us because I don't really need to be liked by everybody. Well, a lot of people, something that we are proud of, is a connection with you. And my commitment to this connection with you specifically, is deeper than ever. We're not a government funded entity. I don't have the bandwidth to run a nonprofit, because there are a lot of rules and regulations that come with nonprofits that I don't fully understand and would need a lawyer to help bring it all down for me, we have a really small for profit, really for purpose, organization. And I think a lot of times people have that in conflict with what they expect an educational organization to be. And I completely understand where that can come from. Because a lot of times we think of for profit, as like the big man, it's in a suit trying to take all of our money, right? Like Jeff Bezos flying into space, but then monitoring his workers keystrokes for efficiency. That examples, not what you get here.

And I hope that you know that. And moreover, I hope that you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we all struggle at times. And one of the biggest differences that makes a struggling teacher go from struggling, burnt out and overwhelmed, to creating a significant impact in their learners lives, is simply taking the vitamin, instead of waiting. Until then you'd have pain. What I mean, oftentimes, we wait until the problem is so big, that we need a pain pill, before we address it. But if we can start off taking vitamins, and doing what we need to do before the issue becomes really big, we are going to be light-years ahead of the game.

Some things we have for you:
This is where we get into the second part of this episode, where I'm just going to share with you the things that we have for you. Because none of this is for me, this is all for you. You are the hero of the story. I'm simply your guide. In Fall 2021, here's what we've got for you about bite size, inspirational and informational tips to help you slay your day. What do I mean by that? It’s like five minutes emails, for you to read, skim through, grab the bullet points, feel inspired, and have information, go about your day. We’ve got this podcast, same thing. Maybe it's 30 minutes, maybe it's 45 minutes while you're in between clients, to give you some ideas, and to help you keep going. We've also got 30s little videos on social media, or little carousel reels. We’ll put out on social on Facebook and Instagram, you can come hang out with us there at Allied Independence. Very quick, easy to digest, and absolutely free for you. Simply because you're on this community and it's my way of saying thank you, I appreciate you, hey, let's connect. Just like I tell you to collaborate with other people so that they can know like and trust you. I want to do the same. I want you to know eventually like know how to agree with that's okay. And eventually begin to trust that we have your best interests at heart. And when you're ready to get even better at your job when you are ready to go from struggling teacher to incredibly impactful O&M specialists like the expert in the room. All you have to do is reach out for that life raft because we have a few different options for you.

Monthly subscription for done-for-you Orientation and Mobility lesson plans
And Fall of 2021 got Clarity, which is your monthly subscription done for you lesson plans. And their accompanying materials, the materials some of them are in PowerPoint, some of them are printable, and braille-able. And we make a lot of them that you can run through this wall machine. Easy peasy. Take it on your lesson when you're going out and about. We’ve made a video for a learner who's previewing certain types of streets, like we've got it for you. And they're often themed with fun themes of the month or like fun holidays, to break up the monotony of our lessons like I love O&M but sometimes it gets real monotonous. Like, how many times can you do an L shaped route about it, like making it even more fun. There's some fun ways to just think over what's actually going on in the world at that moment. Over all different levels, since multiple impairments, elementary-middle age, and then teenager, an adult age. I will say that there's less for adults. But you can always cancel anytime. So if you don't like it, it's all good. So that’s open for you.

And at the time that you are listening to this podcast, I don't know exactly when it's going to be. Right now it's open. And oftentimes what we'll do is we'll have our annual subscription open at all times that you can join. And then the monthly subscription will be open when we open and close registration. Right now monthly subscriptions are open on the day that I'm recording this and you can just hop on in enjoy. We have a private community forum where you can ask your questions, poster job postings, check out the announcements, it's a really cool space. And then we also get together twice a month, you have a question, come on in. Come ask your questions. I'm happy to help you. It can be office hours. And I also run little mini workshops. Depending upon what the group needs, that's what we'll do. That's why we run a tight knit community. And that is super low cost, like less than one coffee drink a week to save you hundreds of hours.

International O&M Online Symposium Presentation Applications are Open!

Okay, the second. And Gosh, I have to say it's my favorite way that we are here to support you is this symposium. I'm so excited with the direction of the symposium this year. Presentation applications are open, and they're open until September 17, which is not very far away. Okay. So if you have a presentation idea, all you need is your idea, and you can change things later if you need to, if you need to change the objectives or something, you can do that. But really, all you need is to sit down for 5 or 10 minutes, write out your idea and then hop on over to orientationandmobilitysymposium.com, just fill it out.

Also, we are opening vendor spots this year. So that'll be really exciting. And you can just go over to that same web site and check out the information on vendors. I'll tell you more about that as it comes up. And then last but not least, we've got self-paced professional development. So some of our courses that aren't being run as like group programs, if you want to just take that out self-paced. We've got a few of those open, as well as the assistive technology and trends online programs that is now up. I'm very excited about that something that we wanted to do for a while but our systems really just wouldn't allow at that time for us to give you a great customer journey experience. And I don't have that. So it's open now.

Recap Predictions for the 2021-2022 School Year

Okay, we've been here for so long, let's just recap the predictions for the new year. We've got not giving up on your virtual lessons, mindset and more collaboration. And then we also went over the reason I personally am here to help support you. We're here. I'm like the lighthouse, right? I'm just going to be here. And when you need me, you just come say hey, like I need some support. Okay, I will be here. I will be your friend, or you. Okay, next week, we've got Dr. Nick Casias coming on, and he has so much to share about his use just so prolific. I'll let you get to that later. All right, friends, we can take this information and use it to help take a step phone, talk to you in a few weeks.

Links mentioned:
Episode 26, with Kristin Messegee
Orientation and Mobility Symposium, Website
Join Clarity