Celebrating Teachers of the Visually Impaired: How One TVI is Making Her Mark

Monique Coleman has been a Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI) for 25 years, is President of VISTAS Education Partners, and is a National Library Services (NLS) certified literary braille transcriber. She currently teaches a summer graduate course at Boston College as part of a cohort program that equips students to educate individuals with disabilities in public school settings. Monique says she always had an interest in teaching, saying that even as a little girl she would line up her stuffed animals and ‘teach’ them.   

As one of two daughters raised by a single mom, Monique notes that she was fortunate enough to have very involved grandparents, particularly her grandmother, who were involved in a lot of education efforts. Always going to book fairs and different educational meetings, she was taught that education was a way of life.  

Attending Spelman College in undergrad where she majored in Sociology, Monique says the topic had its appeal, but that she always felt pulled in the direction of education. She would later attend Teachers College, Columbia University for her master’s degree, with a plan to major in Curriculum & Teaching. Halfway through her first year, however, she stumbled upon a workshop for teaching blind and low vision students and says she ‘was hooked.’ 

Monique says she knew she wanted to work with students who were underserved when she was teaching early childhood education in Harlem, NYC. Taking a strong liking to braille, her professor encouraged her to pursue a literary transcriber certification. Failing her first attempt, Monique says it only made her dig deeper into learning the braille code in order to be a better teacher to her students. She finally passed her certification process in 2015 and started working in public schools as an itinerant TVI, where she found a lot of success reaching students and impacting their lives. “The most rewarding aspect of teaching blind or low vision students is the long-term relationships I’ve been able to develop with both the students and parents, as well as witnessing the growth and progress the students experience over time,” says Monique. 

One of the biggest challenges she says she faces each day is the digital age we live in and how it impacts the nature of learning − keeping up with technology and having the tools that the students need to have access to in order to build the skills they need in today’s world. Forming VISTAS in 2016 to expand providers throughout schools and communities in New Jersey, she adopted an asset based affirmative approach to the children they taught no matter their abilities or the background they came from. “I like being in a position where I can influence the framing of new educators and how they think about the education of blind or low vision students,” says Monique.  

An action-oriented person, Monique says when she sees a need and it’s something she feels passionate about, she’s going to act. VISTAS Education Partners was awarded the APH Navigator Award in 2022 for forming the National Homework Hotline in March of 2020 as a resource for students who are blind or low vision around the country as they moved from in-person to remote learning. This volunteer-driven and completely free service continues to provide academic help to students who need additional support with their schoolwork. For more information you can contact: nationalhomeworkhotline.bvi@gmail.com  

When asked what her vision for the future is, Monique said she would love to do more work with international populations. “TVIs have things in common no matter where they are in the world. It’s a beautiful thing.” She says she’s interested in helping children wherever they are – the most vulnerable. “At the end of the day, I want children to be educated.” She says she wants to be sure she ‘makes her mark’ by continuing to do more research and writing from her own background and perspective. “We’re all going to bring our own lived experiences. I want to continue bringing my perspective and knowledge to the field.” 

Realizing how important it is to make time to enjoy and sustain yourself, Monique recently dedicated some of her time to salsa dancing, performing her very first dance recital at the age of 52-years-old. She also says she is looking forward to enjoying life as a grandmother after her first grandchild was born in February.