Florida VI Field Recruitment
Spread Excitement for Teaching
When was the first time you heard about being a teacher of students with visual impairments? What hooked you? What would happen if we shared that enthusiasm with future educators?
Cheri Hart and Sue Glaser presented at the 2025 Florida Future Educators of America (FFEA) Conference in Orlando on February 1. Over 650 high school students with an interest in the teaching profession attended the conference. Their sessions taught many of these young future educators what teachers of students with visual impairments and orientation and mobility instructors teach, common accommodations used in the school and community setting, and the need for more professionals in our field. The conference was filled with positive energy and enthusiasm by all and most notably the hundreds of prospective teachers in attendance!
Help spread excitement for teaching children with visual impairments by reaching out to an FFEA Chapter in your district and offer to present.
Here’s how to get started:
1. Find an FFEA high school (or two) in your district at Florida Future Educators of America Chapter.
2. Reach out to the FFEA teacher advisor and offer to teach Chapter members how to work with children who are visually impaired.
3. Use ideas from Jessica Smith’s recruiting session from the 2023 FAER Conference or
4. Use AER’s newly released Recruitment Material
5. Refer interested students to FSU’s Visual Disabilities Program site, Visual Disabilities Education | Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences
Most people have never heard of a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments, Orientation and Mobility, Specialist, Certified Vision Rehabilitation Therapist, or Certified Assistive Technology Instructional Specialist. If you teach them, they will come (to FSU)!!