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Theme:
Tech Tool of the Month
Featured Topic:
- Back to School Essentials
News from RMTC-DHH:
- Calendar for 2026-2027
- Pre-Planning Virtual Sessions
- TA-Live!
- Coffee with the Contacts
Teacher Toolkit:
- Media and Materials Loan Library Makeover
Did You Know?
- Communication Matrix Overview Sessions
Upcoming Events
- 8/6/2026: What’s New with RMTC-DHH?
- 8/7/2026: Topical Office Hours: Evidence-Based Literacy Practices for Students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing
- 8/13/2026: Topical Office Hours: Living that Itinerant Life
- 8/14/2026: Topical Office Hours: Eligibility for Students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing and Dual Sensory Impaired
- 9/9/2026: Coffee with the Contacts
- 9/23/2026: TA-Live! Foundations of Quality Individual Educational Plans (IEPs) for TODHHs
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As you step into your classrooms and gear up for the months ahead, know that the RMTC-DHH team is fully prepared and ready to support you. Whether you're looking for fresh resources, specialized tools, or collaborative coaching alongside your daily routine, we are right by your side. Let’s make this school year a remarkable journey of growth for everyone! | | | |
SchoolAI
What is it?
SchoolAI is an AI-powered student interaction and lesson creation platform designed specifically for K-12 classrooms. Its standout feature, Spaces, allows teachers to create custom, AI-guided chat environments where students interact 1:1 with an AI tutor or historical figure that is strictly bounded by safety guardrails. Meanwhile, the Mission Control teacher dashboard gives educators real-time visual tracking of student progress, sentiment, and engagement during live sessions.
Why it’s great for educators:
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Real-Time Live Monitoring: The Mission Control dashboard lets you see live chat transcripts and engagement levels as students interact with their AI guide, making it easy to check comprehension instantly.
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Built-in Safety Guardrails: Designed specifically for schools with strict FERPA and COPPA compliance, ensuring student safety, privacy, and content moderation.
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Custom AI Spaces: Easily build interactive simulations, role-play scenarios, or practice spaces tailored to specific standards, topics, or grade levels.
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Instant Teacher Tools: Features dozens of "PowerUps" that generate rubrics, choice boards, bellringers, and differentiated reading passages in seconds.
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Accessible Teacher Tier: Offers a free plan that provides access to core teacher tools, document generators, and student space sessions.
Bonus for students who are deaf or hard of hearing:
SchoolAI provides an exceptionally supportive text-based environment for students who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). Because student interaction within a Space relies on clear text input and output, students who are DHH can engage in deep, self-paced, interactive dialogues without any auditory dependencies. The AI acts as a patient visual partner that can rephrase complex questions, explain difficult vocabulary, or offer immediate written feedback without requiring oral turn-taking.
For classroom instruction, teachers can use SchoolAI to create visual pre-teaching or review Spaces. Students who are DHH can work through key concepts at their own pace, reading structured responses and visual text prompts on screen. Additionally, the real-time Mission Control dashboard lets teachers or support personnel monitor student comprehension visually as students write, allowing for immediate, quiet intervention through text or targeted visual support without interrupting a student's train of thought.
| | Back to School Essentials | | |
Need to provide inservice to general education teachers about students who are DHH? No need to start from scratch! RMTC-DHH has you covered with ready-to-use resources available on our Teacher Toolkit page. You’ll find quick-reference handouts and practical tools designed to make collaboration easier and more effective, including:
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“Supporting Students who are DHH”
- “Working with an Interpreter”
- “Qucik Tip Sheet: How to Turn on Captions in Google Slides”
- “Qucik Tip Sheet: How to Turn on Captions in PowerPoint”
General education teachers are encouraged to explore DeafEd Express, an online course designed to expand knowledge and strategies for working effectively with DHH students. This self-paced learning opportunity empowers educators and professionals to make a meaningful impact on student achievement through evidence-based practices. The course may be used toward ESE points for certification renewal (at the district’s discretion).
| | | | RMTC-DHH is in the process of planning professional learning opportunities for the 2026-2027 school year. Check our calendar frequently to get the most recent information. A draft calendar is available for download. | | | Pre-Planning Virtual Sessions | | | |
Please join RMTC-DHH as we prepare for 2026-2027! We are excited to announce four special online events for staff supporting students who are deaf/hard of hearing.
Join us for What’s New with RMTC-DHH? and three virtual topical office hours. Each session will be held online via Zoom from 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. ET (8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. CT).
For What’s New with RMTC-DHH?, come see all the new changes to our website, loan library, and so much more. We will also share exciting professional learning opportunities. During each topical session, RMTC-DHH will facilitate an hour-long topical conversation among Florida educators related to one of three topics: Evidence-Based Literacy Practices for Students who are DHH, Living that Itinerant Life, and Eligibility for Students who are DHH and DSI. Participants may register for one or all of the sessions.
ASL interpreters will be provided for open access, and auto-generated captions are available in the Zoom environment.

We look forward to seeing you at one or all of our pre-planning topics and wish you the best for a productive and successful school year!
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Please join RMTC-DHH for TA-Live! The sessions will be recorded for future viewing.
Sessions include:
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September 23, 2026: Foundations of Quality IEPs for TODHHs
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November 18, 2026: Writing Strong Present Levels & Measurable Goals
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January 13, 2027: Accommodations, Services, Supports, & SDI
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April 7, 2027: Progress Monitoring & Data Collection
When?
The next TA-Live! session will be September 23, 2026, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET (1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. CT).
| The theme for this month’s discussion is Foundations of Quality IEPs for TODHHs. Please note that participants must register for each event separately to attend. For more information and to register for each event, visit the TA-Live! page. | | | |
Join RMTC-DHH for Coffee with the Contacts, a quarterly virtual collaborative learning community designed for DHH contacts and their designees. In these facilitated conversations, participants have the opportunity to propose and discuss topics related to the education and programming of students who are DHH. Contacts can visit the DHH Contacts webpage to submit discussion topics, access collaborative notes, and join upcoming sessions. These sessions will not be recorded, and automatic speech recognition captions will be available in Zoom.
New for 2026-2027: Participants must register separately for each event. Registrations will be available a month prior to each event.
When?
All dates are from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. ET (8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. CT)
- September 9, 2026
- December 16, 2026
- February 24, 2027
- May 5, 2027
| | | | | Big News: The Media & Materials Loan Library Has Gotten a Makeover! | |
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Welcome back, educators! As you gear up for a new school year, the RMTC-DHH Media and Materials Loan Library is here to support your instruction with an expanded lineup of resources.
⚠️ Action Needed: Because we’ve completely revamped our system, everyone will need to create a new account to request materials this year!
What’s New:
Printed Resources: You can now request hard copies of items from our Downloadable Resources page through the library! They’re perfect for handing out to general education teachers, administration, and team members working with your students who are DHH.
Coming Soon: Look out for 3D-printed classroom materials and physical resources tied to past RMTC-DHH trainings!
Still Available:
- Captioned and signed video materials
- Supplemental curricular resources
- Tools to enhance instruction and engagement
- Assessments and protocols (including DHH eligibility tools)
We’ve Got You Covered!
As always, we ship the materials directly to you and back, at no cost to you! We pay for shipping both ways.
| *Florida stakeholders may borrow materials from RMTC-DHH's Media and Materials Loan Library, for FREE. Each material comes with a return label, making even the shipping at no charge to the borrower. | | | | 26-27 Virtual Communication
Matrix Overview Sessions | | |
The Access Project and Assistive Technology Learning Connections (ATLC) will be hosting virtual Communication Matrix overview sessions for the 2026-27 school year. The Communication Matrix is an evidence-based assessment tool that helps support students with complex communication needs. It pinpoints an individual’s current communication level and gives a framework for determining future goals. Local educational agency participants will receive assessment credits for trial when they attend the one-hour session. The scheduled dates are August 18, 2026, October 14, 2026, January 19, 2027, and April 13, 2027. For more information and to register contact Janet Good, ATLC, at jgood@usf.edu or Jeff Pruitt, Access Project, at jeff@accesstofls.org.
Register below:
Tuesday Aug 18, 2026 11:00 a.m.* or 2: 00 p.m.
Wednesday Oct 14, 2026 10:00 a.m. or 2: 00 p.m.
Tuesday Jan 19, 2027 10:00 a.m. or 2: 00 p.m.
Tuesday Apr 13, 2027 10:00 a.m. or 2: 00 p.m.
Note: All times are Eastern Time. Please select the time/link to register.
* When selecting the August 18, 2026, 11:00 a.m. training, the time will show as 10:00-11:00 a.m. Central Time. Further information is available following registration confirmation.
| | RMTC-DHH provides Tech Notes as a free resource to teachers, professionals, and families around the state in order to pass along potentially useful information and expand the knowledge and opportunities available to educators and families of children who are deaf/hard of hearing. This email was funded by the Florida Department of Education Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services through federal assistance under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part B funds and through an agreement with the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind. The information included does not reflect any specific endorsement by any parties involved. | | | | |
