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Theme:
- Before You Power Down for Summer: Your RMTC-DHH End-of-Year Update
Tech Tool of the Month
Articles:
- National Appreciation for Teachers, Interpreters, and Speech-Language Pathologists
- St. Lucie County Proclamation
- Summer Camps and Scholarships
News from RMTC-DHH:
- Loan Library Update
- Needs Assessment Survey
- Teacher Spotlight
Did You Know?
- Educational Interpreter Project (EIP) Summer Institute
- Florida Educators of Students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (FEDHH) Save the Date
Upcoming Events
- 6/12/2026-6/14/2026: The 28th Annual Family Café - visit RMTC-DHH at our booth and sessions!
- 6/15/2026-6/18/2026: 2026 Bureau of Standards and Instructional Support Summer Professional Learning Event North - visit RMTC-DHH at our booth!
- 6/22/2026-6/24/2026: Bureau of School Improvement 2026 Summer Academy - visit RMTC-DHH at our booth!
- 7/13/2026-7/16/2026: 2026 Bureau of Standards and Instructional Support Summer Professional Learning Event Central - visit RMTC-DHH at our booth!
- 7/20/2026-7/23/2026: 2026 Bureau of Standards and Instructional Support Summer Professional Learning Event South - visit RMTC-DHH at our booth!
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Before You Power Down for Summer:
Your RMTC-DHH End-of-Year Update
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In this month’s Tech Notes, we are recognizing a year of significant professional growth and dedication to the field. We are pleased to highlight the commitment of our educators and partners, with 214 participants successfully documenting 1,734 training hours over the course of this school year. This edition focuses on honoring these professional milestones and providing essential end-of-year resources. Summer doesn’t mean the learning stops; RMTC-DHH will remain available throughout the summer to ensure stakeholders have a resource to answer questions and prepare for the upcoming school year. | | | |
Curipod
What is it?
Curipod is an AI-powered interactive presentation tool designed to spark student curiosity and facilitate whole-class participation. While it functions similarly to slide-based platforms, Curipod uses AI to instantly generate lessons based on a topic or learning objective. It features interactive elements like word clouds, open-ended questions, polls, and even drawing prompts, making it an excellent way to turn a lecture into a two-way conversation.
Why it’s great for educators:
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Instant Engagement: Generate a full, interactive lesson in seconds simply by typing in a topic, which is perfect for filling those unpredictable end-of-year schedule gaps.
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Visible Thinking: Interactive features like word clouds and drawing prompts allow you to see every student's thoughts on the screen simultaneously.
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Safe Participation: Students can submit responses anonymously to the class view, encouraging quieter students to share their ideas without social anxiety.
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Gamified Review: Use the built-in poll and drawing tools to create fun, low-stakes competitions or reflection activities as you wrap up unit goals.
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Free Forever Plan: The basic tier is free for individual teachers and includes all core interactive features and unlimited student participants.
Bonus for students who are deaf or hard of hearing:
Curipod is a powerful tool for supporting visual learning and ensuring access to classroom discourse. Because all student responses, whether text, drawings, or votes, are displayed visually on the main screen, students who are deaf or hard of hearing can follow the thread of a class discussion without having to rely solely on auditory information or rapid turn-taking that can be difficult to track through an interpreter.
For the end of the school year, teachers can use Curipod to facilitate visual reflections. Instead of a spoken circle time, students can use the drawing tool to illustrate their favorite memory or use the word cloud to highlight new vocabulary they mastered. This creates a shared visual record of the year's success. Additionally, because the teacher controls the pace of the slides, it is easier to ensure that students have the necessary eye time to look at the visual content before the teacher or interpreter begins the next explanation. It is a fantastic way to celebrate a successful year while keeping the learning environment visual-first.
| | National Appreciation for Teachers, Interpreters, and Speech-Language Pathologists | | |
In the world of deaf education, technology and expertise go hand-in-hand. This month, RMTC-DHH is proud to celebrate three vital roles that ensure our students have full access to their education, their peers, and their future.
We invite our Tech Notes community to join us in honoring these dedicated professionals throughout May:
🤟 National Interpreter Appreciation Day
Date: May 6, 2026
🍎 National Teacher Appreciation Week
Dates: May 4 – May 8, 2026
🗣️ National SLP Day
Date: May 18, 2026
| | St. Lucie County Proclamation | St. Lucie County's speech, language, and deaf/hard of hearing programs came together under the direction of Jenn Carey to create a unique proclamation naming May as Speech, Language, and Hearing Month. Start the YouTube video of their board meeting at 10:38 to see the amazing way they integrated students using a variety of communication modalities to highlight the incredible work done by communication professionals all year long. Special recognition to the video’s producer, teacher of the deaf/hard of hearing, Cassandra Salmieri. | | Summer Camps and Scholarships | | |
Looking for fun and enriching summer opportunities for children who are deaf or hard of hearing? Wondering what scholarships might be available for students?
RMTC-DHH has you covered! 🌟
Explore our Summer Camps FAQ to discover exciting programs across Florida and beyond, and visit our Scholarship FAQ to learn about financial support options for students who are DHH.
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As we approach the end of the school year, the RMTC-DHH team is hard at work revamping our Loan Library to ensure we have the best possible resources ready for you and your students next fall!
Big news is coming: We are transitioning to a brand-new loan library system! Because we are starting fresh, all users will need to create a new account when the system launches. Keep an eye on your inbox over the summer and early fall for updates on how to access and set up your new account.
To make this exciting refresh a success, we need your help with a little "spring cleaning" of our current inventory:
- Check your space: As you wrap up the school year, please take a second look around your classroom or office for any RMTC-DHH materials. Returning these items now ensures our library is refreshed and ready for action in the new system.
Need a label? We want to make the return process as smooth as possible. If you’ve misplaced your return instructions or need a new shipping label, don't sweat it! Just fill out our Request Services Form.
| | | | | Needs Assessment Survey | |
Each year, RMTC-DHH gathers feedback through our annual evaluation and needs assessment survey to help guide our planning and future work. Your input helps us better understand statewide needs and provide meaningful, focused support for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, their families, and the professionals who serve them.
We want to hear from educators, interpreters, related service providers, administrators, families, partner organizations, state agency representatives, and other stakeholders. Thank you for helping shape our work for the coming year.
| | | Check out the video of Dani Turner from Hardee County as she shares how she used Google Gemini’s Storybook function to create grade-level materials for teaching the Expanded Skills Standards to a student in her district. | | | Educational Interpreter Project (EIP) Summer Institute | | The EIP Summer Institute is scheduled for July 28–31, 2026. This free four-day conference provides specialized tracks for all skill levels, including newbies, those working toward certification, and certified interpreters. Attendees can earn CEUs through various workshops held at the Communication Sciences & Disorders building. Because parking is limited, carpooling is encouraged for all participants. | | Florida Educators of Students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (FEDHH) Save the Date | | |
“Unlock the Magic in Deaf Education—Where the Stories Spark Innovation” brings together educators of the Deaf, researchers, interpreters, families, and Deaf community members to focus on generating forward-thinking ideas that enhance teaching and learning. This theme highlights the “magic” of Deaf education as the result of intentional design, collaboration, and a commitment to improving access, language development, and academic outcomes.
Participants will engage in dynamic sessions that emphasize creative problem-solving, evidence-based practices, and the development of new approaches across key areas such as bilingual education, literacy instruction, technology integration, and inclusive practices. The conference prioritizes actionable strategies that can be implemented across diverse educational settings.
By fostering a space for collaboration and idea exchange, this conference encourages attendees to think boldly, challenge existing practices, and co-create innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of Deaf and hard of hearing learners.
Attendees will leave equipped with practical tools, fresh perspectives, and evidence-based strategies to be ready to unlock new possibilities and contribute to the positive impacts in Deaf Education.
The Call for Proposals are now open!
| | 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. | | | | |
