Helin Süslü has participated in atempo's education program for 3 ½ years. During this time, the young woman with learning difficulties and disabilities continued to develop her digital skills - with success: Since September 2018, she has been employed as a school assistant at the Verein ISI (Initiative Soziale Integration) and at the primary school Viktor Kaplan. There she supports the teaching staff and the pupils in using tablet computers and apps.

"I help teachers"

In a very personal blog report Helin Süslü talks about her time at atempo and about her new job.

"At atempo I got to know myself better, my strengths and weaknesses. I also learned to set clear goals and to work slowly but surely towards them. Later I learned that you can't always do things right the first time and learn from your mistakes, and it's ok if something doesn't work out. Of course, I have also been able to take a lot of knowledge with me into my current job, such as endurance, concentration, will, patience and determination.

New experiences abroad

I particularly liked the internship abroad in London because it was something I couldn't do before, but I always wanted to. But even the various trips to different cities like Vienna, Germany, Salzburg were great and gave me new experiences.
The EU courses in which I took part were a good opportunity for me to get in touch with other people and to expand my knowledge. Also the trips to different institutions where we had different projects were very exciting for me, for example the Stop Motion projects.
Not to forget the different internships I did at atempo over the years. Especially the focus on "Digital Education" was very informative and a big addition to my skills.
I wouldn't change anything about atempo personally, but it's different for every participant. I would, however, keep the "Digital Education" area up to date and continue to expand it.

The director also likes to try out apps

My tasks and activities at ISI and the Volkschule Viktor Kaplan are very different, creative, but also individually adaptable. On the one hand, I work with smaller groups of children with different apps in different learning fields and categories in consultation with the teachers. On the other hand, I also help teachers if they need support from me or have questions about the apps we use in school.
Of course, we set the difficulty levels of the different apps so that the child can manage them, and only increase the difficulty of the app when we see that the child can already do that, so that it is not overchallenged. In addition, we always make sure that we find new apps. Or we test new apps and then give feedback to the director. Then he likes to try it out himself. When we see that a child cannot cope with an app, we do it so that it fits the child, so it is individually adapted to the child's needs.

Having built a good system

In the first phase of the new job, I think it's not bad if the job coach continues to accompany you. Because: If various questions arise, the job coach can support you. This can be very helpful, especially with correspondence and the documents you have to fill out.
In my new job at the school I don't really need any support because I have a colleague and we support each other. If we cannot solve something together, the teachers, but also the director, will be happy to help us. I can therefore say that I have already built up a good system. And the pupils also like to work on the tablet with us and offer their help when they see that we need support.
The only uncertainty that exists is what the next few years will look like and how the whole pilot project will develop and, above all, what the possibilities for further training will be and what options there are, because we should keep up with the current state of knowledge in the long term, but we should also be able to expand our knowledge.

The work with the children is great

The cooperation between me and the teachers is very good, because they are always open for new things and the communication between us works very well. Of course, the director is also constantly informed about new things by the teachers, but also by me. Because there is a regular exchange between us, misunderstandings can be seen more quickly, resolved and, above all, avoided.
The relationship with the children is also great, because they enjoy working with me. The fact that they are also allowed to work independently on the tablet is especially fun for them. Sometimes we also set up smaller competitions and goals so that they can concentrate on their work. The fact that the children have good contact with us and enjoy being with me makes a lot of things easier and also removes many obstacles and barriers.
Of course, all this is possible because the director is a very open person and is himself very interested in digital learning with the support of tablets and therefore gives his best for such a cooperation at his school. For this reason I am very happy to be able to be at this school and wish to be able to stay here in the future".