2. CONGRATULATIONS Welcome to Utah Virtual Academy! We are so happy that you and your student have come to our school. We are excited about the opportunity that we have to work with you and your student. The real fun is about to begin! At this point, you have a student who currently has an IEP. Your student has some special needs. You as the learning coach know this student better than anyone. You are now the expert that is going to be teaching them. We are here to assist and support you in the education of your child. Before we get started, let’s review a little bit of the organization of traditional brick and mortar schools and UTVA.

3. In a traditional brick and mortar school, we have… -Teaches whole class -Subject expert -Follows the core curriculum -Writes up and maintains IEP’s -Expert on teaching individual skills. -Teaches what is written on the IEP -Implements the IEP in a general education setting. -Collaborates with the SPED teacher to help the students be successful Click on the arrows to learn more The General Education Teacher Duties The Special Education Teacher Duties The Paraprofessional Duties Take a minute to become familiar with the different roles and duties in a traditional school.

4. At UTVA, we have…. -Teaches whole class -Subject expert -Follows the core curriculum -Writes up and maintains IEP’s -Expert on teaching individual skills. -Teaches what is written on the IEP -Implements the IEP in a general education setting. -Collaborates with the SPED teacher to help the students be successful Click on the arrows to learn more The General Education Teacher Duties The Special Education Teacher Duties The roles and duties at UTVA are similar, but there are some differences! The Learning Coach Duties What’s the difference?

5. You, as the learning coach, are the largest predictor of the success of your student. If you are committed to this process, then your students will make progress. Learning coaches responsibilities include: Taking attendancePresenting the lessonsKeep progress up Behavioral problemsAccess the technologySet up schedule Accommodate assignmentsFollow through with assignmentsCollaborate with the teachers Attend outings with studentsSetting goalsK-mailing teachers Helping students attend ElluminateUnderstanding the contentRe-explaining lessons when needed Problem solving learning issuesTroubleshooting technology issuesDealing with a disability All while promoting learning, independence and self confidence for your child. Feeling Overwhelmed? Don’t be! The entire staff at UTVA is here to help. You just need to understand that the process will be carried out with you as an ACTIVE PARTICIPANT.

6. Special Education Services at UTVA may be carried out a different way than previous schools that you have attended. We use more of a COLLABORATIVE approach to help the student succeed. Think of it like going to see a doctor. You are sick You go to the doctor and get specific instructions for what to do You go and implement the plan to get feeling better. Going to the Doctor You have a struggling student You go to the special education and get specific instructions for what to do You go and implement the plan to help the student succeed. Special Education services at UTVA

7. Now that you are the expert, you will face many situations every day! You will face many challenges with your students. As the expert, the way you handle these situations will help to determine your success. Here is an example of some situations you would face. Situation #1: You are working with your student on their history assignment. Your student has been working very dutifully all day. You ask them to read the chapter and ask them to answer the questions at the end of the chapter. Your student decides to read the chapter aloud. You listen as you fold a batch of laundry. Your child reads the chapter with ease. Then you give them time to answer the questions. When you come back to check the answers, you see that your student got 1 question out of 5 questions right. When you ask them the questions orally, they are still unable to answer the questions. What would you do??

8. THE PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESS There is a process that you can follow that will help you solve these and other problems that you encounter as you are teaching your student. Here is an overview of the process.

9. Assignment 4.1: #1. Identify and provide an accommodation for an academic problem (This was my original problem) #2. Identify a behavioral problem and make a behavioral plan. #3. Identify a situation where it is mostly an academic problem, where behaviors are present, but are mostly a cause of the academic struggles. (This was formerly my final problem). #4. Identify a situation where the behavior problems are starting to get worse, and there are underlying academic problems. #5. Identify a situation where there are significant behavioral and academic problems.

10. Take note of your results. Contact your SPED teacher and let them know what you tried and how it works. Situation #1: You are working with your student on their history assignment. Your student has been working very dutifully all day. You ask them to read the chapter and ask them to answer the questions at the end of the chapter. Your student decides to read the chapter aloud. You listen as you fold a batch of laundry. Your child reads the chapter with ease. Then you give them time to answer the questions. When you come back to check the answers, you see that your student got 1 question out of 5 questions right. When you ask them the questions orally, they are still unable to answer the questions. To help solve this problem, you can use the following process: Let’s apply this problem solving process to our situation. Step 1: Notice that the student is struggling. A score that is considered as mastery is 80%. Because this student scored a 20%, this indicates that they have not mastered this content. Step 2: Ask, “Is this an academic problem or a behavioral problem?” In this case, there is no behavioral problems that are noted. The student is working hard. This shows that the problem is mostly likely academic. Step 3: Since it is academic, pinpoint the skill area that is struggling. Since you heard the student reading their chapter aloud, you know that this student can read. However, there is an issue with your student understanding what they read. Step 4: Choose an accommodation In this case, you decide that you are going to have the student take notes by writing down one thing from each paragraph that they read. Step 5: Collaborate with SPED teacher Click here to walk through this process step by step.

11. Scenario #2: It is the first day of school. You have prepared for this day. You have all of your lessons ready to present. You start your schooling day. At first things are going alright. Your student finishes his reading and math. You pause to eat lunch. After lunch you call him back to work on science. Your student stops and says, “You can’t make me.” What are you going to do? Let’s try another situation: Step 2: Is this problem behavioral or academic? Probably Behavioral!! In this case, the trigger was asking him to do work, which he refused to do. He didn’t even attempt it. At this point, this would classify as a “won’t do.” Step 1: Notice that the student is struggling. Although it is easy to chalk this up to a “typical kid response”, it is important to recognize some trends. This happens on the first day of school, start to watch and see if the trend continues. Step 3: Look for what happened directly before the event. Test your theory to see if the child will respond. Look for the antecedent or trigger. This is something that when presented with it again, the student will usually respond the same way. In this case, it could be “after lunch” or it could be science. A good idea would be to take data another day. Maybe try science in the morning, or see how they respond the next day after lunch. Step 4: Set up a behavioral contract with the student with reinforcers Although it may sound fancy, a behavioral contract is a clear plan for students in which there is a desired behavior outlined, positive and negative consequences are determined, and data is kept to see if the student did follow through. Step 5: Look at your results, and collaborate with SPED teacher. Did it work? What does your data look like? Share your results with your SPED teacher and revise plan if needed. Feeling a bit overwhelmed? Click here to examine this process more closely.

12. It is the second week of school. Your student no longer wants to get out of bed in the morning. When you finally get them out of bed, all they can say is “This is too hard.” They lay their head on the table. Your student finally agrees to attend his Math class via Elluminate. Math class is usually your student’s best class. Today’s math class is about solving word problems. He gets to the computer, and stares at the screen. He does not answer questions, he does not text any messages, or responds in any way. After his Elluminate session is over, you decide to present the lesson that goes along with the Math Class that he just attended. He watches you read through and do a problem. Then you assign the work he needs to do. After 10 minutes you return to see that he hasn’t completed anything. He responds that it is just too hard. You decided to switch subjects, and maybe reading would be a better way to start the day. Your student struggles to read through the assigned stories. He is laboriously sounding out every letter, and many of the words you have to tell him. After reading the whole story, your student answers comprehension questions about the passage with 40% accuracy. Situation #3: What would you do?? AcademicBehavioral Do you think that this problem is academic or behavioral? GREAT!! Although some of these characteristics may be similar to behavior, the fact that the student struggled with the reading in solving math as well as in reading his assignment indicates that his reading may be affecting his performance in all of his classes. Good try! Although a student giving up can be a sign of behavior struggles, in this case there is a clear trigger that reading is setting off the behavior. Let’s address the academic issue first, and see if the behavior improves.

13. It is the second week of school. Your student no longer wants to get out of bed in the morning. When you finally get them out of bed, all they can say is “This is too hard.” They lay their head on the table. Your student finally agrees to attend his Math class via Elluminate. Math class is usually your student’s best class. Today’s math class is about solving word problems. He gets to the computer, and stares at the screen. He does not answer questions, he does not text any messages, or responds in any way. After his Elluminate session is over, you decide to present the lesson that goes along with the Math Class that he just attended. He watches you read through and do a problem. Then you assign the work he needs to do. After 10 minutes you return to see that he hasn’t completed anything. He responds that it is just too hard. You decided to switch subjects, and maybe reading would be a better way to start the day. Your student struggles to read through the assigned stories. He is laboriously sounding out every letter, and many of the words you have to tell him. After reading the whole story, your student answers comprehension questions about the passage with 40% accuracy. What would you do?? What skill is affecting this student’s performance? Math Computation Reading Comprehension Reading Decoding Although the student struggled with math, he usually does very well, this suggests this may not be the only area of concern today. Although the student struggled to understand, you need to ask why he doesn’t understand. This student can’t read the words and that is affecting his comprehension. CORRECT! The students inability to read is affecting his performance in Math and Reading Comprehension.

14. What would you do?? What is an appropriate accommodation for a student who is struggling with reading decoding? Read the assignment aloud to the student Reword and summarize the lesson into your own words. Have the student read the assignment aloud and then quietly to himself before preceding with the lesson. Don’t jump the gun! By doing too much, you are taking away too much of the student’s learning. Only accommodate in the area the student is struggling in. CORRECT! This is a great place to start. If the student is struggling with decoding, this should be a great place to start! If a student can’t read it, it doesn’t really matter how many times they read it alone. They need you! They need accommodations. They can’t do it alone.

15. IT WORKED!! After reading the problems to the student, the student started to do his math problems. As the learning coach, what are you going to do next? Keep reading the text aloud to your student in all areas Let the student start working on his history lesson alone. Contact your child’s SPED teacher and share the results. Just reading to your student will help them get through the curriculum, but it doesn’t address the need that they still don’t know how to read. Contact your SPED teacher to set up a plan of where to go from here. If a student is struggling with reading, reading another subject isn’t going to help. They will need accommodations. Contact your SPED teacher to set up a plan of where to go from here. CORRECT!! Your SPED teacher is equipped with ways to address the problems, and knows when and how to accommodate your students. They can help you find balance in this process. Talk with your teacher to set up a plan. Telling the difference between academic and behavioral issues can be very difficult. To learn more about this, click here.

16. Situation #4: Now you are a pro..try this problem. Your student has always struggled with his math facts. They have always slowed him down as he has tried to do his Math assignments. He is a 6 th grader, but he is placed in 4 th grade math. He is working on adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. He has been working, but he hasn’t accomplished many problems. After 40 minutes he has only completed 5 problem. Your student gets frustrated. He picks up all of his books and throws them across the room, shouts “I hate this. I’m not doing it anymore!” and storms out of the room. Is this problem academic or behavioral? Trick Question!! The truth is, it’s both. This happens often. Normally, you would give preference to academic problems first, however, there are some safety concerns as well. So we need to address both issues.

17. Solving the academic problemSolving the behavioral problem We need to address both issues at the same time. Try to fill out these steps on your own, then click the box to check your answer. Step 1: Identify the Problem Step 2: Identify the appropriate accommodation Step 3: Collaborate with your SPED teacher with results. Step 1: Identify a behavior Step 2: Identify reasonable reinforcers and set up behavioral contract. Step 3: Record your results and collaborate with your SPED teacher. How do you balance this all at once? Click here to look at this process more closely.

18. Situation #5: Final Test For this final situation, I would like you to write down your answers to the questions and send them in an email to hjenkins@utahvirtual.org. hjenkins@utahvirtual.org Your daughter has been working really hard on a writing assignment for her English class. She keeps writing down a few words, then she erases what she wrote. You are supervising your student from a distance. Your student has struggled for a half an hour and although she has written and erased a lot, she doesn’t have a single sentence to show for it. Without saying a word or making a noise, she puts down her pencil and gets up and goes to her room. She stays there for the rest of the day. You try to get her to come out for lunch and again for a snack. She doesn’t come out until dinner time. #1: Is this an academic or behavioral problem? #2: Detail what you are going to do to address the academic problems if there are any? #3: Detail what you are going to do to address the behavioral problems if there are any? #4: Describe what you will do with the results.

20. Academic vs. Behavioral

21. Academic Route…Pinpointing the problem

22. Appropriate Accommodations

23. Depends! For a younger student this could be an appropriate accommodation, however, for an older student, this is laborious and not an efficient way to solve problems. PERFECT! You are not using the calculator instead of the math procedure, you use it as a tool to help complete the procedure. You will continue to work with your SPED teacher on basic facts. Try again, your student will get extremely frustrated and fatigued in this option. Select the appropriate accommodation for use with the following scenarios: Your student has trouble figuring out his math facts Your student has trouble with spelling and grammar on writing assignments Your student is reading the material fluently, but can’t answer comprehension questions about the passage. You have the student figure out every problem on the assignment using only a paper and pencil You let the student use a calculator for the facts, but still have them work through the procedure. You let the student use their fingers in order to solve their math facts. You leave the students writing alone and let him submit it with all mistakes. Go through and identify and correct all the spelling errors. You let your student type their writing in WORD and use spell check to correct errors. Have the student be able to look back at the passage to find the answer. Have the student read the passage again aloud. Tell the student to go back and reread the passage over again until they know the answers.

24. Collaboration

25. Behavioral Route…define the problem behavior Set up motivators

26. Set up a contract

28. FINAL PROBLEM TO SOLVE