Planning for Your Upcoming Week
January 14 -January 18
Mission and Vision
IDVA Mission: Building a community of engaged learners.
IDVA Vision: Empowering every student to learn at high levels.
At IDVA, we accept responsibility to ensure that every student succeeds.
Team Norms and Collective Commitments
Special Education Team Norms and Collective Commitments
Team Norms
We will honor meeting start and end times.
We will be committed to the Special Education Team and the work.
We will actively participate and be present.
We will be honest and share items, thoughts, and feelings with respect to others.
We will commit to a decision with a positive attitude.
We will encourage one another and be willing to share and help others.
We will clearly communicate needs and expectations.
Collective Commitments
We will be open-minded, respectful, and willing to share ideas.
We will ALL be active participants.
We will follow through on what we have agreed to do.
We will come to meetings prepared.
We will stay positive and do what is best for kids.Celebrations!
- MINT to Emily from Amanda for your help in answering questions for a family. You are always so caring and compassionate no matter what the situation.
- MINT to Kayla from Jenny and Amber-Kayla had an amazing email response to a family regarding a students lack of engagement. Great job, Kayla!
MONDAY
- PLC at 2:00 PT/3:00 MT
- Review Kelly's Weekly Calendar Reminders
- Schedule all IEP/ER meetings for January/February/March
- Work on Progress Reports
- New K5 Students starting
TUESDAY
- Teach
- Meetings
- Online HS Finals
WEDNESDAY
- Teach
- Meetings
- Online HS Finals
THURSDAY
- Teacher Work Day-No School for Students
FRIDAY
- Teacher Work Day-No School for Students
- SAT Accommodations Deadline for HS Students
Enjoy your 3-day weekend!
Team Members Out of the Office This Week
- Everyone is in the office this week!
Confidential Student Issue Records
At times our staff learns of confidential student issues. Oftentimes, these issues will affect a student’s learning, and it is important for involved staff to be made aware. Our process in these cases will be for the administrator or staff member to obtain parent permission to share with involved staff. The administrator will then send an email to or hold a brief phone conference with involved staff members to inform them of the situation.
We are obligated to ensure student privacy and follow all FERPA regulations, so it is not permissible to enter details regarding these situations in Total View notes where present and future involved staff can view them. Sometimes it may be beneficial to the student for involved staff to be made aware of an issue that occurred in the past. To accommodate this need, our process will be for the administrator to document the issue in a Word document and add an administrative password. The document will be attached to a TVS note titled “Confidential Student Issue” and will include text stating, “Confidential student issue – contact Head of School if you think you may need further information.” If you find one of your students is experiencing an issue, you can search TVS notes for possible past issues. If you find a note like this, contact the Head of School and describe your concerns. The HOS will review the documentation and determine if the information is relevant and should be shared.
This is our procedure.
- If the issue could affect student learning and/or attendance, Administrator asks the parent for permission to share with involved staff.
- If the parent gives permission, Administrator provides brief, high-level information to involved staff via email.
- The administrator documents issue in a Word document, adds the admin password, creates a note in TVS titled “Confidential Student Issue”, attaches the password-protected document, and enters text into the body of the note stating, “Confidential student issue – contact Head of School if you think you may need further information.”
- If staff member contacts HOS to inquire about a student, HOS listens to the reason the staff member may need to review past issues, reads the confidential student issue document in the student’s TVS notes, and determines what should be shared, if anything.
IMPORTANT-Connection Calls
We've already started gathering some great resources and ideas (as seen above). We have a new folder on the K12 National Special Programs Sharepoint that you can access here. Check frequently for additions. If you have resources you'd like to share, please email salucas@k12.com!
Fabulous ideas were shared by group members about how they provide Parent/LC support for their asynchronous instruction. When students aren't in live class connects, how can teachers support Student/LC success? Check out the bright ideas below. Also on SharePoint.
SPRING SESTA TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Maximizing Instruction: Formative Assessment, Observation and Feedback
Join us to learn how to connect student needs to effective instruction with formative assessment and feedback. You will leave with tools and resources to help you with using formative assessment for planning before, during, and after the lesson as well as providing feedback to your students to assist them in making their own learning goals.
Dates & Locations:
Moscow- February 20
Coeur d'Alene- February 21
Boise- February 26
Nampa- February 28
Idaho Falls- March 6
Twin Falls- March 12
Click here to register: https://idahotc.com/SESTA/Maximizing-Instruction
Classroom Systems
Let's work together to build strong classrooms systems that lead to improved outcomes for students. This training will provide participants ideas for creating systems for data collection and progress monitoring, classroom organization, scheduling, and working with paraprofessionals. Ideal for special education teachers at all grade levels.
Dates & Locations:
Moscow- April 16
Coeur d'Alene- April 17
Nampa- April 23
Boise- April 25
Idaho Falls- April 30
Twin Falls- May 2
Click here to register: https://idahotc.com/SESTA/Classroom-Systems
Summer Conference Announced! Plus lots of other opportunities...
CUT THE FLUFF, TEACH THE STUFF
Effective Instruction for Special Educators
This summer's conference will be focused on effective instruction and feature keynote speakers Anita Archer, Ph.D (in Boise and Fort Hall) and Charles Hughes, Ph.D (in Coeur d’Alene). Breakout sessions will be offered in high-incidence disabilities, low-incidence disabilities, early childhood and general. Registration opens March 2019 on the Idaho Training Clearinghouse SESTA page.
Boise - June 12Fort Hall - June 14
Coeur d’Alene - June 18
Maximizing Instruction
Join us to learn how to connect student needs to effective instruction with formative assessment and feedback. You will leave with tools and resources to help you with using formative assessment for planning before, during, and after the lesson as well as providing feedback to your students to assist them in making their own learning goals. These 1-day trainings will have PD credit offered!
From 8:30am – 4:30pmMoscow Feb. 20, Coeur d'Alene Feb. 21, Boise Feb. 26,
Nampa Feb. 28, Idaho Falls Mar. 6 & Twin Falls Mar. 12.
Tools for Life
Registration is OPEN!
The Assistive Technology Project's Tools for Life is for transitioning youth with disabilities and all who support them. Attendees include educators, special educators, therapists, counselors, service providers, job developers, other rehabilitation specialists, and especially high school students with disabilities and their families.
Throughout the two-day event, there will be keynote speakers and presentations around employment, assistive technology, post-secondary education, independent living, and self-advocacy/self-direction. An Exhibit Hall will be open both days, from 9 am to 4 pm to allow agencies and vendors the opportunity to promote their organizations, share resources, and showcase their products.
At the Riverside Hotel in Boise March 4 & 5.All student registrations and their paperwork must be submitted no later than January 23rd, 2019.
Online Behavior Training Series This 4-part series was designed as a follow-up to the Behavior 101 face-to-face training in Fall of 2018 is now available for all educators online on the Idaho Training Clearinghouse. Part 1: Understanding Behavior, Part 2: PIC/NIC, Part 3: Making Sense of Motivation, and Part 4: Preventing Challenging Behavior.
High School Resources
- You are now all set up in Voyager! Please take some time to review this valuable resource.
- There are many websites that offer virtual job shadowing. This would be a great transition activity.
- Please remember to encourage your seniors to apply for IDVA scholarships.