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• We've helped educators at more than 15,000 schools

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• • "I took this course with some reservation, but it proved to be very helpful. Some of the simple things that I learned made a huge impact on the amount of energy my students put into learning"

    
    

    "It was easy to do. I got to work at my own pace, explore all the websites and absorb the materials As a 28 year veteran I do believe you can teach old dogs new tricks."

    - Joseph Fusco, Physics Teacher Lodi High School, NJ

Course 1043

The Successful School: Best Practices in K-12 Education

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Apply this towards your professional development requirements
(3 credits, 90 hours or certificate of completion)

Tuition: $575 for all 3 modules complete

What You'll Learn

Difficult parent conversations are one of the most challenging and intimidating tasks educators must deal with every day. Defusing an angry, mistrustful or even deceptive parent isn't easy, and avoiding the triggers that can make the situation worse is crucial. Converting a parent adversary into a working partner is possible, but it requires essential skills to turn the situation around and build a positive parent/teacher relationship. This module will show you:

• How to deliver bad news about grades, behavior and more
• What triggers conflict with parents and how to stop it before it starts
• Tactics that help control and defuse tense situations
• Specific words and phrases you should and shouldn't use
• How to prepare your faculty & staff for an increase in parent involvement

Highlights

Keys to Defuse Difficult Parent Situations

• Avoiding the "triggers" that only make a bad situation worse
• What techniques improve communication with parents
• Dealing with the other "F" word: "You're treating my child unfair!"
• How does your body language influence the way parents react to your message?

Build Positive Relationships with Even the Most Difficult Parents

• What specific words & phrases develop more productive relationships with parents and students?
• What are the best ways to build credibility in parents' eyes?
• How do you apologize for the situation without apologizing for what you've done?
• What should educators do when the parent is right?

Increase Parental Involvement

• The best ways to inform parents when something goes wrong (or right)
• Proven techniques for promoting positive parental involvement at home
• How do you foster a warm and welcoming environment in your school
• Getting parents more focused on their children and less focused on running the school

What You'll Learn

One of the greatest challenges educators face is dealing with difficult and disruptive students who interfere with the learning environment. Understanding how to prevent this behavior is critical to the academic success of every child. This module offers straightforward guidance on how to handle these challenging situations and tools that increase teaching and learning in the classroom and decrease teacher stress levels. In this module, you'll learn:

• Proven actions that prevent and decrease disruptive behavior
• Effective ways to increase positive and productive behavior
• How to eliminate the causes of unacceptable student behavior
• The most common discipline pitfalls that actually intensify the problem

Highlights

Strategies To Prevent, Not Just Handle, Discipline Problems

• What are the most reliable ways to identify discipline problems and avoid miscalls?
• How can you create rapport with your students to promote positive behavior?
• How to plan congruent warnings in steps - with follow-thru consequences

Identify The Most Common Sources of Challenging Behavior

• Why do kids act out in one class and behave in another?
• How can you best evaluate the key causes of discipline problems?
• Which types of teacher/student relationships build trust in today's classrooms?

Create Effective Rules and Early Warning Systems

• The most reliable guidelines for designing effective classroom rules
• Which reward and discipline alternatives work?
• The must-do keys to making classroom rules and procedures stick

What You'll Learn

The success of Response to Intervention (RTI) depends heavily on whether it is appropriately implemented. This module goes beyond the basics of RTI and delivers implementation strategies and actual interventions that lead to improved learning for all students at all levels. This module will show you:

• Proven ways to implement an effective intervention model at your school
• How to best overcome the challenges and pitfalls of RTI
• Direct skill measures and warnings signs that help you identify students at-risk
• Scientifically-proven intervention methods that are matched to your specific needs
• Monitoring and evaluation methods based on benchmarks and decision rules
• Simplified ways to understand the connections between IDEA and NCLB
• The Multi-tiered approach to RTI and why it works

Highlights

Direct Instruction: What Is and Isn't Working

• What the research shows: RTI instruction/intervention that has worked
• Examples of scientifically-based, explicit instruction for educators
• Systematic intervention approaches that help students make progress

Implementing an Effective Multi-Tiered Intervention Model

• How do you find the kids who need academic and behavioral support ?
• What roles do regular and special education services play for all students?
• How can you help parents overcome resistance and increase plan commitment?
• Which Positive support strategies create lasting results - and adhere to the law?

RTI Progress Monitoring and Evaluation - Overcoming Challenges

• Establish effective progress monitoring of students' outcomes
• How do you set goals that specifically match your students' needs?
• Decision rules: What to do after RTI is put to action
• How should you handle the "Can't do" and "Won't do" students?

The Virtual Teachers Lounge™

Check in with your peers and get answers to your questions – any time, 24/7. Taking this course will give you exclusive access to the thoughts, insights and experience of other educators and K-12 experts discussing your topics and giving you solutions and ideas for whatever is on your mind. In the Teachers' lounge, you can:

• Learn new, working strategies and solutions from other educators – live!
• Get answers to your toughest questions from top K-12 experts
• Discuss course topics with your peers and benefit from their experiences
• Share your success stories and best practices to benefit other teachers and administrators
• Get new perspectives, fresh ideas and guidance – whenever you need it.
• You can log whenever is most convenient for you, 24/7

All you have to do is sign up for this course, and you're in!

Connect with, hear from and get help from you peers.

Materials & Assessment

Lectures	Your lectures, delivered by one of the nation's leading, recognized experts on this topic, are presented in multiple parts to make listening and tracking your progress easier. You can listen to each as often as you like by playing it on your computer, downloading it to your iPod or other MP3 player, even burning it to CD. Listen wherever it is most convenient for you: at home, in your car; at the park; and whenever you like: before or after work, at night or on weekends. Many educators can complete a module in only a week.
Text Resources	Virtual text resources are downloadable and expand on the material covered in your lectures. They may include articles, web links to related materials and web sites, definitions of important terms and concepts, and a bibliography. All materials can be viewed on your computer or downloaded and printed.
Assessment	To receive your Certificate of Completion or Certificate of Attendance and earn Professional Development/Continuing Education units/credits/hours, you will need to complete all assessments and submit all final projects.
Virtual Teachers Lounge	To gain Professional Development credits or hours for any of these three modules, you must participate in the Virtual teachers Lounge discussion for that module. If you are not seeking credits or hours, participation in the Lounge is not mandatory, but you are still welcome to connect with and share your thoughts, questions, insights and experience with your peers at any time.