General Course Overview

  • Applied Skills is designed for students who have an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP). They have been identified as a student with a deficit in reading, writing, math, oral expression, listening comprehension, and/or information processing skills. Instruction is developed based on individual student needs. It is designed to teach students strategies to enable them to become successful in their academic, social, and community settings. The students receive direct instruction in their identified skill area(s).

General Course Information

  • Duration: Full Year Course, Class Hour Varies by IEP service minutes stated in annual IEP

    Credits:

    • Course may be in place of core Reading, Language, or Math or an additional elective/exploratory dependent on the IEP team decision.

Overview of Course

  • Applied Skills class is designed for students who have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) in grades 5-8. Those students recommended for this class have been identified as students who would benefit from additional support and strategies to develop reading, writing, math, oral expression, listening comprehension, and/or information processing skills. This class can be taken every semester throughout middle school. The instruction is developed based on each student’s individual needs and will support students in their educational growth. The students may receive direct instruction in a skill area for the whole time or may have additional instruction and support for mainstream instruction in areas of need as well.

    Applied Skills Reading: Course may include Decoding, Fluency and/or Comprehension instruction using a variety of instructional strategies including but not limited to: Orton-Gilligham, Read Naturally, metacognition strategies, an/or Language Live. The materials aforementioned are researched-based.

    Applied Skills Writing: Course may include Written Expression Instruction using a variety of instructional strategies including but not limited to: Strategic Intervention Models (formally known as Kansas Writing), 6 Traits of Writing,and SRA Spelling.

    Applied Skills Math: Course may include Math Calculation and/or Problem-Solving instruction using a variety of instructional strategies including but not limited to: Basic Fact strategies, VMath/VMath Live, and Basic Math Instruction (money, time, measurement).

    Applied Skills Information Processing: Course may include Executive Functioning Skills, time management, and organization strategies.

General Course Information

  • Grading Scale:

    Assessments

    Assessments reflect the essential and enduring knowledge from the course. These assessments evaluate learning at the end of specific skills toward a student's objective or IEP goal.

    20% of the Total Grade

    Daily Work

    Daily work may consist of worksheets, online activities and interactive activities to develop student skills; thus, scores may be slightly impacted by participation and attendance.

    80% of the Total Grade 

    The following grading scale will be used for reporting grades:

    A 94%
    A- 90%
    B+ 87%
    B 83%
    B- 80%
    C+ 77%
    C 73%
    C- 70%
    D+ 67%
    D 63%
    D- 60%
    F< 0%

    *Students who are absent are provided lessons for missed skills but must complete missed worksheets and/online tasks outside of class time to earn points from days missed.

    Additional Course Information:

    Technology Requirements
    *Students should come to class prepared with a charged device but may not use a device daily dependent on lessons and needs.

    Extra Help
    *Students can request extra help by emailing me or requesting a pass from class during WIN and/or advisory. I will also make myself available before/after school when possible.

Classroom Expectations

  • Jordan Middle School Applied Skills PRIDE Student Expectations

    The Applied Skills classroom will follow the Jordan Middle School PRIDE expectations: Preparedness, Respect, Integrity, Dependability, and Excellence.

    In Applied Skills this looks like...

    Preparedness
    ➔ To show they are prepared, students will arrive at class with materials and will begin the bell activity.

    Respect
    ➔ To show respect students will fulfill expectations of discussions, independent and other learning scenarios within the classroom with respect to volume/tone of voice, activity level, etc.

    Integrity
    ➔ To show integrity students will take feedback and opportunities to re-learn concepts they struggled to master and provide effort to relearn those skill sets.

    Dependability
    ➔ To show dependability Students will participate in daily lessons and complete outside homework at a satisfactory level to reach IEP goals as well as progress toward grade level standards when applicable.

    Excellence
    ➔ Students will show excellence by making academic and personal goals for themselves and reaching them within reasonable timelines.