The orientation begins Monday September 21st. Please set aside 10:00am to 11:30am on Monday and Tuesday for group zoom meetings to talk about student expectations, Connections course of study and scheduling. On Wednesday, Thursday or Friday students will participate in one hour individual meetings with their case manager and other team members to discuss goals and schedules. On these days Connections staff will also host a lunch time (12:30pm-1:00pm) social group for get-to-know-you activities. All zoom links will be posted on this web site. We will post our distance learning Fall Schedule for students to preview by Wednesday at noon.
Here is a FAQ
1. What are the classes? Is seminar a class? Yes a seminar is a small group class. We call it a seminar to differentiate between HS and we encourage more more student participation. During orientation we will outline what each seminar is about. We will also schedule individual meetings with students and their support teams to create a daily schedule.
2. What will the advocate session look like? Advocate is 1:1 with a connections staff member to plan activities to support their goals. It generally lasts 50 minutes.
3. What are class sizes? Class sizes range from 2-10 students depending on the class. Cooking is no more than 4
4. How will vocational training work? We have a seminar called “job club” where they can learn global job related skills and then we offer a few different volunteer work crews to practice the skills. During the time of distance learning we will be unable to provide these work crews.
5. What will or what are IEP goals for connections? How will they be different from high school? The IEP goals for connections are around functional skills vs academic goals. For example a student may have a mobility goal where they learn how to use LTD or practice for their permit test.
6.Is there a specific class for new students. These are challenging times to stay motivated and start a new course of study. Many of our students are unsure of the next steps. We encourage all new students to take our “moving in” class which is about transition services and how to create goals. Our seminars and advocacy is where we can investigate how to choose a path, make a plan for the future and then how to follow through. In Zoom students can choose if they want to join using video or not. We will do our best to use the first few weeks to get to know students, create opportunities for them to get to know each other and help them to begin to take the steps towards “adulting”.