UPchieve coaches have a lot of questions about what their role is, especially when a session doesn’t go exactly as planned. In this article, we’ll summarize some challenges you may encounter, and actions to take to ensure student safety and success!

What are some basic coaching tips?

Our training, UPchieve 101 is full of great tips 🤗

Check out this 7-min video or review this summary offering strategies for effective coaching: build rapport, understand tasks, assess student knowledge with probing questions, simplify concepts, encourage students, and give specific praise.

What if the student experiences technical issues?

What to do:
- Apologize to the student
- Refresh the whiteboard
- Refresh your page and ask the student to refresh their page too.
- If the issue persists, report a tech issue using our chat widget (click the question mark bubble in the lower-right corner). Our tech team will look into it within 48 business hours.
Examples of what to say:
- Sorry, I can’t see what you uploaded on the whiteboard.
- I’m going to try to refresh–can you do the same, please?
- Looks like UPchieve is having tech issues, I’ll end the session but feel free to request another one!

What if the student isn't responding to my messages?

Why does this happen?
- Don’t take it personally! There are many reasons students might not respond like their internet is unstable, they got distracted by something at home or school, or they may even just be nervous

What to do:
- Stay on for 10 minutes
- Periodically message the student
- End the session with a reminder to make another request
Examples of what to say:
- Hi Mark, are you able to see this message? If so, let me know if you need more time to think or write notes.
- Seems like we might be having trouble connecting, so I’m going to end the session. Feel free to make another request!

What if the student asks for help with an unfamiliar topic? / I don't know topic

What to do:
- Stay calm
- Ask the student for a few minutes to look at the assignment/task
- Check UPchieve's resources. We have materials for different subjects that can help you quickly get up to speed.
- Do a quick Google search. Websites like Khan Academy often have excellent content.
- If you’re really unsure, simply encourage them to make another request.
  Bonus points if you share links to reputable sites that explain the topic. This way, the student can still get help while waiting for another coach
Examples of what to say:
- Please give me a few minutes to think about this.
- So sorry but it’s been a long time since I’ve … please make another request to pair with a coach who can help you. You can check out <link> while you wait for a coach.

What if the student selects the wrong subject?

What to do:
- If you’re able to help, go for it!
- If not, simply let the student know to request a session in the right subject.
- If the subject is not available on our platform, suggest checking out reputable sites such as Khan Academy.
Examples of what to say:
- Hm…I’m not certified in <topic> but I can try to help.
- Sorry I don’t know that <topic> feel free to make a request under <right topic> to get connected with a coach who knows this topic!
- <Topic> isn't available on the platform, so I suggest checking out this website <link>

What if the student is missing foundational knowledge, seems "really far behind," or can't understand "simple" concepts?

Why this happens: Access to quality education isn’t equally distributed among students. Inequitable access to resources leaves many students with gaps in foundational knowledge. Students are coming to UPchieve and requesting your help because they are struggling with a concept or tackling a new frontier–like applying to college.
What to do:
- Share the reason you'll need to review a concept to achieve their goal. This will help them be a bit more patient as you review the concept.
- Balance expectations: Express that it may take longer to solve their problem or finish their task, but that you believe they can still accomplish it!
- Review foundational concepts. Check out our review material for help with this!
- Help accomplish their goal
- Celebrate any success, learning is a journey. Remember, have high expectations for what your students can accomplish, and they’ll follow your lead!

Examples of what to say:
- Ah, okay so to answer this problem we’ll need to know how to multiply exponents. Let’s review that quickly and then get back to the assignment.

How do I encourage participation?

Why this might be necessary: Students have taken the hard step to ask for help by requesting UPchieve, but that doesn’t mean they’re not facing common barriers to engagement like not believing in themselves, being afraid of being judged, or simply not understanding the value of some assignments!
What to do:
- Start with easy questions to build confidence
- Ask a fun question unrelated to the work
- Provide positive, specific action-oriented praise for any participation.
- Staying positive even when responding to errors so they don’t give up.
Examples of what to say:
- Let’s start with some additions: what is 4+5 from inside the parentheses?
- Nice work remembering that formula!
- So far so good! After each step they complete correctly.
- Kevin, it makes me happy to see your effort!
- Want more examples? Feel free to complete our 5 minute trainings on Giving Effective Praise and Responding to Student Errors!

How do I respond to a student who is making a lot of mistakes?

Feel free to complete our 5-minute training on effectively responding to student errors.

What if I run out of time?

Please only pick up sessions if you have 30 minutes to help the student. However, if you need to leave unexpectedly:

What to do:
- Apologize and let the student know you have to go
- Encourage them to make another request
Examples of what to say:
- Something came up and I have to leave. Sorry about this. You can request another coach to help you.

What if the student asks me to do their work?

What to do:
- Be direct and firm
- Cite that this is against UPchieve policy, which aims to foster learning and academic integrity.
- Encourage the student to engage in problem-solving and understanding the concepts.
- Let UPchieve know through the post-session feedback form

Examples of what to say:
- I can't complete the homework for you. I'm here to help you understand the concepts and guide you through the steps
- UPchieve doesn’t allow us to provide answers but I can help you solve it step-by-step and explain the process so you can learn.

What if the student asks me to check their answers?

What to do:
- Do it, but if the answer is incorrect, don’t provide the right answers. Help them learn how to get to the right answer.

Examples of what to say:
- #1 is correct, good effort on #2. Can you share with me your first step for that problem?

What if the student is extremely rude or inappropriate?

What to do:
- Report the concern using the “Report” button to suspend their account
- End the session

Examples of what to say:
- I’m not feeling respected in this session. I’m going to end it now.

What if I have concerns about a student’s immediate safety?

What to do:
- Report the concern using the “Report” button
- Validate their experience
- Explain you’re not the right person to help
- Share resources

Examples of what to say:
- I'm not the right person to help you with what you need. I'm a coach and UPchieve is only for academic support. Here are some resources!
  - Mental health crisis: www.crisistextline.org
  - Emotional support (not a crisis): https://need2text.com/
  - Child abuse: https://childhelphotline.org/
  - Homelessness: https://www.1800runaway.org/youth-teens/get-help
  - LGBTQ support: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/
  - Sexual assault: https://hotline.rainn.org/online

A student sent me a link to an external website. Can I open it?

Ideally, students should post their questions on the whiteboard, document editor, or chat. If they can't, you can click on safe external links like a Google Doc.
Please keep the conversation on the UPchieve platform since we can't monitor external sites or address safety concerns there, ensuring a secure and supportive environment for all.
Access documents set to "view only" without requesting permission, as sharing your email address isn't allowed. If the student has trouble making the document visible, suggest they search Google for a quick solution.

Can I use ChatGPT during Essay feedback or Essay Planning sessions?

We suggest refraining from using this resource in this way. Many teachers now run student essays through AI that will be able to tell if AI was used in writing the response, this will result in the student receiving a failing grade...or worse. Additionally, providing written answers instead of using questions to help the student develop their writing won't help the student in the long run.

Instead please use one of the resources on our platform to help the student develop as a writer!

Essay Planning review guide and Essay Feedback review guide. These are great resources for helping students in the planning, drafting, revision, and editing stages of writing.
The Essay Session Helper will provide guidance on how to respond to the most common help requests.
You can ask your student to assess their own work by copying & pasting our student revision checklist into the document editor