Week of February 23rd

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II

Issue 26

Week of February 23rd, 2015

Announcements

Black History Month Competition
Black History Month submissions are being selected this week.   Encourage our young girls to step up and participate!   This assembly is on Friday.  Please meet students in 8th period classrooms and make sure they have all their belongings.  We will be rapidly dismissing from the assembly.  Bring your class directly to the gym at the start of 8th period.  Here's the seating:
12th Grade: Bleachers closest to the gym doors
11th Grade: Bleachers closest to the divider
10th Grade: Seats in front of the wall
9th Grade:  Seats in front the divider

Prose Application.  In the new UFT contract, the union and city negotiated a new status of schools, call Progressive Redesign Opportunity Schools for Excellence or PROSE.  The network of 21 Urban Assembly schools are all submitting applications that retain the essential, innovative practices common to all Urban Assembly schools.  These practices are (1) Commitment to college readiness and college completion, (2) Focus on Literacy, and (3) Using Instructional Rounds as a platform for sharing best practices and engaging in meaningful PD.  As a Prose application, we, as a UA school, are asking for variance in

(1) hiring restrictions to be able to hire college counselors,
(2) using the DRP as a MOSL option, and
(3) having flexibility in calendar dates to be able to extend the practice of Instructional Rounds

Just before break, Marianna, Damon, Wendy, Kelly & myself met with the Urban Assembly to put together our application to be a Prose school.  We are largely complete with the application which you can read in its entirety HERE.

The true benefit of being a Prose school is the ability for us to work together to decide what works best for our school, and applying as a cohort of schools also brings us together as a cohesive network.  The final application will be submitted on Friday.  Damon, Marianna or me can help you guys with any questions you may have.

Observations and Midyear Reviews.  This week I will be doing my next round of observations.   You can check my calendar below to see when I'm slated to drop by.   After I finish this round of observations, I will be scheduling midyear check-ins.  So be on the lookout for the calendar invite in your mailbox.  Please visit last week's post to review the expectations for midyear check-ins.







Teacher Preferences.  In case you missed the email, please make sure you take a minute right now to complete this super short survey on your teacher preferences for next year.

Important Dates

• Monday, 23FEB15 - First day back from MidWinter Recess
• Monday, 23FEB15 - Full Staff PD & Grade Team Meetings
• Friday, 27FEB15 - Black History Month Assembly, 8th Period

• Monday, 02MAR15 - Full Staff PD, 1st Monday of the Month
• Friday, 13MAR15 - End of 4th Marking Period
• Monday, 16MAR15 - Beginning of 5th Marking Period
• Wednesday, 18MAR15- 4th Marking Period Grades Due by 3PM
• Friday, 20MAR15 - UAI High School Semi-Formal - A Night in Paris 
• Thursday, 26MAR15 - Evening Student Led Conferences 5-8PM
• Friday, 27MAR15 - Afternoon Student Led Conferences   12-2:40PM

• Wednesday 01APR and Thursday 02APR15 - Benchmark IV Exams
• Friday 03APR through Friday 10APR15 - Spring Break

Per Session

No new postings...

Week of February 9th

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II

Issue 25

Week of February 9th, 2015

Announcements

Black History Month Competition
Black History Month submissions are due this week.  Promote our competition in your classes and advisory.  Provide students with the guidance and support they need to bring their idea to completion.   Please review the competition guidelines in the competition flier HERE, and encourage at least one student you know to do something!  Assemblies like this, particularly celebrating Black History, really bring our school together and make the kids proud to be part of our school.  We need your help in getting them to take risks and put their work out there! When they do, it's pretty amazing, and I can't wait to see what they will do.

Data Drop.  The files that I sent out last week are now available to you here in this Data Drop Folder.   I will be continuing my updates on the Progress Towards Graduation and the Benchmark Data Analysis.  You should use this data to work with your teams to identify students who are in need of intervention (from Tier 1 (e.g. workout plans), to Tier 2 (e.g. lunch or after school tutoring) to Tier 3 (academic interventions).  Your team may opt to use this Looking At Data protocol to collaboratively analyze the information in this folder.  We'll be using this protocol at Monday's PD when we review the qualitative feedback we received from your teams last week.

Mid Year Reviews.  Half of the school year is officially complete!  So, now it is time for a mid-year check in.  The week we return from MidWinter Recess, I will be doing another round of short observations.  You will be receiving an invite from me for your midyear review meeting.  These meetings will be no longer than 40 minutes, and I will be having them in 401.  All the meetings will start the week of March 2nd, so you have three weeks to prepare.  At this meeting, you should come prepared (i.e. bring your data analysis, student work, or other examples of your work) to answer the bullet points below.

• Accomplishments Thus Far.  What goals and objectives have you already accomplished this year and how do you evaluate the success of these achievements (what's your evidence?)

• Learning Cultures Growth.  Using your observation data (either official from me or unofficial from PODs or other observations), describe how you have grown in your practice this year.  In reflecting, I would like you to select a format (or formats) in which you are most proud of growth - both in implementation and theoretical understanding.

• Your Most Challenging Students.  Looking at your student performance data (course passing rates, benchmark analysis, attendance, unison/conference records, and/or any other data you wish to include), identify a cohort of students with whom you find the biggest challenge in moving.  Describe what you have already tried to do, what you've learned from your efforts, and what you plan on trying next in order to find a way to move this identified group.

• Current Goals & Objectives.  What are your current goals and objectives with respect to your development as a UAI high school Learning Cultures teacher. How are you planning to measure your progress in reaching these goals (e.g. which student outcomes are you using to gauge progress?)  What do you foresee as obstacles or challenges in your pursuit of these goals? What supports do you need and how can I help?

• FOR TENURING PEOPLE ONLY.  
• Teachers who are coming up for tenure this year.  Please write me a brief narrative (1-3 paragraphs) explaining how your practice is highly effective and why you should be granted tenure.  Please reference this Framework for Tenure Decision-Making and speak to the criteria listed here.  Also, be sure to include the pieces of evidence you wish submitted with your tenure application request.
• Teachers who were extended last year.  Please write a brief narrative (1-3 paragraphs) explaining how you have addressed your Areas of Focus from your extension letters I gave to you at the end of last year.  If you need them, email me and I will get them to you.  In addition to this narrative, please also include the narrative described in the bullet above.

Team Midyear Check Ins.  In addition to individual midyear check-ins, this is a good time to revisit the mechanics of our team functions.  Last year, I introduced the Five Dysfunctions of the Team, a business fable (which is a genre new to me!).  At the same time, we reviewed Paul Grice's Cooperative Principle.  You'll need to have a base understanding of each of these ideas for Monday's meeting.  So, please take a few minutes to watch these two YouTube summaries of both - The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and Paul Grice's Cooperative Principle. Both will be instrumental in reviewing the results from last week's survey and in moving forward to establish the rules for team meetings.  As you watch these two videos, think about how the concepts connect back to your grade team.  What observations can you make about your team dynamics and what are your ideas for norms or rules that would improve team function?

Important Dates

• Monday, 09FEB15 & Tuesday 10FEB15 - Auditions for Black History Month Performances
• Tuesday, 10FEB15 - PTA Meeting at 6PM, SLT Meeting at 5PM
• Wednesday, 11FEB15 - Written Pieces for Black History Month due to Ms. Jen in 401
• Thursday, 12FEB15 - Soft Lockdown Drill, Time 10AM
• Friday, 13FEB15 - Rapid Dismissal at 2:30PM
• Monday, 16FEB through 20FEB15 - MidWinter Recess, NO SCHOOL
• Monday, 23FEB15 - First day back from MidWinter Recess
• Friday, 27FEB15 - Black History Month Assembly, 8th Period

Per Session

No new postings...

Week of February 2nd

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II

Issue 24

Week of February 2nd, 2015

Announcements

Monday, 02FEB15 is LC PD at Green Careers.  Please review the PD resource page by CLICKING HERE.  Please make sure to arrive on time.  Breakfast will be available at 8AM with the PD day starting promptly at 8:30AM in room 101B.  Here are direction to UA Green Careers.

PID list and Academic Interventions.  I'm still waiting for final Regents scores to come in.  Once those are in, I will release the PID list.  This list will include data from benchmarks, DRP, grades, attendance, and Regent exams.  Exams grades should be available Tuesday afternoon, so look for this data document on Wednesday AM.  Grade teams should work from this list to schedule Academic interventions.

Last Regular Season Home Game for the Lady Eagles.  If you haven't had a chance to see the super stars, come to their last home game of the regular season on Wednesday, 04FEB15.  The Lady Eagles sit atop of the Brooklyn B North division with 13 wins and 2 losses. Yet again, they are barreling their way into the playoffs! So, show your UAI spirit, come out to see the young ladies at their best.

Black History Month Competition
Black History Month officially starts tomorrow.  Promote our competition in your classes and advisory.  Provide students with the guidance and support they need to bring their idea to completion.   Please review the competition guidelines in the competition flier HERE, and encourage at least one student you know to do something!  Assemblies like this, particularly celebrating Black History, really bring our school together and make the kids proud to be part of our school.  We need your help in getting them to take risks and put their work out there! When they do, it's pretty amazing, and I can't wait to see what they will do.

Important Dates

• Monday, 02FEB15 - Full staff PD at Green Careers
• Tuesday, 03FEB15 - First Day of the Spring Term
• Wednesday, 04FEB15 - Last Regular Season home game for the Lady Eagles
• Friday, 06FEB15 - Subject Team NYSTL orders are due.
• Monday, 09FEB15 & Tuesday 10FEB15 - Auditions for Black History Month Performances
• Tuesday, 10FEB15 - PTA Meeting at 6PM, SLT Meeting at 5PM
• Wednesday, 11FEB15 - Written Pieces for Black History Month due to Ms. Jen in 401
• Thursday, 12FEB15 - Soft Lockdown Drill, Time TBD.
• Friday, 13FEB15 - Rapid Dismissal at 2:30PM
• Monday, 16FEB through 20FEB15 - MidWinter Recess, NO SCHOOL
• Monday, 23FEB15 - First day back from MidWinter Recess
• Friday, 27FEB15 - Black History Month Assembly, 8th Period

Per Session

No new postings...