Week of January 29th

UAI Staff News

Volume V

Issue 21

January 29th, 2018

[School Days 92-96]

Highlights and Spotlights

Alumni Updates.  Aysha Nash (Class of 2016) is currently a sophomore at SUNY Oswego majoring in public relations.  This past fall she earned Dean's List recognition and was among students who received grade point averages of 3.3-3.9. Cheyenne Brown Wallace (Class of 2015) a junior majoring in public justice at SUNY Oswego also make the Dean's List.  Sydney Johnson (Class of 2013) made the Dean's List at SUNY Buffalo State and is finishing her final year majoring in Early Childhood Development.  Many congrats to our alumnae as they make their mark upon the world!

Planning Ahead.  Shout outs go to Kelly and Danielle who are already so far ahead in their thinking and planning for February.  Advance planning is key to quality instruction.  If you are ahead of the game in your planning, you have time to work with colleagues to refine and improve your lessons for rigor and intellectual engagement and increase differentiation opportunities for student learning needs (both strugglers and those who excel).   For those looking for help with interventions? Check out intervention central.

Smooth As Silk.  Shout outs also go to Brodie and Joanna for a wonderfully successful Regents Week.  Things operated like a well-oiled machine.  Clarity, communication, and attention to detail led to a wonderful testing environment for our students.  Thanks Brodie and Joanna for all your hard work!

To Do This Week

Units, Lesson Plans, and Pacing Calendars  By the end of tomorrow's PD, you should have completed your Unit Overview and Unit outline for the unit you will be teaching in February.  You should also have the first four lessons of the Spring term completed and linked into your Pacing Calendar.  We will be kicking observations into high gear starting on Tuesday.  Everyone can expect to be observed at least once (if not more) in these two weeks leading up to the midwinter recess.  If you chose a formal observation as an evaluation option, you will be observed this week.  During the afternoon lesson refinement and review (see below), we will meet with you as your pre-observation conference.  Formal Observation lessons need to be in a narrative format so that we can accurately evaluate your planning for rigor and engagement.

Monday PD.  Tomorrow's PD Agenda is as follows

• 8:00-8:30 - Breakfast (Optional)
• 8:30-9:00 - Welcome and Overview of the Day (Official Start)
• Check in on our Progress towards Goals
• Teacher Survey Results
• Student Achievement
• Setting Goals for the Spring Term
• Student Achievement
• Parent Engagement
• School Performance

• 9:00-10:00 - SEL at UAI - 
• What's happened and how are we doing?

• 10:00-11:00 - Planning and Assessment for Student Intellectual Engagement
• Please Bring Two Lesson Plans (One from September and One from January)

• 11:00-12:00 - Lunch

• 12:00-1:00
• MS Grade team meetings (Room 409)
• HS Independent Planning Time

• 1:00-2:00 Lesson Refinement and Review

• 2:00-2:50 Independent Planning Time

Week of January 22nd

UAI Staff News

Volume V

Issue 20

January 22nd, 2018

[School Days 87-91]

Announcements

Regent's Week Starts Monday.  January Regents Exams begin on Monday, January 22nd.  High School teachers, please make sure that you review your schedule.  If you are not explicitly scheduled for bathroom, proctoring, or grading duties, please tell Joanna and Brodie where you'll be working for the day.  All teachers will be on-call during unscheduled sessions.

End of the Fall Term (and MP3).  The Fall Semester is complete for the high school and will finish for the Middle School on Friday.  In order to give Jennifer enough time to get grades run, checked, and ready for distribution on the first day of the Spring term, all teachers must submit their final Fall grades by 3PM on Thursday, 25JAN18.  For the high school in particular, this is an important grade.  All students who earn >65 earn fall credit.  For this marking period, the only failing grade is 55 and all other grades must be 65 or higher (i.e. do not give a grade like "60").  

This Week's To Dos

PD Sequence.  This week's PDs will be slightly different.  All MS teachers should report to room 409 for PD as usual (including LDC teachers).  We'll be going over a teacher survey and preparing you for PD on the 29th.  On Friday 26JAN, all HS teachers should report to room 409 (so no PD on Monday for HS).  You will also have a chance to complete the teacher survey and we will be working all day on developing the following:

• Your Next Unit Plan and Unit Overview
• All Lesson Objectives and Activities
• At Least three Narrative Lesson Plans - all linked into your Pacing Calendars

The goal of all of these PD experiences is to have our strongest preparation for the launch of the Spring Term and for the launch of the next round of observations.

Grade Team Reset.  The start of the spring term is the perfect time to do a refresh on school and classroom norms and rules.  Some grades need this more than others.  If your grade team would like support in running a meeting and developing a plan to relaunch standardize classroom expectations across the grade, please reach out to Jen, Annie, Courtney, or Doris for support.  We are already planning meetings with the 10th and 11th grade teams.  This opportunity is open to all!

Week of January 16th

UAI Staff News

Volume V

Issue 19

January 16th, 2018

[School Days 83-86]

Announcements

Another Lady Eagles Victory!  This past Friday, the Lady Eagles emerged victorious in their win over Uncommon Charter bringing their record to 8-1.  Now in 2nd place in the division, the Lady Eagles are having another fantastic season and are looking ahead towards the playoffs.  If you missed Friday's game, the Adams Campus Lady Eagles (#2 in the Division) are at home again on Wednesday.  There are only two home games left in the regular season: (1) Wednesday 17JAN18 vs. Boerum Hill School 7 Digitial Tech (#8) and (2) Wednesday 07FEB18 vs. John Jay (#1).  So, come support our team and show that UAI spirit!  Spectators will be allowed at both home games!

This Time of Year.  Last week was a challenging week at dismissal for some of our students.  This is definitely a symptom of the time of year.  The end of a marking period, and in particular the end of a term, often exacerbates the levels of stress our students experience.  In particular, for students who are struggling academically, this time of year will spike their anxiety and feelings of inadequacy.  For some, turning to violence is a relief to these feelings.  For others, they withdraw in class or sometimes even go so far as to stop attending school.  These last two weeks before the start of the new semester is the time when relationships matter the most for our students and families.  Communication is key and paying attention to signs and signals that indicate need is crucial.  This week, check in with advisees to see how they are coping with the end-of-term stress, and check in with your students, particularly the ones who are failing, to see how you can support their re-engagement in your class.   

This Week's To Dos

Prepare for Regents Week.  Regents Exam week begins next week for the high school students.  HS teachers will have full schedules.  If you have questions about your schedule, please touch base with Joanna or Brodie.  During non-proctor or grading times, please be available in your classroom or tell Joanna or Brodie where you are.  There are times when teachers are needed to fill in and must be on call.  Please use your time when you're not proctoring or grading to work on your unit and lesson plans for February.  These will be a focus of our PD on 29JAN17, and all of the first week of February's lessons will have to be complete and linked to your pacing calendar by the end of that PD day.  Use the time you have now to get ahead.  Middle School teachers will have Monday PD time to get a jump on their lesson planning.

How do students know which tests they are taking?  Ms. Joanna and Mr. Brodie will be posting lists on the student floors by Thursday.  However, students have already been registered for exams and can check their program in Skedula.  Look for courses that are "unscheduled" aka don't meet.  Those will be the exams for which students are registered.  If students are registered and do not want to take an exam, send them to Joanna or Brodie.  If they are not registered and DO want to take an exam, send them to Joanna or Brodie and they will help them sign up.

Prepare for Full Staff PD on January 29th.  Our next full staff PD will be on Monday, January 29th.  Middle School students will not be in attendance for that day.  All staff will report to room 409 (except for those that have already signed up for external PD opportunities).  The main goal for Monday's PD is to prepare and plan for the launch of the spring semester.  Specifically, you will need to come to that PD with your unit and lesson plans for first two weeks of February.  You should use collaborative planning and prep time this week and next to prepare for the 29th.  At the end of the day on the 29th you will be submitting unit and lesson plans for review and comment.  Also, any teacher who signed up for a full formal observation can expect that their formal will take place during those first two weeks.

[REMINDER] Prepare for Upcoming Midyear Reviews.  Reviews will begin next week!  As a reminder, please reflect on the following.  Please bring the blue items with you for the review.

• Focus School Goal.  Our main priority goal this year is to increase instructional rigor and student intellectual engagement [Rigorous Instruction & Collaborative Teachers].  To achieve this, we have focused on through improved planning & assessment.  Between now, and your midyear review, reflect on  your progress with the following:

• Improvement in Planning (e.g. UAI Pacing Calendar, Narrative Lesson Plans, Backwards-Designed Unit Plans)
• Impact on Student Learning (e.g. samples of Student Work with your feedback, Student achievement (analysis of student grades in course or performance on tests/benchmarks), Student Academic Growth)
• Growth in Co-planning with Peer Teachers/Coaches (e.g. quality of planning, quality of lesson execution (Advance Observations) impact on student learning, outcomes of co-planning survey - please click the link to take it now) 

• Second School Goal.  The second goal that we will discuss during midyears is our school goal around increasing Strong Family Ties.  Our goal is to increase strong family community ties by increasing both quantity and quality of in-person and phone interactions between teachers and families.  This year, each student in your advisory should have had at least 4 interactions and at least 1 in person, all documented in Skedula:  1 welcome to UAI phone call in September; at least 1 in-person visit during MP1, MP2, or SLCs; and at least 2 10-15 minute phone calls for MP1, MP2, or SLC.   Specifically, review and reflect on the following data points:
• Number of successful contacts (in person and phone) per advisee (as evidenced by Skedula anecdotals) 
• Growth Advisee attendance rates from September (you can see this in Skedula)
• Academic Performance of Advisees from MP1 to MP2 (again Skedula)

• Midyear Reflection and Refocus. The Midyear is your opportunity to stop, review your various data points, and reflect on your growth and development.  As teachers, we often get too wrapped up in keeping students doing and busy and we don't make the time to step back and evaluate longer-term progress as shown through student thinking and achievement.  This is one of the big times in the year to take stock of our work thus far.  Where we are strong, we will continue. Where we struggle, we will analyze and refocus spring goals for growth.  Here are some logistical things to keep in mind
• First Year at UAI?  Teachers who are in their first year at UAI or are up for tenure can expect to be scheduled first for their reviews (schedule will be released next week).   More explicit details on the Midyear will come in next week's blog.  For this week, look back at your planning documents and reflect on your student outcomes (Do your lesson plans result in positive student outcomes? How do you know? Why or why not?)
• Are you up for Tenure this year?  Teachers who are coming up for tenure are required to submit a formal portfolio of any of the documents or data points listed above.  These will become part of their final portfolio of work to be submitted for tenure recommendation.  The portfolio consists of three parts (1) a letter explaining why you merit tenure and how the documents you submit are illustrative of your growth and achievement (THIS YEAR - we will add more later); (2) samples of student work (with feedback that shows how students used your feedback to improve performance; (3) complete UAI Pacing Calendar with linked samples of Narrative Lesson Plans and all Units are Linked.
• Everyone else?  You will have the same reflection question:  Do your lesson plans result in positive student outcomes? How do you know? Why or why not? - most importantly, how do you plan to show Kiri/Annie your progress through planning documents and student work? 

SEL Update

Week of January 8

UAI Staff News

Volume V

Issue 18

January 8th, 2018

[School Days 78-82]

Announcements

Lady Eagles Victory!  This past Friday, the Lady Eagles emerged victorious in their win over Uncommon Charter bringing their record to 8-1.  Now in 2nd place in the division, the Lady Eagles are having another fantastic season and are looking ahead towards the playoffs.  If you missed Friday's game, the Adams Campus Lady Eagles are at home again on Monday.  Pop up to the gym after PD on Monday to show your support!
There are only four home games left to the regular season:  (1) Monday 08JAN18, (2) Friday 12JAN18, (3) Wednesday 17JAN18, (4) Wednesday 07FEB18.  So, come support our team and show that UAI spirit!

Snow Day and a Cold Day.  Last week had our first snow day of the year, followed by a record low attendance due to the cold weather.  Both staff and students were absent in large numbers last Friday.  With only a few days left in the Fall term, each day becomes very precious for staff and students alike.  Students who have passing grades at the end of the Fall term earn their credits for the fall.  Failing students will have a second chance to get fall credits if they pass by June, but passing now secures those credits.  Please stress attendance and hard work in these final days of the term so that students finish at their strongest point!

This Week's To Dos

Monday PD.  This Monday is the only Monday PD we have this month.  Next Monday is MLK Jr. Day, and the following Monday we'll be using for Regents Preparation.  So, we're going to use this Monday for PLOPs. Please bring your computers to room 409.  Brodie and Joanna will be on hand to provide PLOP writing support during the Monday's PD.   

• 6th Grade:  Nezaie Lundy [28JAN18] and Lyric Williams [06APR18]
• 7th Grade:  Zekiah Robinson [28MAR18]
• 8th Grade:  Dalia Ali [01FEB18] and Lauren Harvey [15MAR18]
• 9th Grade:  Rebecca Sanchez [8APR18] Rose Ali [28APR18]
• 10th Grade: Charlize Jackson [21JAN18], Deasia Davis [11FEB18], and Aliyah Burnett [24MAR18]
• 11th Grade:  Ayanna Brown [24MAR18]
• 12th Grade:  9th, 10th, and 11th Grade teachers who teach the following seniors, should also complete PLOPs for:  Tiarra Dantzler [17FEB18], Jade Nijia McLean [17MAR18], Destiny Williams [17MAR18], Katelynn Rodriquez [23MAR18], 

[REMINDER] Prepare for Upcoming Midyear Reviews.  Reviews will begin next week!  As a reminder, please reflect on the following.  Please bring the blue items with you for the review.

• Focus School Goal.  Our main priority goal this year is to increase instructional rigor and student intellectual engagement [Rigorous Instruction & Collaborative Teachers].  To achieve this, we have focused on through improved planning & assessment.  Between now, and your midyear review, reflect on  your progress with the following:

• Improvement in Planning (e.g. UAI Pacing Calendar, Narrative Lesson Plans, Backwards-Designed Unit Plans)
• Impact on Student Learning (e.g. samples of Student Work with your feedback, Student achievement (analysis of student grades in course or performance on tests/benchmarks), Student Academic Growth)
• Growth in Co-planning with Peer Teachers/Coaches (e.g. quality of planning, quality of lesson execution (Advance Observations) impact on student learning, outcomes of co-planning survey - please click the link to take it now) 

• Second School Goal.  The second goal that we will discuss during midyears is our school goal around increasing Strong Family Ties.  Our goal is to increase strong family community ties by increasing both quantity and quality of in-person and phone interactions between teachers and families.  This year, each student in your advisory should have had at least 4 interactions and at least 1 in person, all documented in Skedula:  1 welcome to UAI phone call in September; at least 1 in-person visit during MP1, MP2, or SLCs; and at least 2 10-15 minute phone calls for MP1, MP2, or SLC.   Specifically, review and reflect on the following data points:
• Number of successful contacts (in person and phone) per advisee (as evidenced by Skedula anecdotals) 
• Growth Advisee attendance rates from September (you can see this in Skedula)
• Academic Performance of Advisees from MP1 to MP2 (again Skedula)

• Midyear Reflection and Refocus. The Midyear is your opportunity to stop, review your various data points, and reflect on your growth and development.  As teachers, we often get too wrapped up in keeping students doing and busy and we don't make the time to step back and evaluate longer-term progress as shown through student thinking and achievement.  This is one of the big times in the year to take stock of our work thus far.  Where we are strong, we will continue. Where we struggle, we will analyze and refocus spring goals for growth.  Here are some logistical things to keep in mind
• First Year at UAI?  Teachers who are in their first year at UAI or are up for tenure can expect to be scheduled first for their reviews (schedule will be released next week).   More explicit details on the Midyear will come in next week's blog.  For this week, look back at your planning documents and reflect on your student outcomes (Do your lesson plans result in positive student outcomes? How do you know? Why or why not?)
• Are you up for Tenure this year?  Teachers who are coming up for tenure are required to submit a formal portfolio of any of the documents or data points listed above.  These will become part of their final portfolio of work to be submitted for tenure recommendation.  The portfolio consists of three parts (1) a letter explaining why you merit tenure and how the documents you submit are illustrative of your growth and achievement (THIS YEAR - we will add more later); (2) samples of student work (with feedback that shows how students used your feedback to improve performance; (3) complete UAI Pacing Calendar with linked samples of Narrative Lesson Plans and all Units are Linked.
• Everyone else?  You will have the same reflection question:  Do your lesson plans result in positive student outcomes? How do you know? Why or why not? - most importantly, how do you plan to show Kiri/Annie your progress through planning documents and student work? 

SEL Update

Growth Mindset and Grit.  6th and 9th grade SEL students have wrapped up their unit on bullying and drama and are now in full swing with their unit on academic skills. This unit will be focused on topics such as growth vs. fixed mindset, Grit, the best ways to prepare for tests, and how to approach their teachers when they find they are having an issue. Students have even started examining the concrete value of education- that is, the money and freedoms they can earn with each higher educational degree that they acquire.

Setting Goals.  Since goal-directed behavior came out of our preliminary DESSA findings as a school-wide area of need, SEL classes have delved deeper into the idea of goal setting and action planning. They set goals and action plans for 3 fictional characters who were each struggling in their classes for different reasons. To continue improving the girls' ability to action plan for themselves, we encourage you to try to complete this conference sheet with your advisees when conferencing during Tuesday outreach time, even if your advisees are not in the 6th or 9th grades. We are hopeful that by the next round of DESSA, our data for goal-directed behavior will improve.  Our next round of DESSA will be during Monday PD on 05FEB18.

Week of January 1st

UAI Staff News

Volume V

Issue 17

January 2nd, 2018

[School Days 74-77]

Announcements

Happy New Year!  Welcome back from the holiday break!  Hopefully, everyone made the time to relax and recharge over the break.  As we jump back into the flow on Tuesday, we will be wrapping up the final days of the fall term - marking the midway point of the year already!  Despite the roller coaster that the world experienced in 2017, UAI had a strong year.  2018 is shaping up even stronger.  Classroom planning and instruction are stronger than it has ever been across grades and classes.  Classroom removals are at all-time lows, reflecting the strength of positive learning environments.  These are both results of everyone's hard work and dedication towards continually pushing towards the highest possible quality lessons and experiences for our students!  Let's keep pushing and make 2018 the best year for UAI yet!

Winter Field Trips.  The last week before the break had a lot of different trips for the high school.  Many thanks to the teams that organized these wonderful experiences for our girls, and to Mr. Brodie who provided the teams with loads of support to make it all work!

Lady Eagle Home Game.  This Friday is the next home game for our Adams Campus Lady Eagles basketball team.  Our young athletes are currently undefeated this season.  So, come show your support this Friday by coming to the game.  It's at 4:30PM and in our gym.  Hope to see you there!

This Week's To Dos

[REMINDER] Prepare for Upcoming Midyear Reviews.  Reviews will begin next week!  As a reminder, please reflect on the following.  Please bring the blue items with you for the review.

• Focus School Goal.  Our main priority goal this year is to increase instructional rigor and student intellectual engagement [Rigorous Instruction & Collaborative Teachers].  To achieve this, we have focused on through improved planning & assessment.  Between now, and your midyear review, reflect on  your progress with the following:

• Improvement in Planning (e.g. UAI Pacing Calendar, Narrative Lesson Plans, Backwards-Designed Unit Plans)
• Impact on Student Learning (e.g. samples of Student Work with your feedback, Student achievement (analysis of student grades in course or performance on tests/benchmarks), Student Academic Growth)
• Growth in Co-planning with Peer Teachers/Coaches (e.g. quality of planning, quality of lesson execution (Advance Observations) impact on student learning, outcomes of co-planning survey - please click the link to take it now) 

• Second School Goal.  The second goal that we will discuss during midyears is our school goal around increasing Strong Family Ties.  Our goal is to increase strong family community ties by increasing both quantity and quality of in-person and phone interactions between teachers and families.  This year, each student in your advisory should have had at least 4 interactions and at least 1 in person, all documented in Skedula:  1 welcome to UAI phone call in September; at least 1 in-person visit during MP1, MP2, or SLCs; and at least 2 10-15 minute phone calls for MP1, MP2, or SLC.   Specifically, review and reflect on the following data points:
• Number of successful contacts (in person and phone) per advisee (as evidenced by Skedula anecdotals) 
• Growth Advisee attendance rates from September (you can see this in Skedula)
• Academic Performance of Advisees from MP1 to MP2 (again Skedula)

• Midyear Reflection and Refocus. The Midyear is your opportunity to stop, review your various data points, and reflect on your growth and development.  As teachers, we often get too wrapped up in keeping students doing and busy and we don't make the time to step back and evaluate longer-term progress as shown through student thinking and achievement.  This is one of the big times in the year to take stock of our work thus far.  Where we are strong, we will continue. Where we struggle, we will analyze and refocus spring goals for growth.  Here are some logistical things to keep in mind
• First Year at UAI?  Teachers who are in their first year at UAI or are up for tenure can expect to be scheduled first for their reviews (schedule will be released next week).   More explicit details on the Midyear will come in next week's blog.  For this week, look back at your planning documents and reflect on your student outcomes (Do your lesson plans result in positive student outcomes? How do you know? Why or why not?)
• Are you up for Tenure this year?  Teachers who are coming up for tenure are required to submit a formal portfolio of any of the documents or data points listed above.  These will become part of their final portfolio of work to be submitted for tenure recommendation.  The portfolio consists of three parts (1) a letter explaining why you merit tenure and how the documents you submit are illustrative of your growth and achievement (THIS YEAR - we will add more later); (2) samples of student work (with feedback that shows how students used your feedback to improve performance; (3) complete UAI Pacing Calendar with linked samples of Narrative Lesson Plans and all Units are Linked.
• Everyone else?  You will have the same reflection question:  Do your lesson plans result in positive student outcomes? How do you know? Why or why not? - most importantly, how do you plan to show Kiri/Annie your progress through planning documents and student work?