Week of February 26th

UAI Staff News

Volume V

Issue 24

February 26th, 2018

[School Days 106-110]

Announcements

Welcome Back.   Welcome back from the midwinter recess!  I do hope that you all found time to recharge and are ready to take on the rest of the spring term!  With Spring just around the corner, now is the time where we need to double down and increase our focus and commitment.  We have 22 instructional days between now and Spring Break, and our number one goal is to make sure each of these 22 lessons is crafted to maximize students learning. 

To support you in this, Monday PDs in March will be targeted at lesson planning and preparation.  In particular, each Monday, you will be working with your planning partners to (1) Lesson Plan and Link to Pacing Calendars and/or (2) Lesson Rehearse and practice delivery.  Quality preparation and planning is the key to strong classrooms and even stronger management. 

• 26FEB18 - Using Narrative Lesson Plans to improve Co-planning and Co-teaching
• 05MAR18 - Using High-Quality Look-Fors to Improve Lesson and Assessment Quality
• 12MAR18 - Leveraging Student Reading, Writing, and Speaking to Scaffold Learning
• 19MAR18 - NYC School Survey for Teachers
• 26MAR18 - Looking at Student Work to Evaluate Lesson Efficacy

Lady Eagles Soar!.  After an amazing victory just before the break, ur Lady Eagles are advancing to the next round in the playoffs and have their next game vs. Jamaica (14) on Tuesday 27FEB18 at 5PM in the UAI Gym.  Our young women get a lot of support and play better when we support them. Please announce the game in your classes and please try to join and cheer them on to another victory!

Girls Inc Winterfest Black History Month.  Our annual Winterfest has been rescheduled for Wednesday, 28FEB18 at 6PM.  While you schedule SLCs during family outreach time this week (see below) please also invite families to attend our Black History Month Winterfest sponsored by Girls Inc.

Benchmarks and SLCs.  Next Thursday and Friday are Benchmarks and Student Led Conferences.  Please use your outreach time tomorrow to schedule Student Led Conferences and record the date and time of the conference IN THIS SHEET.  These are the lists from the fall, so it's likely that your lists may be inaccurate.  Please correct them if you find an error.  If you are unable to successfully schedule parents, pull your advisees during your professional periods this week to have them call home to schedule the conference with you.  All SLCs must be scheduled by the end of the day on Thursday, 01MAR18. 



Parent Outreach This Month.  As we lead up to Student-Led Conferences and the end of the 4th marking period, parent outreach is particularly critical for this month.  This is the key point of the year where kids with family and teacher support can really push themselves to grow more and/or make the turn to overcome any failures that they may have encountered in the past.  Our new Tuesday Call Log tracker will help us track our success this month.  The goal for March is to reach 100% of our advisees.  In addition to scheduling SLCs, please reach out to invite parents to the following upcoming events

• Family Fridays - We are relaunching our Family Fridays program.  The 2nd Friday of each month, families are invited to join their child in class for first period!  This is chance for parents to connect with the school and learn more about our classroom instruction.  There will also be coffee and donuts!  Parents who are interested in attending should contact Mr. Brodie.  The first Family Friday is Friday, March 9th.  The next one will be on Friday, April 13th.  If parents can't make the Family Fridays, they are welcome to come visit classes anytime.  Just have them reach out to Mr. Brodie to schedule.
  
• UAI Spring Family Dinner - It's time for the NYC School Survey.  Last year, we had 47% of our parents respond to the survey.  This year, we are aiming to double that and reach 84%! We need your help to get us there.  As you schedule parents for SLCs and do family outreach this month, please invite parents to a dinner we are hosting for parents to join us, learn more about how our school is doing (school performance and data), get more exposure to how their children are performing (sample lessons and activities), and honor our young scholars (students of the month, honor roll, attendance).   Dinner will be provided for our students and families (RSVPs are required).  Please record your advisee's RSVPs in this document (click on the tab "UAI Spring Family Dinner").  The UAI Spring Family Dinner will be on our next PTA meeting date, Tuesday 13MAR18 at 5:30PM.  Please tell families that in order to reserve a meal, we need to have an RSVP.