Week of April 29th

UAI Staff News

Volume VI

Issue 33

April 29th, 2019

(29 Instructional Days Remaining)

Announcements

Washington DC.  Just before the break, Kelly, Danielle, and Judy took a group of juniors (with a smattering of seniors and sophomores) o a trip to DC.  The group got to visit a wide variety of sites and engaged in a lot of different learning opportunities in our nation's capital.  Getting out of the city to experience the larger world is such an essential piece of helping our students grow.  Many thanks to Kelly for planning and coordinating such an amazing opportunity for our young women.

Ishrat impresses Generation Citizen. Class of 2020 Ishrat Jahan was asked by Generation Citizen to be on a panel with Brooklyn Borough President, Eric Adams, and the CEO of Generation Citizen, Scott Warren during the break for a small event for their donors and Board. She answered questions from Scott and the audience and spoke passionately about the importance of youth participation in politics while also educating the panel about why young people often feel disenfranchised in our political system.  Almost every person in attendance expressed how impressed they were with Ishrat’s passion and engagement and commended UAI for helping develop her voice and confidence. The GC staff even approached Ishrat about applying to be on their Board of Directors when she turns 18. 

Facing History Grant Winners.  Natalie, Joey, Rebecca, and Kelly applied to Facing History for their In-Depth Grant and won!  Facing History is an educational support organization that provides resources and professional development for schools and teachers as they work to make history come alive for their students and develop their moral responsibility as citizens in our global culture.  This grant provides our teachers with both resources and PD opportunities to help our UAI teachers!  Great work team!

Our very own LINCT Presenter.  Nina was selected to present at the First Annual LINCT Exhibition for Teaching and Learning.  At the Inaugural LINCT Exhibition, educators and students across their 92 partner schools will showcase their work, and our very own Ms. Nina will be one of them!  LINCT (Lessons in Navigating College Transition) provides curriculum and professional development support for our 11th and 12th grade Math & ELA teachers to help our students be college ready.

Welcome Back Val! Val Binyard has been on leave since October 2017.  She is returning to UAI on Monday!  As an assistant principal, Ms. Val will be supporting our discipline team, providing teacher supervision support, and providing instruction for our self-contained students in the middle school.  We welcome you back Ms. Val!!  We'll introduce her to everyone during PD after school.

Staff Out This Week

• Monday 29APR:  
• No One

• Tuesday 30APR: 
• No One

• Wednesday 01MAY: NYS MS Math Exam, MP5 Grades are Due
• No One 

• Thursday 02MAY: NYS MS Math Exam  
• No One 

• Friday  03MAY: MP5 Report Cards Distributed, 7th Grade Trip
• Kristi - Personal Business

To Do This Week

Monday PD.  This Monday will be our next session on understanding bias in our classrooms.  We will be continuing the work we started before break.  We'll all meet together in 409 at 3PM. Here's the plan.  For this Monday, we'll begin by reading the chapter I gave you last Monday on "Warm Demanders" from Delpit's Multiplication is for White People.   You'll have time to refresh your thinking about the chapter as we use a protocol to structure our discussion of the text.

• Monday, 29APR19.   Strategies to Limit the Impact of Bias in the Classroom
• Monday, 06MAY19.  Monthly Grade Team Meetings and Planning for May 9th Conferences
• Monday, 13MAY19.  Planning to Limit the Impact of Bias in Our Classrooms Part I
• Monday, 20MAY19.  Planning to Limit the Impact of Bias in Our Classrooms Part II

Tuesday Outreach.  As a reminder, May 9th is our next parent conference.  That conference will be focused on meeting with students who are failing as of MP5.  MP5 ended before the break and grades are due on Wednesday at 3PM.  Report cards will be distributed during last period on Friday, 03MAY19.   Please use Tuesday time to contact any and all students who are currently failing your class.  Please use prep time this week to update Skedula so that families and students have access to their performance data in your classes.  When you contact home, here are some points to address with their families:

• How is there attendance to class?
• How well are they participating in class, what can be improved?
• How well are they performing on class assessments?  What can families do to help?
• How well are they doing on class assignments?  What can families do to help?

As a reminder,  for Promotion In Doubt records, we need to document our interventions.  Your contact home is part of that intervention.  Please make sure to enter your outreach into Skedula.  

Final Parent Conferences Thursday, May 9th.  This final parent conference session will be structured like traditional parent conferences with teachers meeting with their classroom students (rather than their advisees).   Advisors and classroom teachers have been reaching out to families of parents who are failing classes, and we will be sending home targeted messages based on MP5 grades.  Please make sure you are prepared to hold meetings with students and their families to explain how students have progressed through the year, and what families can do to intervene and support student learning in this last marking period. 

Student Support Services Update

No updates this week!

 

Week of April 15th

UAI Staff News

Volume VI

Issue 32

April 15th, 2019

(31 Instructional Days Remaining)

Announcements

Deputy Superintendent Visit.  Our visit with Deputy Superintendent Debbie Afanadour was a good one!  While we didn't get any specific feedback, yet, she was generally impressed with our classroom practice, our school community, and our growth and achievement.  The work we are doing around bias was particularly aligned to the goals of our Affinity Superintendency.  Being able to share the work we've done all year around this was a particular high point.  One particular piece of feedback that she left with us was how impressed she was with the teacher team meeting with Zach, Suzannah, and Kelly.  They did an amazing job showing how we think about and approach lesson planning.  Many thanks to all we visited (I'll be sharing individual feedback with you guys in emails)!  Many thanks to everyone who put their best on display for that day!

Spring Break is Almost Here.  By Thursday, we will have completed 40 uninterrupted days of instruction!  It was a long 8 weeks, but we did it!!  When we return from break, May will be upon us, and before you know it, we'll be out for summer!  This Thursday we will be doing a rapid dismissal at 2:20PM.  There will be no after school on Thursday.

Staff Out This Week

• Monday 15APR:  
• No One

• Tuesday 16APR: 
• Kiri Out - UA Principals' Meeting

• Wednesday 17APR:  
• Danielle Ro, Kelly P, and Judy - Trip to DC
• Brodie leaves early - LEAP PD
• Jennifer JR out - personal business

• Thursday 18APR: 
• No One

To Do This Week

Monday PD.  This Monday will be our next session on understanding bias in our classrooms.  We will be continuing the work we started last Monday, integrating the feedback we got from folks to incorporate more time for discussion.  We'll all meet together in 409 at 3PM. Here's the plan

• Monday, 15APR19.  Understanding the Impact of Our Biases in Our Classrooms
• Monday, 29APR19.   Strategies to Limit the Impact of Bias in the Classroom
• Monday, 06MAY19.  Monthly Grade Team Meetings and Planning for May 9th Conferences
• Monday, 13MAY19.  Planning to Limit the Impact of Bias in Our Classrooms Part I
• Monday, 20MAY19.  Planning to Limit the Impact of Bias in Our Classrooms Part II

Tuesday Outreach.  May 9th is our next parent conference.  That conference will be focused on meeting with students who are failing as of MP5.  MP5 ends on Thursday, and report cards will be due the Wednesday we return.  Please use Tuesday time to contact any students that are currently failing your class.  Please use prep time this week to update Skedula so that families and students have access to their performance data in your classes.  When you contact home, here are some points to address with their families:

• How is there attendance to class?
• How well are they participating in class, what can be improved?
• How well are they performing on class assessments?  What can families do to help?
• How well are they doing on class assignments?  What can families to do help?

As a reminder,  for Promotion In Doubt records, we need to document our interventions.  Your contact home is part of that intervention.  Please make sure to enter your outreach into Skedula.  

Student Support Services Update

 

Week of April 8th

UAI Staff News

Volume VI

Issue 31

April 8th, 2019

(36 Instructional Days Remaining)

Announcements

Next Superintendent Visit.  Our next MPPR Superintendent Visit is on Wednesday, April 10th.  Debbie Afanadour is our new Deputy Superintendent (Richie became Superintendent himself last year).  This will be Deb's very first visit to UAI, so we definitely want to show our best.  For Wednesday, please

• Plan Student Look Fors.  Prepare a narrative lesson plan that highlights your best work in preparing for and demonstrating your own thinking around student thinking.  At this point in the year, the graphic organizers and worksheets aimed at supporting student thinking should be minimal and almost gone.  Let the student thinking shine on Wednesday
• Leverage Student Discourse:  Turn and talks and think pair shares maximize student participation in class discussions.  Use prompts that require discussion, not prompts that ask kids to identify facts.
• Make students Apply New Knowledge to Learn it:  For Wednesday, structure your lesson to maximize thinking time.  Increase the amount of time students have to apply factual understanding. For example, plan to have them actively use their own individual thinking to understand a text to learn (take two minutes to read an annotate this text) new information.  Then use a think pair share to have them apply it to expanding new thinking. 

• Plan Intentional Circulation. Be intentional about your circulation (who are you going to first and later and why).  Also plan your feedback to students as you go.  Before you send them to work, tell them what you are going to be looking for as you circulate and tell them what your expectations are for high-level thinking.  Your feedback then should be targeted at supporting them to get to that level of thinking.  

Last Push for Parent Surveys.   This is the last week for the surveys!  If you haven't done so already, talk to your advisees in class and get them to bring their parent's survey in to school!  We're still pushing to get to at least 60% response rate.  Big shout out to Tiffany who has been sharing her family's submission rates!  Thank you, Tiffany.  If anyone else has success, please do share.

Penultimate Marking Period.  We are into the 5th marking period which ends on April 18th.  With the change of SLC, this made the 5th MP short (just 19 days).  Grades will be due Wednesday, May 1st.  Report cards will be distributed to students on Friday, May 3rd.  The May 9th Evening Parent Conferences will be prioritized for students who fail a 5th MP class.  The year is rapidly coming to an end, and that is simultaneously exciting and stressful!  Here's the breakdown:

•  9 instructional days until Spring Break
• 11 instructional days until the NYS Middle School Math Exams
• 16 instructional days until Mock Regents (all kids in regents classes sit for Mock Regents)
• 30 instructional days until the June 3rd New Global Regents Exam
• 35 instructional days until High School Final Exams
• 36 instructional days until June Regents Week begins
• 38 instructional days until Middle School Final Exams
• 40 instructional days until 8th Grade Stepping Up
• 41 instructional days until High School Graduation and the Last Day of School

Staff Out This Week

• Monday 08APR:  
• No One

• Tuesday 09APR: 
• No One

• Wednesday 10APR:  Superintendent Visit
• No One

• Thursday 11APR: 11th Grade College Overnight Trip
• Doris & Danielle out - 11th Grade College Trip
• Brenda out - personal business
• Joanna out - personal business

• Friday 12APR: School Assembly last period
• No One

To Do This Week

Monday PD.  This Monday we will be kicking off our UAI series of PDs on continuing the work we started this year around uncovering bias.  Inspired by the Perception Institute and Paul Forbes, the PD committee has been working on Fridays to select texts and plan experiences to take the next step into uncovering our own biases.  We'll all meet together in 409 at 3PM. Here's the plan

• Monday, 08APR19.  Uncovering Our Own Biases
• Monday, 15APR19.  Understanding the Impact of Our Biases in Our Classrooms
• Monday, 29APR19.   Strategies to Limit the Impact of Bias in the Classroom
• Monday, 06MAY19.  Monthly Grade Team Meetings and Planning for May 9th Conferences
• Monday, 13MAY19.  Planning to Limit the Impact of Bias in Our Classrooms Part I
• Monday, 20MAY19.  Planning to Limit the Impact of Bias in Our Classrooms Part II

Tuesday Outreach. All classroom teachers should be reaching out to families of any student who is failing their class every week from now until the end of the year.  This is a shift from advisor outreach and a shift to classroom teacher in preparation for the May 9th Parent Conferences (which concentrate on failing students, not SLCs).  This weekly outreach should be updates on student progress.

• How is there attendance to class?
• How well are they participating in class, what can be improved?
• How well are they performing on class assessments?  What can families do to help?
• How well are they doing on class assignments?  What can families to do help?

As part of our Promotion In Doubt due diligence, we need to document our interventions.  Your contact home is part of that intervention.  Please make sure to enter your outreach into Skedula.  

Student Support Services Update

 

Week of April 1st

UAI Staff News

Volume VI

Issue 30

April 1st, 2019

(46 Instructional Days Remaining)

Announcements

Sci-Ed Expo.  This weekend Ms. Nina took a group of students to show off their scientific prowess at the Sci-Ed Expo. Nina is a current Sci-Ed Innovation fellow and this amazing fellowship not only provides her with on-going professional development, networking, and new experiences, but it also provides our students with opportunities like this Sci-Ed Expo to connect to other teens who love math and science.  Thank you Ms. Nina for all you do!

PSAT/SAT and Field Trips.  Many thanks to all the staff who emptied out our high school so that the 10th and 11th grade could take their P/SATs in calm and quiet settings.  Many great shout outs and applause go to Ms. Joanna who executed BOTH P/SATs and HS Benchmarks with her typical smooth, professional, and seamless skill!

Photo Credit:  Ms. Rebecca F with students at the Met

NYS Middle School Exams.  Our Middle School State Exams are on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.  Please limit HS bathroom breaks in the morning to limit traffic on the 3rd floor.  MS teachers will meet with Ms. Joanna to review the schedule on Monday during PD.

Staff Out This Week

• Monday 01APR:  
• Jamie out - LINCT Prof. Development
• Meaghan leave early - personal business

• Tuesday 02APR: NYS ELA Exam
• Nina out - LINCT Prof. Development

• Wednesday 03APR:  NYS ELA Exam
• Joey & Tiffany out - LINCT Prof. Development

• Thursday 04APR: 
• Cherry out - personal business
• Megan out - AP Bio Prof Development

• Friday 05APR: 
• Cherry out - personal business
• Damon out - personal business
• Kelly leaving early - personal business

To Do This Week

Monday PD.  Monday is the first Monday of the month, so we'll all meet in 409 for Grade Team meetings to review MS testing and/or complete grading for HS benchmarks.

Tuesday Outreach. There are only two marking periods and 46 instructional days remaining in the year.  Please review the report cards of your advisees and create a watch list of students who failed 1 or more core content courses (ELA, Math, Social Studies, or Science) this past marking period.  These are the students you should be prioritizing for contact each week from here until the end of the year.  Please also make sure to enter the outcomes of your contact with these students into Skedula as that will serve as one piece of evidence of intervention and support on the schools' part.  Classroom teachers, you should also be making weekly contact to all students who failed MP4 (emailing parents updates is fine).  Communication is key to intervention.  We need families to be our partners and help us keep our students on the path to success!

SLC Outcomes.  Here are our outcomes for the Spring Student Led Conferences.  Many congrats and thanks to the teachers in blue who were able to schedule and complete the most conferences in their grade.  Parent engagement with our students' learning is critical to our students' academic achievement.  Teachers play a pivotal role in that relationship.  Thank you for reaching out and making these conferences happen!

Survey Deadline Extended to April 11th.  We are short of our parent survey percentage goals. Last year we had 57% of our families complete and the year before we were at 60%.  Currently, we're only at 43%.  To reach our goal of at least 60%, we need each advisor to get 3 more surveys from their advisees.  Please check the SLC appointment document to see which of your advisees have yet to turn in their survey.

Student Support Services Update

 

Week of March 25th

UAI Staff News

Volume VI

Issue 29

March 25th, 2019

(51 Instructional Days Remaining)

Announcements

The last week of March is here! The first full official day of Spring was last Thursday and this week is the last week in March.  April is close which means our April break a few short weeks away.  Monday is the start of our 2nd to the last marking period of the year, and next week.  Our Middle Schoolers sit down to take the New York State ELA exam next week, and our High Schoolers are taking the SAT and PSAT on Wednesday.  The end of the year is fast approaching!  Before we know it we'll be sitting in front of the stage celebrating our 8th and 12th graders as they move on to their next life chapters!  So, while March may be wearing you down, don't get too tired.  Spring is springing and summer is just around the corner!  

Staff Out This Week

• Monday 25Mar:  
• Annie out - bereavement
• Laura out - personal day

• Tuesday 26Mar:
• Annie out - bereavement
• Zach out - personal day
• Nancy out - professional development
• Christina out - professional development 

• Wednesday 27Mar:  P/SAT Day
• Jennifer JR leaving early - personal business

• Thursday 28Mar: Evening SLCs
• no scheduled absences

• Friday 29Mar: Afternoon SLCs
• no scheduled absences

To Do This Week

Monday PD.  Now that Jen was able to get Yoga rescheduled from our March 4th Snow Day, PD assignments for Monday have shifted.  Please click HERE and check the 2nd tab, "March Assignments" to see what your assignment is for Monday.  We will be celebrating our end of March Not Madness PD series on Friday at 3:30PM with another staff hang out at the Randolph Pub. 

SLCs and Assessments.  Reach out to families to remind them about SLCs, P/SAT Wednesday, HS Benchmarks and next week's Middle School exams.  We also need to complete parent surveys during SLCs.  We need to prioritize in-person conferences for this reason.  For those families requesting phone conferences please give them the survey code (see the SLC appointment sheet) and have them send you a screenshot showing they completed the survey so we can enter them into a raffle to win a $50 Amazon gift card.   During SLCs, we will be asking families to complete the survey prior to reporting to your appointment.  If you have updates to SLCs,  please update the SLC appointment document.

Student Support Services Update

 

Week of March 18

UAI Staff News

Volume VI

Issue 28

March 18th, 2019

(56 Instructional Days Remaining)

Announcements

Congratulations to the Adams Street Lady Eagles! After a hard-fought and well-played season, our very own Adams Campus Lady Eagles finished 2nd in the Division B bracket of the Girls Varsity PSAL Basketball League!  While they were not victorious in the final, their grit and passion showed throughout the entire game.  Give a big shout out to our basketball players in class and in the halls when you see them this week.  They have earned our recognition and accolades!  Many congrats also go to Coach Elana, and her assistant coaches Damon & Nora for pushing and supporting our girls to this amazing accomplishment.

• Class of 2019:  Ayanna Brown and Deshawna Carter
• Class of 2020:  Jasmine David, Marleen Orelien, and Paige Thompson
• Class of 2021:  Teagan Crisamore
• Class of 2022:  Ja Shae McLean
• Also many shout outs to our  SLJ teammates:  Olayinka Ajayi, Hailey Galvin, Kaitlin Isaacs, Ashante Jones, Ashanti Luckie, and Yasheba Peace

Check out the MANY shout outs in Jen's Update below! Last week was a big week as we continued our celebration of Women's History Month.  Jen and the team put together an amazing Awards Night to celebrate the accomplishments of our own young women.  Also, Mr. Tom & Ms. Suzannah helped our seniors organize another walk out - this time demanding that we protect and care for our planet.  Be sure to scroll down to read more!

Staff Out This Week

• Monday 18Mar:  
• Kiri, Annie, and Jen will be leaving early on Monday 18MAR and out Tuesday 19MAR where they will be presenting UAI's work in SEL at the 2019 ASEL conference in Albany NY
• Tuesday 19Mar:
• Kristi Out - personal business
• Rebecca C Leaves Early - Prof Dev 
• Wednesday 20Mar: 
• Kiri and Brodie will be out on Wednesday 20MAR for a LEAP meeting.
• Kristi Out - personal business
• Nadine Out - prof dev.
• Thursday 22Mar:
• Suzannah Out - Personal Business

To Do This Week

Monday PD.  There have been some minor adjustments to the PD assignments for Monday.  Those of you who were originally assigned to Survey Focus group have been reassigned to collaborative planning (because Annie & I need to leave early on Monday with Jen to get up to Albany for the ASEL conference).  We'll catch folks up on the Survey Focus group either next PD or the Monday after.  Please click HERE and check the 2nd tab, "March Assignments" to see what your assignment is for Monday. Many thanks to all who made it out for the "Pinots" on Friday.  For those who didn't, we'll do another one on March 30th!  With games, good food and nice drinks - I think we may have found a new UAI hangout!

Tuesday Outreach. 

• Marking Period 4 ends on Friday (I know, right?).  All teachers must call the homes of ALL students who are currently failing your class.  It's important that we have an open line of communication with the home to create a team between school and home that can intervene against failure.  Please indicate in Skedula your contact and outcome of the conversation.  Conversational Contact MUST be made for MP4 failures (so please no texts or emails - this kind of news requires explanations, goal setting, and giving ideas for parents to support at home). If you cannot contact the home, please see Brodie,  Jen, Annie, or myself for support.  

• SLCs and HS Benchmarks are next Thursday and Friday.  Some MS teachers have expressed concern of loss of additional class time given that they already had half days for their benchmarks and the state exams are fast arriving.  So I'm making the executive decision that MS will have a full day of classes during HS benchmarks next week.  HS students will have their usual benchmark schedule.  All teachers need to finish scheduling parents for SLC by the end of this week.  Please update the SLC appointment document.

Women's History Month Career Day.  On Monday, 18MAR19, we will be having a School Wide Career day where women from a wide variety of careers and experience will talk with our students.  The event is slated for 1st and 2nd period on Monday.  Please refer to the schedule and reach out to Jen with any questions you may have!  We will resume normal school schedule at 3rd period.

Student Support Services Update

 

Week of March 11th

UAI Staff News

Volume VI

Issue 27

March 4th, 2019

(61 instructional days remaining)

Announcements

Congratulations to Coach Elana and the Lady Eagles!  This Sunday at York College, our very own Adams Campus Lady Eagles claimed a beautiful and well-earned victory over Bedford Academy.  Our Lady Eagles are now moving on to the FINALS.  This is the first time that they have every made it this far, and if they win the finals on Saturday, 16MAR10 (at LIU - time TBD), we will be the champions!

Pi Day for Prospective Students.  Jen and the counseling team put together a fantastic Pi Day event designed to encourage prospective students to commit to UAI for the fall.  The cafeteria was booming with lots of activities, and both families and prospective students were excited to join the fun!  It was a fabulous event that was capped with ice cream and toppings.  Well done Jen and team!!

Actual UAI Pi Day is this Thursday, and students will be celebrating in their math classes with their math teachers.  To spread the Pi Day Love, on Thursday, find ways to weave in math and Pi into your own lessons for the day!


Staff Out This Week. Here's this week's staff out calendar

• [1] Monday 11MAR19
• Professional Development:  Jamie @ LINCT PD
• [4] Tuesday 12MAR19
• Professional Development:  Nina @LINCT PD; Marsha & Sarah w/ Kiri PD 11-1
• Personal Business:  Rebecca our 1st -3rd period
• [1] Wednesday 13MAR19
• Professional Development:  Joanna @ IEP Teacher PD
• [3] Thursday 14MAR19
• Professional Development:  Tiffany & Joey @ LINCT PD; Nancy at Secretary PD
• [0] Friday 15MAR19
• Nobody Out

To Do This Week

Sign up to see Planning and Circulation in Science.  Marsha, Megan, and Meaghan will be hosting a visit to a science classroom to see how Megan and Meaghan are implementing what they've learned from our lesson planning and circulation PDs this year.  We'll be visiting their class on Tuesday 12MAR19 at 1PM.  If you are interested, please email Kiri or Annie.  If you need coverage just let us know and we will arrange it!

Classroom Walkthroughs.  Over the next couple of weeks, Annie & I will be conducting periodic walkthroughs to assess check in on classroom practice for the school.   These walkthroughs will not evaluative.  The walkthroughs will be short and it will not be unusual to see us multiple days in a row or multiple periods in a day.   Our Classroom Observations will continue as usual as we wrap up the final observations for folks.  We are looking at student thinking and teacher circulation (and feedback to students).  We're looking to see how much of our PD from our workshop on planning for thinking (Election Day PD) and teacher circulation and feedback (January PD) is taking root across the school. 

Monday PD.  March NOT Madness Begins!  Monday marks the start of our March NOT Madness series of Mindfulness and Wellbeing.  Each Monday, we will still begin together in 409 each week to revel in my rendition of the spoken word version of the blog.  Please make sure to be prompt at 3PM, so that we can start on time and move quickly into our planned workshops for that Monday.  This Monday's assignments are:

• Aroma Therapy w/Vanessa.  The snow day put a little snafu in our yoga okabsm byt Aroma Therapy is stll a go in room 409.  [98] Teachers Assigned are:  Phillan, Jamie, Kelly, Danielle R., Tracy, Rebecca C, Christina, and Nadine

• Bulletin Board Updates.  This session provides teachers the time to update the bulletin boards in the halls and classrooms in preparation for Student Led Conferences at the end of the month and in celebration of Women's History Month.  [4] Teachers Assigned are:  Giselle, Judy, Kristina, and Nina

• Co-Planning Time.  Those having planned to be in co-planning will get ahead in the planning for March by working with their collaborative teaching teams.  Teams need to prepare lessons, review student work, and refine units for March and April.  [15] Teachers Assigned are:  Natalie & Jake in ROOM 205,  Megan, Meaghan, and Marsha in Rm 315,  Tiffany, Freida, and Rebecca Fin ROOM 403, Alison, Cherry & Matthew in Rm 303, Sarah & Laura in ROOM 307, Zach and Suzannah in ROOM 509

• Survey Focus Group.  This session will be a collaborative meeting to better understand the results of our survey and to get feedback from staff to find ways of celebrating our strengths and improving our areas of growth.  Teachers assigned should review the survey results from the UAI Teacher survey and the NYCDOE's Tripod Student Survey results. We will meet in ROOM 407.    [8] Teachers Assigned are:  Damon, Casssandra, Kristi, Tom, Joey, Elana, Elena, and Amanda

Tuesday Outreach.  I'd like to share the power of positive phone calls.  I started working with Amanda at the start of February and every day, I would have to ask Kizara to sit up, pay attention, and not sleep through class.  One day, I had a breakthrough with her and she perked up, finished her work and handed it in. I shared this story with Laura who then called home.  The next day, Kizara was literally walking on sunshine, asking questions, playing with dry ice in class and unleashing her curiosity.  There was no sleepiness and she was literally smiling from ear-to-ear.  It was magical!  So, continue to spread the magic this week.  Reach out to find and spread positive stories to our homes.  As a reminder:

• Find something genuine and rooted in academic achievement.  Every student in our school, even the ones who struggle the most or challenge us the most, have had academic growth somewhere.  It's impossible for a young person to NOT grow.  Growth is biologically encoded for teens.  Leading up to student-led conferences, we want to focus these calls on ACADEMIC success.  For each of your advisees, if you don't personally know an example to share, connect with their other teachers to find one. 

• Make this call in person.  Texts, emails, and other similar forms of communication are great for expedient and efficient transfer of information.  You'll want to make these positive calls in person.  It will make the families feel fantastic and their response to you will make you feel fabulous.  Texts and emails will never achieve this for you.  Good calls are good for families and students AND you!

• Keep it Positive. Resist the urge to go over corrective behaviors. If the family asks, answer their questions, but don't feel shy about saying that while there may be other concerns, your call today is to focus on the positive.  We don't always make the time to celebrate what's going right.  There's always time for corrective feedback. 

• End with an Invite to SLCs.  Wrap your call up with an invitation to learn more about how their child is doing by inviting parents/families to come to our SLCs.  You can use this SLC Appointment Document to record your appointments. 

Student Support Services Updates