Resources for Monday 02FEB15 PD

February 2nd PD Resources

Agenda & Schedule.  Click on the picture to see the agenda and workshop assignments for Monday.  If your name is in bold, that means you completed the PD survey on time and got your first choice.

Monday's PD is designed to develop both your theoretical understanding of the LC formats and subsequently raise the quality of your practice and implementation.

I'm super proud to say that our very own Jamie, Danielle, Ilyana, Elena and Rebecca are joining the Green Careers team to facilitate these workshops.  Let's show our LC pride by supporting our colleagues both at Green & UAI for putting themselves out there to better all of us!  Be the participant you would want to have if you were the one running the workshops! Come prepared & choose to be actively engaged.

Grade Teams will have time in the afternoon to meet and norm for a Social Norm planning meeting.  The start of the term is the perfect time to revisit and reestablish norms for the rest of the year.


Resources for Monday's PD - and their relevant workshops.  If you're anything like I was when I was a teacher, reading theory was the last thing I wanted to do.  Now, from the vantage point of 18 years of experience in the system, I can easily see how much I let myself miss out.  Hopefully, you aren't like I was and you won't make the same mistakes I did!  Having a strong theoretical understanding will help you analyze your practice and more readily work (independently and with others) to develop strategies that elevate your instruction.  After all, if you're not really sure what you're supposed to be doing, it's hard to know when you're doing it right or when you're doing it wrong! At the very least, peruse through the resources pertaining to your selected workshops.

• Growth Mindset (Dweck) - Conferences, Assessment, Responsibility Teams
• Socio-Cultural Theory (Erneling) - Responsibility Teams
• Genre Theory  (Frow & Bahktin) - Genre Practice
• Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan) - Conferences, Responsibility Teams
• Rethinking Discipline & Management (McCallister) - Social Norms
• Classroom Social Norms (McCallister)- Social Norms
• Classroom Environments (McCallister)- Social Norms
• Speech Acts/Status Functions (Searle)- Resp.Teams, Social Norms, Conferences & Unison 
• Responsibility Theory (Olson) - Conferences, Social Norms
• Self-ascription of Intention (Olson) - Conferences, Social Norms
• Shared Intention (Tomasello & Carpenter) - Responsibility Teams, Unison
• The Science of Attention (Diamond) - Conferences, Unison
• Readiness Potential (Kandel) - Conferences, Unison
• What is a Speech Act? (Searle)- Conferences, Unison, Social Norms
• Language and Social Ontology (Searle) - Conferences, Unison, Social Norms
• Intentionality and Learning (Tomasello)- Conferences, Social Norms, and Unison
• What makes Human Cognition Unique? (Tomasello) - Conferences, Social Norms, and Unison

Week of January 26th

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II

Issue 23

Week of January 26th, 2015

Announcements

Benchmarks and Grades.  Now that the 3rd marking period is officially over, we are officially halfway through the year.  3rd Marking period grades and Benchmark Scores are both due by 3PM on Wednesday 28JAN15.  Because we use this data to determine promotional status (and thus generate promotion in doubt letters), we really need you to be on time with your grading.   Grades are due via Skedula (contact Colleen for questions and support) and Benchmarks are to be entered HERE.

Black History Month Competition - Jen has been working hard to organize our Black History month celebration.  Last year, Wendy led the charge with Advisories decorating doors to honor black history month.  This year, Jen is hosting a competition that will culminate in an assembly at the end of February.  Help us keep the competition alive for the kids.  Sheppard a student(s) into the limelight!   Promote the 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.

UAIHS at the Nets.  Jen is also putting together another activity to build school unity.  We have reserved 50 tickets for the Nets vs. New Orlean Pelicans game on Tuesday, March 10th.  Tickets are $25 per person (down from a $40 face value), and they are first-come, first served.  So, please see Jen as soon as possible to reserve your ticket.  The girls will even be able to get on court for the National Anthem!  Last year UAI did this and the middle school went last week.  It's a great community-building event and I do hope you make an effort to join us!

Sign Up for PD.  Please CLICK HERE to sign up for your PD workshops for Monday, 02FEB. Here's the agenda:

8:00-8:30 - Breakfast Snacks (Coffee & LIGHT snacks) [Optional]
8:30-10:00 - Wkshp I - Unison, Conferences, or Genre Practice
10:00-11:30 - Wkshp II- Unison, Social Norms, or Assessment
11:30-12:30 - Lunch
12:30-2:00 - Wkshp III- Resp.Teams, Conferences, or Assessment
2:00-3:20 - School/Department Meeting Time

Subject Teams Orders.  Subject Team Orders are due next Friday (06FEB15).  CLICK HERE to see original post on this.  Remember Check it's NYSTL approved otherwise it will get rejected.  On the ShopDOE website, look for this symbol next to the item you want to order:  "NYSTL Approved"

Important Dates

• Monday, 26JAN15 -  Thursday, 29JAN15.  Regents Week
• Wednesday 28JAN15 - 3rd MP Grades are DUE by 3PM
• Friday, 30JAN15 - End of Fall Term, Regents Rating Day - NO CLASSES 
• For teachers not grading or presenting on 02FEB, there will be an agenda for the day - Check your email Monday Afternoon for details.
• Monday, 02FEB15 - Chancellor's PD Day at Green Careers
• Wednesday 04FEB15 - Last Regular Season Home Game for the Lady Eagles 4:30-6PM

Per Session Postings

Summer School.  Plans for summer school are still in development.  This is an initial posting that will be defined as we near summer, and we have a better idea of how many students need summer school.  However, the structure will be a blended learning model:

• Wed 01JUL and Thu 02JUL15 - The first 2 days of summer school will be onsite at UAI.  Teachers will make sure students are registered onto Plato and review course expectations, due dates, and email contact information.
• Weekly Check-In.  Teachers will be responsible for conducting a weekly learning conference (either in person, on the phone or online) for each student.  Students will not be in daily attendance for 03JUL through.
• Mon 27JUL through Tue 11AUG. Students attend regular Learning Cultures classes, targeting Regents exam prep in Responsibility Teams.  Classes are 90min and run Mon-Fri.  The periods will be 8:30-10; 10-11:30, and 12:00-1:30 with 2 hours of planning per week.  
• Wed 12AUG thru 14AUG. August Regents Week

Hours and subjects are still TBD.  Check-ins can be done remotely with students, so in-person teacher commitments are only for the days listed above.  Priority goes to teachers who taught summer school last summer and then to teachers who have taught summer school before, then to new summer teachers.  If you are interested, please email me ASAP.

Week of January 20th

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II

Issue 22

Week of January 20th, 2015

Announcements

Chancellor's Visit. The Chancellor's visit was an amazing success!!  We got to share our history as a school and explain how we have leveraged Learning Cultures to transform our community into a Well-Developed school.  Special shout outs to Marianna, Jamie, Kerry, & Danielle.  They opened up their classrooms to our visits and the girls and their work with them thoroughly impressed Chancellor Farina.  The very next day she spoke of our school at a meeting for Superintendents and the next day at meeting for Assistant Principals.  We are definitely on her radar as a positive to be modelled!  It is well-deserved praise for the work you do!!

Benchmark Exams.  We have our 3rd Benchmark Exams on Thursday and Friday of this week.  Please make sure to post the schedule up for your students to review.  Also, Benchmark exam grades will be due next Friday.  Please make sure to have your grades ready to enter into the Benchmark document.  These 3rd benchmark results in conjunction with DRP and 3rd Marking Period grades will be used to identify students in need of intervention.  Please enter your graded exam data on time.

Marking Period Three Ends on Friday.  The last marking period of the fall ends on Friday.  MP3 grades will be due no later than 3PM on Wednesday.   Marking Period 4 will begin on the first day of the spring term (February 3rd).  We will be using these grades to identify students who will receive promotion-in-doubt letters.  So, please be on time with these grades so we can generate the letters out to the kids on time.  As a reminder, please call home and document in Skedula all students who are failing your class for the fall semester.  Families should not be hearing about school failure for the first time with a letter.


Cabinet Meeting Moves to After School on Tuesdays.  We are meeting in room 403 on Tuesdays after school.  All are welcome to join anytime.  At tomorrow's meeting we will setting agendas and goals for spring meetings.

Regents Week Starts on Monday.  Please make sure that you have reached out to each of your advisees to let them know which exam(s) they are taking and when the exam(s) happen.  In your classes, please emphasize the importance of studying for exams at home and use our resources (through Work Out plans, Study Island, Regents Prep.org, etc.) to help them study.  Additionally, students should reach out to our Carrera partners for academic support everyday after school.

Important Dates

• Monday, 19JAN15 - MLK Jr. Day and Kelly D's Birthday
• Wednesday, 21JAN15 - Eagles Home Basketball Game vs. Westinghouse 4:30-6PM
• Thursday 22JAN15 - Friday, 23JAN15 - Benchmark III Exams (Fall Finals)
• Thursday 22JAN15 - Visiting Harvard Researchers visit UAI (Middle School Classes)
• Friday, 23JAN15 - Marking Period Three Ends
• Friday 23JAN15 - Eagles Home Basketball Game vs. John Jay Campus 4:30-6PM
• Monday, 26JAN15 -  Thursday, 29JAN15.  Regents Week
• Wednesday 28JAN15 - 3rd MP Grades are DUE by 3PM
• Friday, 30JAN15 - End of Fall Term, Regents Rating Day - NO CLASSES 
• For teachers not grading or presenting on 02FEB, there will be an agenda for the day 
• Monday, 02FEB15 - Chancellor's PD Day at Green Careers
• Wednesday 04FEB15 - Last Regular Season Home Game for the Lady Eagles 4:30-6PM

Per Session Postings

No postings this week...

----------

Week of January 12th

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II

Issue 21

Week of January 12th, 2015

Announcements

Preparing for the End of the Fall term.  There are only 7 instructional days remaining in the fall term.  If you have not already done so, you need to reach out to the homes of those kids who are currently failing your class.  Because so many of our parents have yet to be registered to Skedula, it's super important that you make phone calls home and document in Skedula when contact is made.   Too often, parents state that they had no idea or were unaware of their daughter's failing grades. Let's minimize this sentiment for the end of this fall term by making sure that our parents are in the know!  Failure can be shifted, particularly at this point in the year.  However, it requires that students and families are aware and have clear, specific, and reasonable next steps to turn the tide.  In addition to calling homes, if you have not already done so, please have emergency conferences with individual students to explain their grade and to establish achievable, measurable goals that will help students turn their failure into success!

Regents Exams.  By now, you should have contacted all advisees to inform them of their Regents week schedule.  For your advisees (and also in classes), please remind students that they need to be studying and preparing for the Regents exams at home.  In class, please provide students with workout plans and teach into good study habits so that they can have methods to study independently.  Additionally, if you have not already done so, please introduce students to Study Island (see Jamie for tips) our online test-prep software.  Encourage girls to form study groups!  Those of you who are already doing Responsibility Teams have a blueprint for the girls to engage in study groups.  Responsibility Teams and study groups are the same concept!  Watch Cynthia's video (login:  kiris@uainstitute.org   pswd:  uailc283)  to see what I mean and think about how launching study groups (aka Responsibility Teams) can not only help students prepare for Regents but also be successful in your class for the Spring Term!

Subject Team Orders.  In years past, we have been able to recoup our enrollment numbers with students transferring in from closing schools.  However, in this new administration, there were unexpectedly no school closings, so our projected numbers far outpaced what our real numbers are.  With our enrollment numbers so low, our school is facing a shortfall of $175K this year.  That's about three (2 high and 1 middle school) teaching positions.  We've managed to negotiate with central offices and delay the bulk of that loss until next year (and hopefully cover the shortfall through attrition), but that has left us with very little unrestricted funds for this year.   Happily, we have a lot of technology this year.  That said, you guys still need stuff.  I know.  I'm releasing funds in 2 rounds.

Here's the deal.  All subject team orders must be submitted to me by the end of the day on Friday, February 6th.  For those subject teams that do not spend all of their allotment, I will reallocate the remaining funds (on Monday February 9th) to the teams that get their orders in on time.  Those teams will have until Friday, February 13th to submit the 2nd round orders.

All orders MUST be submitted to my email address (ksoares@schools.nyc.gov) via the ShopDOE website (here's a tutorial if you need help). Because the funds we have available are NYSTL funds, there are restrictions on what can be purchased.  So, please make sure that when you add something to your order it is NYSTL approved.  If it is not NYSTL approved, we will not be able to purchase it.  Here's the budgets:

• English, Social Studies, Math, and Science - $2500
• Foreign Language - $1500
• SPED - $1500
• PE - $500

Important Dates

• Tuesday, 13JAN15 - Chancellor Farina Visits UAI!
• Monday, 19JAN15 - MLK Jr. Day and Kelly D's Birthday
• Wednesday, 21JAN15 - Eagles Home Basketball Game vs. Westinghouse 4:30-6PM
• Thursday 22JAN15 - Friday, 23JAN15 - Benchmark III Exams (Fall Finals)
• Friday, 23JAN15 - Marking Period Three Ends
• Friday 23JAN15 - Eagles Home Basketball Game vs. John Jay Campus 4:30-6PM
• Monday, 26JAN15 -  Thursday, 29JAN15.  Regents Week
• Wednesday 28JAN15 - 3rd MP Grades are DUE by 3PM
• Friday, 30JAN15 - End of Fall Term, Regents Rating Day - NO CLASSES 
• For teachers not grading or presenting on 02FEB, there will be an agenda for the day 
• Monday, 02FEB15 - Chancellor's PD Day at Green Careers
• Wednesday 04FEB15 - Last Regular Season Home Game for the Lady Eagles 4:30-6PM

Per Session

Homecoming Dance Chaperones.  The seniors are didn't get it together to organize their dance.  So, I took it over and now it's a February Semi-Formal on 06FEB.   Per Session is from 6-10PM.  Positions were filled on a first come first serve basis.  Chaperones are:  Damon, Kristin, Jamie, Doris, Michael are confirmed for per session chaperoning.  Anyone else who wants to volunteer is welcome to join.  Ms. Tyasia will also be joining us that evening.

Week of January 5th

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II

Issue 20

Week of January 5th, 2015

Announcements

Chancellor's Visit.  Over the break, Chancellor Farina reached out and requested a visit to see us!!!  In particular, she is interested in seeing how we use Learning Cultures to teach into writing across the curriculum.  There is so much writing happening across all grades and subjects.  There is a wide variety of genre (e.g. Spanish info-graphics, DBQ essays, Lab Reports, poems, creative writing pieces, and math problems).  Genre Practice, while still a work in progress for us, still elevates the variety and rigor of written products our students are engaged with across the school.  The formats work in tandem to support reading, writing, and content/skill acquisition within the subject areas.  While she may be expressly looking to see how we teach writing, she will get quite an experience in seeing how you guys use Learning Cultures to do so much more!  She'll be visiting on Tuesday, 13JAN15.  Please make sure you guys are all here and ready to show our chancellor how awesome you are!

Regents Preparation & Work Out Plans.  In two and a half weeks, our upper classwomen will be retaking their Regents exams and for some of our juniors, they'll be taking the English exam for the 1st time.  Students and teachers often ask me, when are we going to have Regents prep?  Now with the introduction of Work Out plans, regents prep should be an integrated component of each and every regents-ending class.  Regents prep isn't something that happens in a situated time period, rather, regents-prep should be an on-going, ever-present component within your classroom.

It's important that teachers teach into this idea with students and provide our students with resources like regentsprep.org or studyisland that directly support exam preparation.  Students have the misconception that the regents are separate from the course and that they should prepare for the exams separately from their work in the course.  In order to correct this misconception, teachers need to plan explicit lessons that teach into this concept and show students how best to use these test prep resources (and other workout plans) to help support their individual study plans.

Attendance and Calling Home.  It doesn't always feel like it's making a difference, but it IS making a difference.  Last year, our high school attendance was <90% putting us at the bottom of our peer group in this category.  Year-to-date, our average attendance is about 92%, leap-frogging us to the top of the heap.  The only change we've made between this year and last is having teachers call home!  So, even if it feels like you're getting nowhere, please keep it up.  A collection of small efforts IS having great impact.

As a reminder, the new teacher's contract put more time into your day, expressly for outreach to the home.  This year, we've taken that time (40 minutes) and spread it over the days in the week so that you have 8 minutes per day to call each and everyone one of your advisees who does not make it to 2nd period on time. 

There is some confusion on this.  To try to be more clear, here's what you should do

• If a student does NOT make it to advisory at all, check her 2nd period attendance.
• If she is marked P, do not call home
• If she is not marked anything or if she is marked late or absent, CALL HOME.

Here are some examples of things to say when you call home

• Good morning, I'm calling to check on <student>.  She didn't make it to advisory and is not yet in school.  Is she coming in today? 
• Good morning/afternoon, I'm calling to let you know that <student> was late to school today.  She didn't make it to advisory and she arrived late to school by <period>.  Please make sure that she is on time tomorrow.
• Good afternoon, I'm calling to let you know that <student> wasn't in school today.  Is she feeling ok?  Do you plan to send her in tomorrow?  

This is the 6th or 7th time that I've had to address the staff on this issue this year.   Put a calendar reminder in your cell phone so that it prompts you to call everyday.  Do something that helps you remember to fulfill this professional responsibility!  Again, when we pay attention, this gets fixed.  This will be the last time that I remind people informally.  From here on out, individuals will receive formal letters to file to remind them to fulfill their professional responsibility in calling home.


Chancellor's PD Day.  We will be meeting with the other Learning Cultures High Schools at Green Careers for this PD day.  Julie, Kerry, and I are really looking to our teachers to take the lead and share input into what they would like to do on this day.  In order to best plan this day with our PD leads & coaches, we really, really, need your input. So please, fill this out now?

Important Dates

• Monday, 05JAN15 - Full Staff PD
• PODs Share Out
• As in December...PODs will meet to prepare a share out of what they've accomplished in their intervisitation to date.
• Admin Announcements
• Electronics Policy
• Hallway Presence
• Use of the Behavior Reminder System
• Social Norms Talk Revisited

• Monday, 05JAN15 - Eagles Home Basketball Game vs. John Dewey HS 4:30-6PM
• Wednesday, 07JAN15 - Eagles Home Basketball Game vs. Sunset Park HS 4:30-6PM
• Friday, 09JAN15 - Homecoming Dance
• Monday, 19JAN15 - MLK Jr. Day and Kelly D's Birthday
• Wednesday, 21JAN15 - Eagles Home Basketball Game vs. Westinghouse 4:30-6PM
• Thursday 22JAN15 - Friday, 23JAN15 - Benchmark III Exams (Fall Finals)
• Friday, 23JAN15 - Marking Period Three Ends
• Friday 23JAN15 - Eagles Home Basketball Game vs. John Jay Campus 4:30-6PM
• Monday, 26JAN15 -  Thursday, 29JAN15.  Regents Week
• Friday, 30JAN15 - End of Fall Term, Regents Rating Day - NO CLASSES
• Monday, 02FEB15 - Chancellor's PD Day
• Wednesday 04FEB15 - Last Regular Season Home Game for the Lady Eagles 4:30-6PM

Per Session

Homecoming Dance Chaperones.  The seniors are organizing a homecoming dance.  It is scheduled for this Friday, 09JAN15.  However, that said...they have been experiencing some organizational challenges.  Provided that they can get this off the ground by Friday, I will need to have at least 5 DOE chaperones.  Per Session if from 6-10PM.  Positions are filled on a first come first serve basis.  Reply to kiris@uainstitute.org as soon as possible!