POD Resources from 30NOV15

UAI POD Share 30NOV15

Our first share-out of our first POD cycle happened on Monday 30NOV15.  The topics, posters, and powerpoints are shared below.  Also, you can peruse teacher feedback and potential topics for the next cycle below.

POD Cycle 1 topics

(I didn't catch all of the group members, so please do let me know what I missed!)

Formative Assessment - How to use it to support student choice (Mike, Christina, & Phillan)

                 

Using transitions to build self-management (Paula, Rebecca, & Tom)

Using transitions to build self-management (Marsha, Steven, and Sarah)

Questioning and Student Agency (Michael, Wendy, and Meredith)

How to get students to work with intention (Alison, Marianna, and Anna)

Improving Student Responsibility in the Inquiry Cycle (Michelle, Kristin, and Kim)

Using Conferences to Inform Instruction (Danielle, Joanna, and Natalie)

Facilitating Student Buy-In in Learning Cultures (Brodie, Darby, Jamie, and Juelle) 

Facilitating Student Buy-In in Learning Cultures (Ilyana, Damon, Kerry, and Erick)

Teacher Feedback

(If your feedback wasn't included, it's only because I couldn't decipher your handwriting!  Sorry!)

[1] What did you learn about today that you will definitely implement in your teacher practice?

• Intentionality.  Intentionality sheets for students. Strategies around intentionality, using some of the strategies in upcoming units (x2) AND Questioning and agency! Being intentional so my students will be intentional.  Student responsibility to prepare before taking diagnostic exams (x3).
• Resource Maps. Simplifying resource maps and labeling each more specifically. I will definitely use a resource map and a scaffolded resource map (based on Danielle's presentation) (x3)
• Exit Tickets.  I am definitely going to implement (or at least TRY) systematic participation and exit tickets
• IWT Menus. Find a way to keep a menu of options up during IWT for longer period of time (x5)
• Timers. Back to timers for all formats - not just transitions; visual timers is something I need to implement to demonstrate to the girls the intentionality and fidelity to formats
• Other Ideas
• Remember that students may need to build stamina for independent activities like silent work time
• Daily participation grade (x2)
• I'm going to implement positive emails/phone calls home (Brodie suggested)
• Positive/constructive feedback to deter/stop negative behavior
• Rethinking diagnostic exams. Double entry diagnostic tests (students take notes and write questions) (x2)
• Guided notes
• Pair on-task kids with off-task kids
• Leveraging UR groups during lesson to get students to understand the importance of listening and not interrupting
• Grassroots lessons from conferences to address student skill deficiencies

[2] From this POD cycle, what worked best for you?

• Travelers and Tellers.  Travelers and Tellers to see what other groups were seeing (x2);Today was the best part of Pod cycle.  We were able to get best practices for so many topics!; Today was most helpful (x2)
• Feedback/Debriefs and Discussion. It was interesting watching our research question change and develop as each observation and feedback was given; Quick, informal debriefs and flexible scheduling; Debriefing/talking about best practices & trying new strategies learned from each other (x5); Getting quick, direct feedback; Receiving feedback on how I can improve students' intention; I found debriefing and planning my next steps with my pod to be most effective; My group had productive conversations around the issues we faced on a daily basis
• Observing Others' Classrooms. Visiting pod members' classrooms was really insightful and gave me lots of ideas for my own practice (x2); Choice in when to have more visitors and with whom; Getting to see high school classroom and expectations!; Having people come into my room; Observing other teachers and how they interact with students (esp in Middle School)
• Other things that worked about Pods:
• Being able to find common patterns
• How do we help students with intrinsic intention?
• The low-inference notes worked well
• I felt that our mutual collegiality and flexibility worked well.  Nobody was "mad rigid" about observations. We got them done, without stressing over them.
• I enjoyed the people in my pod

[3] From this POD cycle, what would you change?

• Scheduling Classroom Visits:  Not necessary to visit during the same period on the same day; Unclear when observations were over;  Classroom visits were sometimes inconsistent or challenging to schedule; More times per week to visit one another; Teacher commitment and not forgetting to show up for Pod observation; Plan full observation calendar in advance and have dates posted on UAI school calendar (e.g "Pod debrief #1" etc.); I wish that pods and grade teams met on different days; No accountability!!! Was never even observed by my pod.  Scheduling MS/HS is difficult. I think it should be separate since we are doing different things; Scheduling and mixing things up with middle school teachers.  Seeing something once with my schedule was tough
• The Pod Cycle Protocol:  Less time for debriefing and more grade team time (x2); Pod protocol.  Share less - more feedback- should be less formal (x3); Less time spent - 2 months was too much (x3) ; Sharing out what Pods learned mid-way through the process AND at the end; Feedback cycle - if we could, as a pod, agree upon our own protocol, it would help us feel more engaged; it's too short to debrief without any other time to study/talk about what we are inquiring
• Other things we should consider changing
• A refresh on using google docs and a refresher on how to incorporate theories
• Make observations more individually focused, eg. "I want you guys to look at "x" and give me feedback in that."

[4] For the next POD cycle, what would you like to study?

• Data and Assessment.  How to implement formative assessment; Using data to create differentiated resources; How do students know when they learn; Using data/assessments in learning cultures and to drive instruction (x3)
• Intentionality.  I'm interested in "intention." I'm curious about choice and "urgency."
• Social Emotional Learning. How do we build SEL goals into our daily academics; Building relationships with students during class time; Decrease Anger; Helping students see the importance and the connection between SEL and academic learning
• Curriculum Planning. Curriculum Planning to help student buy-in (x2); Rigor- how are we supporting our higher achieving students; How to create a curriculum as well as activities that enhance motivation and excitement; Rigor in reading - pushing students who are on and above grade level - planning lesson plans for reading; The most effective way to plan units and lessons; Creating rigor in the English upper grade classes; Subject Area Inquiry - curriculum building and resource creation to better meet CCSS standards for ELA; How to make the most of 10 minute lessons (what to include/what to leave out)
• Conferences. Conferences- How to make them more effective for students; Using Conferences to inform instruction; 
• Independent Work time. Managing the multiple projects that students can do and making them equitable; Redirecting/refocusing students during IWT; Making IWT productive
• Other Topics Proposed for the next Pod Cycle
• Technology use/UDL/teaching to different learning styles "best practices"
• Free form? Debriefing on issues as they arise, things we notice during observations (most or of the time what my group came to observe did not happen) or SEL in class
• How can we increase buy-in to learning. 
• How do we better teach study habits?
• Creating Responsibility teams and small group instruction that work with artifacts of learning in the context of the unit contract but facilitate Regents Prep.
• Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (Transformative Bonds)
• Expectations
• Minilessons
• Classroom Management

[5] What feedback would you like to give to today's presenters

• Michelle, Alison, and Marsha were all really clear and succinct

Week of Nov 30th

UAI Staff News

Volume III

Issue 14

Week of Nov. 30th, 2015

Announcements 

First PPO Visit This Week.  Our new superintendent is Fred Walsh and his deputy superintendent, Richie Cintron will be visiting us on Thursday for my first (of two) Principal Performance Observation of the year.  This will be Richie's first formal visit to UAI and his first official visit to a Learning Cultures school.   He has specifically requested visiting 9th grade Math and all tenuring teachers.  In addition to this being a formal evaluation of me, this is our first chance to establish an impression with our new superintendent.  I will be orienting him to LC and UAI, and specifically highlighting our work around 

• using the formats to build student agency and autonomy in their learning
• working with the Urban Assembly to establish strong structures for Social Emotional learning & growth
• teacher collaboration and inquiry with PODs

In preparation for Thursdays visits, teachers should 

• submit lesson plans (for Thursday) and current unit contracts into THIS Folder by the end of the day on Monday
• Make sure to plan with co-teachers to be in formats for Thursday.  Reschedule any quizzes, labs or other non-format days for another day this week.  All classes must be in format on Thursday.
• Make sure student work is posted (which should have already happened for Parent Conferences) with specific and actionable next steps for students.

If you'd like to know more about the PPO visit and what will be happening, you can visit my PPO Preparation Page to learn more.

Congratulations!  On Wednesday before the break, the high school celebrated our honor roll students!  This Friday, we look forward to celebrating the same efforts of our middle school students as well as celebrating the wide array of cultures that make up our school.  Leading up to this celebratory assembly on Friday is a week of fun and spirit! Please join the middle school in celebrating UAI Middle School Spirit Week!

Full Staff Meeting for Pod Share This Week.  In Monday's PD, we will be having our first full staff share of the work we've done in Pods for the last two months.  You and your Pod will have about 15 minutes to prepare and we will then use the Traveler's and Teller's protocol to share out what we've learned.  

Things To Do This Week

• All teachers.  Please submit your current Unit Contracts and Thursdays' Lesson Plan into THIS Folder by the end of the day on Monday 30NOV15.  PLEASE Name your two submitted files like this:  
• YourName_30NO15_UnitName 
• YourName_03DEC15_LessonTopic
• High School teachers need to update the SLC Appointment Sheet to accurately reflect completed conferences.  This sheet needs to be completely updated by Friday, 04DEC15.
• High School teachers:  Please also update the SLC results chart on the Appointment Sheet if you make changes to the document.  Our SLC goal is 80% completion of SLCs.  So, please use time this week and next to conduct conferences with families in person, via phone, or if needed with another staff member so that the majority of our students complete fall Student Led Conferences.
• Middle School Teachers:  Benchmark Data Updates.  Please complete grading of benchmarks and have all data entered into this Benchmark Data Document prior to dismissal by Friday, 04DEC15.

Staff Shout Outs

Danielle Skillfully Sets Classroom Norms.   I observed Danielle last week and saw some expert handling of socialnorms to establish a strong culture of learning in her classroom.  Danielle, I think, is not overtly aware of her subtle, but powerful steps, but I highly recommend dropping by to see what she does - particularly during the lesson.  Here's some of the most effective strategies she used

• Transition Time into Class.  Before setting the timer for the lesson, Danielle provided students a transition period into getting ready for class.  She stated that students had a set amount of time to "Get Ready for the Lesson" but most importantly, she narrated what "being ready" looked like as the transition time counted down. For example, she said things like "Being ready means having your notebook and pen/pencil out; your bags are off your desk; you're facing the board.  Ok, you have about 30 more seconds"
• Setting the stage for the lesson.  Before diving into the lesson, Danielle clearly explains the objective (by the end of today's lesson, you will be able to...) it's relevance (you need to know this today because it will help you...) and she establishes urgency with time (we have about 10 minutes to get through the lesson...)
• Tactical Use of Global Resets.  As the lesson progresses, inevitably, the girls are chattering and start falling away from lesson expectations.  Danielle pauses the timer and says, "Some of us are not quite following all the lesson expectations.  Let's pause the lesson timer and review really quickly.  Be engaged looks like what?  (students answer things like "facing forward, not talking, asking questions").  Danielle then says "Ok let's all focus on being engaged!" Then, after a "global reset" of the format norms, Danielle starts the lesson again.  
• Strategic Use of Reminders.  During the lesson, one student was at the board showing how to solve the problem. She gets a little agitated with her peers and curses.  Danielle acknowledges the misstep, but it is not the focus of the redirection.  She says "Q-Tighe, you're not focusing on using the lesson time right now, so that's a reminder for cursing."

Danielle is probably turning bright red from embarrassment now, so I'm going to stop.  It was a truly awesome observation for the day, and I told her I was gonna share it, because she had so many shareable strategies!  By creating and skillfully using these structures in her classroom, Danielle successfully creates an environment that addresses her student needs and surrounds her students with a classroom in which her students feel success and thus are willing to take risks and try harder.  It's true that not every day is perfect, but last week's lesson was a high point for Danielle!  

Resilient Scholars Project

Optimistic Thinking and Goal Directed Behavior through Assessment. Now that Thanksgiving has passed, we have three and a half weeks of school before the Winter Recess. There are no holidays to make the weeks chunky, so this month presents a good opportunity to establish some traction and good habit with our students. The Marking Period ends on Friday, December 11th. To establish a growth mindset and thus the belief that in students that they can succeed (optimistic thinking), we need to work with them in conferences and work time to establish achievable, measurable, and appropriately challenging goals. Using assessment is key to doing this, and subject teams should be working together to develop formative, interim, and summative assessments to help students measure their growth and progress.

Important Dates

• Monday 30NOV15. First Pod Share
• Tuesday 01DEC15.  Grade Teams Moved to Tuesday this week.
• Friday, 04DEC15. Middle School Assembly
• Friday, 04DEC15, Middle School Dance NOTE THE DATE CHANGE
• Monday, 07DEC15. Pod Cycle 2 Begins (07DEC15 Through 18JAN15) - Pod Share on 02FEB16
• Wednesday, 09DEC15.  10th Grade DRP
• Thursday, 10DEC15.  9th & 11th Grade DRP 
• Friday, 11DEC15, SAVE THE DATE for UAI Staff Party
• Friday, 11DEC15.  MP2 Ends
• Friday, 11DEC15.  Middle School DRP
• Monday, 14DEC15. UAI Nets Family Night - $25 tickets - give money to Jen or Joanna
• Wednesday 16DEC15.  MP Grades Due
• Wednesday, 23DEC15.  Early Dismissal at 2:30PM.  All students and staff MUST leave the building at 2:30 for the Winter Recess.
• Thursday, 24DEC15 through 03JAN16 Winter Recess.

For All UAI School Important Dates, please add "UAI School" calendar to your google calendars.

Per Session Posting

Middle School Dance Chaperones.  December 4th 5:30-7:30.  So far I have Kristin and Anna as chaperones. I still need at least two more. 

Recruitment Team.  This team will be working alongside Jen & Jennifer to plan and create deeper relationships during the Spring Term to build feeder-school relationships with Elementary and Middle Schools. Activities will include but are not limited to, planning mentor activities between our students and outside middle/elementary school students, planning community service events at local elementary schools (e.g. gardening, book reading, etc.).  Essentially, we need to show the schools how awesome our girls, our staff, and our school are so that we can create stronger relationships with these schools and UP our  enrollment!   No one has volunteered for this, yet.  Please step up to help us!

Week of Nov 23

UAI Staff News

Volume III

Issue 13

Week of Nov. 23rd, 2015

Announcements 

Congratulations Val!  It's official!!  Val is now the interim acting assistant principal at UAI.  As a committed teacher and then administrative supporter last year, Val has more than earned this title change, and I am proud to be able to formally announce her position!  Congratulations Val!!

Supervisor Assignments.   With this shift in roles (and Colleen's imminent return and also soon-to-be-shifted role), I have updated supervisor assignments. Please revisit the Teacher Evaluation Resource Page to find out who your supervisor of record will be this year.  While Colleen is on maternity leave, Val and I will cover her teachers or 1-2 observations

Reminder on Exit Slips.  When students fail to correct behaviors in the classroom and/or when they do behave in ways that require immediate classroom removal, we need your perspective to be able to fairly and accurately apply appropriate consequences.  Please copy and place copies of the exit slips next to your phones. You can find digital copies of the Exit Slips under "School Policies and Expectations" in the Staff Handbook.  As you call admin or deans to have a student removed, please complete the slip as quickly as possible.  The check off system is intended to make this step easy and quick, but we're always open to other ideas if you have them!  We will work on making sure that we continue to ask for the slips.  Working together, we'll be able to improve our capacity to provide classroom support!

Things To Do This Week
(I'm testing out a new part of the blog...)

• All teachers:  Please submit all collected parent surveys and sign-in sheets to Ms. Carol by the end of the day on Monday, 23NOV15.
• High School teachers need to update the SLC Appointment Sheet to accurately reflect completed conferences.  This sheet needs to be completely updated by Friday, 04DEC15.
• High School teachers:  Please also update the SLC results chart on the Appointment Sheet if you make changes to the document.  Our SLC goal is 80% completion of SLCs.  So, please use time this week and next to conduct conferences with families in person, via phone, or if needed with another staff member so that the majority of our students complete fall Student Led Conferences.
• All Teachers:  Benchmark Data Updates.  Please complete grading of benchmarks and have all data entered into this Benchmark Data Document prior to dismissal on Wednesday before Thanksgiving (25NOV15).
• All Teachers:  Please take a moment to complete this quick Professional Development Survey by the end of the day on Tuesday, 24NOV15.

Staff Shout Outs

Big Proud Clapping Hands go to Wendy & Marianna.  This weekend Marianna & Wendy presented at the National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention in Minneapolis, MN.  This presentation discussed a questioning protocol called genre probing, that help teachers turn mini-lessons into an engaging investigations of nonfiction and fiction genres that also help students master the Common Core skills of reading and writing for a variety of purposes and audiences, and succeed on high-stakes standardized tests.  Thank you Wendy & Marianna for taking our best instructional practices at UAI to a national stage!  

Making the Big Lift.  Alison, Matthew and Danielle have all been working weekly with our Urban Assembly Math instructional coach, Mackenzie to target key strategies and resources to help our middle school students develop math proficiency.  They have been meeting every week for the last three months and have developed resources, resource maps, and are rapidly developing the quality of our MS math program.  Keep up the fantastic work, our girls desperately need you and your tireless efforts are recognized and appreciated!

Thank you to Jamie, Darby, Ilyana, Elana, & Elena. Congratulations to all of these teachers for having the highest completion percentage for their advisory's student led conferences. We are all still working towards meeting the 80% goal for completing these conferences as soon as possible, but a big shout out goes to these high achievers working to make sure we reach our goals for improving Strong Family Ties and building Trust with our parents and families.

Resilient Scholars Project

Social Awareness. We are nearing the end of the 2nd marking period. After we return from Thanksgiving, we will have only two weeks remaining in this marking period. Monday after the Thanksgiving break is the perfect time to revisit Social Norms that were established at the beginning of the year. We need to be aware that when we do not address student misbehavior we are transmitting the message to the rest of the class that behaviors like that are condoned. It's incredibly tiring and non-stop, but when we allow things to pass without reminder, those students with typical or highly developed social emotional skills begin to act in ways that undermine class learning. Make time this week or next to revisit class behavior expectations. Clearly identify behaviors that get in the way of learning and highlight behaviors that promote learning. Ask students to describe the reasons why students choose to misbehave and help students develop strategies for choosing better options moving forward. With only two weeks of the marking period remaining, have strong social norms are essential to classroom and student success.

Important Dates

• Monday 23NOV15.  Full Staff PD (Prepare for Pod Share) & Grade Team Meetings
• Tuesday 24NOV15.  First Fire Drill at 9:40AM NOTE THE DATE CHANGE
• Wednesday 25NOV15. High School Assembly and All School Early Dismissal at 2:30PM
• Wednesday, 25NOV15. 8th Grade Ice-Skating Trip
• Thursday 26NOV15 & Friday 27NOV15.  Thanksgiving Recess
• Monday 30NOV15. First Pod Share
• Tuesday 01DEC15.  Grade Teams Moved to Tuesday this week.
• Friday, 04DEC15. Middle School Assembly
• Friday, 04DEC15, Middle School Dance NOTE THE DATE CHANGE
• Monday, 07DEC15. Pod Cycle 2 Begins (07DEC15 Through 18JAN15) - Pod Share on 02FEB16
• Friday, 11DEC15, SAVE THE DATE for UAI Staff Party
• Friday, 11DEC15.  MP2 ENds
• Monday, 14DEC15. UAI Nets Family Night - $25 tickets - give money to Jen or Joanna
• Wednesday 16DEC15.  MP Grades Due
• Wednesday, 23DEC15.  Early Dismissal at 2:30PM.  All students and staff MUST leave the building at 2:30 for the Winter Recess.
• Thursday, 24DEC15 through 03JAN16 Winter Recess.

For All UAI School Important Dates, please add "UAI School" calendar to your google calendars.

Per Session Posting

Middle School Dance Chaperones.  December 4th 5:30-7:30.  So far I have Kristin and Anna as chaperones. I still need at least two more. 

Recruitment Team.  This team will be working alongside Jen & Jennifer to plan and create deeper relationships during the Spring Term to build feeder-school relationships with Elementary and Middle Schools. Activities will include but are not limited to, planning mentor activities between our students and outside middle/elementary school students, planning community service events at local elementary schools (e.g. gardening, book reading, etc.).  Essentially, we need to show the schools how awesome our girls, our staff, and our school are so that we can create stronger relationships with these schools and UP our  enrollment!   No one has volunteered for this, yet.  Please step up to help us!

Week of Nov 16th

UAI Staff News

Volume III

Issue 12

Week of Nov. 16th, 2015

Announcements

Calls Home.  I know the days can get busy.  With the million plus things you are juggling each day, something as small as a phone call can often get lost in the shuffle.  However, it is the smallest things that often have the greatest impact.  Please put a cell phone reminder, post-it on your computer or some other reminder to make time to follow up on the phone calls home.  On Friday, I was meeting with a parent and he told me that no one had called home to notify him that his daughter had been late to school multiple times the week prior.  Our parent investment is growing, and we need to keep it that way.  They are the people who have entrusted us with their children, and we need to take that responsibility with pride and honor.  So, as a reminder, please make sure that you are checking on your advisees' attendance. If they are not making it to their second period class on time (8:30 or 8:40), please call home and log it into Skedula.  Remember, we are trying to collectively strengthen our family bonds.  This only works if we all chip in to do it together!  So, please make those calls and throw in some positive ones, too. THANK YOU!!

Co-Planning. As reminder from the last blog post, you can use your prep periods to common plan with your co-teachers.  In response to hearing that many of you are struggling to find time to co-plan, I made THIS document (click on the tab that says "Teacher Free Periods") to help you find one another.

You certainly don't have to co-plan every day or even every week.  In an LC instructional model, co-planning may be most intense in the weeks leading up to a new unit and teacher teams may only need maintenance check-ins periodically during the unit.  You and your co-teacher need to decide what works best for you!  Please decide together.

Please visit the schedule link to see who is free when.  You and your co-teachers should work together to choose a prep that you share to work together that makes the most sense for both of you and the class needs. Once you choose a day, here's a sample agenda that you can elect to use to help facilitate your planning:

Sample Maintenance Agenda

• 10 min- Check in on CUR and Conference Data to mine data for Grass Roots Lessons
• 20 min- Using Assessment, CUR, and Conference Data, assign responsibility for resource development for the classroom environment to support gaps in student knowledge.
• 10 min- Review planned lessons/activities/CUR & Conferences for the week
• 5 min - Other agenda items that team needs
• 5 min - Review commitments and deadlines for the week.

Sample Unit Planning Agenda

• 10 min- Subject teacher shares unit contract and expectations for feedback from co-teacher
• 30 min- Using Assessment, CUR, Conference and other Data (e.g. DRP, standards, benchmarks, etc), identify unit and student needs and assign responsibility for resource development for the classroom environment to support gaps in student knowledge or resources to support acquisition of new content and skills.
• 5 min - Other agenda items that team needs
• 5 min - Review commitments and deadlines for the week.

Important Reminders from Last Blog Post

Student Led Conferences and Parent Conference Night/Afternoon. This Thursday (19NOV15) and Friday (20NOV15) are designated Parent Conference Time.  For this fall, Middle School teachers will have traditional Parent Conferences.  Students will pick up report cards from a central location and teachers will have sign ups for parent meetings.  Next Spring, we will move MS students to SLCs so that UAI can have one system of conference.  

For the Middle School teachers:

• (1) Please check in and support new teachers around Parent Conference structures and expectations
• (2) Please print out and use this form  to help parents sign up for meeting with you.  Please make sure to try to stay within the 10 minute limit so we don't keep parents waiting.
• (3) Assigned conference times are Thursday from 5-8PM and Friday from 12-2:40PM.  You are only required to stay for these contractual hours.

For the High School teachers: 

• (1) Please check in and support new teachers around SLC structures and expectations, and
• (2) Please complete your appointment list by Wednseday, 18NOV15
• (3) High School teachers, you have 30 minutes per student.  5.5hrs are flex time.  You need to complete conferences for all advisees.  This year's advisories are larger than last year because our enrollment is higher.  For those advisors with more than 11 advisees, when you complete more than 11 conferences, you will receive per session for the extra conferences.  Flex time can be applied any time between now and November 24th.  ALL conferences must be completed by 24NOV and except for 19NOV (where we stay until 8PM), all conferences must be completed before 5:30PM.

First Benchmarks.   The first benchmark exams are happening NEXT week (19NOV and 20NOV).  For high school teachers, you should use your same benchmarks as last year, and/or there are extra regents exams that you can use in the storage closet across from the main office.  For middle school teachers, your benchmarks are being made for you, based on the PARCC assessments (which are the common core assessments of the future).  These will be done by Monday, 16NOV.   Everyone, 

• Please CLICK HERE to see the schedule.  Click on the "Benchmark" tab
• All teachers must get copies of benchmark exams by to special ed teachers so they can be prepared to test in testing mod rooms.  In order to provide accommodations within the time frame, students will test on fewer questions in the same time frame as gen-ed students (in place of having extended time for the same amount of questions, they'll have fewer questions in the same amount of time).
• Finally, grading time is built into your schedules during benchmark week.  Please use this time to grade and upload scores into THIS document by the end of the day on Wednesday 25NOV15.

Here are some important things to TEACH into this week in preparing students for the benchmarks

• A benchmark is an exam that measures growth.  In order to do this, we need to know where they are starting.  These tests are DIFFERENT than the performance tests they take for the state (NYS ELA and Math in April and Regents Exams in Jan/Jun/Aug).   They will be taking these exams several times throughout the year.  They need to take these exams seriously so that we can best see how to help them.  If they don't try their hardest, we won't know where they are in their growth, and we won't be able to adequately support them.  So, please reassure them that this test is important because it helps us help them - not because it grades them.

• The first benchmark is a baseline - where we start.  Tell your students that because of this, they will NOT likely know much of the material that is on the test.  Tell your students this is expected and that's ok.  Tell them, that you will be observing HOW they deal with frustration when they encounter a question they think they don't know.   When they take this test, actively note how they are acting, what they are doing, and give them a means to show you the types of thinking (what questions/breaches do they have), etc.  This first benchmark will not only give you a baseline of their content/skill knowledge but also of their testing capacity.  You will need to address both with your students as we progress through the year.

Staff Highlights

First Residency.  Congratulations to Ilyana and Steve.  They have been working tirelessly for weeks to plan and execute our first residency of the year.  In a residency, a peer coach (Ilyana) works with a teacher new to Learning Cultures to help learn how to best launch units, formats, and curate resources to support independent learning.  Their work resulted in a brand new classroom for Steve! It reflected an amazing amount of growth and format development!  Learning Cultures is not easy to master, and it can feel wrong for a long time. That's why we have so many coach support at UAI.  For any of you who are interested in this type support or would like some other type of support, please let us know by completing this short survey.

Our New Test Coordinator.  A BIG Thank YOU goes out to Joanna for stepping up to be our new testing coordinator.  She has already been reaching out to you guys with the exciting test manuals, and we are gearing up for second DRP administration in December and our first round of Regents exams in January.  Managing and coordinating these big assessments is an important and vital part of our school's success.  It's also not particularly fun, which means it's particularly awesome that Joanna is stepping up!  Thank you Joanna!!!

Resilient Scholars

Self-Management.  As we prepare students for our first Benchmark exams, it's important that we pause to teach techniques of persisting through frustration.  One easy to use strategy is to ask that students write down the questions they have if they don't know how to answer a question.  Another is to write around everything, meaning explain whatever it is that comes to mind (however unrelated - it doesn't matter) to get them started.  Fluency is the baseline to mastery.  Sometimes getting the kids to just write anything is all they need to get past hurdles.  Subject teams should work together this week to develop other ideas to share with students to help build coping techniques during testing periods.

Important Dates

• Tuesday, 17NOV15.  Full Cabinet Meeting in Room 403 3-4PM
• Thursday 19NOV15 (5-8PM) and Friday 20NOV15 (Lunch Dismissal to End of School Day).  Fall Parent Conferences (Updates to come on SLCs and MS Parent Conference in next Blog)
• Wednesday 25NOV15. High School Assembly and Early Dismissal at 2:30PM
• Tuesday 24NOV15.  First Fire Drill at 9:40AM NOTE THE DATE CHANGE
• Wednesday, 25NOV15. 8th Grade Ice-Skating Trip
• Thursday 26NOV15 & Friday 27NOV15.  Thanksgiving Recess
• Monday 30NOV15. First Pod Share
• Tuesday 01DEC15.  Grade Teams Moved to Tuesday this week.
• Friday, 04DEC15. Middle School Assembly
• Friday, 04DEC15, Middle School Dance NOTE THE DATE CHANGE
• Monday, 07DEC15. Pod Cycle 2 Begins (07DEC15 Through 18JAN15) - Pod Share on 02FEB16
• Friday, 11DEC15, SAVE THE DATE for UAI Staff Party
• Friday, 11DEC15.  MP2 ENds
• Wednesday 16DEC15.  MP Grades Due
• Wednesday, 23DEC15.  Early Dismissal at 2:30PM.  All students and staff MUST leave the building at 2:30 for the Winter Recess.
• Thursday, 24DEC15 through 03JAN16 Winter Recess.

For All UAI School Important Dates, please add "UAI School" calendar to your google calendars.

Per Session Posting

Middle School Dance Chaperones.  December 4th 5:30-7:30

9th Grade Transition Planning. This work team will be collaborating to develop strategies and plans for developing stronger transition practices for students matriculating from 8th to 9th grade.  First meeting is THIS Thursday at 3PM.

Recruitment Team.  This team will be working alongside Jen & Jennifer to plan and create deeper relationships during the Spring Term to build feeder-school relationships with Elementary and Middle Schools. Activities will include but are not limited to, planning mentor activities between our students and outside middle/elementary school students, planning community service events at local elementary schools (e.g. gardening, book reading, etc.).  Essentially, we need to show the schools how awesome our girls, our staff, and our school are so that we can create stronger relationships with these schools and UP our  enrollment!  

The goal for next year is to have FOUR 6th grade sections so that we can work on bringing our MS enrollment back from where we are today (at 173 to what we're supposed to be (81 per grade for a total of 243))!  For the high school, the goal is to find 100 girls who choose us first! If we can get 10 elementary and 10 middle schools to each send 10 girls to us, we will hit the mark.  So join the team who will make this happen!!  Hours start in December.  To start it will be at least one meeting per week, but hours will fluctuate with group needs.