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!