Week of January 11th

UAI Staff News

Volume III

Issue 18

Week of January 11th, 2016

Announcements 

Dean Residencies.  This week Colleen will be working with Martine and Doris to launch residencies with our deans.  Using data from exit slips and incident reports, Colleen, Martine, and Doris will work with directly teachers to develop a wide variety of strategies used to de-escalate student behavior, productively redirect student choices, and establish strong foundations for positive, promotive classroom learning communities.  These residencies are opportunities to improve practice and to make our school community a more stable and nurturing environment.  If you are interested in signing up, please let us know!

Mid Year Reviews.  Half of the school year is nearly complete!  So, now it is almost time for a mid-year check in.  The week we return from MidWinter Recess, you will be receiving an invite from your supervisor (me, Val, or Colleen) for your midyear review meeting.  These meetings will be no longer than 40 minutes, and I will be having them in 301/401.  All the meetings will start the week of February 22nd, so you have six weeks to prepare.  Please do not procrastinate.  You will be doing the majority of talking during this meeting, so please be prepared!  Here's the topics:

• Accomplishments Towards School Goals.  What have you done thus far to further school goals (what's your evidence?)?  In particular, please share your proudest successes and achievements with Social Emotional Learning and Building Strong Family Ties.

• Professional Growth.  Using your observation data (either official from me or unofficial from PODs or other observations), work in Pods, or other experiences, describe how you have grown in your practice this year, paying particular attention to your growth in mastery of the formats.  In reflecting, I would like you to select a format (or formats) in which you are most proud of growth - both in implementation and theoretical understanding.

• Student Biographies.  This is a new piece aimed at building your capacity to understand and empathize with your students.  Please prepare two student biographies - one with whom you have a strong, positive relationship and one with whom you are frequently struggling.  The biography should include both personal and academic information.  The genre is of your choosing as are the particular details.  I will be sharing mentor texts of what these could look like at the February PD

• Current Goals & Objectives.  What are your current goals and objectives with respect to your development as a UAI high school Learning Cultures teacher. How are you planning to measure your progress in reaching these goals (e.g. which student outcomes are you using to gauge progress?)  What do you foresee as obstacles or challenges in your pursuit of these goals? What supports do you need and how can I help?

• FOR TENURING PEOPLE ONLY.  
• Teachers who are coming up for tenure this year.  Please write me a brief narrative (1-3 paragraphs) explaining how your practice is highly effective and why you should be granted tenure.  Please reference this Framework for Tenure Decision-Making and speak to the criteria listed here.  Also, be sure to include the pieces of evidence you wish submitted with your tenure application request.
• Teachers who were extended last year.  Please write a brief narrative (1-3 paragraphs) explaining how you have addressed your Areas of Focus from your extension letters you received at the end of last year.  If you need them, email me and I will get them to you.  In addition to this narrative, please also include the narrative described in the bullet above.

Team Midyear Check Ins.  In addition to individual midyear check-ins, this is a good time to revisit the mechanics of our team functions.  Two years ago, I introduced the Five Dysfunctions of the Team, a business fable (which is a genre new to me!).  At the same time, we reviewed Paul Grice's Cooperative Principle.  You'll need to have a base understanding of each of these ideas for the full staff PD on February 2nd.  So, please take a few minutes to watch these two YouTube summaries of both - The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and Paul Grice's Cooperative Principle. Both will be instrumental in reviewing the results from upcoming surveys on team function and impact.  As you watch these two videos, think about how the concepts connect back to your grade and subject teams.  What observations can you make about your team dynamics and what are your ideas for norms or rules that would improve team function?

Teacher To Dos

Teacher Survey. In preparation for a midyear check-in for how we're doing this year, I need some input from you.  Please take a few moments to complete this survey.  Your voice will be essential for figuring out where we need to focus and how we should improve.  Please CLICK HERE to complete the survey now.  It should only take you about 5-10 minutes.

Benchmark Preparation.  Please make sure you are preparing for our next Benchmark administration.  For the high school, Benchmarks are next Thursday and Friday.  The middle school Benchmarks are the following Thursday and Friday, with Book II of the benchmarks occurring during classes (Reading and Math) on Wednesday.

Important Dates

• Monday, 11JAN15.  3rd POD Debrief and Grade Team Meetings
• Monday, 18JAN15.  MLK Jr. Day, NO SCHOOL
• Thursday, 21JAN15 and Friday, 22JAN15.  High School Benchmark 2 SCHEDULE
• Monday, 25JAN15.  4th POD Debrief and Grade Team Meetings
• Monday, 25JAN15.  End of Marking  Period 3
• Tuesday, 26JAN15 thru Friday, 29JAN15.  Regents Week SCHEDULE.
• Thursday, 28JAN15.  All MP3 Grades due at 3pm
• Thurs., 28JAN15 and Fri., 29JAN15.  Middle School Benchmark 2 SCHEDULE

• Monday, 01FEB15.  Full Staff PD See AGENDA HERE.  8:30AM-2:50PM
• Wednesday, 03FEB15.  Black History Month Winterfest Night (6-8PM)
• Tuesday, 02FEB15.  First Day of Spring Term.  Start of MP4
• Monday, 08FEB15.  Chinese Lunar New Year, NO SCHOOL
• Wednesday, 12FEB15.  Black History Month Assembly Full School (1:45-2:30PM)
• Monday, 15FEB15 thru Friday 19FEB15.  Midwinter Recess, NO SCHOOL
• Monday, 22FEB15.  POD Cycle Launch and Grade Team Meetings
• Monday, 29FEB15.  1st Pod Debrief and Grade Team Meetings

• Monday, 07MAR15. 2nd Pod Debrief and Grade Team Meetings
• Friday, 11MAR15.  4th Marking Period Ends
• Monday, 14MAR15.  5th Marking Period Begins
• Wednesday, 16MAR15. MP4 Grades are Due at 3PM
• Monday, 14MAR15. 3rd Pod Debrief and Grade Team Meetings
• Thursday, 17MAR15 and Friday, 18MAR15.  Benchmark 3 (This will be MS Predictive)
• Monday, 21MAR15. 4th Pod Debrief and Grade Team Meetings
• Thursday, 24MAR15.  Women's History Month Full School Assembly (1:45-2:30PM)
• Friday, 25MAR15.  Good Friday, NO SCHOOL
• Monday, 28MAR15. 5th Pod Debrief and Grade Team Meetings

• Monday, 04APR15. 6th Pod Debrief and Grade Team Meetings
• Tuesday, 05APR15 thru Thursday, 07APR15.  Middle School NYS ELA Exam
• Wednesday, 13APR15 thru Friday, 15APR15.  Middle School NYS Math Exam
• Friday, 15APR15.  5th Marking Period Ends
• Monday, 11APR15. Pod Prep and Grade Team Meetings
• Monday, 18APR15. Pod Share - Grade Team Meetings moved to Tuesday
• Monday, 18APR15.  6th Marking Period Begins
• Wednesday, 20APR15.  5th Marking Period Grades Due at 3PM
• Friday, 22APR15.  5th MP Progress Report Distributed 8th Period
• Friday, 22APR15.  Poetry Slam Full School Assembly 1:45-2:30PM
• Monday, 25APR15 thru Friday 29APR15 - Spring Recess, NO SCHOOL

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

Per Session Posting

Resilient Scholars PLC.  Jamie, Rebecca, Kerry, and Martine are doing a Teacher SEL PLC after school.  

Other PLC Ideas.  If other teachers are interested in running/participating in another PLC, please let me know and we can fund it too!

Dean Residencies