Week of February 9th

UAI Staff News

Volume III

Issue 22

Week of February 8th, 2016

UAI Celebration

Happy Lunar New Year!

Welcome to the Year of the Monkey! In Chinese astrology, Monkeys are known for their brilliance and perseverance.  They are highly adaptable to ever-changing environments.   Here's looking forward to a wonderful Year of the Monkey at UAI!

Successful Middle School Recruitment Day!  Many shout outs and thanks to Jen & Doris for coordinating a beautiful middle school recruitment day.   Growing the size of the middle school with students who really want to be at UAI is crucial to the long-term success of our school.  Over 50 young girls were dazzled by the process and their families were excited to meet our students, learn about our partners, and meet our staff.  Thank you to Alison, Martine, Jamie, Danielle, Elena, Jen, Doris, Nancy, and Ilyana for taking time out of their 3-day weekend to work this incredibly important event.  Thank you to the over 20 high school students who helped interview, coordinate, and answer the questions from our prospective students and their families.





Announcements 

Hiring Committee.  The hiring committee will begin the huge task of bringing on our future team of teachers.  The committee is in charge of finding and vetting resumes, attending hiring fairs, conducting Level I interviews, observing and evaluating format demonstration, and scheduling Level II interviews with Kiri.   If you are interested in joining the committee please email Kiri by the end of the day on Wednesday.

Grade Teams Meet on Tuesday.  Because of the holiday, we will not have a Monday meeting until after the break.  Grade Teams should use Tuesday time to meet.

Please Prepare for MidYear Reviews.  Midyear reviews will begin after the midwinter recess.  Please CLICK HERE to review my expectations that I posted last month.  Fred, our new superintendent, asks that all tenuring teachers prepare a binder to demonstrate their qualifications for tenure.  Tenuring teachers should bring this binder to the midyear check in for review.

Black History Month Assembly.  This Friday, Kelly, Tracy, and Sursattie have been working hard for the past few weeks to prepare an amazing assembly in celebration of Black History Month.   We will be calling students up starting at 1:30PM.  Please make sure that all students bring all of their things with them to the assembly.  We will be doing a rapid dismissal at the end of the assembly.  Here are the seating assignments

Cabinet Meeting Minutes.  Last meeting we discussed budget and team allocations.  We also discussed ideas for spending for the future.  This week's meeting will be postponed to make space for grade team meetings on Tuesday.  The cabinet will next meet on Tuesday 23FEB16 to review the issues raised during last week's Open Space Protocol HERE.

Teacher To Dos

Please complete this short survey.  I understand that plans change or that you may not have a clear idea of what you plan to do next year.  That said, we do need to take stock of our needs (and potential needs) for next year's staffing.  Please complete this brief survey by the end of the day on Tuesday 09FEB16.  If your plans change, please do let us know as soon as you can!

Resilient Scholars Project

Social Emotional Skills are the Bedrock of Academic Achievement.  As we continue to launch the new semester we need to strategically plan for explicit instruction around these skills.  The formats implicitly establish the expectations (e.g. being promotive (Self and Social Awareness), planning work time activities (Goal Directed Behavior), following class rules (Self-Management), and collaborative work time (Relationship Skills)).  Here's a brief video to remind us all about the significance of SEL in our classrooms.  It's easy for us to brush these to the side as we ramp up to testing season.  It's important that we resist that urge, and reserve the spot for this essential component of learning.

Important Dates

• 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

No new postings