Week of September 19th

UAI Staff News

Volume IV

Issue 3

Week of September 19th, 2016

To Do's for this Week

• Handbook Review.  Please complete this google form to see how familiar you are with school policies and expectations.  If you missed anything, you can read through the UAI Staff Handbook to learn more!  Please complete the form by the end of the day on Monday 19SEP - it will take you 5 minutes (TOPS!)
• Unit One Upload.  If you haven't done so yet, please upload your first units into THIS FOLDER by the end of the day, Monday.
• Attend first full staff PD.  On Monday 19SEP is our first Pod PD of the year.  Using this Pod Protocol, we will debrief your visits to classrooms.  Please meet in room 409 at 3PM.  
• Attend Goal Writing PD.  On Tuesday 20SEP, Kristin and Christina would like to meet with the staff to briefly review how to write effective learning goals for our students with IEPs.  Please come to room 409 at 3PM for this brief meeting.

Announcements

Building Towers in Geometry

Unit Zero, Check!  Congratulations on completing Unit Zero!  Setting the stage for strong learning environments is key to long-term success.  Now that you've uploaded your first units, your focus for the next few weeks should be on creating effective lesson plans.  As Colleen and I continue conducting baseline observations, you should expect a request from us for your lesson plans.  Your plans help us better understand the events and teacher moves we see unfolding before us in the classroom. There is no required lesson plan template at UAI.  However, there are guiding questions that you need to consider as you plan activities:

• Pedagogy.  What am I hoping to achieve with this lesson/activity?  Why do I want students to complete this particular/activity over another option?  What do I want them to learn from this activity/lesson?  Can I make it better/more challenging/more standards aligned?
• Assessment.  How will I know when my students have learned what I want them to learn?  
• Engagement.  Does this activity/lesson lead to participation or intellectual engagement (are they simply doing stuff...or are they required to think about stuff)?  

Family Engagement.  As a reminder, the family engagement time is spread across the five days of the week.  That way, you have time built into everyday to call homes.  

• Daily Attendance. You need to call home of your advisees who are absent and/or late.  So, if you have an advisee who does not make it to your advisory, you need to call home.  It means they were late or absent to school.  
• Positive Reinforcement.  Part of the success of our school is through how our parents understand what we do, and what we value.  When we make it a point to call home to connect to families, we show them how much we care.  This week, make it a point to call home (could be an advisee could be one of your students) and share stories of success with parents.
• Curriculum Night.  Advisors, please call home and personally invite parents to curriculum night.  Curriculum Night is the chance for families to meet teachers, learn about what is being taught, and understand our school.  Curriculum Night is Wednesday, 28SEP16 from 5-8PM.

Spirit Week.  Our first spirit week of the year is coming. Spirit Week begins on Monday, September 26th and culminates of Friday, September 30th with a full school assembly in the gym (starting at 2pm - students report to 8th period and will be called up by grade).  Ms. Jen is working with seniors to promote the week, but please remind students and show your own Uai spirit by also participating! 

• Monday 26SEP - Sports Jersey Day
• Tuesday 27SEP - Pajama Day
• Wednesday 28SEP - Celebrity/Character Day
  (Also the same day as Curriculum Night)
• Thursday 29SEP - Blast from the Past Day
• Friday 30SEP - Dashiki Day

SEL Updates

Rigor is in the Routine.  Now that you've established the ground rules during unit zero, the hard work begins!  SEL strategies like SLANTing towards a speaker or using Accountable Talk during discussion are relatively straightforward to explain and teach.  The challenge for teachers is expecting students to consistently employ the strategies throughout the class period.  Remember to plan for and look for opportunities to reinforce SLANT and Accountable Talk throughout your classes.  Prompt students to identify how they know when someone is listening (e.g. they track the speaker) or highlight when students use Accountable Talk (e.g. I like the way you said...)

5 SEL Building Blocks

What's Happening in SEL Classes?  SEL class is off to a great start. The classes are beginning to understand what SEL is and how to interact with new people. This week they worked on connections- how to find common interests with different people. They also worked on first impressions- why they are important and the qualities of a great handshake.  Next week they will continue to unpack what SEL is (the 5 building blocks) and why it's important by assessing their current SEL strengths and weaknesses in school, relationships and life. They will also begin to understand how to create a community in which they feel safe, respected and engaged in learning by creating a social contract (behavioral agreement).  The students have seemed to really enjoy this class and we are excited about the year ahead with this cohort. 

Add this calendar to your own!  See that little "+" sign in the bottom right hand corner?  Click on it to have it show up in your personal google calendar!

Per Session Posting

After School Activity Per Session.  If you are interested in running an after school program with Girls Inc., please contact Kree (kreec@uainstitute.org).  After school positions are 1-2 hours per week and must have a constant enrollment of at least 10 students.  Fewer than 10 students will result in cancellation.  After school teachers must adhere to all Girls Inc requirements.  

Shout outs to the three admin in their new roles