Week of December 5th

UAI Staff News

Volume IV

Issue 14

Week of December 5th, 2016

This Week's Memories

Our College Office is a Model Practice!  The NYCDOE's Office of Post-Secondary Readiness bragged about us in their monthly newsletter.  With the new shift in federal deadlines, this is the first year that our seniors have had to complete their college and their financial aid applications at the same time!  At only three months into their senior year, 85% have completed their CUNY applications and 70% have already completed their FAFSA!  We're off to an amazing start!

SEL Team Visits with CASEL Chair.  Tim Shriver, who amongst other things is chair of CASEL and Co-chair of Aspen’s National Commission on Social Emotional and Academic Development , was in NYC on Friday and met with Urban Assembly schools to discuss our work around Resilient Scholars.  Jen, Lauren (along with several students) spoke about communication, inclusion, and what it means to go a school that prioritizes the social and emotional development of its community. Later, Tim shared with David (from the UA) that our work is the most consistent implementation of Social Emotional Learning across schools he has ever seen, and that the proof was in our kids.

First Lady Eagles Home Game.  Our Lady Eagles fought hard in their first game against John Jay High School.  They are a young team this year and showed amazing potential in their first game.  We look forward to an amazing season with them!  Their next home game is Monday, 05DEC16 at 4:30. If you can stay, please do come show your support for the girls at 4:30PM!

To Do's for this Week

[WEEK OF, 05DEC16] Positive Post-It Project. A la the positive notes left in the subways, UAI will be launching our own Positive Post-It campaign.  Details and logistics will arrive in emails this week. The goal is to have all of our students and staff share positive messages of peace, kindness and inspiration to our community. We will display the post-its in a mural in our lobby.

[WEDNESDAY, 07DEC16 and THURSDAY 08DEC16]  DRP Round 2 is this week.  CLICK HERE for the DRP Schedule.  Laptops will be taken to your classroom by George and Val.  Val will provide you all with your students username and passwords. Makeups will begin Friday, December 9th.  Due to the high volume of students not taking the exam or not completing we will be pulling the students from class.  Please help us in ensuring the students are sent to the proper room when needed.   ELA teachers please reiterate to the students the importance of data and how it is used in our school to assess their progress, supports and needs. Also,we will collect all chromebook laptop carts.  Please charge all laptops.  George will be collecting laptops at 2:50, Tuesday, December 6th, beginning with the 5th floor, if you are not in your room please leave the key in the keyhole of the laptop cart.   Feel free to contact Joanna and Michael if you have any questions or concerns. 

• Wednesday, December 7th: 
• Morning Administration (2nd and 3rd Period):   8th and 9th Grade 
• Afternoon Administration (7th and 8th Period):  7th and 11th Grade
• Thursday, December 8th:
• Morning Administration (2nd and 3rd Period): 6th and 10th Grade

[FRIDAY, 09DEC16] MP2 Ends.  Marking Period 2 ends this Friday.  Grades will be due next Wednesday by 3PM and Report Cards will be distributed during last period class next Friday, 16DEC16.   Please make sure grades are entered into Skedula and your gradebooks are downloaded 

Announcements

Take Attendance in Skedula.  Many people use Skedula attendance to check up on students. Parents, administrators, and main office staff rely on teachers to take timely, accurate attendance. Please take period attendance within the first 10 - 20 min of class.  Create things like a 2min Do Now or a 2 min Exit ticket to provide you time to take attendance at the start or at the end of the lesson. Taking attendance is part of a classroom teacher's professional responsibility.  Please make it a priority to complete this responsibility effectively.

Marking Period 2 Ends on Friday.  Marking Period 2 ends on Friday.  As a reminder, UAI grades are cumulative (and should build on the grades students receive from the prior marking period(s)). Marking period three begins on Monday and is particularly significant for high school students. Progress reports with MP 2 grades will be distributed on Friday 16DEC16.  As you make calls home this week, please make sure to communicate this to parents and families. 

Hallway Presence.  At any given passing period, there are upwards of 150 students in each hallway. Particularly during 4th and 5th period (the lunch periods) admin and dean support is very thin because they are in the cafeteria.  Please make it a point, particularly during these periods, to be at your doors and moving students into the rooms.   

SEL Updates

6th graders this week began learning concrete steps for solving big problems, using:

• Stop and think
• Objectively state the problem
• List possible options to resolve it
• Voice your choice & act on it
• Evaluate and adjust if needed

Students applied these problem solving steps to hypothetical problem situations. Next week, students will discuss the evaluation & adjustment step, and will then conduct a review of concepts we have learned so far, including:

• Fixed and Growth Mindset (shout out to Ms. Alison who also wove this into science class!)
• Empathy
• Grit
• How to reflect how someone is feeling
• Active listening (EARS and SLANT)
• Strategies for effective collaboration
• Building rapport with teachers
• The value of an education

Focus, Priority, and Efficiency! This week in SEL the girls worked on strategies to help focus, prioritize and get things done efficiently. They also worked on how to take notes for different uses in more effective ways. The next two weeks we will work on Improving Memory Skills, which will be a two part lesson. The 9th grade will also receive a much needed FLSE lesson from our 11th grade students and their incredible FLSE educators.  December we are using to introduce a few more lessons before we start to slow down and reinforce some of the skills introduced this semester so far. January will be used for review of what was learned, what has been effective out of the SEL room and how to continue to understand SEL in school, at home and in our personal lives.. 

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Per Session Posting

No New Postings This Week