Week of April 3rd

UAI Staff News

Volume IV

Issue 28

Week of April 3rd, 2017

This Week's Memories

Middle School ELA Testing is Done! Congratulations to our resilient middle schoolers and their teachers!  The middle school completed 3 long days of testing.  Joanna and Val launched another smooth administration of the exam, and all of our girls were happy that it was over, and proud they they worked through each of the days with grit and determination!

Five Day Countdown To Spring Break.  The stretch between February and Spring break is always the longest of the year, and we are finally here at the last week before the break.  This week is an excellent time to prepare students with break work to prepare them for the end of the year assessments and to begin doing the intervention work that will lead them to passing their classes by the end of June.  For the high school, there are only 38 instructional days remaining before final exams.  For the middle school, there are only 48 days left before end of the year final exams.  Once we return from break, the year will zip by, so please do ask students to use Spring Break time to study and prepare for end of the year (both exams and coursework).

To Do's for this Week

[Monday, 03APR17] Inside Schools.  Inside Schools is an online resource that provides independent reviews of New York City Public Schools.  We haven't had a full review for over 5 years, so we're due!  Thousands of parents use Inside Schools to research possible matches for their children.  From a recruiting perspective, this is our opportunity to really put our strongest foot out there to really encourage families to join our UAI community!  We'll need all teachers to step up for Monday. Please make sure you are in the halls to facilitate transitions.  In particular, we are looking at positive school culture.  Teachers welcoming students to class is a excellent example of that! Here's the schedule:

• 9:00-9:15 Welcome and Overview of UAI (Val, Kiri & Colleen) - Room 301
• 9:15-9:30 SEL & School Community (Jen & Lauren) - Room 301
• 9:30-9:45 School Academics and College Achievement (Kiri & Colleen) - Room 301
• 9:45-11:00 Classroom Visits (Kiri & Colleen)
• 9:40-9:55(G) Marsha, 8th Grade Reading - 305
• 9:55-10:10 (A) Alison, 6h Grade Science - 309
• 10:10-10:25 (Q) Danielle, 10th Grade Geometry - 511
• 10:30-10:45 (N) Jamie, 9th Grade Algebra - 405
• 10:45-11:00 (U) Ilyana, 11th Grade English - B57
• 11:00-11:15 Meeting with Girls Inc - Room 301 (Jen, Kree, Kiri & Colleen)
• 11:15-11:30 Lauren SEL Classroom Visit - Room ??
• 11:30-12:00 Enrollment & Recruitment and Wrap Up (Val, Kiri & Colleen) - Room 301

[Week of 03APR17] Ready To Learn.  Last week, deans made the rounds with students both at entry and in classes to refresh everyone on school rules.  Deans are available to provide classroom support for you to make sure students are following school rules.  Deans and admin are the first wave of preparing students to follow school rules, teachers are critical agents in continuing to support student compliance throughout the day.  Please reach out to deans for support in your classrooms. Additionally, we will continue to make classroom sweeps to further support staff implementation of school rules.

[MP5 and Failing Students].  Conferences & Action Plans.  SECOND POSTING.  Please make sure you complete these conferences by Friday.  For all students who are failing your class and/or who have less than 90% attendance to your class, you will need to make a plan, with check-in points,  for her to turn failure around and end the year on a positive note.  Please schedule conferences with students and work with the students to establish clear, measurable goals that include specific dates for follow-up.  Also, make sure to call home of ALL failing students to let parents know what kids should be working on during the Spring Break.  Here are some example student goals, 

• By April 7th, I will be on time to class at least 90% of the time (i.e. not late or absent more than once). 
• For next 10 days of class, I will complete at least 9 out of 10 classwork assignments in class.
• For the next summative assessment, I will score at least a 65%

In addition to the goal, you will need to create an action plan.  First, understand what is getting in the way of the student achieving her goal.  Is it social, is it organization?  What is the plan to address the hurdle (moving seat, setting up reminders in their phone)?  And how will she monitor progress (daily trackers, weekly trackers, peer or parent check ins)...

We don't teach students lessons through failure.  Rather, we help students learn how to be successful by overcoming failure.  This marking period is the last real marking period that students can explore and learn to master this lesson.  To help them do this, frequent check-ups with the student and her home will be necessary.  Please log calls and outcomes into Skedula as these will also serve as your record of intervention (AIS) for failing students.  Without Skedula documentation, there is no evidence of your intervention work.  So please make sure to follow through on this very important step!

SEL Updates

No updates this week!

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

No New Posts for this week