Week of September 11

UAI Staff News

Volume V

Issue 3

September 11th, 2017
[School Days 5-9]

This Week's Memories

11th Graders Get Oriented to their
College Engineering Class at NYU

First Days of School.  Congratulations on a very smooth opening and some pretty wonderful first few days of school!  From a personal perspective, it felt wonderful to be back in a classroom and teaching alongside Jamie!  It's such a privilege to be doing this work alongside each of you.  It's such important, world-changing work that we do.  Ever onward towards excellence!

September 11th.  16 years ago, New York was scarred by the worst terrorist attack on mainland American soil.  Most of our students were not even born.  For them, it is a piece of history.  For many of us, it is a part of our memories.  Our job as teachers is to help the future remember and to help the future learn from the experiences of the past. Honor the memories of those that lost their lives on 9/11/01, and find inspiration in the future that sits before you in classes every day!

Things To Do This Week

Monday PD.  Please begin PD with your planning partners at 3PM.  You can decide your own planning spaces, but please email Kiri & Annie your locations.  Kiri will be coming around to meet briefly with planning pods to check in on Observation Selections and Goals.  Please make sure to complete this form before Monday PD.  At 4PM, we will all reconvene in room 409 for a brief review of some nuts and bolts for school policies and procedures.  Check the UAI School Calendar below for the agendas for each Monday PD.

Teacher Work Space in 201.  There is a newly created teacher space in room 201.  If you and/or your planning partners and in need of space to plan, lesson rehearse, or just eat lunch, drop by room 201!

Helping Our Custodians.  Carlos, Harry, and the team did an incredible job preparing our building for launch this year.  To maintain this, we need to help!  Please make sure that students put the chairs up on the desks at the end of the last period of the day.  Also, please enforce the rule that no food is allowed upstairs.  We had a major problem with stored packages of food (ketchup, sugar packets, etc.).  Please do not store these in your classrooms or offices without putting them in a tightly sealed container.

Nuts and Bolts Reminders.  Here are a few quick reminders as we settle back into the routines of the school year:

• Bathroom use - bathrooms are closed at the first and last 10 minutes of class.  Please remind students until they get used to the idea.  
• Passes - Students may not leave the class either for bathroom or otherwise without a pass. There should only be one student out of the class at a time.
• Hall Presence - Please be at your classroom doors to welcome students to class.  It eases transitions and ensures that they arrive in your class welcomed and ready to learn.
• Classroom Removal - please do not send students out of your rooms to the deans. Please call the deans at 30211, and they will come to your room to provide assistance.

Advisory Meetings Begin Tuesday.  On Tuesday, please reach out to introduce yourself by phone to all of your advisees.  Please log your calls in Skedula (when you called, who you spoke to, and the gist of the conversation.  Each time you contact home, you need to log it in Skedula.  There are three main goals for these introductory phone calls are

• Connect with your advisees' families.  Make sure you have an accurate phone number and email for your advisee's family.  Introduce yourself and your role (advisor and teacher) with the student.  In
• Explain the advisory structure.  You will be reaching out to each family at least once per marking period to have an open dialogue about your advisee's academic and social emotional development.  Parents should be encouraged to reach out as often as they like, but once a marking period on Tuesday afternoon, they should expect a meeting with you.  (In person if student requires intervention, by phone if student is academically and socially on track).
• Invite to our Progressive Dinner on Tuesday, 26SEP17 from 5-8PM.  Our first parent night of the year (this is a required date for staff - so save the date!) is a welcoming event that gives an overview of the school and an introduction to parents of what students will be learning this year.  This will be the same format as our Progressive Dinner last spring, but we will give you more details as we get closer to the date.

First Observations.  Observations will begin this week.  Please don't forget to complete this form. Kiri will be coming around on Monday during PD to confirm your selections and your goals.  For the first round of observations, we will be rating 1A for everyone, particularly your planning documents (1A and 1D, planning and prep).  Please make sure that your curriculum map, unit plan.  For those of you who came in during the prep time in August, these documents must be complete and uploaded before I sign off on per session!  If you are having any problems with uploading, please see Mr. George or Mr. Brodie for technical support!

• Curriculum Map:  CLICK HERE FOR THE TEMPLATE
• Pacing Guide: CLICK HERE FOR THE TEMPLATE
• Unit Plan:  CLICK HERE FOR THE UNIT TEMPLATE
• Lesson Plan:  CLICK HERE FOR THE LESSON TEMPLATE
• Curriculum Folder:  CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE FOLDER TO UPLOAD PLANS

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

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