Week of January 8

UAI Staff News

Volume V

Issue 18

January 8th, 2018

[School Days 78-82]

Announcements

Lady Eagles Victory!  This past Friday, the Lady Eagles emerged victorious in their win over Uncommon Charter bringing their record to 8-1.  Now in 2nd place in the division, the Lady Eagles are having another fantastic season and are looking ahead towards the playoffs.  If you missed Friday's game, the Adams Campus Lady Eagles are at home again on Monday.  Pop up to the gym after PD on Monday to show your support!
There are only four home games left to the regular season:  (1) Monday 08JAN18, (2) Friday 12JAN18, (3) Wednesday 17JAN18, (4) Wednesday 07FEB18.  So, come support our team and show that UAI spirit!

Snow Day and a Cold Day.  Last week had our first snow day of the year, followed by a record low attendance due to the cold weather.  Both staff and students were absent in large numbers last Friday.  With only a few days left in the Fall term, each day becomes very precious for staff and students alike.  Students who have passing grades at the end of the Fall term earn their credits for the fall.  Failing students will have a second chance to get fall credits if they pass by June, but passing now secures those credits.  Please stress attendance and hard work in these final days of the term so that students finish at their strongest point!

This Week's To Dos

Monday PD.  This Monday is the only Monday PD we have this month.  Next Monday is MLK Jr. Day, and the following Monday we'll be using for Regents Preparation.  So, we're going to use this Monday for PLOPs. Please bring your computers to room 409.  Brodie and Joanna will be on hand to provide PLOP writing support during the Monday's PD.   

• 6th Grade:  Nezaie Lundy [28JAN18] and Lyric Williams [06APR18]
• 7th Grade:  Zekiah Robinson [28MAR18]
• 8th Grade:  Dalia Ali [01FEB18] and Lauren Harvey [15MAR18]
• 9th Grade:  Rebecca Sanchez [8APR18] Rose Ali [28APR18]
• 10th Grade: Charlize Jackson [21JAN18], Deasia Davis [11FEB18], and Aliyah Burnett [24MAR18]
• 11th Grade:  Ayanna Brown [24MAR18]
• 12th Grade:  9th, 10th, and 11th Grade teachers who teach the following seniors, should also complete PLOPs for:  Tiarra Dantzler [17FEB18], Jade Nijia McLean [17MAR18], Destiny Williams [17MAR18], Katelynn Rodriquez [23MAR18], 

[REMINDER] Prepare for Upcoming Midyear Reviews.  Reviews will begin next week!  As a reminder, please reflect on the following.  Please bring the blue items with you for the review.

• Focus School Goal.  Our main priority goal this year is to increase instructional rigor and student intellectual engagement [Rigorous Instruction & Collaborative Teachers].  To achieve this, we have focused on through improved planning & assessment.  Between now, and your midyear review, reflect on  your progress with the following:

• Improvement in Planning (e.g. UAI Pacing Calendar, Narrative Lesson Plans, Backwards-Designed Unit Plans)
• Impact on Student Learning (e.g. samples of Student Work with your feedback, Student achievement (analysis of student grades in course or performance on tests/benchmarks), Student Academic Growth)
• Growth in Co-planning with Peer Teachers/Coaches (e.g. quality of planning, quality of lesson execution (Advance Observations) impact on student learning, outcomes of co-planning survey - please click the link to take it now) 

• Second School Goal.  The second goal that we will discuss during midyears is our school goal around increasing Strong Family Ties.  Our goal is to increase strong family community ties by increasing both quantity and quality of in-person and phone interactions between teachers and families.  This year, each student in your advisory should have had at least 4 interactions and at least 1 in person, all documented in Skedula:  1 welcome to UAI phone call in September; at least 1 in-person visit during MP1, MP2, or SLCs; and at least 2 10-15 minute phone calls for MP1, MP2, or SLC.   Specifically, review and reflect on the following data points:
• Number of successful contacts (in person and phone) per advisee (as evidenced by Skedula anecdotals) 
• Growth Advisee attendance rates from September (you can see this in Skedula)
• Academic Performance of Advisees from MP1 to MP2 (again Skedula)

• Midyear Reflection and Refocus. The Midyear is your opportunity to stop, review your various data points, and reflect on your growth and development.  As teachers, we often get too wrapped up in keeping students doing and busy and we don't make the time to step back and evaluate longer-term progress as shown through student thinking and achievement.  This is one of the big times in the year to take stock of our work thus far.  Where we are strong, we will continue. Where we struggle, we will analyze and refocus spring goals for growth.  Here are some logistical things to keep in mind
• First Year at UAI?  Teachers who are in their first year at UAI or are up for tenure can expect to be scheduled first for their reviews (schedule will be released next week).   More explicit details on the Midyear will come in next week's blog.  For this week, look back at your planning documents and reflect on your student outcomes (Do your lesson plans result in positive student outcomes? How do you know? Why or why not?)
• Are you up for Tenure this year?  Teachers who are coming up for tenure are required to submit a formal portfolio of any of the documents or data points listed above.  These will become part of their final portfolio of work to be submitted for tenure recommendation.  The portfolio consists of three parts (1) a letter explaining why you merit tenure and how the documents you submit are illustrative of your growth and achievement (THIS YEAR - we will add more later); (2) samples of student work (with feedback that shows how students used your feedback to improve performance; (3) complete UAI Pacing Calendar with linked samples of Narrative Lesson Plans and all Units are Linked.
• Everyone else?  You will have the same reflection question:  Do your lesson plans result in positive student outcomes? How do you know? Why or why not? - most importantly, how do you plan to show Kiri/Annie your progress through planning documents and student work? 

SEL Update

Growth Mindset and Grit.  6th and 9th grade SEL students have wrapped up their unit on bullying and drama and are now in full swing with their unit on academic skills. This unit will be focused on topics such as growth vs. fixed mindset, Grit, the best ways to prepare for tests, and how to approach their teachers when they find they are having an issue. Students have even started examining the concrete value of education- that is, the money and freedoms they can earn with each higher educational degree that they acquire.

Setting Goals.  Since goal-directed behavior came out of our preliminary DESSA findings as a school-wide area of need, SEL classes have delved deeper into the idea of goal setting and action planning. They set goals and action plans for 3 fictional characters who were each struggling in their classes for different reasons. To continue improving the girls' ability to action plan for themselves, we encourage you to try to complete this conference sheet with your advisees when conferencing during Tuesday outreach time, even if your advisees are not in the 6th or 9th grades. We are hopeful that by the next round of DESSA, our data for goal-directed behavior will improve.  Our next round of DESSA will be during Monday PD on 05FEB18.