Week of March 19th

UAI Staff News

Volume V

Issue 27

March 19th, 2018

[School Days 121-125]

[24 Days Remaining in MP5]      [53 Days Remaining in HS School Year]      [63 Days Remaining in MS School Year]

Announcements

#Less Guns...More Funds!  Last Wednesday, our seniors coordinated their first civil action project by leading our student body on a Nationwide School Walkout.  Seeing our young women come together to unify our student-body in a singular message, was amazing.  Tiara, Nande, and Ana all spoke beautifully (I'm going to play their speeches for you on Monday during PD) and inspired the throngs of young people gathered before them on the steps of Borough Hall.  While each of our girls is wonderful, they did not magically end up that way.  It is through the support and love of their families/friends combined with the inspiration and challenge of your teaching and support that brought them to this point today.  As a secondary school, we spend much of our energy getting our student onto their paths.  We rarely get to see them thrive and blossom while on their journey.  Wednesday was a special exception.  Days like that one gave us a tangible reminder of why what we do each and everyday matters, and why it's so important that we come to each day with our best.  Thank you all for your support and commitment.  It showed brilliantly in the voices of our young ladies on Wednesday, and it will continue to show in the young ones still to come!

Staff Spotlights

Nina Granberry.  A big shout out goes to Ms. Nina who joined our staff in February.  Walking into a position midyear is challenging alone.  Doing so with 10th-grade Geometry is even more of a hurdle.  However, Nina has already had an amazing impact on the classroom culture and subsequently the quality of learning in math.  Last week, her students were all working collaboratively to solve a variety of problems using geometric properties to prove whether or not shapes congruent, similar, or neither.  The structure of the activity had a wide variety in the complexity of problems, giving students multiple entry points, and she leveraged student-student discourse to scaffold their thinking and problem-solving.  As a result, her classroom environment was alive with questions and student thinking.  Visit Nina's class to see more!

Kristina Coriarty.  A big shout out goes to the 7th-grade team and in particular Ms. Kristina for having the highest completion rate (85%) for Student Led Conferences.  Families are our partners in learning.  Without a strong connection to the home, we have a weak foundation with our students.  Regardless of their age, the families of our students play a huge role in the success of our students.  Constant, clear, and significant communication is key to maintaining those relationships.  Many thanks to Kristina for her hard work in making those connections. If you want to understand her method for successful outreach, reach out to her.  You'll find Ms. Kristina in room 307!

To Dos This Week

School Survey.  During Monday's PD, staff will be completing the school survey.  Please bring a laptop with you!  Nancy distributed all remaining parent surveys to students last week.  They were directed to bring those surveys back to her the next day.  Nancy will update THIS DOCUMENT to let you know which of your advisors have brought them back from that distribution.  Please make sure that you call all homes on Tuesday of those students who still have outstanding surveys.  If any of your parents lost their survey (or didn't receive it), please see Nancy. She can provide you with the student code.  Our goal is to reach 80% of our parent surveys returned.  That means we need each advisor to get at least FOUR more surveys back by Friday, 23MAR18

SEL Update

March is all about SHEroes and helping the girls to not only learn from famous historical female role models but to also discover and do a project about  the lesser known girls and women who may not be as famous but equally as important and give them the recognition they deserve.  We are encouraging them to think about the grit and perseverance required to make changes to injustices and debunk the different myths about what a girl's role "should" be.  We will connect how we can use our SEL skills to become sheroes just like the females they will choose to highlight in their poster project.  This week they will begin research for their projects so feel free to ask them who they have been inspired by and why! 

Per Session Opportunities

Summer School.  Thanks to everyone who volunteered for summer school.  I need to coordinate with the other SS principals this week and will get back to you with formal offers.  If you didn't get a chance to express interest, there's still time.  Please email me!