Week of September 17th

UAI Staff News

Volume VI

Issue 5

September 17th, 2018

[168 School Days Remaining]

Announcements

Congrats To NYU Poly Cohort 13!   Our 13th Cohort with NYU Poly began their Intro to Engineering Course last week at the Tandon School of Engineering.  Our latest cohort of students are the most recent participants in this fantastic partnership with NYU aimed at cultivating and nurturing our young women's interest in Engineering and STEM in general.  Over the years, the partnership has flourished and over 200 students have had the opportunity to sit in college classrooms, learn from NYU professors and teaching assistants, and have a real-world college experience prior to graduation.  Many thanks to Ms. Danielle I and Ms. Doris who are guiding and supporting our young women through the course.  Many more congrats to these young women who are taking on this rigorous challenge to really challenge and extend themselves!

First Round of Observations.  Annie and I will finish our final batch of IPCs (Initial Planning Conferences) on Monday.  We'll begin our first round of observations this week.  This first round will be unannounced informal observations where we will be in your room for about 15-20 minutes.  You can expect our feedback and evaluation in writing within 24hrs of that visit (if not sooner).  Our 2nd round of observations will be announced and only if you request, we will make time to meet with you before and/or after to discuss your observation (planning - before and debrief after).  What to expect in your first round of observations

• Lesson and Unit Plans.  Annie and I will be looking in your pacing calendars for your lessons prior to our visits.  If you do not have your lessons stored there, please have a copy of your lesson and unit ready to hand to us when we walk in.  We will be evaluating Domain 1 for everyone on each and every visit this year.
• Student Thinking.  We will be watching and talking to students. When we talk to students, we are looking to see how well students understand what they are supposed to be doing and why they are doing it.  In addition, we are looking to see the rigor of tasks and level of student intellectual engagement.  Are students focused on completing work, or does the task require them to use reason through the work?  This is evident in student discourse, question-making, and their writing.
• Teacher Moves and In-Lesson Choices.  We are observing the moves you make to (1) ensure a safe and quality learning environment (Domain 2) and (2) engage and evaluate student thinking (Domain 3).  In particular, we are looking to see how you observe & assess students throughout the lesson and how you use what you learned from your observations and assessments to either correct or extend student behaviors and thinking.

To Dos This Week

Monday PDs 17SEP18 and 24SEP18.  We will be going over the Advisory Filed Trip logistics and giving time for teams to plan the trips on Monday the 17th.  Typically, each first Monday PD of the month will be for grade teams to do work like this and to work to write the Present Levels of Performance (PLOPs) for our students who have upcoming IEP meetings for the month.  Tomorrow, we will split time between planning for Advisory Trips (first priority) and writing any PLOPs needed for September.  In addition, Grade Teams, in particular grades 6 and 9 who may want to recommend students for initial evaluation should discuss those students tomorrow and share their concerns with Joanna.  From there, Joanna will work with teams to decide if initial evaluations are necessary.  Next Monday, teams will have time to prepare for Curriculum Night and complete any PLOPs that the team didn't get to finish.  

Skedula Attendance and Grades.  By the end of this week, you should upload your first batch of grades into Skedula.  In addition, please make sure attendance is accurately reflected in Skedula.  Next week, during Curriculum Night, we will be onboarding parents to Skedula.  Attendance should be taken accurately in each period, and grades should be uploaded at least once a week.  As a reminder, please review the staff handbook on the UAI grading policy.  Please make sure to sign off  that you've reviewed the staff handbook.  It is expected that all UAI staff fulfill this professional responsibility by reading and and signing off on staff expectations each year.

Per Session Posting

Assembly Coordinator.  We will be having several assemblies throughout the year that highlight student achievement and talents.  In particular, we love to shine a light on student performance in the arts with dance, visual art, poetry and music.  We also give students the chance to be celebrated for academic and social emotional growth and achievement.  We are looking for 1-3 teachers to plan each assembly, coordinate with Girls Inc. partner staff and organize students, effectively communicate expectations and logistics to staff and students, and create and post announcements that effectively advertise each assembly.  10hrs of per session per assembly are available for each teacher in this position.  Please email Kiri and Jen if you are interested by Friday, September 21st. This year, we plan to have Assemblies on 

• Oct 26th (Welcome back to School), 
• Dec 21st (Winter Celebrations) 
• Feb 15th (Black History Month)
• Mar 22nd (Women's History Month)  
• May 24th (Annual College Walk Celebration)

Cheerleading Coach.  We are looking to have someone co-lead the Adams Street Campus Cheer team with SLJ's Cheer Coach.  Without a UAI staff person, our girls will not be able to participate.  Our students love to cheer.  Experience with cheerleading is not necessary.  We just need a UAI staff member!  Please touch base with Ms. Jamie if you'd like to know more specifics about the role, and email Ms. Kiri ASAP to let me know if you're interested.  Yes the squad can be open to both HS and MS (varsity vs. JV) students.