Week of January 21st

UAI Staff News

Volume VI

Issue 21

January 21st, 2019

(85 instructional days remaining)

Announcements

College Alumnae Day!  This may be a little late, but it's still worth it to celebrate!  Big shout outs to our wonderful college counseling team (Ms. Danielle I. and Ms. Doris) for coordinating a series of panels of UAI Alumnae on Friday 11JAN19.  Students from almost all of our former classes visited with our current students to discuss their journeys through high school and how they navigated and/or are navigating their post-secondary experiences.  It was amazing to see students like Cheyenne Watson and Cassandra McCray speak so eloquently of how they navigated their HS struggles and not-always well-thought-out choices as rich learning experiences for their current success in college.  Their stories resonated with our seniors, many of whom face similar paths, and inspired them to see a powerful future for themselves!  Well done Danielle and Doris!!

Perception Institute Feedback.  Many thanks to Ms. Doris, Mr. Damon, and to Rachel and Krishawna from the perception institute for last week's session on understanding implicit bias.  It was an informative beginning to a much larger and longer conversation . We are currently working on following up on the workshop as we plan our work for January 28th. To better inform our planning, please take a minute to provide feedback using THIS FORM.  Our next and final extended PD of the year will be on MON February 4th.  Mr. McLean is coordinating this event with Paul Forbes from the DOE, who has done much of this work with other schools in the DOE.  Please save the date.  As we move forward with planning, we will get you more detailed information.  Any staff who is interested in helping with the planning should reach out to me ASAP!

To Do This Week

Tuesday Family Outreach.  There is no HS family outreach this week because of Regents week.  MS advisors, please reach out to let families know that we have a school-wide Chancellor's PD day on Monday 28JAN19. 

Intervisitation Sign Up.  Many thanks to Jamie & Danielle for hosting an amazing visit to Alison's classroom to look at instructional practice around look-fors and teacher circulation.  We'll be continuing this work in our January PD, particularly incorporating meaningful feedback (or as Rachel put it, Wise Feedback) during our circulation to leverage up student learning.  Kelly's visit will be rescheduled for when Annie returns from jury duty!!

Chancellor's PD on 28JAN19.  Here's the agenda for Monday's PD on 28JAN19

• 8:00-8:30AM Breakfast (optional)

• 8:30-9:30AM State of The School Address (All staff report to 409)

• 9:30-12:00PM AM Workshops
• LDC Teachers Work with Marsha & Rebecca on Aligning Expectations in Student Work
• All other staff join Joey & Tiffany on Effective Circulation and Using Strategic Feedback to Maximize Student Learning Throughout the Lesson

• 12:00-1:00PM Lunch on your own

• 1:00-2:30PM PM Workshops
• LDC Teachers continue AM work
• All other staff have Independent Work Time on Lessons & Units
  (Plus scheduled Mid Year Review Conferences with Annie or Kiri)

• 2:30-2:50PM Closure for the Day in Room 409
• Key Take-Aways for the Day
• Feedback Forms

Preparing for Mid-Year Conferences.  In the afternoon of Monday, 28JAN19, Annie and I will begin holding our Mid-Year Conferences.  This year the conferences will focus on your planning and lesson execution.  In particular, please bring a copy of a lesson and unit plan from the Fall and that you've done this year that you are most proud of.  Also, bring a copy of a lesson (and it's unit plan) for the Spring that you would like to be observed.  Be prepared to discuss 

• Intellectual Engagement:  What do you do to maximize the time students spend engaging in high levels of thinking throughout the lesson.
• Formative Assessment:  How do you make student thinking visible to you and what do you do to assess student thinking throughout the lesson
• Using Student Work to Inform Instructional Moves:  How do you to respond to student thinking throughout the lesson and how does your feedback impact student achievement both throughout the lesson and unit.

Here's the schedule for the afternoon

• 1:00-1:15 Alison (Kiri), Megan (Annie)
• 1:15-1:30 Cherry (Kiri), Damon (Annie)
• 1:30-1:45 Matthew (Kiri),  Tom (Annie)
• 1:45-2:00 Nina (Kiri), Meaghan (Annie)
• 2:00-2:15 Danielle (Kiri), Tracy (Annie)
• 2:15-2:30 Judy (Kiri), Elana (Annie)

We'll finish up the rest of the staff the week following (stay tuned for the calendar invite)

• Tuesday 29JAN19:  
• With Kiri in 401:  Matthew, Sarah, Phillan, Kristina, Christina, Cassandra, Tiffany, Joey,
• With Annie in 201:  Jake, Natalie, Zack, Suzannah, Kelly, Nadine, Elena, Giselle
• Wednesday 30JAN19:
• With Kiri in 401:  Marsha, Rebecca C., Amanda, Kristi
• With Annie in 201: Rebecca F., Freida, Laura