UAI Staff News
Volume VI
Issue 27
March 4th, 2019
(61 instructional days remaining)
Announcements
Congratulations to Coach Elana and the Lady Eagles! This Sunday at York College, our very own Adams Campus Lady Eagles claimed a beautiful and well-earned victory over Bedford Academy. Our Lady Eagles are now moving on to the FINALS. This is the first time that they have every made it this far, and if they win the finals on Saturday, 16MAR10 (at LIU - time TBD), we will be the champions!
Pi Day for Prospective Students. Jen and the counseling team put together a fantastic Pi Day event designed to encourage prospective students to commit to UAI for the fall. The cafeteria was booming with lots of activities, and both families and prospective students were excited to join the fun! It was a fabulous event that was capped with ice cream and toppings. Well done Jen and team!!
Actual UAI Pi Day is this Thursday, and students will be celebrating in their math classes with their math teachers. To spread the Pi Day Love, on Thursday, find ways to weave in math and Pi into your own lessons for the day!
Staff Out This Week. Here's this week's staff out calendar
- [1] Monday 11MAR19
- Professional Development: Jamie @ LINCT PD
- [4] Tuesday 12MAR19
- Professional Development: Nina @LINCT PD; Marsha & Sarah w/ Kiri PD 11-1
- Personal Business: Rebecca our 1st -3rd period
- [1] Wednesday 13MAR19
- Professional Development: Joanna @ IEP Teacher PD
- [3] Thursday 14MAR19
- Professional Development: Tiffany & Joey @ LINCT PD; Nancy at Secretary PD
- [0] Friday 15MAR19
- Nobody Out
Actual UAI Pi Day is this Thursday, and students will be celebrating in their math classes with their math teachers. To spread the Pi Day Love, on Thursday, find ways to weave in math and Pi into your own lessons for the day!
Staff Out This Week. Here's this week's staff out calendar
- [1] Monday 11MAR19
- Professional Development: Jamie @ LINCT PD
- [4] Tuesday 12MAR19
- Professional Development: Nina @LINCT PD; Marsha & Sarah w/ Kiri PD 11-1
- Personal Business: Rebecca our 1st -3rd period
- [1] Wednesday 13MAR19
- Professional Development: Joanna @ IEP Teacher PD
- [3] Thursday 14MAR19
- Professional Development: Tiffany & Joey @ LINCT PD; Nancy at Secretary PD
- [0] Friday 15MAR19
- Nobody Out
To Do This Week
Sign up to see Planning and Circulation in Science. Marsha, Megan, and Meaghan will be hosting a visit to a science classroom to see how Megan and Meaghan are implementing what they've learned from our lesson planning and circulation PDs this year. We'll be visiting their class on Tuesday 12MAR19 at 1PM. If you are interested, please email Kiri or Annie. If you need coverage just let us know and we will arrange it!
Classroom Walkthroughs. Over the next couple of weeks, Annie & I will be conducting periodic walkthroughs to assess check in on classroom practice for the school. These walkthroughs will not evaluative. The walkthroughs will be short and it will not be unusual to see us multiple days in a row or multiple periods in a day. Our Classroom Observations will continue as usual as we wrap up the final observations for folks. We are looking at student thinking and teacher circulation (and feedback to students). We're looking to see how much of our PD from our workshop on planning for thinking (Election Day PD) and teacher circulation and feedback (January PD) is taking root across the school.
Monday PD. March NOT Madness Begins! Monday marks the start of our March NOT Madness series of Mindfulness and Wellbeing. Each Monday, we will still begin together in 409 each week to revel in my rendition of the spoken word version of the blog. Please make sure to be prompt at 3PM, so that we can start on time and move quickly into our planned workshops for that Monday. This Monday's assignments are:
Sign up to see Planning and Circulation in Science. Marsha, Megan, and Meaghan will be hosting a visit to a science classroom to see how Megan and Meaghan are implementing what they've learned from our lesson planning and circulation PDs this year. We'll be visiting their class on Tuesday 12MAR19 at 1PM. If you are interested, please email Kiri or Annie. If you need coverage just let us know and we will arrange it!
Classroom Walkthroughs. Over the next couple of weeks, Annie & I will be conducting periodic walkthroughs to assess check in on classroom practice for the school. These walkthroughs will not evaluative. The walkthroughs will be short and it will not be unusual to see us multiple days in a row or multiple periods in a day. Our Classroom Observations will continue as usual as we wrap up the final observations for folks. We are looking at student thinking and teacher circulation (and feedback to students). We're looking to see how much of our PD from our workshop on planning for thinking (Election Day PD) and teacher circulation and feedback (January PD) is taking root across the school.
Monday PD. March NOT Madness Begins! Monday marks the start of our March NOT Madness series of Mindfulness and Wellbeing. Each Monday, we will still begin together in 409 each week to revel in my rendition of the spoken word version of the blog. Please make sure to be prompt at 3PM, so that we can start on time and move quickly into our planned workshops for that Monday. This Monday's assignments are:
- Aroma Therapy w/Vanessa. The snow day put a little snafu in our yoga okabsm byt Aroma Therapy is stll a go in room 409. [98] Teachers Assigned are: Phillan, Jamie, Kelly, Danielle R., Tracy, Rebecca C, Christina, and Nadine
- Bulletin Board Updates. This session provides teachers the time to update the bulletin boards in the halls and classrooms in preparation for Student Led Conferences at the end of the month and in celebration of Women's History Month. [4] Teachers Assigned are: Giselle, Judy, Kristina, and Nina
- Co-Planning Time. Those having planned to be in co-planning will get ahead in the planning for March by working with their collaborative teaching teams. Teams need to prepare lessons, review student work, and refine units for March and April. [15] Teachers Assigned are: Natalie & Jake in ROOM 205, Megan, Meaghan, and Marsha in Rm 315, Tiffany, Freida, and Rebecca Fin ROOM 403, Alison, Cherry & Matthew in Rm 303, Sarah & Laura in ROOM 307, Zach and Suzannah in ROOM 509
- Aroma Therapy w/Vanessa. The snow day put a little snafu in our yoga okabsm byt Aroma Therapy is stll a go in room 409. [98] Teachers Assigned are: Phillan, Jamie, Kelly, Danielle R., Tracy, Rebecca C, Christina, and Nadine
- Bulletin Board Updates. This session provides teachers the time to update the bulletin boards in the halls and classrooms in preparation for Student Led Conferences at the end of the month and in celebration of Women's History Month. [4] Teachers Assigned are: Giselle, Judy, Kristina, and Nina
- Co-Planning Time. Those having planned to be in co-planning will get ahead in the planning for March by working with their collaborative teaching teams. Teams need to prepare lessons, review student work, and refine units for March and April. [15] Teachers Assigned are: Natalie & Jake in ROOM 205, Megan, Meaghan, and Marsha in Rm 315, Tiffany, Freida, and Rebecca Fin ROOM 403, Alison, Cherry & Matthew in Rm 303, Sarah & Laura in ROOM 307, Zach and Suzannah in ROOM 509
- Survey Focus Group. This session will be a collaborative meeting to better understand the results of our survey and to get feedback from staff to find ways of celebrating our strengths and improving our areas of growth. Teachers assigned should review the survey results from the UAI Teacher survey and the NYCDOE's Tripod Student Survey results. We will meet in ROOM 407. [8] Teachers Assigned are: Damon, Casssandra, Kristi, Tom, Joey, Elana, Elena, and Amanda
- Survey Focus Group. This session will be a collaborative meeting to better understand the results of our survey and to get feedback from staff to find ways of celebrating our strengths and improving our areas of growth. Teachers assigned should review the survey results from the UAI Teacher survey and the NYCDOE's Tripod Student Survey results. We will meet in ROOM 407. [8] Teachers Assigned are: Damon, Casssandra, Kristi, Tom, Joey, Elana, Elena, and Amanda
Tuesday Outreach. I'd like to share the power of positive phone calls. I started working with Amanda at the start of February and every day, I would have to ask Kizara to sit up, pay attention, and not sleep through class. One day, I had a breakthrough with her and she perked up, finished her work and handed it in. I shared this story with Laura who then called home. The next day, Kizara was literally walking on sunshine, asking questions, playing with dry ice in class and unleashing her curiosity. There was no sleepiness and she was literally smiling from ear-to-ear. It was magical! So, continue to spread the magic this week. Reach out to find and spread positive stories to our homes. As a reminder:
- Find something genuine and rooted in academic achievement. Every student in our school, even the ones who struggle the most or challenge us the most, have had academic growth somewhere. It's impossible for a young person to NOT grow. Growth is biologically encoded for teens. Leading up to student-led conferences, we want to focus these calls on ACADEMIC success. For each of your advisees, if you don't personally know an example to share, connect with their other teachers to find one.
- Make this call in person. Texts, emails, and other similar forms of communication are great for expedient and efficient transfer of information. You'll want to make these positive calls in person. It will make the families feel fantastic and their response to you will make you feel fabulous. Texts and emails will never achieve this for you. Good calls are good for families and students AND you!
- Keep it Positive. Resist the urge to go over corrective behaviors. If the family asks, answer their questions, but don't feel shy about saying that while there may be other concerns, your call today is to focus on the positive. We don't always make the time to celebrate what's going right. There's always time for corrective feedback.
- End with an Invite to SLCs. Wrap your call up with an invitation to learn more about how their child is doing by inviting parents/families to come to our SLCs. You can use this SLC Appointment Document to record your appointments.
Tuesday Outreach. I'd like to share the power of positive phone calls. I started working with Amanda at the start of February and every day, I would have to ask Kizara to sit up, pay attention, and not sleep through class. One day, I had a breakthrough with her and she perked up, finished her work and handed it in. I shared this story with Laura who then called home. The next day, Kizara was literally walking on sunshine, asking questions, playing with dry ice in class and unleashing her curiosity. There was no sleepiness and she was literally smiling from ear-to-ear. It was magical! So, continue to spread the magic this week. Reach out to find and spread positive stories to our homes. As a reminder:
- Find something genuine and rooted in academic achievement. Every student in our school, even the ones who struggle the most or challenge us the most, have had academic growth somewhere. It's impossible for a young person to NOT grow. Growth is biologically encoded for teens. Leading up to student-led conferences, we want to focus these calls on ACADEMIC success. For each of your advisees, if you don't personally know an example to share, connect with their other teachers to find one.
- Make this call in person. Texts, emails, and other similar forms of communication are great for expedient and efficient transfer of information. You'll want to make these positive calls in person. It will make the families feel fantastic and their response to you will make you feel fabulous. Texts and emails will never achieve this for you. Good calls are good for families and students AND you!
- Keep it Positive. Resist the urge to go over corrective behaviors. If the family asks, answer their questions, but don't feel shy about saying that while there may be other concerns, your call today is to focus on the positive. We don't always make the time to celebrate what's going right. There's always time for corrective feedback.
- End with an Invite to SLCs. Wrap your call up with an invitation to learn more about how their child is doing by inviting parents/families to come to our SLCs. You can use this SLC Appointment Document to record your appointments.
Student Support Services Updates
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