Week of Oct 15th

UAI Staff News

Volume VII

Issue 9

October 15th, 2019

Announcements

No Birthdays this week

Examining Our Own Biases.  With the Columbus Day Holiday, we will not have PD this week.  In place, please find the time to think and reflect in your journals independently.  Through last year and this, our journey as a staff was to first understand that we all as human beings have some form of implicit bias.  Given that is the case, the question is what are our biases and how do we develop our awareness of them so that they do not unfairly inhibit the opportunities  and achievement of our students.  If you have not already done so, take the time to test yourself for hidden bias. Without explicit PD time this week, this will be an optional, but highly recommended activity.  The goal of our work around bias is not for you to be called out or shamed.  Rather, the goal is to educate, bring awareness, and then provide the tools and support necessary to control those biases from inadvertently acting negatively on our students.  If you decide to take these tests, take them alone, for yourself and honestly.  They are for you to reflect.  Use your journal to log your results and your thoughts & reactions to those results.

November PD.  A number of you have been asking about PD for November's Election Day.  We have been working with the PD committee to refine the goals of that day, so I do apologize for the delay in communications!

During that day, we will be digging deeper into our work around bias.  As a predominantly white and privileged staff working with predominantly brown as lesser privileged youth, there is no PD that is more important on that day than this.  Please plan to be in attendance for that day.  If we are to secure a strong and equitable education for all of our students, then we must ALL be part of the work that crafts the solution.

To-Do This Week

MP1 Grades.  MP1 ended last Tuesday and grades are due Monday at 3PM.  Please make sure all grades are accurate and correct in Skedula.  We will be sending messages home to families via Skedula and School Messenger to check Skedula.  This week during Family Outreach, please check to see if your students' families are registered.  If not, please reach out to help them register.

Observations and Planning Documents.  Our original goal was to make sure that everyone has at least one observation by October 15th, and we are almost there, but will need a few extra days to complete.  All teachers should expect to have an observation (if they haven't already had one) by the end of this week.  As a reminder, please have your lesson plans printed and ready for collection when we arrive, OR have them accessible in your Pacing Guide in this folder HERE.  In addition, in this round, we are looking at unit and syllabi.  Please have your unit plans linked into your pacing guide and upload your syllabi to this folder (as per the start of year checklist).  Alternately, have your current unit and course syllabus printed and ready for collection when we arrive for observation.

Observations and Lesson Look-Fors.  Please refer to these lesson look fors to maximize your performance evaluation.  In particular, student THINKING needs to be central to your lesson, at all points during your lesson.  We are looking to see how well you structure lessons so that students are demanded to think their way through tasks (and not simply identify information or facts).  Writing and Speaking are the two ways that you can use to get students to show their thinking.  Turn and Talks and writing prompts are easy ways to do this.

Upcoming PD.  The PD Committee is currently working with the next round of presenters for our upcoming dilemmas that will focus on looking at implicit bias around race in our instructional and classroom practices.  In addition, we are looking to further our work around implicit bias and instruction during the November Election Day PD.  Finally, as promised, this year we want to make time for self-care and wellness throughout the year.  Next Monday will be our first in the series.  Here's the calendar for the next few sessions of PD

• October 21st:  Aromatherapy and Stress Management for Teachers
• October 28th:  Understanding Social Emotional  Learning & the DESSA
• November 4th:  Grade Team Meetings
• November 5th:  Implicit Bias and Instructional Practices
• Teacher Consultancy Round II
• Examining our Biases - Taking at look at our Data
• Effective Student Discourse & Using Writing to Consolidate Learning
• November 18th:  Consultancy Reflection (Nov 11th is a holiday)
• November 25th:  Wellness & Self CareUAI Teacher Potluck

Student Support Services Update

Per Session Opportunities

No New Postings This Week