Week of December 21st

 UAI Staff News

Volume VIII

Issue 22

December 21st, 2020

Principal's Message

This is the last blog post of 2020.  Looking at last year's blog post, it was pretty amazing to see exactly how much has changed for our community in the last 12 months.  

Looking back at last year's post, the goals are certainly things for which we still strive, but this year, our goals of connecting with one another, our students, and their families and holding together as we navigate the COVID Global Pandemic together.  The strength of our relationships is the core of what sustains us as we moved through this year.  It has not been easy, but through it all, we have pulled together to learn and teach our students and ourselves so many different things this year.

Please enjoy a look back...

 

Don't Forget To Scroll To the Bottom to See This Week's Per Session Postings

Birthdays This Week

No Staff Birthdays this Week

Sunday, 20DEC:  Kemisha (10)

Tuesday, 22DEC: Trecie (8)

Wednesday 23DEC:  Adara (9)

Friday, 25DEC: Cynthia A (6), Luzmaria (7), Jazmine W (7), Wen (8) Alyra (10)

Saturday, 26DEC:  Ashley S (11)

Sunday, 27DEC:  Jacquelynn (9), Shante R (10), Isabella V (12)
Monday, 28DEC:  Cherrell (9)

                                     Tuesday, 29DEC:  Jidiann (8), Blessence (9)

                                                                                                               Wednesday, 30DEC:  Stephanie U (10)

                                                                                                        Thursday 31DEC:  Olivia W (8), Sania S (31)

                                                         

UAI Committee Updates.  

Staff Circles Committee (Members: Annie, Jennifer, Juelle, Marsha, & Nakita) No updates this week.

School Restructuring Committee (Members: Annie, Courtney, Jen, Kiri, Laura, Marsha, Nadine, Nina, and SarahM).  The SRC met on Monday and explored how the labels of "SPED" or "ENL" may be activating our unconscious biases.  The committee explored the immediate reactions we have when we first learn that students have IEPs or are learning English and how these reactions play out in our teaching and interactions with students.  This week, we are planning activities to engage staff in similar explorations for the next time we meet in January. 

The Equity Team (Suzannah, Nina, Elana, Kelly, Phillan, Annie, Nakita, Rebecca C, Damon, Ms. King (Kianna’s mom), Ms. Barnes (Alyssa’s mom), Ms. Martuscello (Veronica’s mom), Kianna King, Emily Payamps, Jerlai Tyner, Jamilah Alshawish, Salia Naschel).  The Equity Team just met to take a closer look at UAI's grading policy and grade books.  We were able to look at the grade books of students from each grade and found that there are vast differences amongst grade books.  Next, we ask that advisors share the Student Questionaire with their advisees next week to gather more qualitative data about how students experience and perceive the UAI grading policy.  We are still looking to further analyze data to identify the root cause of the disparities of grades and grade inflation between our Black and Latinx students and white and Asian students.  

Connections & Celebrations.  This upcoming break will be the longest break away from our students since the summer.  It is a time to recharge and relax, but before we sign off on 2020, please make time this week with your students to connect, take stock, and celebrate what you have been able to collectively achieve as a learning community this fall.  A simple prompt in the chat, pear deck slide, or even a whip around (ask students to pass the "talking" piece off to a peer - use the protocols we use in Circles to support the experience).   It is so easy to focus on the things that are hard and that are problematic.  It takes discipline and intention to remember the accomplishments and to celebrate them.  When we do make that time, we nourish our hearts, minds and souls!  So, make time for some celebrations this week!

 

>>REPOST<< Weekly Grade Upload.  As a reminder, please upload your grades by the end of the day on Monday.  At this point, students should have at least 2 participation and 2 progress grades, and at least 1 performance posted up into Skedula.  As a reminder, this does NOT mean 5 assignments necessarily.  Individual assignments can have multiple grades.  For example, a single summative assessment could have participation grade (yes/no - for completion), a progress grade (how well did they implement feedback to show growth), and performance evaluation (how well did they master the content/skills being assessed).  

Per Session Postings

To Apply for any of the following per session opportunities, please COMPLETE THIS FORM and email the appropriate point person listed in this posting.  

No postings this week

Please CLICK HERE to indicate that you’ve read all the blogpost for this week.

Week of December 14th

 UAI Staff News

Volume VIII

Issue 21

December 14th, 2020

Principal's Message

As we approach the winter holiday, the need for people to connect becomes increasingly more significant.  This week, prioritize two things:

1. Connect with your Advisees.  This week, reach out to simply check in on families & students just to see how they are doing.  No academic or attendance updates - just show that you care and are there for them.  You may not be able to directly support or help them, but showing that you care will mean so much!
   
   
2. Help your students connect with one another.   In remote learning, all of our students are lacking the adult-unmediated spaces where they can exercise their independent social emotional skills in forming and negotiating relationships.  Creating relationships through a computer screen is hard for adults.  It is almost impossible for students.  Social media interactions are empty and often misinterpreted.  Advisory has been an important space for this social development, but it is not enough.  This week and next, make space in your classes for students to connect with one another. Here are some ideas (just a few - definitely NOT an exhaustive list)
   
   
• Make it Lighter & Fun.  Have your students work in constant groups for the next week and a half.  Have the first task be creating a team name or identity.  Plan fun in class games or friendly competitions (Family Feud, Jeopardy, etc.). Within the games, give groups the time to create their identities, prepare and support each other, and get ready for the fued.
  
  
• Switch it Up.  Check out https://www.kumospace.com/.  In this online meeting forum, kids can work in groups in separate areas of a "room" and you as the teacher can move around to different groups.  Kids can also move around and speak at the same time!  It is the closet-to-real life interactions in a virtual space that I've seen so far.  Make sure you play around with it yourself (like I invited friends to a Friday hangout to check it out), and try it out on an iPad or on your phone so you can sense what kids will feel!  Good luck and have fun.
  
  
• Shared Connections.  Sharing experiences (like how we shared our COVID experiences in Circles on Friday) or finding commonalities (e.g. your team has to find 3 things that you all have in common) are a great tool for paving the way to new relationships.  Make time to have students engage in these kind of activities in small groups.

When students are in spaces with people they consider safe (e.g. a trusted teacher, advisor, or with friends), they are more willing to take risks.  Remote Learning demands incredible risk-taking of our students.  They are on a single stage (zoom talking protocols mean that everyone has to listen when they talk); their mistakes are on display not only for their teachers, but also for students they do not know or trust. They are exposing private home experiences (little siblings or their bedrooms!) to strangers in their class; their private lives are on display and subject to unknown judgment.  As a result, students are muted and off camera...

AND that means that they are not learning as effectively as they could be.

So, we have tried to coerce, urge, and demand via our policies to get them to engage.

Now, we need to take a step back, re-evaluate, and prioritize their emotional safety.  Create a connection of friendships and colleagues in your classroom breakout rooms.  Teach them how to work collaboratively in study groups during your Office Hours.  Help them learn to rely on one another instead of just you.

When that happens, they will be happier, and you will be less stressed! 

Good luck everyone and have a stupendous week! 

 

Don't Forget To Scroll To the Bottom to See This Week's Per Session Postings

Birthdays This Week

Happy Birthday Amy!!!

Friday, 13DEC20

Sunday, 13DEC:  Anayasia (9),   Waniya (9), Karla (10)

Monday, 14DEC:  Nahlay (6), Makayla V (8), Destiny V (8)

Wednesday, 16DEC: Attiya (10), Valeria (11), Vivian (11)

Thursday, 17DEC:  Sarah C (8), Manal (9), Sumaya (10), Dameia (11)

Friday, 18DEC:  Cierra T(12), Fariya (12)

Saturday: Neveah G (8), Denise M (10), Zarin (12)

UAI Committee Updates.  

Staff Circles Committee (Members: Annie, Jennifer, Juelle, Marsha, & Nakita) Last Friday, we facilitated the final staff Circle of 2020. During this Circle, we reflected on Covid’s impact in our personal lives, as well as considering the impact it’s had on our students and families. Part of the antibias/antiracist work is challenging assumptions made about students, especially during these difficult times. Our next Circle is scheduled for January 15. The SC Committee thanks every staff member for engaging in the Circle space for the past three months. Enjoy the holiday break and stay safe!

Attachments area

School Restructuring Committee (Members: Annie, Courtney, Jen, Kiri, Laura, Marsha, Nadine, Nina, and SarahM).  The SRC met on Monday and engaged in doing a deep-dive analysis on a case study student to better understand both student and teacher needs for supporting our students with learning disabilities and/or students who are learning English.  The team encountered several hurdles, including trying to develop concrete and executable steps based on the information available in the PLOPs and IEPs.  In addition, the team struggled with finding supports that addressed actual learning issues vs. social-emotional skills.  On Monday, the team will plan an approach to engaging staff in finding and sharing practices that have worked with students with IEPs and/or who are learning English.  In addition, this staff engagement will analyze why those practices are successful in the goal of providing all staff with the tools and understanding needed to support our neediest learners!

 

The Equity Team (Suzannah, Nina, Elana, Kelly, Phillan, Annie, Nakita, Rebecca C, Damon, Ms. King (Kianna’s mom), Ms. Barnes (Alyssa’s mom), Ms. Martuscello (Veronica’s mom), Kianna King, Emily Payamps, Jerlai Tyner, Jamilah Alshawish, Salia Naschel).  No updates this week.  The Equity Team will report out on Friday in the staff meeting.

Plan for Re-entry.  The attendance & academic interventions are beginning their third week of work this week. As a result, you will begin seeing students in classes that have been absent for many, many weeks.  

• The attendance team is charged with getting students back into the classes, but in order to keep them there, we need teachers to create a plan for them to stay.  The goal for re-entry is to keep them there first, and worry about making up things later.  For this week, as students return, just have them keep up with this week's assignments...direct them to the resources they'll need to engage, and tell them it is OK that they won't understand everything.  The goal is to try and submit something...Then you will be able to work with them to catch up.
• The academic team is charged with closing learning gaps.  This means that they may need to advocate for students to work on foundational skills in place of assignments.  Please work with your grade team colleagues to figure out this balance.  More important than completion is skill development.  So, anything that leads to students closing learning gaps needs to be priority number one!

>>REPOST<< Tech Tuesday.  This Tuesday will be another opportunity for students to come in to school and exchange tech.  Students will be able to come to the school and exchange tech between 9 and noon.  Staff will be able to access the building during those hours as well.  Students will not be allowed access to the building.

>>REPOST<< Weekly Grade Upload.  As a reminder, please upload your grades by the end of the day on Monday.  At this point, students should have at least 2 participation and 2 progress grades, and at least 1 performance posted up into Skedula.  As a reminder, this does NOT mean 5 assignments necessarily.  Individual assignments can have multiple grades.  For example, a single summative assessment could have participation grade (yes/no - for completion), a progress grade (how well did they implement feedback to show growth), and performance evaluation (how well did they master the content/skills being assessed).  

Per Session Postings

To Apply for any of the following per session opportunities, please COMPLETE THIS FORM and email the appropriate point person listed in this posting.  

The 8th Grade Yearbook Club Supervisor:  Congratulations Kristina C!

Applied:  Kristina

Staffed:  Kristina

Please CLICK HERE to indicate that you’ve read all the blogpost for this week.

Week of December 7th

UAI Staff News

Volume VIII

Issue 20

December 7th, 2020

Principal's Message

We are about 1/3 of the way through Marking Period 2, and this brings a good time to step back and reflect.  How well IS instruction landing with our students?  How do we know?  If a large number or majority of students are not successful on (or not turning in) a performance assessment, what happened and where was the breakdown?  How do you find out?

Throughout this entire COVID instructional year, all of us are engaged in finding new ways to reach students through screens and in their homes.   There are many new and unknown variables.  As good scientific thinkers, we must always incorporate time to pause, look at our data, reconsider our hypothesis, and try out new approaches to issues the remain unsolved.

So this week, take a step back and look at how your instruction is landing with students.  Put aside what you think is going on for a moment, and study, observe, and think about what else could be happening. Be disciplined and methodical in your analysis.  Reach out to colleagues (both new and familiar) to help rethink approaches.  

You know that if students continue to be non-responsive to the efforts you've tried since September, and still they are not yet succeeding, then it is time to try something new.

These next two weeks, focus on the students who have >80% attendance in your classes.  The attendance team will be focusing on the rest.  For those students who are showing up in class, how many of them are not turning in work? Why is that? What's happening from their perspective?  Get into their heads to find out!  Ask them and find out more!  When you listen to their perspective and incorporate their voices & needs, you will find ways, previously unconsidered, to reach and subsequently teach them!

 

Don't Forget To Scroll To the Bottom to See This Week's Per Session Postings

Birthdays This Week

Happy Birthday Nina!!!

Friday, 11DEC20

Sunday, 06DEC:  Akaiba (7),   Nadia G (11)  

Monday, 07DEC:  Adiba (8), Mckenzie (11)

Tuesday, 08DEC:  Mikyah (10), Karen F (10), Shania H (12)

Wednesday, 02DEC: Heba (6), Alea (9)

Saturday, 12DEC:  Jarin (9)

UAI Committee Updates.  

Staff Circles Committee (Members: Annie, Jennifer, Juelle, Marsha, & Nakita) Last week, the SC committee met on 12/2 and devoted our meeting looking at staff feedback of the Circle experience. We reflected on areas that were positive and areas of concern. Here are some things we will implement based on feedback:

• Groups: The current groups were established during our 5th Circle on October 30th. In a survey sent out on 10/16, staff members voted to stay in the same groups for a few sessions. Groups will be changed after Circle #8 in January.

• More ABAR work: Some staff members expressed shifting the Circle work from learning about each other to more antibias/antiracist discussions. In our Circle planning, we’re constantly trying to find the balance between building relationships and getting to the “nitty gritty” of the antiracist work. Not to worry! Our next staff Circle will get to the heart of that.  Relationship building will live through the opening icebreakers and determining the speaking order in small groups.

• Time: Trying to have meaningful conversations within the 50-min time frame has been quite the challenge. We’ve seen feedback about needing more time to process the breakout questions. From now on, we will share the slide presentation with staff the morning of a Circle day.

• Integrity of Circle Format: As part of the Circle format, participants have the option to pass or skip questions they do not wish to answer. The same is true virtually. We recognized that we haven’t been clear about this in our Circle meetings. Moving forward, the SC committee will incorporate passing in the guidelines of future Circles.

Attachments area

School Restructuring Committee (Members: Annie, Courtney, Jen, Kiri, Laura, Marsha, Nadine, Nina, and SarahM).  The SRC met on Monday to begin our thinking and planning around systems and supports for our SPED and ENL learners.   The first meeting kicked off with a Five-Why protocol to begin to initial root cause analysis around what barriers exist that prevent our ENL and SPED students from succeeding on par with the General Education counterparts.  This conversation led to the team needing to gather more information and understanding from our teachers, learners, and families.  Monday's meeting will begin to plan ways to gather and engage these constituencies in pursuit of the goal of creating guidelines and checklists for planning to support our teachers to help SPED and ENL learners close learning gaps.

The Equity Team (Suzannah, Nina, Elana, Kelly, Phillan, Annie, Nakita, Rebecca C, Damon, Ms. King (Kianna’s mom), Ms. Barnes (Alyssa’s mom), Ms. Martuscello (Veronica’s mom), Kianna King, Emily Payamps, Jerlai Tyner, Jamilah Alshawish, Salia Naschel).  This week, members from the Equity Team planned and facilitated a meeting with Cassie from the Urban Assembly.  Cassie presented network-wide data reviewing UAI's college persistence data compared to the rest of the UA network schools.  Team members worked together to analyze data and identified trends based upon race, GPA, IEP, and ENL classification.  The team discussed possible root causes of the disproportionality of GPA based upon race.  Also, the team created a survey to send to UAI alumni to gather data about how well prepared they felt for college and life after graduating from UAI. Looking forward we will review the results from the alumni surveys and start diving into middle school proficiency data.  Our next meeting will be Thursday, December 17, 2020.

Tech Tuesday.  This Tuesday will be another opportunity for students to come in to school and exchange tech.  Students will be able to come to the school and exchange tech between 9 and noon.  Staff will be able to access the building during those hours as well.  Students will not be allowed access to the building.

Weekly Grade Upload.  As a reminder, please upload your grades by the end of the day on Monday.  At this point, students should have at least 2 participation and 2 progress grades, and at least 1 performance posted up into Skedula.  As a reminder, this does NOT mean 5 assignments necessarily.  Individual assignments can have multiple grades.  For example, a single summative assessment could have participation grade (yes/no - for completion), a progress grade (how well did they implement feedback to show growth), and performance evaluation (how well did they master the content/skills being assessed).  

Per Session Postings

To Apply for any of the following per session opportunities, please COMPLETE THIS FORM and email the appropriate point person listed in this posting.  

The 8th Grade Yearbook Club Supervisor:  Congratulations Kristina C!

Applied:  Kristina

Staffed:  Kristina

Please CLICK HERE to indicate that you’ve read all the blogpost for this week.

Week of November 30th

UAI Staff News

Volume VIII

Issue 19

November 30th, 2020

Principal's Message

I do hope wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!!  Hopefully, you also all found the time to rest and recharge, too!  We have three and a half work weeks left in 2020.  This year was....oof...AND we're finally near the end of it.

These next few weeks are traditionally difficult in "normal" times.  But this is the holiday season under COVID.  Just when we want to be closest with our friends and loved ones, we still must continue to physically keep our distance in order to keep this second wave at bay.  So, this season, the holiday stress and anxiety is at all time highs.

The holiday season poses many different stresses and anxieties for each of us and all of our students and their families.  In order to support ourselves and our students through this time, it is important that we teach through grace and empathy - for yourself, for your peers, and most importantly, for your students and their families.

Over the next three and half weeks, the best thing you can do is to be intentional about your time and efforts.  

• Planning and Grading.  Work assigned requires time planned for grading and/or feedback.  While you plan, make sure you are planning lessons AND planning time for yourself to use to grade.   

• Outreach and Relationships.  All advisors have time built in to do outreach, but too often that time is dedicated to issues or problem-based outreach.  This month, prioritize building relationships with your time.  Make contact just to say "Hi" and "How are you" or "We're just checking in to see how we can help".  Yes, we will need to address any issues students are having, but make sure you are checking in and connecting to people, first.  You'll find that when you take the time to connect and build relationships, when the time comes to supporting a struggling learner, families who trust and have relationships with you will be the first to answer your call!
  
  
• Work Hard and Self Care.  Strike the balance this month.  Zooming IS fatiguing.  Make sure to plan breaks for yourself in between those zooms.  Give yourself a break between the zooms.  REALLY!  Make sure you have enough time to get up from your desk, walk around your apartment, maybe even do a quick 7-minute workout!  After work, make the time to talk to or zoom with those who refill and recharge you.  Schedule time for you to be outside and away from screens and electronics.

There have been no shortage of challenges this year.  Through each of those, each of you has persisted and grown.  Today, you have a whole new set of skills that you didn't have last March.  Tomorrow, you will begin to develop even more.  Through all of it, these challenges have only made you all stronger, and more skilled in your work.  Keep at it, and stay strong!

 

Don't Forget To Scroll To the Bottom to See This Week's Per Session Postings

Birthdays This Week

No Staff Bdays this week!
In fact, I don't have listed in DEC....that can't be right!
DO EMAIL ME if this is incorrect!

Sunday, 29NOV:  Mawadda (12)    

Monday, 30NOV:  Brenda (12)

Tuesday, 01DEC:  Nisa (8), Akillya (9), Mina (9)

Wednesday, 02DEC: Heba (6), Alea (9)

Thursday, 03DEC: Amy (6)

Friday, 04DEC: Zaria (6), Nyama (6), Afhnan (11), Reeham (12)

Saturday, 05DEC:  Kaliyah (12)

UAI Committee Updates.  

Staff Circles Committee (Members: Annie, Jennifer, Juelle, Marsha, & Nakita) In our last Circle, we reflected on our journeys into education and exploring the assumptions we’ve made about our students. There weren’t many responses from the survey, but the results are still valuable. Most staff members enjoy getting to know colleagues more and more. The survey also showed a desire to mix up the groups and more think-time on the breakout prompts. The SC Committee will meet this Wednesday to take an in-depth look at the survey feedback to finish planning the next Circle. Our last staff Circle of 2020 is December 11. Our discussion will be a continuation of the last one, with a special attention to our students and families during Covid.

School Restructuring Committee (Members: Annie, Courtney, Jen, Kiri, Laura, Marsha, Nadine, Nina, and SarahM).  The SRC met to finalize new school wide policies (see below).  These policies are in effect starting Monday, 30NOV, and the committee plans to re-engage staff on 08JAN21 to check in and revise policies as needed.  Our next meeting is on Monday 30NOV20 and we will begin working on policies and systems to better support our SPED and ENL learners.  

The Equity Team (Suzannah, Nina, Elana, Kelly, Phillan, Annie, Nakita, Rebecca C, Damon, Ms. King (Kianna’s mom), Ms. Barnes (Alyssa’s mom), Ms. Martuscello (Veronica’s mom), Kianna King, Emily Payamps, Jerlai Tyner, Jamilah Alshawish, Salia Naschel).  No updates this week.

Tech Tuesday.  This Tuesday will be another opportunity for students to come in to school and exchange tech.  Kiri will be at school to support students who want to exchange tech from 8:30-10:30 only.  Any staff who need to access the building at that time will be allowed to join me (only from 8:30-10:30).  No students will be allowed entry to the building, however.  If you have any advisee that needs replacement tech but cannot come to UAI, please email Kiri.  Kiri will be dropping of tech to students this week.

Weekly Grade Upload.  Teachers should be uploading grades weekly into Skedula.  Last week was a short week, but all teachers should still have asynchronous and synchronous grades to upload from Mon-Wed of last week.  Please upload grades by the end of the day on Monday. 

Mandated Office Hours.  Any student who missed an assignment last week or the week before should be mandated to Office Hours.  Teachers should inform students and families and let advisors know so they can assist with follow up during their outreach.  As per the new grading policy, missed assignments can only be made up during office hours.  Students who miss office hours this week will receive failing marks for the assignments and advisors will hold parent conferences with students and families about the failing work on Friday.

School Wide Policy Updates.  The SRC met to update policies around Zoom, Google Classrooms, and Grading.  These policies were created with input from the UAI community, particularly our staff, engaging staff in interactive discussions about Google Classrooms and Grading.  We also used survey data to gather input from staff, students, and families.  Please CLICK HERE to review the policies.

Grade Team Meetings.  This week we will have our first actual weekly grade team meetings.  In addition, grade teams will meet at the end of the day on Friday to complete PLOPs for students.  The meeting time does feel like a lot of time, but this is the most efficient means of creating a strong safety net for our students and providing time for teachers to complete required components of IEPs.

Register Parents and Students in Pupilpath.   We need to leverage the tools provided in Pupil Path to increase our ability to communicate with families and students.  Students should already be registered, but advisors can use this powerpoint on how to register for Pupil Path to help students and families sign on.  Advisors can find registration codes on Skedula under the "Pupilpath" link.  Please use the slides to register all students during advisory this week (if they have not already done so), and please use the emails we collected during parent conferences to share registration codes and the slide show with parents.  The goal is to have your entire advisory (parents and students) registered in Pupilpath by the end of the day on Friday.

Per Session Postings

To Apply for any of the following per session opportunities, please COMPLETE THIS FORM and email the appropriate point person listed in this posting.  

The 8th Grade Yearbook Club Supervisor:  Please apply directly to Jen via email AND complete the form linked above.  For this position, you will receive 1 hour of persession each week to lead the 8th Grade Yearbook Club. Your responsibilities include recruiting students for the club, collecting pictures from staff and students from the last three years for the class of 2021 and assisting students in the formatting of the yearbook on our purchased software. Kelly will handle the logistics of purchasing and contact with the company - your role is to guide and support students through the construction of their senior yearbook while simultaneously building their digital literacy skills.   This position requires someone who has contact and relationships with the current 8th graders, who can successfully motivate students to participate in creating a digital yearbook, and who has strong organizational and technical skills to use software, coordinate student meetings, and meet deadlines.  (one position available)

Please CLICK HERE to indicate that you’ve read all the blogpost for this week.

Week of November 23rd

UAI Staff News

Volume VIII

Issue 18

November 23rd, 2020

Principal's Message

As we kick off the holiday season with Thanksgiving, I want to make the time to appreciate the things we have all accomplished this year and to thank each of you for what you have achieved with our students!

Closing the Digital Divide.  At the end of last year and the start of this year, advisors, deans and school support staff all worked together seamlessly to get technology and access to WiFi for our students and families.  While we are still working on the challenged that the DOE iPad updates posed, over 97% of our students have either their own computers, DOE iPads and/or UAI Chromebooks in their hands, and nearly 2/3 of our students have access to reliable WiFi.  Through more work, advisors & school support staff will raise the percent of students who have access to reliable WiFi will raise to 90% too!  Given how many of our students began this pandemic with no tech other than a phone and no reliable access to WiFi, this has been an enormous achievement.  I am thankful to all of you for all of your efforts, and I am truly in awe about how our collective efforts significantly closed the digital divide for our students and their families.  Excellent work and Thank you to all!

Engagement & Achievement.  Throughout the entire first marking period, advisors and out-of-classroom staff & our partner staff at Girls Inc. have worked tirelessly to create and recreate lessons that engage our students minds and hearts.  Together, we have all tried (and retried) to find methods and avenues that provide our students with the experiences they need to grow academically and develop social emotionally.   We have spent many, many hours in our efforts, and it has been extremely frustrating to experience so many of them falling short.  However, through our collective persistence and commitment to our students' growth and development, nearly 2/3 of our students have 90% average daily attendance or better AND over 2/3 of our students successfully passed all of their classes.  Given the added challenges that learning at home and strictly through computer screens, the majority of our students thrive because of how we persisted and evolved through each failure and success!  Keep at it, even when it doesn't pan out.  The work you do matters, even when it doesn't work.  In failure we learn and improve.  Through that improvement, our students thrive and achieve.  Thank you to all for all that you do!!

Care and Support.  This year, our advisory system and support of our counselors, deans, and paraprofessionals have created a strong network of support for our students and families.  They know we care, and time and again, they share their appreciation and feedback through our meetings and through their resounding approval in our surveys.  2020 provided no shortage of challenges for our students and families.... and ourselves.  Your strength and commitment to be their for our students and families is so appreciated because it comes through in the time of your own need, too.  Thank you for all that you give, even when your own tanks run low.

As we head into this short week and long weekend, make time to reflect on your own achievements and individual success.  Make space to recognize what you have achieved and value what you do have (and have achieved).  You may not always hear the appreciation or see it.  But please know, it is always there, and your students, our families, and I, Annie, & Jen fully appreciate all that you have made real for our UAI family.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!!

Don't Forget To Scroll To the Bottom to See This Week's Per Session Postings

Birthdays This Week

No Staff Bdays this week!
DO EMAIL ME if this is incorrect!

Sunday, 22NOV:  Nyllah (6), Tralena (7)     

Monday, 23NOV:  Jaelynn (8), Lamya (11)

Tuesday, 24NOV:  Nodira (9)

Friday, 27NOV:  Shamaya (8), Yasmin (10)

Saturday, 28NOV:  Taspia (8)

UAI Committee Updates.  

Staff Circles Committee (Members: Annie, Jennifer, Juelle, Marsha, & Nakita) The Circle Committee hosted Staff Circles on Friday, 20NOV.  

School Restructuring Committee (Members: Annie, Courtney, Jen, Kiri, Laura, Marsha, Nadine, Nina, and SarahM).  The SRC rolled out three new policies for feedback (UAI Grading Policy, UAI Google Classroom Policy, UAI Zoom Policy). We will meet on Monday 23NOV to integrate staff feedback into final policies for release before Thanksgiving. If you haven't had a chance yet to submit feedback, please click on any of the links (in blue above) or reach out to anyone on the committee with your input!

The Equity Team (Suzannah, Nina, Elana, Kelly, Phillan, Annie, Nakita, Rebecca C, Damon, Ms. King (Kianna’s mom), Ms. Barnes (Alyssa’s mom), Ms. Martuscello (Veronica’s mom), Kianna King, Emily Payamps, Jerlai Tyner, Jamilah Alshawish, Salia Naschel).  The Equity Team met this past Thursday to analyze GPA and SAT data by race.  We were able to draw conclusions about disproportionality that provoked questions to drive our work in developing more equitable grading practices.  Check out our jamboards to see the work we did this week.  Our next meeting will be December 2, 2020, and will be co-facilitated by Cassie Magesis, Director of Post-Secondary Access at the Urban Assembly.

Upload Grades.  By now, you should be using the Turn In function on Google Classrooms, and you should know how to transfer your grades from Google Classrooms into Skedula.   For Marking Period 2, you should be uploading your grades into Skedula each week.    If you are finding that you cannot keep up with the grading load, then it's time to consider what needs to change.  At minimum for this week, you should upload 1 participation and 1 progress grade for all students.  Students who have not yet submitted any work should have a "50" uploaded to indicate missing work.

As a reminder, assignments can have varying levels of grading & feedback.  

• Participation (MIN- 1 grade per week):  These can be done/not done, non-quality based assignments.  For example, did the students participation in the chat (yes/no)?  Did she ask/answer a question or add to the discussion in some way (yes/no)?  These "signs of life" challenges should occur through the live zooms at least 2-3 times, and then your yes/no measure can be quantitative based on how many times out of total challenges the students participated.  For asynch days, participation grades could simply be did they turn in the asynch work (yes/no)?  Over the course of the week, you can upload a single participation grade for the week.   If you're tech fancy, you can also use google forms or excel sheets to help you.   If you tend to lower tech, if you keep a roster next to you, you can check off names as you "challenge" the students through the zooms and week.  Either way, you can enter a grade each week as a point or percentage (# of yeses divided by # of total challenges).  All of this is suggested if you need it - NOT MANDATED.  If you have a working system, and you're able to easily upload weekly Participation grades, great and keep it going! 
  
  
• Progress (MIN - 1 grade per week):  There is a wide variety of what can count for a progress grade.  These can be practice assignments (self graded with a key or peer graded with a rubric).  These can be assignments for feedback.  Feedback assignments require intensive teacher time and these assignments should be give with intentionality and include teachers scheduling time for providing feedback to students within 1-2 days of assignment submission.  Feedback assignments could be first drafts, exit tickets, test corrections, debates, discussions, work in breakout rooms, other class activities or asynch work, etc.   If you're trying to get student to upload information practice assignments that are autograded (e.g. google form autogrades) or self/peer assessed is a way to hold students accountable for information upload.  If you are trying to assess the quality of student learning and mastery, you need to include feedback assignments so that you can correct/refine/support their learning.  Make time for both and be intentional about planning time for giving feedback.
  
  
• Performance (MIN- 1 grade per 2 weeks).   These are summative assessments that students do independently and after teachers have had the opportunity to provide feedback.  They can be things like exit tickets if the exit tickets follows teachers providing full class, small group, or individual feedback in the live zoom (or in writing).  These can be quizzes, small writing assignments, or labs.  These happen after practice and feedback from peers/teachers.   These can also be major assessments like unit tests, essays, research papers, debates, socratic seminars, projects, etc.  All of the major assessments should occur after several minor assessments and many opportunities for feedback and student implementation of that feedback.  

Grade Team Meetings.  Thank you to all three folks who stopped by Office Hours to discuss their ideas/concerns/questions about Grade Team Meetings.  I hear from Damon and Nina, that many still have concerns.  Please feel free to put those in the Parking Lot or if you prefer, please raise them up to any committee member, and we will address those concerns in committees!  There are many avenues for your voice to be heard, but if you don't use your voice, we won't be able to hear it!  So please share your concerns, ideas, and questions.

Per Session Postings

To Apply for any of the following per session opportunities, please COMPLETE THIS FORM and email the appropriate point person listed in this posting.  

The 8th Grade Yearbook Club Supervisor:  Please apply directly to Jen via email AND complete the form linked above.  For this position, you will receive 1 hour of persession each week to lead the 8th Grade Yearbook Club. Your responsibilities include recruiting students for the club, collecting pictures from staff and students from the last three years for the class of 2021 and assisting students in the formatting of the yearbook on our purchased software. Kelly will handle the logistics of purchasing and contact with the company - your role is to guide and support students through the construction of their senior yearbook while simultaneously building their digital literacy skills.   This position requires someone who has contact and relationships with the current 8th graders, who can successfully motivate students to participate in creating a digital yearbook, and who has strong organizational and technical skills to use software, coordinate student meetings, and meet deadlines.  (one position available)

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Week of November 16th, 20

UAI Staff News

Volume VIII

Issue 17

November 16th, 2020

Principal's Message

It is a LOT of work to continually connect and check in on our students and their families.  On top of that, you are all working diligently hard to learn a whole new set of digital skills and pedagogical techniques.  However, it is all worth it!  Across all subjects, across all areas (creating connections, academic rigor, fun & engagement, and individuation), our parents and students have ranked your efforts consistently as "Pretty Good" to "Excellent"!  In addition, our parents and students recognize and appreciate your work!!  You can see all the data for yourself HERE, but here are some samples of their appreciation this first marking period!!

• Some Quotes from Our Families 
• I want to say that the staff is amazing and very helpful.
• They are all the best!! They make learning fun.
• Their availability to students... many teachers made themselves available to students and it gave the student confidence to feel that if they were having a tough time, someone was there to always help. This mattered to my daughter because it made her feel like her teachers were reliable and available.
• They all made my child feel engaged and safe throughout the past Marking period. They all helped my child after our travel that its okay if she missed work and zooms she will make it up. They helped her make up her work.
• My daughter said Mr.Tom for pushing her to do her best, but I say all the teachers does that. Great support.
• Amazing work ethic despite the current climate.

• Some Quotes from Our Students 
• Teachers in the class made me feel valued and respected 
• They taught something interesting and they engaged with me alot
• Trying their hardest to help us learn new things.
• The teachers listening to students issues and making us feel known. 
• I want to say thank you teachers for teaching me and I feel it is a great success to be at UAI this year I’m so happy.

Thank you all for everything you have done to launch this crazy COVID school year!  I look forward to seeing what you deliver for our students and families for Marking Period 2!!

Don't Forget To Scroll To the Bottom to See This Week's Per Session Postings

Birthdays This Week

No Staff Bdays this week!
DO EMAIL ME if this is incorrect!

Monday, 16NOV:  Aaliyah Y (6), Makeilah S (9), Shalanay (10), Jomesha (11)       

Thursday, 19NOV:  Marie C. (6), Myalynne (8), Destinee M (9)

Friday, 20NOV:  Ghada (6), Marie J. (8),  Sunanda (8), Nyjayah (9)

UAI Committee Updates.  As promised, we will be providing weekly updates on the progress of our three committees working to transform UAI into a fully inclusive and anti-racist school!  Throughout this year, many folks will have ideas and concerns about ... whatever is happening at UAI!!  Please feel free to reach out to ANY individual on any of the committees to share your ideas and concerns.  

No longer should anyone feel that they have to come to school leadership about concerns.  Of course, all are always welcome, but our committee structures provide staff with many folks of many different affinities that can help highlight your ideas and/or concerns!  All you have to do is reach out and/or share your mind when the committees reach out to you!

Committee Updates....

Staff Circles Committee (Members: Annie, Jennifer, Juelle, Marsha, & Nakita) The SC Committee met last Monday to plan the goal for the next staff Circle. To plan, we engage in a Circle planning protocol (CPP), as you can see here in the minutes. We reflected on the staff feedback and determined that we should continue the work of individual self-awareness. As part of our mission, we must look inward in order to build relationships and form the antiracist/fully inclusive school we all hope for. In this Friday’s staff Circle, we will reflect on our journey as educators, so that we can challenge assumptions we make about each other and our students.

School Restructuring Committee (Members: Annie, Courtney, Jen, Kiri, Laura, Marsha, Nadine, Nina, and SarahM). The SRC will be meeting on Monday at 4:15 to review staff feedback from the last two meetings and our surveys.  We will begin drafting school wide policies around Zoom and Google Classroom and for structures/systems for implementing the DOE Grading Policy.  As always, you can track our meetings following our minutes and agendas via this LINK. 

The Equity Team (Suzannah, Nina, Elana, Kelly, Phillan, Annie, Nakita, Rebecca C, Damon, Ms. King (Kianna’s mom), Ms. Barnes (Alyssa’s mom), Ms. Martuscello (Veronica’s mom), Kianna King, Emily Payamps, Jerlai Tyner, Jamilah Alshawish, Salia Naschel).  The Equity Team took a pause last week because of conferences, but will resume this week to dive into data analyzing GPA to identify disproportionately by race.

Advisory Conferences.  Thank you to all of you!!  We met our goal of completing at least 80% of our advisory conferences.  We ended the week with 402/495 conferences completed!  Nicely done everyone!

Also, thank you for completing the survey.  We were able to collect some invaluable information about home learning and technology!  One of the most revealing bits of information is how many of our students have unreliable access to WiFi.  Only 86% of our students replied yes, and that correlates to our average daily attendance rate, which is about 85% right now.   This means that when students are absent, communication that relies on WiFi access will likely not work!  Starting with MP2, if students aren't responding to emails or Google Classroom announcements, there is a real non-zero chance that WiFi may be the problem.  Call them to find out what's happening, and then make your evaluations from there.

 

MP1 Grades.  Marking Period 1 Grades are due at 3PM on Wednesday, 18NOV20  Advisors will be charged with emailing out report cards on Friday.  As a reminder:

• All passing grades are numerical from 65-100
• All failing grades are "NX" only.  Please feel free to use the report card comments and/or provide more details, including actual numeric performance in an anecdotal in Skedula.

Grade Team Meetings.  Starting THIS Friday 20NOV20 we will begin to have weekly grade team meetings from 8:30-9:15AM.  These grade team meetings will be used to follow up on a variety of items including student attendance, outcomes of interventions (for all students and for ENL and SPED students), recommendations for intervention, and identifying student cases for escalation.   This is an additional meeting to our 2PM staff meetings.  So Fridays for teachers will look like:

1. 8:30-9:15AM - Grade Team Meetings
• Agenda Items
• Weekly Attendance Review
• Weekly ENL/SPED Intervention Assessment
  (What worked, what didn't, what needs to change, and why)
• Weekly GenEd Intervention Assessment (Who needs what and why)
  
  
2. 9:15-2:00PM - Reset Days & Office Hours (which includes lunch & prep time)
• In place of Reset weeks, for MP2, we're going to spread the days out throughout the MP2 Fridays.  Here's a calendar of what to expect (Note for PE, Spanish, and Theater, your classes move to asynchronous assignments on Reset days):
  
  
• 20NOV - Advisory Connection & Report Card Distribution
• 04DEC - Reset Day - Connect with Course students & Families who have missed assignments.  Provide final deadlines for the assignments. Log outreach in Skedula, cc parents and advisor.
• 11DEC - Office Hours - Traditional Office Hours & Small Group Work  
• 18DEC - Reset Day
• 08JAN - Office Hours
• 15JAN - Reset Day
• 22JAN - Office Hours
• 29JAN - Reset Day
  
  
3. 2:00-2:50PM - UAI Staff Meetings
• Please see Staff Meeting Calendar for Agendas.

Per Session Postings

To Apply for any of the following per session opportunities, please COMPLETE THIS FORM and email the appropriate point person listed in this posting.  

No Postings this week

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