Week of March 14th

UAI Staff News

Volume IX

Issue 26

March 14th 2022

It really does take a village.    This week we have our next round of parent conferences for the year.  Advisors are charged with being the primary liaison between school and family, and as such, they are charged with challenging task of engaging our families in the partnership needed to help our students succeed.

During regular outreach and particularly during this week's conferences, advisors will be discussing student academic & social emotional practice as well as any promotional, attendance and disciplinary issues. 

No one individual advisor has first hand experience to all of this information.  That's impossible.  Therefore, advisors rely on the network of our UAI village to share information.  Additionally, the most effective for families to hear about their child's progress is from a single voice with the full, coherent story.  Hearing from the many different voices about their child's progress or challenges can often lead to a disconnected, discrete picture of success and failures- making it challenging for students to leverage their strengths to close gaps.   So we need our village to effectively work together.

This year, we are prioritizing giving back as much time to teachers as possible.  In addition, we created options to maximize student choice, which made our grade teams' capacity to meet about shared students impossible.  Because of this, we are more heavily reliant on our technical forms of communication than ever before.  The scheduling committee will be revisiting these choices soon, but for now, we need to find a way to optimize what we do have now and make it work.

So.. what do we have:

• Skedula. Despite its major hiccup a few weeks ago, Skedula remains our primary form of communication. 
   
• Anecdotal entries are the primary tools that classroom teachers, paraprofessionals, counselors, deans, parent coordinator, school leadership, attendance team, and advisors can use to communicate narrative reports on individual student achievements and challenges.
  
  
• Attendance entry needs to be accurate and consistent in order for our parent coordinator, school leadership, and the attendance team to be able to effectively communicate and impact student attendance.
  
  
• Grades that are entered regularly allow everyone who works with students (advisors, para professionals teachers, counselors, parent coordinator, deans, school leadership) better support and celebrate students.
  
  
• Email.  Our email communications are critical this year.  Our deans and counselors release reports on what is happening with students.  Everyone should be reading through each of these to scan for names of students with whom they work directly.  This helps us all have a well-rounded picture.
  

We need to tighten up our village.  Our email reports and communications remain strong.  However, we are struggling with Skedula.  At the start of the year, we were really good at updating Skedula with attendance, grades, and anecdotals.  Between Omicron and Skedula being down, we've lost that pattern and rhythm.  It's time to get back to our pattern and strengthen our community's capacity to support our whole children - not just the piece of them that we see in our respective work with them each day.

TO DO

• Take daily attendance in each and every class you teach.  All attendance should be entered within the first 10 minutes of class. Please make sure that you take classroom attendance during your warm up or Do Now.  This will help advisors accurately review classroom attendance with families.  Without it, we have no leverage to impact change in student classroom attendance.  Our attendance team can only manage school attendance.  Classroom attendance (being late, skipping, etc.) relies on accurate period attendance.  Each teacher has a roll to play in closing the gaps on period attendance.  Please step up this week and do you part!
  
  
• Update Grades.  We are not giving out report cards for this parent conference because the Marking Period ends on April 1st.  So, we are reliant on Skedula to communicate student progress. Make sure your grades are all entered into Skedula by the end of the day on Tuesday, 15MAR22.
  
  
• Anecdotals.  SETTS/SERS Teachers, Counselors and Deans should prioritize updating Skedula with any critical information that advisors need for parent conferences.  Academic Teachers need to enter in anecdotals for all students who are failing as to why they are failing and what needs to be done to turn that failure around before the end of MP3.  Finally, everyone should enter anecdotals for at least 5 of their students to celebrate the greatest growth and achievement they've done for this marking period so far.

Each of our efforts move our students closer to realizing their best selves.  Our ability to work together cohesively through the tools that we have has a direct impact on how well our students thrive. When we step up together as a staff and with our families, our students will step up with us and excel, achieve, and become their most amazing selves.

So make it a point to challenge yourself to get back into routines that allow you to follow through on making sure our communications through Skedula and/or Email are thorough and up to date!  All of your advisor colleagues will thank you in advance for making their work that much more meaningful and easy!

Important dates this month.  

• Monday, 14MAR22:  Second Monday of the Month Staff Meeting
• Staff Meeting Time will be given to teachers to complete the School Survey.  All staff should complete this survey independently on Monday during PD time.  
• Folks on the Launch Trip can use Outreach Time during Professional Periods to complete the Survey by Friday.
• Monday, 14MAR22:  Trip to Launch for grades 6/7/11/12.  Please be on the lookout for Annie's Emails to know the logistics and planning!
• FYI:  We are working on a trip on May the 4th for grades 8/9/10.  Kiri is meeting with the PAGs to get ideas and firm up plans.
• Wednesday, 16MAR22:  Evening Remote Parent Conferences 5-8PM
• Friday, 18MAR22:  Afternoon Zoom Parent Conferences 12-2:50PM
• Friday, 18MAR22:  Rapid Dismissal at 11:50AM
• Grades 8-12 do not return from out lunch (if they go out)
• All grades dismiss at 11:50 (from cafe or middle school learning lab)
• Monday, 21MAR22: Staff Meeting:  Course Selection Work in Subject Teams
• Wednesday, 23MAR22:  PSAT/SAT Day for grades 10 & 11; Trip day for all other grades
• Monday, 28MAR22:  MP3 Power Up Week Begins
• Monday, 28MAR22: Staff Meeting:  Committee Report
• Tues-Thur 29Mar-31Mar22:  NYS Middle School ELA Exams
• Friday, 01APR22:  MP3 Ends

Committee Updates

Scheduling Committee. The scheduling committee met to review the feedback on Learning Labs and Advisory.  You can see the agenda and notes here.  If you have any additional feedback, please do share your feedback with any member of the scheduling committee (Brodie, Marsha, Jelissa, Liza or Kiri).  We are meeting with Instructional Leadership team on Tuesday to plan the staff meeting for 21MAR, where subject teams will begin refining and finalizing the course selection guide for the 2022-23 school year.

The Hiring Committee.  Our next fair is On March 12, 2022.  Please SHARE OUT THIS FLIER to anyone you know who may be looking for a job in teaching next year!   

• You can always view our notes and decisions on THIS DOC. 
  Here's a summary or our hiring fair on Saturday.
• A total of 37 candidates registered.  25 interviewed on Saturday
• 7/25 of interviewed candidates self-identified as a person of color
• Decisions:
• 8 were advanced to demo lesson
• 4/8 of interviewed candidates self-identified as a person of color

Equity Team.  The Equity Team read another passage from Pushout this week to start thinking about which specific policies are causing disproportionality in our discipline data and how we might revise these policies.  The team will reconvene to discuss the reading this week.  Agenda

Circles Committee. Because so many folks are going to be out on Monday on the Launch Trip, we're going to move Monday's meeting to another date.  Stay tuned.

Consultation Committee.  Next meeting is on Thursday 07APR22 at 3PM in room 403.  See consultation committee notes.   Goals for this committee are still TBD

Instructional Leadership Team. Final Goals of the Committee

Implements structures, policies and practices with inclusive decision making and other forms of power sharing on all levels of the institutions life and work (5), Commits to process of intentional institutional restructuring, based upon anti-racist analysis and identity

• Create common assessments to support teacher collaboration 
• Create course selections that prevent disproportionate outcomes 
• Naming the content and skills students need to thrive in our courses and 
• Coaching teachers to build capacity to reach students at their levels so all students have the skills and capacity to excel

Announcements

Learning Environment Survey.   This week we wil

To Do This Week

PAY ATTENTION TO THE YELLOW HIGHLIGHTS
This is the stuff that requires your attention AND it's stuff you need to do!

Give the Learning Environment Survey in LEARNING LAB/Advisory Following This Schedule.  

• Tuesday, 15MAR22:  Grades 6 and 7 in Learning Lab
• Wednesday, 16MAR22:  Grades 8/9/10 in Learning Lab
• Thursday, 17MAR22:  Grades 11/12 in Advisory
  
  
• Directions:
• Go To THIS LINK:  (https://surveys.panoramaed.com/nycdoe/login)
• For Students, enter their OSIS number as the passcode.
• You can use this LINK to Student Questions to support students taking the survey.
• NOTE:  As of 13MAR22, About 23 students have already completed the survey. Love the initiative!  Click here to see who!  If the kids say that's not right, please reach out to Kiri to reset the survey so they can retake it!

Get Ready for Parent Conferences on Wednesday 16MAR (5-8) and Friday 18MAR (12-2:50).  
Teachers should use extended day time on Monday and Tuesday to complete this work.  Teachers on the Launch Trip should use Tuesday extended day time to complete the work.

• Schedule and Enter Your Conferences into THIS DOC by EOD on Tuesday.  
• Upload Skedula with Grades, Anecdotes, and Accurate Attendance
• Review Parent Conference Checklist in advance of Wednesday 16MAR22.  Send your questions to Kiri before then!

Complete the NYCDOE Learning Environment Survey for Staff.  

We received 38 teacher and 8 staff surveys from the Survey folks.  This means we have enough surveys for all classroom teachers, but we need to get more surveys for staff (Kiri's working on that and waiting to hear back).  Please pick up a survey code from the front counter when you come in to move your card.  Cross your name off THE LIST when you pick up your code so that we know that you got one!  Please do NOT lose the code.  We're not supposed to know which code you get.  So if you lose it, we'll have not idea which code you had! 

Per Session Postings

Please complete THS PER SESSION INTEREST FORM and email Kiri to let her know that you are applying for a per session position.

2022 UAI SUMMER Camp.  This summer will build on what we started last summer in our effort to create highly engaging and challenging summer programming for our students.  Mandatory make-up programs have been moved into June and we are replacing the punitive form of summer school with programming that is aimed at enriching, exciting, and getting kids thrilled to be in school again!

We are looking for summer school teachers to offer programming this summer.  We will offer elective credit to the courses.  The courses can be anything that interests you, and classes will be limited no more than 15 students per class.  

We are looking for teachers to teach elective classes in:

• Arts:  Creative Writing, Art (visual, performing, or movement), Poetry, Storytelling, Photography etc.
• Social Justice:  Community Organizing, Protest Art, Social Media Campaigns, Etc.
• STEM:  Finance, Engineering, Drones, Rockets, 
• EntrepreneurialMedia:  Podcasting, YouTubing, Social Media Management, Documentary Film Making
• Open Call:  Have an Idea?  Submit it!!
  
  

Days:  11JUL-29JUL , Mondays-Thursdays ONLY

Hours (Max) 5 hrs per day 

    (90 min classes with an hour prep for each class up to two classes a day)

    Total possible hours = 60 hours    Minimum possible hours = 30 hours

Regents Prep 2022.  This summer we hope to offer Regents Prep in Algebra I, Geometry, Living Environment, Earth Science, US History, and English.  

Regents Prep consists of working with students on Regents Test prep to prepare them to take and pass the August Regent Exams AND then proctoring and grading those exams.

• Days:  08AUG-17AUG, Mondays - Thursdays ONLY
• Hours: 5 hrs per day (max) (90 min classes w/ hour prep per class, max of 2 classes per day)
• Total Possible Hours = 35 hours

 Summer Staffing.  Our summer programs require out-of-classroom staffing.  We are looking for folks to

• Supervise UAI Summer Camp (must have Admin License) and/or Regents Prep
• Coordinate UAI Summer Camp (teacher license ok) and/or Regents Prep
• Supervise SYEP Program (teacher/counselor/para license ok)
• Provide Waitlist Management and Student Recruitment Support (teacher/counselor/para license ok)