Week of 07NOV22

UAI Staff News

Volume X

Issue 11

November 7th, 2022

It's a Marathon - not a Sprint.  Today Kaitlyn, Tom, and Mike (right?) take on the amazing task of running in the NYC Marathon.  Good luck to you all!  I made it back from CT early to cheer you all on!  If you see a surly teenager and a bearded man (my husband) with me - do not be alarmed.  That's just my family ;-)

The marathon metaphor is such a perfect analogy for where we are in the school year and what we have learned from our Instructional Rounds thus far.  

This blog I found about the metaphor was extremely helpful in framing my thinking (Thank you Sam, whoever you are)

Except for Kaitlyn, Tom, and Mike, most of us are just like the kids when it comes to marathons - we're very (some like me are very, very, very) far from completing a marathon.  Moving any one of us from what we can run today to running the full 26+ miles would take some serious training, work and support.  It would be crazy hard work.

So is teaching.  This is a crazy hard job, but I suspect that just like running a marathon, there is an incredible payoff when we do get it right. So...how do we get it right?

We've known some things, and we've learned some things this first marking period.

Planning.  We know that planning is essential - having a clear plan going into a marathon or a classroom is critical.  However, we also know that no matter how much we think we plan, sometimes the plan goes awry or was not sufficient.  One of the key learnings we picked up these last couple of weeks with Instructional Rounds was that we need to adjust our plans. We need to thinks more clearly about Scaffolding and Assessment Scaffolding.  

• Scaffolds.  All UAI teachers use scaffolds to help students gain access to learning tasks.  What we also learned is that pretty much all of us never make or communicate to our students a clear plan to make those scaffolds temporary.  So the scaffolds we use in 6th grade classes are still in place in 12th grade.  The focus on the entry points may be leading us to forget to plot the exit strategy.
  
  For brand new runners, all the google blogs and articles suggest a scaffold.  Typically, this starts with walking briskly for five minutes, then running for a minute, and repeating that cycle...  Now, imagine if the new runner never changed this scaffold...they would never get to the point where they would be able to run for 26 miles.  The scaffold needs to change and ultimately diminish and go away in order for the runner to complete the final task successfully - running the full marathon.
  
  TO THINK ABOUT & DO For MP2:  When do your scaffolds go away?  How do you plan to teach into & prepare students for the gradual and ultimate complete release of the scaffold for greater independence?   How are you explaining to students what the scaffold is, what it is used for, and why they need to ultimately be able to do the work without the scaffold?  How will you teach them to internalize the scaffolding skills and become intellectually self-reliant?

• Assessment.  One thing we saw across all classrooms and grades is that every teacher took the time to really think through their lesson activities and made strong efforts to clearly articulate the student look-fors in their lesson plans.  This is an essential step to being able to be crystal clear about what students needs to be able to say, do, or write to provide evidence of learning and skill/content competency.  
  
  We also saw students continually asking teachers to review their work, asking "Is this right?" or "I don't know what to do" or sitting patiently waiting for the teacher to stop by their desk.  There is a demonstrated teacher-dependence across grades and classrooms in almost all of our classes.
  
  I imagine that if today's marathon runners were running without GPS or external mile markers and no way to tell how long they've been running...this marathon could be that much more of a challenge.  Without checkpoints or monitoring tools, there would be no way to assess their own progress, and no way to then adjust their own goals and decisions making (e.g. let me push a little harder or hey, I'm doing great - let me keep this pace...or I'm going to fast..better conserve some energy and slow down).  Now imagine if that checkpoint info existed inside the head of one person.  All the marathoners would likely be peppering that one person with questions like - how long has it been, where are we, how far have we run, how much more is left, etc.  Sounds familiar, right?
  
  TO THINK ABOUT & DO For MP2:   How do your students know how they are progressing in class?   How do they know if what they are doing is good or if they need to make adjustments?  What can you do to make your look-fors (or assessment criteria) public and accessible to students?  How are you teaching into these rubrics, model responses or what are you saying to kids to let them know what you expect and are looking for? 

Hurdles and Failures.  Anytime we try something new or we try to make a change to improve something, we might be immediately successful or more often than not, we encounter some obstacles & failures.  Until we actually master a task, the amount of times we doing something wrong will outweigh the successes.  We have to mentally prepare ourselves for the reality and inevitability.   We need to also remember that with each iteration and attempt, we will learn something new, get better, and upon repeat and reattempt - our successes will soon begin to outnumber the failures.  

Runners and athletes face injury, encounter walls and plateaus.  I'm positive that if Kaitlyn, Tom, and Mike didn't find ways to push through the challenges and the hard times, they wouldn't be running today.  The physical pain and limitations will always surface, but inevitably it is our mind that pushes us through the hurdles and the failures to get to a place to try again.  The goal should always be to try again.  Without attempt, you will never get to where you want to be.  

Dig deep today Kaitlyn, Tom, and Mike!  We believe in you and you may even glimpse some of us on the sidelines cheering you on!! 

Dig deep for MP2 all of you at UAI!  We all believe in each other and ourselves, and you will always glimpse each of us on the sidelines cheering you on if you take the time to look ;-)!

Important dates. 

• Monday, 07NOV22.  Subject Team Meetings and Home Contact
• Tuesday, 15NOV22.  Science Instructional Rounds
• Thursday, 10NOV22.  Last Day of MP1
• Monday, 14NOV22.  First Day of MP2
• Wednesday, 16NOV22.  MP1 Grades Due at 3PM
• Thursday, 17NOV22.  Evening Parent Conferences - 5PM-8PM
• Friday, 18NOV22.  Afternoon Parent Conference - 11:50PM-2:50PM
• Saturday, 19NOV22.  In-Person UA Fair
• Wednesday, 23NOV22.  Rapid Dismissal at 2:30 
• Thursday, 24NOV22.  Thanksgiving Recess - NO SCHOOL
• Friday, 25NOV22.  Thanksgiving Recess - NO SCHOOL

Announcements & To Dos

Grading for Learning PD.   Many Thanks to Amanda for her PD on grading for learning.  Moving kids from an expectation that they will only do something in order to get a grade to the mindset of completing the task so that they can learn how to do it well can be hard for several reasons - some of it is the students' experience and some of it is our own mindsets.  Amanda has only been in our school for 8 weeks, but already I see her students behaving in ways that I have had yet to see in UAI.  For example, I saw a student walk in before the PD asking for work so she could "practice".  She wasn't looking for extra credit.  She wasn't looking for a redo or corrections grade.  She was looking to practice on topics she was not yet clear about.  That was pretty amazing.

We have a ways to go before we get where we need to be for competency based grading.  We are also tackling several hills with scaffolds and assessment first.  So this post is a seed-planting one and an open invitation to those who are ready to push themselves more.  Stop by 407 and say hi to Amanda.  If she's not busy, ask to have a chat to pick her amazing brain and research on how to move your own class away from compliance based grading to true competency based learning.  One day - it would be a dream to reach the place where students are only graded on 1 or 2 major assessments per marking period, but they have had tons and tone of ungraded feedback and practice that would make them ready to ace those assessments.  Thank you Amanda for sharing and being a thought partner in this work!!

Speaking of Grades.   It has come to my attention that not all folks are using Google Classroom Gradebooks consistently.  We'll be correcting that during PD time on Monday & Tuesday Subject Team time.  However, we now find ourselves in a pickle.

Without access to grades, and without consistent contact home, kids & families do not have a clear picture of how they are doing in your classes.  So, for this week TWO things need to happen

• Hold Grade Conferences in Class This week.  All Teachers Need to hold short conferences in class this week to let students know what they can expect on their report cards and how their performance resulted in that grade and what they can do to improve.  Students 7hould be assigned independent work (e.g. finish the DRP or MAP test or complete a MP1 reflection or make up work) so that you have time to conference with all students.  You should aim to complete at least 10 conferences per day.  Allot more time for students who will need longer explanations, and group folks together who you know will be easy conferences.  If need be, you can pull students from Learning Labs to complete the conferences.

Monday PD.   Teachers who are working with section G will be meeting with Kiri & Annie in room 403 to review strategies for resetting class norms and setting student learning up for success for MP2.  All other teachers will meet with their ILT lead for PD.  No circle on Monday (we'll have one on Tuesday). Go straight to assigned rooms at 3PM on Monday:

• Group G - Room 403 
• Kiri, Annie, Sarah M, Frances, Elena, Lia, Shan, Camryn, Kaitlyn, Joanna & Christina, Nicole, Marni
• Middle School - Room B49: 
• Phillan, Fatima, Mike, Alison, Lillie, Sarah R, Matthew, Adelle, Brenda, Jennifer
• ELA/Language - Room 309:  
• Marsha, Freida, Joey, Rebecca, Laura, Leonela, Elena, Noelle
• Social Studies - Room 507
• Kelly, Martine, JRob, Jake, Junior, Juelle, Danielle I
• Science - Room 415
• Liza, Mary, Tom, Thomas, Ms. Z, Denyea, Jelissa
• Math - Room 405
• Judy, Danielle, Kareena, Amanda

Tuesday, Election Day PD.   This is an in-person day PD. By contract, all Professional Meeting days are 6 hours and 50 minutes.  So, Tuesday's work time will be 8:30-3:20Pm. Here's the agenda

• 8:30-9AM Welcome and Principal Overview of the day (no breakfast today - because LUNCH)

• 9AM-9:30AM Staff Circles
• Phillan's Group - 205C
• Marsha's Group - 309
• Kelly's Group - 303
• Liza's Group - 205L
• Judy' Group - 305

• 9:30-10:45AM Workshops
• Room 309 DRP Analysis with Marsha & Literacy Collaborative
• Mike, Fatima, Sarah R, Frances, Pauline, Freida, Joey, Rebecca, Kelly, Lia, Shan, Martine, JRob, Jake, Thomas, Kaitlyn, Camryn, Mary, Tom, Leonela, Elena, Noelle, Annie
• Room 305 MAP Analysis with Judy & Amanda
• Alison, Lillie, Matthew, Joanna, Christina, Kareena, Danielle H, Liza, Kiri
• Room 205C  Paraprofessional Classroom Goals and Expectation with Phillan & Juelle
• Adelle, Brenda, Denyea, Ms. Z, Junior, Jen
• Offices All other staff attend Virtual PD
• Patti, Roger, JJR, Marni, Danielle I, Jelissa, Nicole, Alaisha, Aisha, Damaris, Dai

• 10:45AM-11AM - Break

• 11AM-12PM Question Format Technique - Another key learning in Instructional Rounds was that our students are not asking enough of their own questions. Our scaffolds and us, ourselves, provide the overwhelming majority of questions in classes.  The best way to learn is to ask questions!  Liza & Judy will be sharing the QFT to show how they help students learn how to make their own questions.
  
  
• 12PM-1PM - Lunch provided by UAI - from Panera!!  (Sandwich and Salad Options)

• 1PM-3:20PM - Afternoon Subject Team Meeting & Work Time
• Room 309 - Marsha & ELA Team
• Room 405 - Judy & Math Team
• Room 415 - Liza & Science Team
• Room B49 - Phillan & Middle School Team
• Room 409 - Elena & Leonela - Spanish Team
• Room 503 - Patti & Roger - PE Team
• Room 303 - Juelle & Paraprofessional Team - Finalizing Work from AM Workshop
• Offices - Counselors & Deans Continued PD and Work Time

<<Repost>> UAI Teacher's Choice.   All staff will be reimbursed up to $250 for teacher selected school materials.  If you have already spent the funds, start gathering up your receipts.  You will be reimbursed for everything (except tax - if you didn't use the tax exempt form).   If you have yet to spend, please reach out to Dai for the Tax Exempt form/number.    Stay tuned for directions on how to submit your receipts for reimbursement.  These will all be due the Friday before Thanksgiving (with reimbursement checks expected to come just before the winter holidays!)

<<Repost>> First Round of Evaluative Observations Begin.   First round of informal observations continue this week.  Please review Danielson and the UAI Look For Document.  Our goal is to complete the round of informal observations by November 8th.  As a reminder, the observation requirements are:

• Tenured Teachers - minimum of 1 fall informal and 1 spring term informal observations (unscheduled min 15min observation)
• Untenured teachers - minimum of 4 observations (2 in fall and 2 in spring) - 3 informal observations and 1 formal observation (scheduled, full period observation)

All teachers are welcome to ask for more observations - these are just the minimum.

<<Repost>> Thanksgiving Charity.  As the festive season is quickly approaching, Aisha, Jen, and Jelissa are again seeking your assistance in putting smiles on the faces of some of our students as we did last year with our food hampers and turkey giveaways.

If you were not part of Team UAI last year, through the contributions of staff and through ground work from Miss Jay and her significant other,  we literally turned our main office into a farmers market. Many of our students were able to walk away with bags of fruits and vegetables and turkeys for Thanksgiving. 

We know that this year things have changed significantly and prices have increased exponentially, nonetheless, we still want to try to gift our students with turkeys again this season.

So again, we seek your assistance in donating whatever you are able to in an effort to assist us in being a blessing to some families this year.

We will accept cash, or you can cash app your donation to $AHuggins4. Of course, we will keep a record of all monies sent and the final figure will be presented to all who donated. A HUGE THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE.

Yours in unity:

Miss Aisha

Miss Jen

Miss Jelissa

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