week of december 19th

UAI Staff News

Volume X

Issue 15

December 19th, 2022

Holiday Gratitude.  As the holiday season approaches, it's important to take a moment to recognize and appreciate all your hard work and dedication these last four months.  You each play a vital role in helping each of our students learn, grow, change, and develop into their best selves!  The process of this change is not easy for anyone. 

Tirelessly, each of you rose to this challenge to continually refine your practice to learn from your own mistakes in order to continually to bring our students the level of learning they deserve.  I know I don't say it enough, but please also know that I always recognize, see, and appreciate all that you do and the impact you have on our kids and their families each and everyday.

Thank you.

Last night, I went to my first social holiday party (that wasn't school related) since COVID.  It was filled with non-pedagogues, and I forget how folks see each of us.  To others, we, in education, are part angel, part activist, and part crazy person.  Folks asked me how long I've done this, and when I answer, their eyes pop out.  What followed was the how and why?

Well - it's always the kids.  No matter how crazy, kids are always wonderful.  But I could work with kids anywhere.  What really inspires me and makes me want to keep doing this crazy, thankless job year after year is working with you! 

UAI is a staff of smart, creative, driven, hilarious, passionate, and loving groups of folks working together in our fantastic school.  It's not always easy - working with smart, creative people rarely is.  But at the end of the day, it is always fulfilling.  

So, I thank each of you!!

We have five work days left in 2022.  At the end of these, I do wish you all the best over the holiday season and a wonderful new year!  Please make sure tot take some time to relax and recharge, and try to stay healthy!

Important dates. 

• Monday 19DEC22. Gratitude PD 
• Tuesday, 20DEC22.  Staff Circles & Survey Review
• Wednesday, 21DEC22.  UAI Winterfest
• Friday, 23DEC22.  Rapid Dismissal for Holiday break

Announcements & To Dos

Tech Inventory.  This Thursday, we need all students and staff to bring in their DOE tech for inventory.  Please be prepared to bring in the tech on each of these four days until it has been catalogued by the Tech Inventory people.  

MP2 Planning Check In.  Have you had a chance to give kids an unscaffolded, unsupported, low-stakes assessment experience (e.g. practice test that they've done alone, or timed independent writing)?  One of the learnings that came through each one of our subject team Instructional Rounds was that al of us could do more to support student independence.  One idea was giving unscaffolded assessments and following that up with feedback aimed at helping kids get ready and feel prepared for the actual test.

Progress Reports.  Here are the progress reports.  They'll be printed and ready for pick up tomorrow.  Advisors can review Progress Report grades HERE.  Thank you everyone for the timely update of these, once again.  Please make sure families know that these are coming home, too (you may want to email or text a picture home).    Please prioritize calling the homes of any advisee who has failed MP1, PR1, and PR2.  This is evidence of long-term failure, and we need to figure out how to get families to help us turn it around.  Contact those homes to connect and find out from families how we can best support students in turning this failure into a learning experience.  In so doing, the goal is to turn the grades around in time for the close of MP2 at the end of January.

<<REPOST>> The Tripod Survey & Benchmark Exams.  The Student Tripod Survey will be giving in January along with our Midyear benchmarks.  To prepare...

• Student Tripod Survey.  This survey is a student survey about their teachers & classroom instruction.  This survey provides feedback from students for teachers in various categories.  You can see the questions HERE.   Please review the questions for yourself and personal reflection now.  We will do a sample survey in December to provide teachers with initial feedback prior to the January, formal administration.

• HS Benchmark Exams.  During the week of January 17th, we will be giving benchmark exams for courses terminating in regents exams or AP exams for all students in grades 8-12.  Regents-based classes will be provided with the assessment (so we can do school wide analysis).  All non-regents based courses should develop their own final assessment for MP2.  Non-regents/AP exam courses should plan to have their final assessments for MP2 on the assigned days below:
  
  
• Tuesday, 17JAN22.  ELA Assessment Day
• All students in Course A-D will take ELA Regent Benchmark (provided by UAI)
• AP Students should take an AP Benchmark, teacher created
• LINCT Students should take LINCT assessment, LINCT created
• Wednesday, 18JAN22.  Math Assessment Day
• All students in Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra 2 will take Regent (provided by UAI)
• All students in Pre-Calc or Calc will take teacher created assessment
• All students in LINCT will take LINCT assessment, LINCT created.
• Thursday, 19JAN22.  Science Assessment Day
• Friday, 20JAN22.  Social Studies Assessment Day
• Monday, 23JAN22.  Theater, ENL, Spanish, Computer Science, PE Assessment Day, MP2 Ends, Grades due 3PM on THursday
• Tuesday, 24JAN22.  Regents week begins - no classes for students in grades 9-12. 8th graders will be in attendance, but with special schedule for that week.
  
  
• MS Benchmark Exams.  During the week of 23JAN, we will be giving benchmark exams in math & English for grades 6 & 7.  

• Monday, 23JAN22.  Social Studies Assessment Day - teacher created
• Tuesday, 24JAN22. ELA Assessment Day  - NYS ELA benchmark (UAI Provided)
• Wednesday, 25JAN22.  Math Assessment Day - NYS ELA benchmark (UAI Provided)
• Thursday, 26JAN22.  Science Assessment Day - teacher created
• Friday, 27JAN22. PE Assessment Day & Computer Science Assessment Day

Per Session Postings

For ALL per session activities (view all 2022-23 postings here),
please complete Per Session Application For

No new posts this week

Per Session Postings Now Closed

Week of Dec 5th

 UAI Staff News

Volume X

Issue 14

December 5th, 2022

Perspective Shifting and Empathy.  It's December!!   December is filled with opportunities to celebrate the end of another calendar year, the holidays and, looking forward to spending time with friends, family and loved ones.  It's also a time of the school year where our own and our students' anxieties and stresses can rapidly ramp up.  Things that began as something small or unimportant have taken root and are growing into more significant challenges or hurdles than we realized they would ever be at the start of the school year.  Now, as we enter into the final weeks of 2022, those decisions or minor issues that we have put off or avoided may build into larger thorns needing attention.

For kids, this can be encountering the true impact and outcomes of poor decisions around academic habits.  For example, attendance habits developed at the start of the year may have not had as much impact as they are having now.  While being late or absent once or twice a week in September may not have held such negative impact, today after four months of that, they have accumulated into the source of lagging academic performance and the feeling of being overwhelmed by what has all been missed. 

For adults, a difficult conversation that we may have passed over in exchange for smoother interactions with a colleague or supervisor may have built into true challenges in the working relationships.  The hard discussions that we may have with everyone else but the person we actually have to speak to lay lurking in the background of our day-to-day activities.

With all of this, and things similar, anxiety inevitably builds - and that is no bueno for anyone - adults and children alike.  So what to do....

Take a beat.  Take a breath.  Find a path.

For kids, remember that a moment or two where you genuinely listen to understand them and their perspective - not to guide or correct in the moment - just listen and connect.   Quite often, when our kids feel heard and seen, they will talk themselves into the decisions and realizations that we want to see in them.  Grade conferences are important to help kids understand where they are in your classes.  So, please continue those.  Within those grade conferences, make time to check in with your students to hear from them what is and is not working in your class.  Help them think through their choices.  Listen to their thinking and be their mirror. Saying something as simple as, "I hear you saying....is that right?" will forge the trust and connections you need to be able to push them to excel.  Take the time to stand in their shoes and hear and understand their perspective.   It is the small interactions of frequent perspective taking that can be the foundation of building joy in December.  

For adults...working collaboratively in pursuit of a common goals sounds amazing on the surface , but it is certainly easier said than done (we hear this from our kids all the time).  While we may all be unified in our pursuit of creating powerful, equitably, rigorous, and joyous learning experiences for our kids each day, it is also certainly true that the paths we choose to get there may not be the same.  Having constructive conversations around instructional choices and division of labor is not always easy and too often fraught with emotional interpretations that may or may not be true.   Learning how to navigate these difficult conversations is not an innate skill.  It requires the same skill we use with students - perspective taking.  Some of us are certainly better at this than others.  On Monday, the ILT will be holding a PD to support our efforts so that we can end 2022 strong and with connections and relationships with our colleagues that help us realize the shared goals of being just plain amazing.

This is process work and will be ongoing - but then again so is learning.  With each cycle of learning, we find something new, building on old skills.  Learning is the process of building, unbuilding, and refining - a continuum, not a discrete set of points.  

For this month, push yourselves to step into the process, and remember to lean into strengthening your relationships with students and adults alike!

Important dates. 

• Monday 05DEC22.  Difficult Conversations PD & Circles
• Monday, 05DEC22.  Eagles Home Basketball Game @4:30PM in Gym
• Wednesday, 07DEC22.  UAI Paint & Sip
• Friday, 09DEC22.  Staff Holiday Celebration
• Monday 12DEC22. Competency Based Grading
• Tuesday, 13DEC22.  Progress Report Updates
• Monday 19DEC22. Advisory PD
• Tuesday, 20DEC22.  UAI Staff Holiday Potluck
• Friday, 23DEC22.  Rapid Dismissal for Holiday break

Announcements & To Dos

MP2 Planning Reminders.  How's it going?

• Plan for the Removal of Scaffolds.  Take stock of the scaffolds you introduced at the start of MP2.  Are they still there?  Why?  When do you plan to exit them?

• Feedback and Independence.  How are students doing in learning to ask their own questions and to navigate their own pathways through activities?  Is your feedback helping students cultivate independence?  

• Thought Partners & Support.  Who is your go-to person(people).  Who do you talk through your ideas and how have you used that feedback to grow your practice?

Progress Reports.  Google Classroom Gradebooks should be up and running by now.  We will again use next Tuesdays' outreach time to update the progress report.  Advisors should have already given out progress reports to students and sent copies home (Via email or text).  Please make sure to play your professional and prep time wisely so that you have enough time to complete grades and plan lessons effectively. 

<<REPOST>> The Tripod Survey & Benchmark Exams.  The Student Tripod Survey will be giving in January along with our Midyear benchmarks.  To prepare...

• Student Tripod Survey.  This survey is a student survey about their teachers & classroom instruction.  This survey provides feedback from students for teachers in various categories.  You can see the questions HERE.   Please review the questions for yourself and personal reflection now.  We will do a sample survey in December to provide teachers with initial feedback prior to the January, formal administration.

• HS Benchmark Exams.  During the week of January 17th, we will be giving benchmark exams for courses terminating in regents exams or AP exams for all students in grades 8-12.  Regents-based classes will be provided with the assessment (so we can do school wide analysis).  All non-regents based courses should develop their own final assessment for MP2.  Non-regents/AP exam courses should plan to have their final assessments for MP2 on the assigned days below:
  
  
• Tuesday, 17JAN22.  ELA Assessment Day
• All students in Course A-D will take ELA Regent Benchmark (provided by UAI)
• AP Students should take an AP Benchmark, teacher created
• LINCT Students should take LINCT assessment, LINCT created
• Wednesday, 18JAN22.  Math Assessment Day
• All students in Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra 2 will take Regent (provided by UAI)
• All students in Pre-Calc or Calc will take teacher created assessment
• All students in LINCT will take LINCT assessment, LINCT created.
• Thursday, 19JAN22.  Science Assessment Day
• Friday, 20JAN22.  Social Studies Assessment Day
• Monday, 23JAN22.  Theater, ENL, Spanish, Computer Science, PE Assessment Day, MP2 Ends, Grades due 3PM on THursday
• Tuesday, 24JAN22.  Regents week begins - no classes for students in grades 9-12. 8th graders will be in attendance, but with special schedule for that week.
  
  
• MS Benchmark Exams.  During the week of 23JAN, we will be giving benchmark exams in math & English for grades 6 & 7.  

• Monday, 23JAN22.  Social Studies Assessment Day - teacher created
• Tuesday, 24JAN22. ELA Assessment Day  - NYS ELA benchmark (UAI Provided)
• Wednesday, 25JAN22.  Math Assessment Day - NYS ELA benchmark (UAI Provided)
• Thursday, 26JAN22.  Science Assessment Day - teacher created
• Friday, 27JAN22. PE Assessment Day & Computer Science Assessment Day

Per Session Postings

For ALL per session activities (view all 2022-23 postings here),
please complete Per Session Application For

No new posts this week

Per Session Postings Now Closed