Week of January 30th

UAI Staff News

Volume X

Issue 19

January 30th, 2023

Creating the Change Makers.  This weekend, we all faced another news cycle of police violence, brutality and civilian death.  Tyre Nichols' pleas for mercy fell silently on these police officers as they continued to chase and pummel him to death for a traffic incident.

My heart and deepest condolences goes out to Tyre Nichols' mother - to whom he was calling for at the end.  She should not have to wake up to a world where her son no longer exists and none of us should accept a world in which this type of brutality is accepted.

Our world needs to change.  

There are many pathways to this change.  We have our own power to leverage through our own work in our local communities.  As educators, we also have an additional responsibility and power in helping our young people grow into their own power and promise of becoming the change-makers our world desperately needs.

To become those change-makers, we need to help our students develop skills.  They need to be able to independently assess and evaluate a variety of different situations and circumstances, leverage the creativity and flexibility of perspective to find multiply pathways to several possible solutions, and exercise their ability to argue and persuade others to rally behind their vision for change.

We are the ones who are charged to help our students grow the seeds for these skills. 

Therefore, the pathway to bringing about real change in the world lies in the success of our students, and thus inherently, through the success of our instruction.

What I can say is that each and every one of us at UAI are committed to doing our best to focus on and improve or instructional practice each day.  I am continuously impressed with how much folks push themselves to improve and grow each and every day - even when the days are long and hard.

I am proud and lucky to have such a dedicated staff of folks committed to our students and families.  It takes a LOT to take a 10 year old cutie pie to an 18 year old bad as heck change-maker.  No one of us can do that alone, but together, we all do amazing work to get each of our students where they want and need to be.  Our work together is the light to which I turn when stories like this darken the newsfeed again and again.  

At UAI, we all strive to make both our own spaces excellent and the shared space of our entire school community stronger.  This generosity and collegiality brings about the work needed to help our young ones find their pathways to becoming the ones that make the world better for themselves and for us all.

Important dates. 

• Monday, 30JAN23.  Chancellors's PD day - See Agenda Below
• Tuesday, 31JAN23.  First day of the Spring Term - Report Cards Distributed in Advisory
• Wednesday, 01FEB23.  First Day of Black History Month
• Paint and Sip Party After School 3-4:30PM
• Tuesday, 07FEB23.  Snow Tubing Trip (Rescheduled)
• Tuesday, 14FEB23.  Progress Report #1 Grade Entry
• Friday, 10FEB23.  First Attendance Incentive Trip (To the Movies!)
• Monday, 20FEB-24FEB23.  Midwinter Break - NO SCHOOL
• Tuesday, 28FEB23.  Last Day of Black History Month (possible assembly day TBD)
• Tuesday, 14MAR23.  Progress Report #2 Grade Entry
• Wednesday, 22MAR23.  P/SAT in school day for all 10th & 11th Graders
• Thursday, 23MAR23.  Evening Parent Conferences 5-8PM (Remote)
• Friday, 24MAR23.  Afternoon Parent Conferences 11:50AM-2:50PM (Remote)
• Friday, 31MAR23.  End of MP3

Announcements & To Dos

Chancellor's Day PD, Monday 30JAN23.   Tomorrow, we will convene in the farm for our next full staff PD day.  You'll need your phones and computers.  Everything else will be provided.  

The Goals for tomorrow will be to:

• Reconnect to our shared understanding of and commitment to UAI Mission & Core Values
• Build and Strengthen Trust UAI Adult Relationships
• Prepare for the Launch of the 2023 Spring Term
• JOY:  Strengthening trust in relationships & leveraging strengths-based learning
• RIGOR:  Cultivating student autonomy and student-centered inquiry
• EQUITY: Catching up with our Equity Team's work thus far and the impact for UAI
• POWER: Intentionally celebrating Black History Month in & outside of Advisory

Here's the Agenda for Tomorrow:

• 8:00 (optional start) Breakfast on UAI (from Panera)

• JOY 
• 8:30 (start for all):  Welcome & Opening Session
• 9:10 break
• 9:20 Staff Circles
• 9:45 break

• EQUITY
• 9:55 Equity Team Report on Fall Work & Attendance Team Work
• 11:25 Lunch
• 12:20 Announcements & Changes
• Advisory Shifts for Spring (starting 27FEB, after midwinter recess)
• Learning Lab Changes for Spring (starting 27FEB, after midwinter recess)
  
  
• POWER
• 12:30 Advisory Planning for 31JAN-17FEB - Celebrating Black History
• 1:30 Subject Team Planning for 01FEB-28FEB - Integrating Black History

• RIGOR
• 2:00-3:20PM Planning Teams Independent Work Time to Prep for Launch of Spring Term

Per Session Available for Digital Planning.  All planning staff who create lesson plans are eligible to earn per session for maintaining their Pacing Guides for the Spring term.  Please use the UAI Pacing Guide Template (or something that looks very similar - please get ok from Kiri first).  Make a copy of this template for each course you teach.  Type in the daily learning target and link the lesson or activity to the learning target.  Also link in the assessment of that learning target (exit ticket, activity, etc).  You will receive 2hrs per week of per session if all materials are linked for the pay period.  So for example, for the pay period ending 15FEB23, you must have linked all materials for 01FEB-15FEB (you only need to link for 1 section - not all sections).  Please make sure your files are uploaded into THIS FOLDER.  You cannot earn per session unless the files are up-to-date with shareable links.

Planning Ahead.  As you plan ahead, here are some important dates to keep in mind:

• NYS MS ELA Exam. Weds 19APR- Mon 24APR (21APR is Eid al-Fitr - NO SCHOOL)
• NYS MS Math Exam. Tues 02MAY- Thu 04May
• NYSESLAT Exam. Mon 15MAY- Fri 26May (Speaking, Listening, Reading, Writing)
• US History Regent Exam.  Thu 01JUN23 - NO CLASSES for HS or 8th Grade
• Final Exam Week For All - Mon 05JUN-MON12JUN (Same Schedule as Benchmark Week)
• Regents Week Begins - 14JUN23
• We WILL be having a mock regents exam period after Spring Break some time in April/early May.  Exact dates and schedule still TBD.  Courses ending in Regent exams will use this data to structure regents prep for May/June.

Progress Reports & PID.   There will only be 2 progress reports for MP3.  With the mid-winter recess, and the timing of creating the progress reports, that's just how it worked out.  

Students are in danger of not promoting to the next grade if they failed 2 or more core (ELA, SOC, MAT, SCI) classes OR had less than 90% attendance for the fall. They will be receiving PID (promotion-in-doubt) letters from the school, and we'll be scheduling meetings with those students, their families over the next few weeks.   You can see that list on the PID tab in the Progress Reports.

When you distribute the report cards in advisory this week, please review them with your students.  If you have an advisee with low attendance or multiple failing grades, please let them know that we want to help them turn this around.  We're here to help.  They should also know that we have to send the letters home (it's a DOE rule), but the letters do not mean they will not promote.  If they can turn it around, they will go on to the next grade.  

Then work with them to make a goals - start small (e.g. first finish this week by coming to school each day), and then grow bigger (try to push yourself to go from 55 to 65 by the week after next).  

Per Session Postings

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

Hiring Committee.  This posting is closed.  All who applied were staffed

Staffed:  Phillan, Marsha, Kelly, Judy, Liza, Sarah R, Thomas, Patti

SHSAT & SAT Prep.  Still open - No one has signed up yet.  Please email Kiri if you are interested!

Per Session Postings Now Closed

Week of 23Jan23

UAI Staff News

Volume X

Issue 18

January 23rd, 2023

Packing up the Fall and Remembering to Celebrate the Wins.  This week is the last week of the fall term.  And just like that, we are half way through the school year!

At the start of this year, we leaned into our core values of Joy, Power, Equity, and Rigor to frame our work with our students and families.  In those opening PD days of September, we also leveraged the power of community and relationships to make these values come alive in the daily work that we do.

Through natural talent, experience, and commitment, each of you have done herculean work to create warm and inviting learning environments that both welcome and challenge our students.  Your continued care and commitment to our students' success is evident in your classroom interactions and in the work you put into crafting lesson plans and reflecting & reworking your teacher moves that push our students to do the lion share of the the thinking.

Through our instructional rounds, we found patterns through all of our classrooms that was getting in the way of our goals for student growth.  Across grades and classrooms, scaffolds providing questions and designed to support student progress towards thinking may be actually been doing too much of the thinking for our kids.  From there, I have seen many, many folks adapt instructional strategies to continually refine practice to shift the cognitive load from the worksheets and to the students.  As we take a look at benchmark data this week, we will se the outcomes of that work.  Like Instructional Rounds, looking at student work is yet another learning tool that will help us better understand how our work is landing and what we may need to shift.

This week, you will have a lot of time to work in teams and with co-planning partners to reflect on the fall and prepare for the spring term.  You will be working on several tasks (see below).  As you do, 

• Celebrate the Win - Make the time to find the places of success.  Studiously look for the best win, and take the time to examine and understand why it was such a success.
• From Good to Great - After you pick the best win(s), sift back through the good.  What would need to happen to make the pretty good things really great?
• Marie Kondo That - There are bound to be things that just didn't work or didn't work well enough.  As you wrap up the good reflections, think about the things you did that didn't lead to the win you expected.  All of us have that favorite ancient t-shirt that no longer fits us or those pants we'll never wear again or even that box we haven't opened in 5 or more different moves.  Our lives naturally attract clutter (entropy in action).  Our school lives and instructional practices are no different.  Take a look at the successes and wins and trace back to the practices that won.  Then look turn around and look at the practices that you love.  Do they trace back to the win in the students' work?  If not, not matter how much you love that practice (or t-shirt, jeans, or mystery box), it may be time to Marie Kondo that!

We're at the halfway mark!  If you think that went fast, just wait- June will be here in a blink of an eye!

We've done amazing work, and we can do even better for the Spring! Because it's true - we are in fact that amazing ;-)

Important dates. 

• Monday, 23JAN23.  
• Last Day of January Benchmark week  Ends
• 6/7/12th Grader Tubing Trip
• Grading for Learning PD with Amanda in Room 205L at 3pm
• Tuesday, 24JAN23.  HS Regents Week Begins (See Announcements below)
• Thursday, 26JAN23.  MP2 Grades Due at 3PM
• Monday, 30JAN23.  Chancellors's PD day - no students in school Final Agenda coming out this week
• Tuesday, 31JAN23.  First day of the Spring Term

Announcements & To Dos

Grading for Learning.  For Monday's PD, Ms. Amanda will be presenting her long-time work around competency-based grading.  She'll be sharing that work with all of us and showing some simple tweaks that folks can easily make to move us further along our journey towards Competency Based Grading.  PD will be in the farm at 3PM on Monday!

Regents Week.  The schedule is complete and students have been notified (Kiri emailed them directly).  The list will be posted tomorrow, and if students are not on the list, they can still sign up.  If any student wants to sign up, please tell them to email Kiri and we'll get them added to the lists.

Teachers will have time to

• Complete MP2 Grades (see below)
• Grade MP2 Benchmarks and Look at Student Work (see below)
• Catalog Fall Lessons and Units (see below)
• Plan for First Two Weeks of February (see below)

Complete MP2 Grades.  In tomorrow's announcements, you'll receive the link to the spreadsheets for official MP2 Report Cards.  For MP2, 

• All passing grades are > 65 and 55 is the only failing grade.
• Do not use grades from 56-64.  

• FYI - as per grading policy, students who are passing as of MP2 will have earned at least half the credits of the year-long course.  (So, in June if they fail, but are passing now, they will have at least 1 credit of a 2 credit course).
• All MP2 grades are due at 3PM on Thursday, 26JAN23

MP2 Benchmarks and Looking at Student Work.  One of the most common points of feedback we receive on surveys is around vertical planning and alignment.  Many folks think of vertical alignment from the planning side.  If this course does this, then that course should do that.  However, even if we plan and actually teach something, it doesn't guarantee that students are necessarily developing competency.  So, looking at the outcome of our work is a much more reliable method of vertical alignment and planning.  Looking at what the students are actually doing and producing empowers us to more capably build from their strengths and center their needs. 

This week, you will be grading the benchmarks and campus regent exams to get a global sense of how UAI students are progressing towards state standards and how the regents expect our students to demonstrate their skill on the exams. 

You'll also have an opportunity to dive deeper into student work using qualitative protocols to gain another perspective on how students are doing in response to our instruction and what we need to shift in that work to make our students performance even better. 

With both of these experiences, the goal is to learn, reflect and adjust our practices to best meet student learning needs and amplify their success.

Catalog Fall Lessons, Units, and Assessments.  One of the best things about working in schools is the calendar.  With regularity, we get to reset and reinvest.  It's like having a new year's rest every semester!  BUT... it can also lead to a dip in efficiency.  We get so wrapped up in the new and better, that we sometimes forget about the work we put in.   In the frenzy of the year, entropy always wins, and our Google Drives and Lesson Plans are all over the place.  This week, take a moment to get organized.  Make the time this week to catalog what you did for the fall (for just one section) using the UAI Pacing Guide Template.  Make a copy of this template for each course you teach.  Type in the daily learning target and link the lesson or activity to the learning target.  Also link in the assessment of that learning target (exit ticket, activity, etc).  It's OK if you don't have everything.  The point is to link in what your DO have so you are not recreating the wheel next fall.  

Moving forward into the spring, folks are encouraged to use this template to track their work for the spring term.  Per session is available for maintaining these Pacing Guides and your Google Classrooms for the Spring Term (see per session post below)

Planning Ahead.  Finally, this week you want to use time to make sure you are getting ahead in your planning for the Spring Term. Make a goal to fully plan at least 3-4 lessons, and to sketch out the calendar for the spring.   Some important dates to keep in mind:

• NYS MS ELA Exam. Weds 19APR- Mon 24APR (21 APR is Eid al-Fitr - NO SCHOOL)
• NYS MS Math Exam. Tues 02MAY- Thu 04May
• NYSESLAT Exam. Mon 15MAY- Fri 26May (Speaking, Listening, Reading, Writing)
• US History Regent Exam.  Thu 01JUN23 - NO CLASSES for HS or 8th Grade
• Final Exam Week For All - Mon 05JUN-MON12JUN (Same as Benchmark Week)
• Regents Week Begins - 14JUN23
• We WILL be having a mock regents exam period after Spring Break some time in April/early May.  Exact dates and schedule still TBD.  Courses ending in Regent exams will use this data to structure regents prep for May/June.

PID.  In 

<REPOST> Benchmarks.  Our first school-wide benchmark assessment will be taking place during the week of January 23.  In addition, we will be giving the NYCDOE Tripod Survey during that week for students (stay tuned for schedule).  For the benchmarks...

• All Regents ending classes will be provided with a regents-based exam designed by your ILT lead, based on the regent exam and the units that your classes have completed thus far.  

• All other 8-12th grade classes (breadth classes and AP classes) will need to develop their own class assessment and give it on the assigned day, during regular class time.
  
  
• All exams will take place during your regular class time on the assigned days below.  Please note the DATE CHANGES.  These were made because I realized I hadn't considered that you might not see your classes on the day I picked!  I changed some things around to accommodate for that as much as possible.
  
  
• Tuesday, 17JAN23.  All Science Classes give the Science Benchmark
• Wednesday, 18JAN23.  All Social Studies classes
       (except sections PUZ - they don't meet on Wednesdays)
• Thursday, 19JAN23.  PUZ Social Studies & All Math classes
• Friday, 20JAN23. All ELA classes
• Monday, 23JAN23.  All breadth classes.  If you don't meet with a section on Monday, please choose any day from the prior week to give your benchmark.
• Tuesday, 24JAN23.  NYS Middle School Math Benchmark
• Wednesday, 25JAN23.  NYS Middle School ELA Benchmark

• All make-ups should be completed during learning labs or teachers should use prep/professional time to pull students from learning labs to complete make ups. 

Progress Reports.   The final progress reporting for MP2 will be next week.  Please make sure you are up-to-date with your grading and can input grades that will be largely reflecting of what student can expect to see on their final MP2 report card.  We'll meet in circle rooms next Tuesday to update the Progress Report document, and this will count as family outreach for the week.

Regents Exam Sign Up.   For the January Regents administration, students will have to opt in to taking the exams.  In June, all students in regents-ending classes will be automatically signed up for the exam.  Students who are ready to retake the Regents exams need complete THIS Form.  For this January testing period, only students who have been studying and are prepared to retake an exam should sign up.  For students who are looking for just practice, this is where they can find practice exams and answer keys

Per Session Postings

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

Hiring Committee.  It's hiring season again!   Each year we open up our hiring process in February to meet candidates.  We run our hiring process independent of known vacancies.  We do this because we need to start early to catch the most folks, and that early start is too soon for many folks to know next year's plans.  We also are part of a larger network of schools with whom we share candidates.  So our hiring process serves to first staff UAI, but secondarily support the larger UA network.  We are looking for folks to join!  If you are interested, please complete the per session application (link above) and email Kiri no later than 23JAN23.

If you are interested in the hiring committee, here's what happens

• The Process 
• First Cast a Very Wide Net.  To find the best teachers, we cast the widest net to get the most applicants.  From this pool interview and select candidates for demo lessons & debrief interviews.  We post for all positions and all grade levels each year.  We then interview all the candidates at multiple interview fairs that happen on several times (after school & Saturdays) throughout the Spring.  The hiring committee is charged with interviewing panels of candidates and selecting the best of these candidates to perform a demo lesson and debrief the interview.
• The Demo Lesson.  ILT leads, Annie and Kiri observe all demo lessons, and where possible, hiring committee members join (volunteering their prep, lunch and/or professional period).
• The Debrief Interview.  After the demo lesson, ILT Leads, Annie & Kiri lead the interview to listen to the candidate reflect on the demo and see how well the candidate is at taking in and using feedback.  As with the demo lesson, hiring committee member join in on the debrief interviews.
• Goals
• Diversify Staff Hires. We will increase the diversity of our UAI instructional staff
• By actively recruiting and promoting hiring events to members of groups have been historically denied access and opportunity, we aim to increase folks identifying as POC and/or LGBTQ+ applying to work at UAI.
• By intentionally reaching out to organizations for educators self-identifying as POC, the Hiring Committee will increase the number of folks identifying as POC and/or LGBTQ+ in Round 1 panel interviews.
• The committee will report the diversity results of each Hiring Fair and Demo Lessons in the subsequent Blogs and will provide an in-depth report of processes in April and in June.
• Inclusive and Interrogated Decision Making. The committee will implement structures, policies and practices that maximize inclusive decision making.
• By collaboratively interrogating decisions and actively raising up possible member biases around POC and/or LGBTQ+ or conditions that may put folks identifying as a POC and/or LGBTQ+ in Round 1 and in the Demo Lessons, the Hiring Committee will increase the percentage of POC being offered a position at UAI by Sept 23.

SHSAT & SAT Prep.  Students have been asking for SHSAT and SAT Prep.  If you are interested, please complete the per session application (link above) and email Kir no later than 23JAN23

Per Session Postings Now Closed

Week of January 9th

UAI Staff News

Volume X

Issue 17

January 9th, 2023

Wrapping Up the Fall Term.  Next week is our benchmark period and following that is Regents Week.  For our HS students, this is the last week of instruction for the fall.  

One of our biggest learnings from the Fall Instructional Rounds was that across subjects, grades, and classrooms, we all are super committed to ensuring the success of our students - maybe a little too committed at times.  There are a number of scaffolds and supports to encourage and uphold students learning, but these scaffolds are so prevalent that they are actually getting in the way of students being prepared to independently demonstrate their learning.

The benchmarks are a low-stakes way of seeing how students would fair on high stakes state testing and will be extraordinarily important information for us to see how well we have taken the learnings from IR (Instructional Rounds) and applied it to our practice.  Inevitably, there will be more things we need to do (there always are), but this is the first pass at seeing how well we have done.  

Students freak out about these big tests.  It's another indication that we are not giving them enough experiences of independent, unscaffolded performance in our classes.  They are also worried about failing and doing poorly.  This is natural.  Our job is to recognize that fear and stress, and then to remind them of all the great things they have done this fall to prepare for next week.  They will feel confident if they have the tools and have your confidence.

So, encourage practice and studying in Learning Labs this week for next week's exams.  Give them lots of practice questions with the answers so that they have the opportunity to see how they will do on the actual exam.  These shouldn't be done for grades.  These practice assignments should be done for studying.  Use the analogy of sports again.  Then need to run the shorter races to make sure they do great in the real one.  Or performance - You need to rehearse and rehearse in order to make sure that the final performance is great!  Athletes and artists put in a LOT of hours to make sure they are ready for the big event (a game, a show, a performance, a race).  Our kids need to get into the same mindset for next week's exams.  Help them get there!

Important dates. 

• Monday, 09JAN23. Lady Eagles Home Game @4:30PM
• Tuesday, 10JAN23.  Final MP2 Progress Report Update during Tuesday Outreach Time
• Wednesday, 11JAN23. Lady Eagles Home Game @4:30PM
• Monday, 16JAN23.  MLK Jr Day, No School
• Tuesday, 17JAN23.  January Benchmark week Begins
• Wednesday, 18JAN23. Lady Eagles Home Game @4:30PM
• Monday, 23JAN23.  
• Last Day of January Benchmark week  Ends
• 6/7/12th Grader Tubing Trip
• Tuesday, 24JAN23.  HS Regents Week Begins (See Announcements below)
• Monday, 30JAN23.  Chancellors's PD day - no students in school - Final Agenda coming out this week
• Tuesday, 31JAN23.  First day of the Spring Term

Announcements & To Dos

Regents Week.  ELA, Math, & Science teachers should submit the names of any student who wants to retake a regent to Kiri by the EOD on Friday 13JAN23.  Students can also email Kiri directly at kiris@uainstitute.org.  All students MUST sign up by EOD on Friday, 13JAN23.

Curriculum Organization and Maintenance.  We are finalizing Regents Week schedules this week and are making sure folks have independent work time to catalog their fall curricula and plan for the launch of the Spring term.  For the spring folks will be compensated up to 2 hrs per week to make sure that their lessons, activities, and assessments are uploaded into the UAI Pacing Guide.  Additionally, folks should also keep their Google Classrooms up to date.

Folks who keep their pacing guides and google classrooms up to date will be eligible to receive 2hrs of per session each pay period.  You must submit a link to your pacing guide to Dai along with the time card to get approval for this work.  

Student Perception Survey.  As a reminder, the Tripod Student Perception Survey must be completed by Friday 20JAN23.  Thank you to all who updated the document with your survey administration plans.  I inserted a default plan for all pairs who weren't able to update the form by Friday (EOD). The goal is to administer a minimum of 40 surveys.  Please CLICK HERE to see who your partner is and the directions for administering the survey.   Please remember the only rules for the survey: 

• You cannot administer your own survey (so you have to open your partner's access codes and use those codes with your partner's students).
• You need to use up all of your survey codes (can all be in 1-2 sections, or 3 if need be.  You can choose the sections).
• You will need to complete the survey no later than 20JAN23.

Thank you all!  I know this can feel like an extra load, but getting feedback from our students is critical for improving our practice. So, I definitely appreciate the time and effort you are all doing to make space in your calendars to give this survey!

Period Start and Stop.  So, we're running into a few hallway and cafeteria problems.  One key problem was brought up by our Middle School team.  The problem is that the MS kids are leaving the cafe and heading to their classes too early (11:05) and 4th period doesn't actually start until 11:15.  The reason this is happening is because High Schoolers are showing up in the cafeteria too early (like between 11:05 and 11:10). 

We're having the same problem at dismissal time.  Kids are beating our deans down to 2PM and 2:50PM dismissal because they are being let out too early.

When we're in our classrooms day in and day out, it's easy to lose site of how a seemingly innocuous decision like letting the kids go to lunch or dismissal a few minutes early can have larger reaching ramifications.

For this week, try to reset your class periods to strictly adhere to starting and stopping classes on time.  

This is true for all periods, bu please be extra aware to 3rd, 6th, and 7th periods.  Please make sure to follow these periods and to start and stop these classes on time.

1. 8:30-9:23
2. 9:25-10:18
3. 10:20-11:13
4. 11:15-12:08
5. 12:10-1:03
6. 1:05-1:58
7. 2:00-2:50

Getting to Class on Time.  We are working on getting some programs up and running to help minimize student straggling between periods.  What we need from teachers is to put in place practices that both require and excite students getting to class on time.  For example, students are going on a Tubing Trip in two weeks.  It leaves promptly at 9:30, and guaranteed, almost all students will be on time.  Even when we have trips that leave at 7AM, students show.  This is hard evidence that when students WANT to be somewhere - they can be there.

The attendance team is planning an incentive program to lean into this.

What we need from teachers is your creativity and brilliance in developing instructional incentives that urge students to get to your classes on time.  Grade-based incentives are the natural go-to solution, but learning-based incentives are the best.  Think about how you can teach into why being on time to your class is important for success (not just in your class but also in life).  What kind of messages do kids send when they are late and how does that impact academic achievement and future plans?  

It's an assumption to think that students should know that lateness is a problem.  There is a LOT of things missed during the pandemic.  Social norms like this one need to be taught, and if kids are habitually late, then that's clear evidence that they have yet to truly comprehend why being on time matters in all sorts of social situations. 

The answer won't be easy, but we need to start trying in order to attend to the issue!
(Lol - see what I did there...attend! That wasn't even intentional!)

Bathroom Tracker and Hall Duty.  In the vein of hallway tightening up, we're going to try to better track bathroom use.  There are a handful of kids who are abusing their bathroom uses.  It's too difficult to track in the sign-in book. It's just not efficient to flip through all the pages.  So we're going to use this Bathroom Log to track usage, and deans will then be able to address overuse with students and families.

Additionally, we're going to be reorganizing our hallway duties, putting staff on the 5th floor and 3rd floors.  Staff with Hall Duty should have received a detailed email from Annie about opening up the 5th floor. In case you missed it, here's the duties for 5th floor hall duty that will start on Monday.

• You'll be positioned on the 5th floor consistently.
• Please unlock those bathrooms starting 10 minutes into the period and re-lock them 10 minutes from the end of the period, but stay present monitoring the hall for the full period.
• Please also sweep the stairwells and ensure kids move to class.
• This includes the stairwell that our students use to get to the gym - this is a major hiding spot for students since it's off-camera.

<REPOST> Benchmarks.  Our first school-wide benchmark assessment will be taking place during the week of January 23.  In addition, we will be giving the NYCDOE Tripod Survey during that week for students (stay tuned for schedule).  For the benchmarks...

• All Regents ending classes will be provided with a regents-based exam designed by your ILT lead, based on the regent exam and the units that your classes have completed thus far.  

• All other 8-12th grade classes (breadth classes and AP classes) will need to develop their own class assessment and give it on the assigned day, during regular class time.
  
  
• All exams will take place during your regular class time on the assigned days below.  Please note the DATE CHANGES.  These were made because I realized I hadn't considered that you might not see your classes on the day I picked!  I changed some things around to accommodate for that as much as possible.
  
  
• Tuesday, 17JAN23.  All Science Classes give the Science Benchmark
• Wednesday, 18JAN23.  All Social Studies classes
       (except sections PUZ - they don't meet on Wednesdays)
• Thursday, 19JAN23.  PUZ Social Studies & All Math classes
• Friday, 20JAN23. All ELA classes
• Monday, 23JAN23.  All breadth classes.  If you don't meet with a section on Monday, please choose any day from the prior week to give your benchmark.
• Tuesday, 24JAN23.  NYS Middle School Math Benchmark
• Wednesday, 25JAN23.  NYS Middle School ELA Benchmark

• All make-ups should be completed during learning labs or teachers should use prep/professional time to pull students from learning labs to complete make ups. 

Progress Reports.   The final progress reporting for MP2 will be next week.  Please make sure you are up-to-date with your grading and can input grades that will be largely reflecting of what student can expect to see on their final MP2 report card.  We'll meet in circle rooms next Tuesday to update the Progress Report document, and this will count as family outreach for the week.

Regents Exam Sign Up.   For the January Regents administration, students will have to opt in to taking the exams.  In June, all students in regents-ending classes will be automatically signed up for the exam.  Students who are ready to retake the Regents exams need complete THIS Form.  For this January testing period, only students who have been studying and are prepared to retake an exam should sign up.  For students who are looking for just practice, this is where they can find practice exams and answer keys

Per Session Postings

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

Hiring Committee.  It's hiring season again!   Each year we open up our hiring process in February to meet candidates.  We run our hiring process independent of known vacancies.  We do this because we need to start early to catch the most folks, and that early start is too soon for many folks to know next year's plans.  We also are part of a larger network of schools with whom we share candidates.  So our hiring process serves to first staff UAI, but secondarily support the larger UA network.  We are looking for folks to join!  If you are interested, please complete the per session application (link above) and email Kiri no later than 23JAN23.

If you are interested in the hiring committee, here's what happens

• The Process 
• First Cast a Very Wide Net.  To find the best teachers, we cast the widest net to get the most applicants.  From this pool interview and select candidates for demo lessons & debrief interviews.  We post for all positions and all grade levels each year.  We then interview all the candidates at multiple interview fairs that happen on several times (after school & Saturdays) throughout the Spring.  The hiring committee is charged with interviewing panels of candidates and selecting the best of these candidates to perform a demo lesson and debrief the interview.
• The Demo Lesson.  ILT leads, Annie and Kiri observe all demo lessons, and where possible, hiring committee members join (volunteering their prep, lunch and/or professional period).
• The Debrief Interview.  After the demo lesson, ILT Leads, Annie & Kiri lead the interview to listen to the candidate reflect on the demo and see how well the candidate is at taking in and using feedback.  As with the demo lesson, hiring committee member join in on the debrief interviews.
• Goals
• Diversify Staff Hires. We will increase the diversity of our UAI instructional staff
• By actively recruiting and promoting hiring events to members of groups have been historically denied access and opportunity, we aim to increase folks identifying as POC and/or LGBTQ+ applying to work at UAI.
• By intentionally reaching out to organizations for educators self-identifying as POC, the Hiring Committee will increase the number of folks identifying as POC and/or LGBTQ+ in Round 1 panel interviews.
• The committee will report the diversity results of each Hiring Fair and Demo Lessons in the subsequent Blogs and will provide an in-depth report of processes in April and in June.
• Inclusive and Interrogated Decision Making. The committee will implement structures, policies and practices that maximize inclusive decision making.
• By collaboratively interrogating decisions and actively raising up possible member biases around POC and/or LGBTQ+ or conditions that may put folks identifying as a POC and/or LGBTQ+ in Round 1 and in the Demo Lessons, the Hiring Committee will increase the percentage of POC being offered a position at UAI by Sept 23.

SHSAT & SAT Prep.  Students have been asking for SHSAT and SAT Prep.  If you are interested, please complete the per session application (link above) and email Kir no later than 23JAN23

Per Session Postings Now Closed

Week of 03JAN23

UAI Staff News

Volume X

Issue 16

January 3rd, 2023

Happy New Year!.  Welcome back everyone and Happy, Happy New Year.  I do hope you all had an amazing holiday with friends and/or families and that you were also able to catch up on some much needed rest and recharging!  

The pivot to a new calendar year is traditionally a time for reflection and goal setting.  The closing out of the fall term is also another great opportunity to reflect on our goals (what went well...what didn't) and our ideas (what were the good ones that we should adjust and grown...which ones were the not-so successful ones that we need to leave behind in 2022).

Often, in these moments of reflection, we beeline it for the things that just aren't working out.  That's why folks make all sorts of resolutions around vices (food, alcohol, sugar, toxic relationships...etc). 

I want to encourage you to find the light.

Use these next few weeks to take stock of your work with our students & families thus far.  Focus on finding the spots and events that brought you the most joy and satisfaction.  Likely, those were the same places where you worked hard and felt the thrill of a big win - with the folks who mean the most to you.  

It will be in this experience where you might also find the confluence of values that are the bedrock to UAI - joy, power, equity, and rigor.  Dig into your experiences to find the confluence of 2 or more of these core values over the course of the fall.  Think about which students were at the center of the experience.  In the midst of this reflection, you will also see another pillar in the bedrock of UAI's core values - relationships.

So, step into 2023 at UAI with the strength of your relationships and the power of your success at the front of mind.  Find ways to make your relationships broaden and deepen, and look for ways to leverage your strengths into even more successes as we close out the Fall term and roll out the Spring semester.

Important dates. 

• Wednesday, 04JAN23. Lady Eagles Home Game @4:30PM
• Monday, 09JAN23. Lady Eagles Home Game @4:30PM
• Tuesday, 10JAN23.  Final MP2 Progress Report Update during Tuesday Outreach Time
• Wednesday, 11JAN23. Lady Eagles Home Game @4:30PM
• Monday, 16JAN23.  MLK Jr Day, No School
• Tuesday, 17JAN23.  January Benchmark week Begins
• Wednesday, 18JAN23. Lady Eagles Home Game @4:30PM
• Monday, 23JAN23.  January Benchmark week  Ends
• Tuesday, 24JAN23.  HS Regents Week Begins (See Announcements below)
• Monday, 30JAN23.  Chancellors's PD day - no students in school
• Tuesday, 31JAN23.  First day of the Spring Term

Announcements & To Dos

Tech Inventory Part II.  Tuesday & Wednesday this week, our tech folk will still be on site inventorying our equipment.  Please make sure that students understand that this is not a punishment or annoyance.  This is simply part of the city's push to move us all to a new system.  Should students fail to bring in their equipment for cataloging, they may run the risk of no longer having functioning or serviceable equipment.  It will literally take 10 seconds.  Please tell them to bring whatever they have in for scanning.

Student Perception Survey.  The official student perception survey must be given by Friday, 20JAN23.   We will be administering this survey in partners.  So, everyone will have a partner, and you will be giving the perception survey to the students of your partner.  Staff are not allowed to give their own survey to their students.  Please CLICK HERE to see who your partner is and the directions for administering the survey.  You and your partner will work together to iron out the logistics.  You will each be able to choose which sections and which day(s) you want to administer the survey.  The only rules are 

• You cannot administer your own survey (so you have to open your partner's access codes and use those codes with your partner's students).
• You need to use up all of your survey codes (can all be in 1-2 sections, or 3 if need be.  You can choose the sections).
• You will need to complete the survey no later than 20JAN23.

Hopefully, in reflecting on the data from our internal survey, you were able to take in some feedback from our students.  The importance of centering their voice, even when what they say is sometimes hard to hear, is core to the mission of UAI, and it is exactly how we help our students develop their power and sense of belonging with our school.  Please make sure they understand that we have heard them, and that we will use this data to continue to hear and listen and improve our work with them at UAI. 

Benchmarks.  Our first school-wide benchmark assessment will be taking place during the week of January 23.  In addition, we will be giving the NYCDOE Tripod Survey during that week for students (stay tuned for schedule).  For the benchmarks...

• All Regents ending classes will be provided with a regents-based exam designed by your ILT lead, based on the regent exam and the units that your classes have completed thus far.  

• All other 8-12th grade classes (breadth classes and AP classes) will need to develop their own class assessment and give it on the assigned day, during regular class time.
  
  
• All exams will take place during your regular class time on the assigned days below.  Please note the DATE CHANGES.  These were made because I realized I hadn't considered that you might not see your classes on the day I picked!  I changed some things around to accommodate for that as much as possible.
  
  
• Tuesday, 17JAN23.  All Science Classes give the Science Benchmark
• Wednesday, 18JAN23.  All Social Studies classes
       (except sections PUZ - they don't meet on Wednesdays)
• Thursday, 19JAN23.  PUZ Social Studies & All Math classes
• Friday, 20JAN23. All ELA classes
• Monday, 23JAN23.  All breadth classes.  If you don't meet with a section on Monday, please choose any day from the prior week to give your benchmark.
• Tuesday, 24JAN23.  NYS Middle School Math Benchmark
• Wednesday, 25JAN23.  NYS Middle School ELA Benchmark

• All make-ups should be completed during learning labs or teachers should use prep/professional time to pull students from learning labs to complete make ups. 

Progress Reports.   The final progress reporting for MP2 will be next week.  Please make sure you are up-to-date with your grading and can input grades that will be largely reflecting of what student can expect to see on their final MP2 report card.  We'll meet in circle rooms next Tuesday to update the Progress Report document, and this will count as family outreach for the week.

Regents Exam Sign Up.   For the January Regents administration, students will have to opt in to taking the exams.  In June, all students in regents-ending classes will be automatically signed up for the exam.  Students who are ready to retake the Regents exams need complete THIS Form.  For this January testing period, only students who have been studying and are prepared to retake an exam should sign up.  For students who are looking for just practice, this is where they can find practice exams and answer keys

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