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