Week of 18MAR24

UAI Staff News

Volume XI

Issue 28

March 18th, 2024

Connections with Students and Families.   If you pause to think about who you have learned the most from in life, it was likely someone with whom you have great trust and thus a strong relationship.   Research supports this!  When students have a connection with a trusted adult, their academic achievement thrives.

For our young students in particular, strong trusting relationships are critical for supporting their performance in STEM and other fields from which women, and women of color are too often excluded.

So... in these last few weeks of Marking Period three - lean into strengthening your relationships with students and families.  Our work with the UA and Danielle's materials on Empathy and her workshop on strengthening Communications & Relationship Building are two PDs that you can reference in building stronger relationships with students and families.  Practice stepping into their perspectives and find win-wins to strengthen the connection and fuel student performance in your class.

The folks who need this the most are your students who have not yet broken that 75 average in your class for this marking period.  Please make it a point to focus on them for family conferences and connect with families to find out their insight on what you can do to strengthen your relationpship with the students and their families.  These relationships are pure gold, and merit the time it takes to cultivate them.

This Thursday and Friday are family conferences.  Conferences with families should be about 5-10minutes in length.  They should have a format like

• 1 min - connection (How are you, thank you for taking the time, a little anecdote about child to break the ice and show families that you care about and know their child!)
• 1 min - celebration - share a true success story - focus on an academic success
• 2 +min - ask for help in growth area - what does the student need and what can family do to help 
• 1 min - wrap up (thank you, tell them a date you plan to follow up and that they can reach out anytime (via email/syncgrades/phone etc)

Families are one of our greatest partners.  There's no one who wants a child to succeed more than a family member - so they are singularly situated to want to help if we just ask for it! AND moreover, in asking and leveraging that help we build trust with families which then helps us build trust with our students.

Please prioritize making family conference appointments by 3PM on Monday.

• Send a text to let families know you're reaching out
• Let them know that the conferences will be about 5-10min and is aimed at trying to find ways to increase the students' performance and grade in class
• Give them two options for an appointment.  If neither works, then as for a 3rd from them.
• Reach out to Tracy, Jen, Kiri, or Annie if you do not have a working number.
• Record the appointment in THIS sheet
• Mandatory Appointments for all students who have <75 in your class
• Suggested Appointments to celebrate students who have >75 or have had great growth
• Any student who is currently failing your class - please email Kiri & Annie directly with a summary as to why so we can intervene to coordinate support.
  
  

Students WANT to succeed, and when they don't ... something else is happening.  Our job is to figure out what exactly is happening and help students find a pathway to success.  Families, counselors, and administrators all are on hand to support classroom staff to find and shore up that pathway.  Let's all pull together to make it happen!

Important Upcoming dates

• Mon 18MAR24 - Teacher Survey in PD
• Thu 21-Fri 22MAR - MS Mock Math & ELA Exams
• Thu 21MAR - Evening Family Conferences (Remote - 5-8PM)
• Fri 22MAR - Afternoon Family Conferences (Remote 12:50-2:50)
• Lunch for ALL will be 4th Period (MS will have Learning Lab 3rd Period)
• Early Dismissal at 12:08 for all
• Fri 29MAR - Good Friday - NO SCHOOL
  
  
  
• Mon 01APR - Easter Monday - NO SCHOOL
  
  
• Wed 03APR - 08APR - Mock Regents & Benchmark Exams (1st-3rd - testing; 4th-7th normal)
• Wednesday 03APR - ENGLISH testing (1st -3rd period testing)
• Into Lit - Mock ELA Regents (will be provided)
• AP classes - Mock AP Exams (Teacher Made)
• Thursday 04APR - SOCIAL STUDIES Testing(1st -3rd period testing)
• GLO 2 - Mock GLO Regents  (will be provided)
• USH - Mock USH Regents  (will be provided)
• All other SS - Final MP3 Assessment (Teacher Made)
• Friday 05APR - SCIENCE Testing(1st -3rd period testing)
• LIV - Mock Living Environment Regents  (will be provided)
• EARTH - Mock Earth Science Regents  (will be provided)
• All other SS - Final MP3 Assessment (Teacher Made)
  
• Monday 08APR - MATH Testing(1st -3rd period testing)
• Alg 1 - Mock Algebra 1Regents  (will be provided)
• Geo - Mock Geo Regents  (will be provided)
• Alg 2 - Mock Algebra 2 Regents (will be provided)
• BMCC & AP Math - Final MP3 Assessment (Teacher Made)
  
  
• NOTES:
• The Benchmark AM schedule will be the same, starting 1st period instead of 2nd
• The PM schedule will be regular programming (and NO MAP testing)
  
• All breadth classes (Spanish, PE, Theater) should do MP3 final in PM or before these testing days)
  
  
• Tue 09APR - P/SAT Day - No Classes for grades 8-12 (8/9/12trips and 10/11 testing only)
• Wed 10APR - Eid al Fitr - NO SCHOOL
• Thu 11APR-Fri 12APR - MS ELA Exams (Grades 6-8)
• 6th/7th - Paper administration
• 8th - online administration - students pulled from classes in AM
• FRI 12APR - MP3 Ends
• MON 15APR - MP4 Begins and School Wide Teach In
• Mon 22APR -Tue 30APR - Spring Recess - NO School

Announcements & To Dos

Keep Trying to Make Appointments.  These UFT titles - classroom teachers, counselors and paras - are required to participate in family conferences.  Conferences are remote.  Therefore,  you are charged with the responsibility to schedule your own appointments. Please schedule all "Mandatory" conferences (which are for any student with <75 and any new students or students who got a P for MP2).  This needs to be done.  If you don't get responses - keep trying.  You are accountable to hold a minimum of 15 conferences.  That's 15 conferences over 5 hours of conference time.  So, like 3 calls per hour.  So you could have three 10min calls, a 10 min break, and 20min prep/log/work time each hour.  This is a more than reasonable expectation.  Please make sure you meet it.  The contact is incredibly important.  We need to all step up and in order for our school to thrive.

Please complete this form if you cannot reach a family member by the EOD on Monday 3PM on 18MAR.  

New Time Clock.  Per Session is Due Monday.   Please make sure that you are clocking IN and OUT of your per session activities.  For the next pay period and moving forward, Annie will be the only person to sign off on your time card.  You must see Annie within 24 hours if your forget to clock in or out of your per session activity.  Clocking in and out of per session activities is REQUIRED.

Middle School Mock Test.  6th & 7th grade students will be taking the MS Mock Exams this Friday!

Surveys.  This week we are aiming to launch the NYS Learning Environment Survey in Advisories and with families.  We do need help with families.  As you do outreach for the rest of March, please help parents remember to complete the survey.  Let Tracey and Jen know if a parent confirms completing the survey with you!

SEL and Strengthening Relationships.  These resources from las week's blog will help you strengthen relationships and build trust  - the building blocks of student achievement in your class:

• Empathy & Perspective Taking.  Use an  Empathy Map to connect with students.
  
  
• Presuming Positive Intent.   assume positive intent.
  
  
• Goal-Directed Behaviors.  Our students need goals, and we need to help them learn how to make and achieve them.  As you are working with students who need the most help, set a LOT of short & achievable goals to build the expectations of success.  For example, struggling with attendance and lateness - make a goal to be on time tomorrow (then celebrate). Grow that one day into two or three, then five per week.  When bumps and backsteps occur, recognize and name them, and re-encourage to achieve the goals anew.  

<<Repost>>. RPET Work.  The RPET is planning three major experiences for our community this spring.  They will be (1) A schoolwide teach in, (2) A series of PDs for staff around SEL, and (3) A series of staff equity circles.  The RPET is planning a more detailed workshop for our January 29th PD to review each of these in detail and to get staff feedback on each.  Here's the draft PD calendar for the rest of the year.

• March
• 4th:  SEL PD for All Staff (#3 of 4) - with UA!
• 11th:  Staff Equity Circles - Exploring Self Awareness and Building Community Trust
• 18th: STAFF SURVEY DAY for NYC LES Survey  - Admin Meeting
• 25th:  SEL PD for All staff (#4 of 4) - with UA!
  
  
• April
• 1st:  Easter Monday - NO SCHOOL
• 8th:  All Staff Prep for School Wide Teach In
  (Educating ourselves about Antisemitism & Islamophobia)
• 15th:  All Staff Prep for School Wide Teach In. (TEACH IN on April 16th)
• 22nd:  Spring Break - WOOHOO
• 29th:  STILL Spring Break - DOUBLE WOOHOO
  
  
• May
• 5th:  Staff Equity Circles - TBD
• 13th:  Staff Equity Circles - TBD
• 20th:  CEP - Revisiting our Goals & Planning for Next Year - Planned by ILT
• 27th:  Memorial Day - NO SCHOOL
  
  
• June
• 3rd:  Staff Equity Circles - TBD
• 10th:  Staff Equity Circles - TBD
• 17th:  Regents Week Proctor Prep - Planned by Admin

<<Repost>>. Gearing Up for Summer School.  We still need more teachers to teach summer school!  Please think about signing up!  If you can't commit to the whole summer, which part can you do? Please sign up soon as posting for summer will need to go up soon!

Each summer, we have two separate programs:  Summer Splash and Summer Regents Prep.  In Summer Splash, we recruit teachers to teach their passion!  We look for folks who are excited about something - anything really - that will engage students and get them to learn in non-traditional ways.  Alongside completing required work for credit recovery, we offer explorations in art, music, history, and activism have peppered the program over the last few years.  Here are some examples that we've had in the past:

• Partner Run Programs:  Girls Inc Summer Camp, Occupy Summer School  & The Octavia Project
• UAI Teacher Courses:  USH and Comic Books, Digital Design, The Science of Beauty, Job Club, Ceramics, Visual Art, STEM in Dance, and many more

At the end of the summer, we pivot back to traditional studying for the August Regents exams.  

We are looking for

• Summer School Coordinator (2 Positions):  These two people would work collaboratively to recruit teachers and create, plan, and monitor summer programming for Summer Splash and Regents Prep (and Regents).  These two roles would be responsible for the day-to-day operations of summer school and would liaise with other summer programs to make sure all programs being hosted at UAI receive what they need and all programs run smoothly. Summer School Coordinators report to AP Annie or Principal Kiri (or building Admin if they are on vacation).
  
  
• 20 flex hours per person (now) for program planning and staff/student recruitment
• 10 hours 02JUL & 03JUL for summer school orientation and prep for summer launch
• 96 School Hours 8AM-1PM Mon-Thu 08JUL-15AUG (24 days *4 hrs/day)
• 8:30-900 -Breakfast Coord. (Dean will supervise - you'll be point person)
• 9:00-12:00 - Classrm Coord. (support teachers where needed)
• 12:00-12:30 - Lunch Coord. (Dean will supervise - you'll be point person)
• 27 Regents Day Hours 8AM-5PM (3 Regents Testing/Grading Days)

• Summer Splash Teachers (5 Positions) - 16 days * 4hrs/day = 64 hrs
  
  
• Mon 08JUL - Thu 01AUG
• 8:30AM - on site Prep time
• 9AM-12PM - 3 1hr sections of class
• 12:00-12:30 - remote prep time
  
  
• Summer Regents Prep Teacher (5 Positions) - Up to 59 hrs (depending on Regent Exam needs)
  8 days * 4hrs per day = 64 hours PLUS 3 Regents days (8AM-5PM  - estimated)
• Mon 05AUG-Thu 15AUG
• 8:30AM - on site Prep time
• 9AM-12PM - 2 1.5hr sections of class
• 12:00-12:30 - remote prep time

*(note - hours may be less if fewer sections needed due to low enrollment - min 15-25 per section)

Per Session Postings

For ALL per session activities, please complete Per Session Application Form"

Summer School Posting (closes 30MAR or until all positions filled).  It's that time again!  We are starting to launch our plans for Summer School.  If you are interested in working summer school, please email Kiri and be specific about what you're interested in doing and how long you are interested in working (and yes, you can work in multiple roles and in both Summer Splash and Summer Regents prep!  

Each summer, we have two separate programs:  Summer Splash and Summer Regents Prep.  In Summer Splash, we recruit teachers to teach their passion!  We look for folks who are excited about something - anything really - that will engage students and get them to learn in non-traditional ways.  Alongside completing required work for credit recovery, we offer explorations in art, music, history, and activism have peppered the program over the last few years.  Here are some examples that we've had in the past:

• Partner Run Programs:  Girls Inc Summer Camp, Occupy Summer School  & The Octavia Project
• UAI Teacher Courses:  USH and Comic Books, Digital Design, The Science of Beauty, Job Club, Ceramics, Visual Art, STEM in Dance, and many more

At the end of the summer, we pivot back to traditional studying for the August Regents exams.  

We are looking for

• Summer School Coordinator (2 Positions):  These two people would work collaboratively to recruit teachers and create, plan, and monitor summer programming for Summer Splash and Regents Prep (and Regents).  These two roles would be responsible for the day-to-day operations of summer school and would liaise with other summer programs to make sure all programs being hosted at UAI receive what they need and all programs run smoothly. Summer School Coordinators report to AP Annie or Principal Kiri (or building Admin if they are on vacation).
  
  
• 20 flex hours per person (now) for program planning and staff/student recruitment
• 10 hours 02JUL & 03JUL for summer school orientation and prep for summer launch
• 96 School Hours 8AM-1PM Mon-Thu 08JUL-15AUG (24 days *4 hrs/day)
• 8:30-900 -Breakfast Coord. (Dean will supervise - you'll be point person)
• 9:00-12:00 - Classrm Coord. (support teachers where needed)
• 12:00-12:30 - Lunch Coord. (Dean will supervise - you'll be point person)
• 27 Regents Day Hours 8AM-5PM (3 Regents Testing/Grading Days)

• Summer Splash Teachers (5 Positions) - 16 days * 4hrs/day = 64 hrs
  
  
• Mon 08JUL - Thu 01AUG
• 8:30AM - on site Prep time
• 9AM-12PM - 3 1hr sections of class
• 12:00-12:30 - remote prep time
  
  
• Summer Regents Prep Teacher (5 Positions) - Up to 59 hrs (depending on Regent Exam needs)
  8 days * 4hrs per day = 64 hours PLUS 3 Regents days (8AM-5PM  - estimated)
• Mon 05AUG-Thu 15AUG
• 8:30AM - on site Prep time
• 9AM-12PM - 2 1.5hr sections of class
• 12:00-12:30 - remote prep time

*(note - hours may be less if fewer sections needed due to low enrollment - min 15-25 per section)

After School Clubs.   If you are interested in running an after school club, please complete THIS form by EOD TUESDAY 26SEP23  AND submit the Per Session Application Form.  Clubs are slated to start next week.  Clubs must have a steady roster of at least 8-10 students per week in order to NOT be cancelled.  Rosters & Attendance lists MUST be submitted with per session time cards.  If your club goes three consecutive weeks with less than 8 students, your club will need to be cancelled (so that we can optimize funds for other uses - so sorry...wish we could fund everything all the time, but unfortunately, we don't have endless sums of funds).  After school sessions can be 3-4PM or 3-4:30PM or 3-5:30PM (teacher's choice)up to three days per week.  So per session hours can range from 1-7.5hrs per week).  Posting Expires 10OCT23.

Please continue to help promote your after school clubs.  Please make sure you are getting a reliable group of at least 10 students.  Help our after school classes get off the ground! - I will be collecting final rosters on 30NOV - you have additional time to recruit!!

• Black Student Union - Joanna & Pauline (Rm 411) - Tuesdays & Thursdays 3-4:30
• Arts & Crafts Club - Tiffany & Jennifer (Rm 311) - Mon/Tue/Weds - 3-4:15PM
• Theater Production Club - Noelle (Rm 315) - Tues/Thurs/Fri - 3-5:30PM
• Student Government - Sue, Marsha, Phillan, and Girls' Inc's Kassi (Rm 309) - Tuesdays - 3-4PM
• Youth Leadership Council - Kelly  (Rm 307) - Tuesdays 3-4PM
• Photo Club - Tom(Rm 205F) - Wednesdays 3-4:30
• Cheer - Mary & Lia - Various days depending on Game Days
• Anime & Art Club - Adelle & Francis (Rm 409) - Tuesdays & Thursdays 3-5PM
• Running Club with Camryn (starts after the marathon is over)
• Dance Club - Girls Inc - Room 503
• Students Against Racism & Bias Club - Jelissa (Rm 305) Tuesdays & Thursday 3-4PM
• Muslim Student Association - Laura (Rm 404) TBD
• GSA Club - Amanda - Rm 407

PSAL Supervision.   Posting Expires 10OCT23. PSAL Games are starting up soon. Please submit the Per Session Application Form if you are interested in supervising student spectators.  Hours vary depending on games.  Each game (basketball or volleyball) is usually 4-6pm (is) so each supervision session is about 2hours.  Staff are welcome to sign up for as many games as they'd like.  Please see UAI calendar or PSAL website for game dates. Duties include making sure

• students remain safe and orderly during games
• only eligible students are admitted to games
• all students fully dismiss from the building at the conclusion of the games

CSI Planning & Supervision.   Posting Expires 10OCT23. This posting if for supervision per session to plan, supervise, monitor and coordinate extra improvement efforts to address UAI achievement gaps and improve student performance in target metrics.  Activities include analyzing and reviewing data, planning and executing professional development experiences to improve staff performance, analyzing and editing video footage to improve teacher lesson execution and lesson implementation, and supervising out of school activities - including recruitment, staff planning, and after school activities.  Hours vary per week depending on task and work completed.  Hours range 1-7.5 hours per week.

Classroom SetUp.  All classroom staff are invited to come in to set up and plan for up to 10 hours all together any day this week Monday-Friday 9AM-2PM.  Staff must clock in AND out each day, and cannot be in the building after 2PM.  Please adhere to guidelines set out in the blog post above.  All Staff MUST also apply to this position by completing the "Per Session Application From" - see link above.  [Posted 27AUG23] - Posting CLOSED and JOB is over.