Week of October 15th

UAI Staff News

Volume XII

Issue 7

October 15th,  2024

Looking Back.  In 2006, we launched our recruitment efforts to recruit students to the very first class of UAI (the class of 2013 - they were in 6th grade). One of the very first students and parent that we met was Rema Bryce.  I remember her like it was yesterday.  She came to our table and immediately jumped into playing a game of Set with me.  Her smile was HUUUUGE and she immediately responded to the game and to logic and patterns inherent in that game.  Her curiosity and excitement was infectious, and before we knew it, we had an entire groups of kids gathering around us all to see what all the fun was about.

Fast forward to Friday - she popped into my office door as if no time had passed.  In truth, it had been 11 years since she walked across that stage and I handed her her high school diploma a few seconds before wrapping her in the biggest of hugs.  

In that moment, I deeply experienced what makes and has always made UAI special - it's our students. 

Rema told me she was turning 30 in a few weeks (and yes, I screamed out loud - because that just reflected how old I really am), but then she went on to tell me about all of the kids with whom she is still close - all of our alumni who have started families and are doing great things on their own.  For Rema, she's currently a flight steward with United, and living in Las Angeles (she was visiting town to see mom).  She's also currently training to become an airline pilot and will soon step up to be at the helm of those 747s!!  An African American FEMALE pilot - Rema is smashing down those barriers and claiming her place in worlds that have historically tried to keep her (and so many like her) out!

Tanae (Douglas -Class of 2024) and Ace (Nguyen - Class of 2024) also stopped by to say hi!  They are at the start of their journey to full grown up like Rema, but they are both starting strong.  Tanae is killing it at York - spending all of her days in classes and working hard to achieve.  Ace says Bard is wonderful and is already talking about studying abroad next year. 

What was true about all three of them was that they each had their own challenges and hurdles in school, but each of them all expressed how much they appreciated the support, love, and belief of the staff in them.

We are special because we nurture and grow the power and joy inherent in each of our young people.  We are special because we create mindsets in our young people of equity and rigor.

We are special because we develop student love and capacity in STEM

Our students graduate knowing that they belong in  spaces historically closed to them and fully capable of excelling in those spaces once there!

Test scores, attendance, etc - they only tell part of the story - listening to our alumni it is more than apparent that our love, joy, and support was an equally important part of their success equations!

 

Important Upcoming Dates

• MON 28OCT-MON 04OCT - 1st Benchmark (in Subject Classes - no special schedule)
• MON - 28OCT - ELA Benchmarks in ELA Classes
• TUE - 29OCT - SOC Benchmarks in SOC Classes
• WED - 30OCT - SCI Benchmarks in SCI Classes
• THU - 31OCT - Halloween (regular classes, no tests)
• FRI - 01NOV - Diwali - NO SCHOOL
• MON - 04NOV - MAT Benchmarks in MAT Classes
  
  
• THU 24OCT - First UAI Instructional Rounds (Details to come)
  
  
• FRI 01NOV - Diwali - NO SCHOOL
• MON 04NOV - End of Marking Period 1
• TUE 05NOV - Remote PD Day (Election Day) - No Classes
• WED 06NOV - Marking Period 2 Begins
• THU 07NOV - Grades due at 3PM
• FRI 08NOV - MP1 Report Cards Distributed in 7th Period
• MON 11NOV - Veteran's Day - NO SCHOOL

Announcements & To Dos

Staff Shout Outs.  Fridays are current events science in MS Science classes!  Freida and Sarah are working to not only nurture our students' natural curiosity about the scientific curiosities in the world, but also to hold "adult" conversations about these ideas - learning how to apply growing SEL skills to step up and step back, engaging in productive dialog that enriches the learning experience for all.  

This past Friday, students learned about Fat Bear Week.  In this week's adult talk, students learned about each of the bear candidates in stations and worked in small, random groups to articulate the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate bears.  At the same time, they stories of the bears were filled with both science and compelling narratives, leading to a very engaging adult talk at the end of class!

Nicely done Freida & Sarah!! Thank you for working so hard to create wonderful learning opportunities for our students like this one!

Outreach.  Lots of folks have forgotten to log their outreach for last week.  Please do so by midnight tonight.  As a reminder, as per contract, there is 55 minutes of outreach and parent engagement that must be completed each week.  This work can be completed remotely, however, if you do not fulfill the expectations of logging the work, then there has to be consequences for not fulfilling contractual requirements. 

Ultimately, habitually forgetting to completely log your 55minutes will result in you reverting to the traditional outreach schedule.  This means you'll need to stay at school to complete the outreach on Tuesdays for 55 minutes (the default outreach time) and clock out.   You will receive 3 reminders to log your outreach this year.  The first will be an email, the 2nd will be a in-person meeting with me, the 3rd will be a counseling memo.  If you forget to completely log your 55min of outreach for a 4th time this year, you will revert to the original outreach structure (staying in school on Tuesdays to complete the outreach).  

Bottom line - set yourself a weekly reminder to log all of your outreach each week!  For this week, the emphasis was on connecting with families of students who are meeting goals (>80) in your class.  This is to celebrate their achievements and build strong relationships with families.

 Please record all activities for remote outreach  in the outreach log. FYI, these activities include:

• Meetings (individual or group) with parents or guardians (this can also be IEP meetings)
• Telephone conversations with parents/guardians
• Written correspondence with parents or guardians (emails, texts, newsletters)
• Creating Newsletters
• Creating content for school/class websites (e.g. google classrooms)
• Preparing student report cards
• Preparing student progress reports
• Meetings with parents of English language learners
• Preparing for parent engagement activities (e.g. curriculum night, conferences, etc)
• Other mutually agreed-upon items  

[REPOST] Support Brooklyn PTAs.  This is a special post from Mike (6/7th Grade ELA) - 

Want to support Brooklyn public school PTAs? Want to enjoy the beautiful fall weather with a fun run / walk around Prospect Park? Sign up for this year's Brooklyn PTA Fun Run for Schools, and join team UAI when you do! The race will take place on Saturday, October 26, 2024 at 10 AM. Bib pickup and pre-race activities will begin at 9:00 AM. The race is a ~5k (3.3 mile) lap of Prospect Park, and is very family friendly, with lots of kids participating. Use this link to join UAI's team, and check out the race page for more info. I'll be running, and hope I can see lots of you there! - Mike

Keep Promoting UAI Clubs.  UAI Clubs launched officially on Monday, 07OCT24.   Announce them in class, push kids to get involved - emphasize the importance of extracurriculars and activities OUTSIDE of the classroom.  Colleges & jobs look to see what activities kids are in to evaluate them as potential candidates for their university or business.  Yes, they get this info from the counselors AND yes, we all need to put this on repeat so that it sinks in to their brains!  Here's what you can do

• Print this out and hang it on your classroom door:   UAI Clubs 
• Please let Jen know if your club is missing
• Make an announcement at the start of each class this week to promote the launch of clubs.
• Clubs are great resume builders for jobs and college - remind kids of that!
• Highlight how awesome the club teachers are and that this is a great chance to learn more about them in a new way!
  
  

[REPOST]  Club Attendance & Per Session.  Please remember to clock out for clubs that end after school, and to clock in for clubs that begin before school.   Lunch clubs are prep-period coverage (not per session).  Please remember to take attendance on the Club Attendance Form.  You need this completed prior to having your per session approved.  We are aiming for all clubs to have at least 10 kids, so please try actively to recruit.  If there is fewer than 10, don't stress for now, but clubs that end up having fewer than 3 students will likely not be continued for the spring.

Save the Dates to Celebrate.  Celebrating our students and our staff is core to the health of our school!  Our central mission at UAI is the success and achievement of our students.  One pathway to that goal is through building the efficacy, sense of belonging, and pride that our staff has in your work at UAI.  That sense of worth and value is built both through achieving targeted student outcomes and in recognition of those achievements and efforts! 

Everyone at our school has a hand in the organization that is built to launch our students into bright futures.  Highlighting their work and achievements is central to celebrating our folks and their efforts in pushing our entire school and our students to achieving our goals. 

I was chitchatting with Paula the other day, and she was sharing some ideas she & Judy had had about raising up our colleagues.  At the same time, I had already been thinking about creating our UAI calendar of the days to celebrate our people!!   And since there really are no original ideas anymore - I googled and found this handy calendar!  I've plucked the days celebrating people out of this calendar to create our own for the 24-25 school year.

Here are the special days in which we plan to pause to celebrate those special folks who do their best in their role to push forward our collective goals!  

• September 2024
• 17SEP24 - National IT Professional's Day (we missed this - so moved to October 17th!).  This is the day to celebrate JASON's Amazing work with our school!!
  
  
• October 2024
• 02OCT24 - National Custodian Day (we missed this too - so moved to October 22nd for this year).  Let's celebrate Carlos, Harry, Junior, & Mr. O!
  
  
• November 2024
• 21NOV24 - National Substitute Teacher Day.  Let's celebrate Jermaine, Mahjabeen, and Sean!
  
  
• February 2025
• 03FEB-07FEB - National School Counselor's Week.  WOOHOO to JJR, Tiffany, Jen, AND our Deans (who do a lot of our counseling) Jean, Alaisha and Nicole... AND to our interns, Lara, Carlene, and Emily
  
  
• April 2025
• 03APR - Paraprofessional Appreciation Day - Time to appreciate Juelle, Bryanna, Aurora, Adelle, Nora, Ebony, Janiya, and Brenda!
• 07APR-11APR - National Assistant Principal's Week - Give it up to ANNIE!!!
• 20APR-26APR - Administrative Professionals Week - Many Thanks to Paula, Damaris, and Tracey!
• 21APR-25APR - Aterschool Professionals Week - Whooping it up for GIRLS INC!!
  
  
• May 2025
• 02MAY - School Lunch Hero Day - Give thanks for our amazing cafeteria staff
• 05MAY-09MAY - Teacher Appreciation Week - Big Ups to ALL of our amazing teachers!
• 07MAR - School Nurse Day - YAY for Nurse Cole
  
  

We're still working on the logistics of how we will celebrate folks.  To start, a face-to-face thank you or note of appreciation or a short written note via email or dropped in a mailbox will be enough!  For those who want to give more (for gifts like lunch or a special gift), standby for suggestion donation and collection plan!!  I'm going to circle back to Judy & Paula for ideas on that one!

Fundamentally, when we all make it a point to lift each other up, our spirits are enriched, and our students benefit!  When our cups are filled, we have much more to give, and our kids need our best selves in order to rise up to smash down barriers and obstacles that stand in the way of them becoming their best versions of themselves!  

Per Session Postings

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

Classroom SetUp and Planning.  12 hours total.  All Classroom Staff (Teachers & Paras) are eligible.  Tue 27-29Aug .