First Days Logistics

Like I mentioned earlier, this has been a full week.  So as to limit your feeling of overwhelmingness (is that a real word?), this post be purely functional information to smooth your work over the next couple of days.

Likely FAQs

• Metrocards will be distributed by the end of the day on Thursday by Carol and Nancy
• Lockers Assignments & Contracts will be given to advisors on Monday AM.  Grade teams can decide when and how to distribute lockers to advisees.
• Open Lunch will be open for all students for Thursday & Friday, but they must return the Open Lunch permission slip on Monday if they want to get a lunch pass.  Please ask for forms and return them to Ms. Doris or Ms. Nicia
• Special Schedules for Seniors - seniors will have special schedules that they will receive on FRIDAY.  They will be tailored to their individual needs AND they will be full programs for the fall.  All of this will be covered in the assembly, too.
• School Supply list is posted on our website.
• Student Schedules will be distributed prior to dismissal on Friday afternoon.
• Advisories will meet in their regular Advisory rooms except for assembly.  They should come directly to the library for assembly - yes we'll fit

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9th Grade

9th Grade Custom Orientation Program

• Advisory  8:30- 8:55 
  Welcome students and guide them to seat in the front of the class. Review 9^th grade expectations and review common expectations handout. Students will practice lining up and entering the classroom if time. Review blue cards, lunch forms and discipline codes.
  
  
  
  
  Here are the materials you'll need (People in parenthese are who you can see to get more).
  ·      Blue cards (Nancy)
  ·      Noam’s Contract (Noam)
  ·      Lunch Forms (Nancy)
  ·      9^th Grade Procedures (Colleen & Darby)
  ·      Extra Wagon Wheel Slips (Chris M.)
  ·      Discipline Code Folder (Jen C)
  
  
  MAKE SURE WAGON WHEEL PERMISSION SLIPS ARE IN
  
  
  
  
  Diagnostic Exams 9:00-10:13 and 12:00-1:13
  -See Nicia in room 508 for DRP books and answer documents
  -See Noam for Math Exam (Noam are you also getting calculators - do they need them?)
  -Send Group M girls with IEPs to Martine in Room 140 and Group N girls to Elena in B35
  
  
  
  
  
  

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10th Grade

• Custom Orientation- Natasha put together a schedule for your team (a la the 9th grade program). 
• Writing and Math Diagnostic - Please see Natasha/Mariana (writing) and Tom (math) for their diagnostic exams.  Tom - see Nicia for calculators if you need them.

• Advisory -  I know Jess sent out the 10th grade behavior consequence form out to the team.  In addition to this, you should certainly follow the same punch list as the 9th grade team listed above (Minus wagon road).

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11th Grade and 12th Grade

12th Grade

   11th Grade         

• Advisory - Thursday AM Assembly in Library - meet your advisories there (Kiri will run the orientation and you can do the above punch list and grade expectations with your advisory tomorrow.  Only 11th grade advisors and their advisories (12th grade advisors will be in their regular rooms).

• Diagnostics - Brodie will get you the writing diagnostic prompts.  Mike will get you the Math diagnostics test.
• Senior Pep Rally - There will be a senior pep rally in the courtyard, weather permitting on Friday at 1:30PM.  Seniors will be dismissed on both Thursday and Friday at 1:30PM

Information for the Classroom Environment

There's a lot of things to think about when launching the year, your classroom environment being one of the most important.

The two main rubrics for you around the environment are the Independent Work Time and Environment Rubrics.  There are a lot of things to think about on this rubric, so to give you some focus, here are the priorities for launching your classrooms in September.

The Classroom Environment:

#1 - Students are free to move & express themselves within the boundaries of rules & norms.  
#2 - The environment is organized to be a resource for learning.  Previous lesson content is charted for continued reference.
For example they have access to print resources, the standards, manipulatives, graphic organizers - whatever they need to access to get support in completing tasks and mastering standards.
  

High School Goals and Expectations

This is a big post and is meant for you to revisit throughout the course of the year.  If you like the cliff notes version of things, here it is

• Our High School data is not strong.  We need to figure out how to get 80% of our students to master learning targets and pass classes, including 80% of the lowest third.  Additionally, we need to make sure our Regents scores are college ready.  That means getting >80 on the Algebra and >75 on the ELA (and passing US History, Global, and at least one science).

• In order to meet these goals, you're expected to conference with each student at least 1 time per marking period, and double that if she is a member of our lowest third cohort.  Here's an example of how you might calendarize those conferences.  It also has the marking period dates and orientation schedule.

• In learning cultures classrooms, this same ratio extends to Unison Reading and Shares (the ratio is 1:2  e.g. for every Unison Reading group, there are twice that number for students in the lowest 1/3). 

• All grade and subject teams will have the freedom to set frequency and agendas of meetings.  
• Subject teams will be charged with monitoring schoolwide data (DRPs, Acuity Benchmarks, Regents Exams, Scholarship Reports, etc) and regulating scope and sequence coverage (Lesson Inventories and Standards Checklists).  
• Grade teams will manage conference calendars, format tallies, and student led conferences.

• You will also have the flexibility to use your PD and co-planning periods for what you need most to accomplish the goals.  Everyone is scheduled to meet with me at least once a month (those who are <3 years teaching experience and/or are new to Learning Cultures will have more conferences).  These conferences will be structured just like student conferences with these 

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Now, if you'd like to read the detailed version....

Mission and Vision

Since the start of this blog, I've spoken a lot abou the mission and vision of the school.  So, let me briefly reprise by saying the following.

Our mission and main has always been to graduate our young women from high school with the necessary skills, knowledge, and opportunities to successfully complete college.  With the right combination of rigorous academic courses, a bevy of experiences and seminars aimed at building the soft skills, and exposure to the opportunities in the world around them, our first graduating class stands at the very precipice of greatness.

It's an exciting year, but we have a lot of work to do before we start the party!  So, let's get to it..

Credit Accumulation

Our girls are lagging in comparison to our city and peer group in their accumulation of credits.  In their 1st year nearly 1 out 3 students fail to accumulate 10 credits.  Of those students in the lowest third, ONLY about 1 of 3 students earned credit.  Here's how the high school stood at the beginning of last year.

In response, I've set the following minimum goals for this year:

• The expectation is that a minimum of 80% of students pass your course (in each section).  So, in a class of 25 students, if more than 5 of students are failing at the marking period, we will need to work together to analyze and strategize how to get students to access needed resources and support to improve their achievement.

• A further expectation is that a minimum of 80% of students in the lowest third pass your course (in each section).  In this case, if you have 25 students, 8 of those girls are in the lowest third.  If more than 2 of those students are failing, then we will work together to review the intervention strategies and support resources to evaluate what needs to change.

Regents Pass Rates

For those courses with Regents exam, the additional minimums are in play

• English Regent
• 80% of all students score > 65
• 80% of all students in the lowest 1/3 score > 65
• 67% of all passing students score > 75

• Math Regent
• Algebra
• 80% of all students score > 65
• 80% of all students in the lowest 1/3 score > 65
• 67% of all passing students score > 80
• Geometry
• 80% of students in the highest 1/3 score > 65
• Minimum of 80% of students sit for the Regent
• Algebra II
• Minimum of 80% of all students sit for the Regent
• 80% of that cohort score > 65

• Global History, US History
• 80% of all students score > 65
• 80% of students in the lowest 1/3 score > 65

• Science Regents
• Living Environment
• 80% of all students score > 65 on Living Environment Regents
• 80% of students in the lowest 1/3 score > 65
• Chemistry 
• 80% of students in the highest 1/3 score > 65
• Minimum of 80% of students sit for the Regent
• Physics
• Minimum of 50% of all students sit for the Regent
• 80% of that cohort score > 65

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To achieve these goals, the following classroom expectations are in play

Conferencing

• a minimum of 1 standards based conference per marking period for every student
• a minimum of 2 standards-based conferences per marking period for every student in lowest 1/3
• a minimum of 1 advisor conference based on student work and/or JumpRope data (grades, attendance, and/or disciplinary comments) per week (e.g. student uses data from work and/or JumpRope to set goals).
• All conferences use the conference record and teacher file records in conference binder.
• Students generate their own goals based on data from work (and in an academic conference, in alignment to the standards).  Teachers can help name struggles or strategies, but the students' intentions are what need to be central to the conference.  For academic conferences, students should be able to identify the relevant standards around which they are goal setting.

Independent Work Time

• Lessons are structured to accommodate conference schedule
• 8 min Mini Lesson
• Short Work Habits & Processes Lesson (Learning Routines & Strategies) OR
• Short mini-lesson on content (specific, targeted, teachable in short time frames)
• 35 min Independent Work Time for Students 
• 15 Min Unison Reading/Table Share/Learning Group
• 20 Min Conferencing (2 conferences)
• 10 min Share
• 
  
• Independent activities are driven by learning targets and students can articulate which NYS standards they are demonstrating vis a vis the task and targets.  Students and families should have access to the actual standards.  I recognize that this is an abrupt departure from our work with Power Standards last year. Now, subject teams will use the Power Standards to track scope and sequence and teachers will use NYS standards as they are in planning and in JumpRope.

• Learning Targets align to scope and sequence and state standards (Standards Checklist)
• Independent Work Time Tasks are varied in Genre (e.g. an Essay, a Poem, a Research Paper or A Proof, problem set, or written argument) and Length (e.g. a Short, Medium, and Long piece of work)

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To support you in achieving this goal, the following structures are in place

• Subject Teams - Support for Conferencing and Independent Work Time
• Working together, subject teams will research and share resources, provide planning support, and review the NYS standards check in and monitor course coverage of established scope and sequence (Standards Checklist and Lesson Inventories)
• Subject teams will review schoolwide data, classroom data, and cohort data to track progress towards school goals.
• Subject teams will create their own meeting calendars to achieve common goals.

• Grade Teams & Advisory Check-Ins
• Grade Teams will work together to coordinate calendars and support one another in establishing common norms, grade-wide expectations, and track and tally student participation in required formats (e.g. conferences, and in LC classrooms Unison Reading, and SHares).
• Advisory - All advisories are expected to be independent work time ONLY as you conference with students.  The mission of advisory is to build student capacity to look at and reflect on efforts, products, and choices (as evidenced by their work and what is in JumpRope).  The role of the advisor is advocate and cheerleader.  Your role is to support and help students create and follow through on goals they set for themselves that will further their academic achievement.  

• Professional Development
• Model Classrooms
• As the most experienced LC teachers in the High School, Emily will be working directly with Darby and Noam to develop their classrooms into model LC classes where teachers can visit to see the formats in action.
• Monthly Workshops
• As we started in June, you guys will have an array of workshops from which to choose to structure your own PD.
• Monthly Conferences with Kiri
• At minimum, you'll meet with me and review your strengths, needs, and goals with respect to the objectives I've laid out for the year.
• Intervisitation
• With greater flexibility in your professional periods, you'll have the opportunity to visit each other.  Also, there is release time if you'd like to also visit teachers at other schools.
• Instructional Coaching
• This year Tara Silva as a Learning Cultures Instructional coach.  Her office is located with Emily next to the teacher's lounge.

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This is going to be an amazing year!!  We have a complete school, solid structures, talented & committed staff, and over 250 beautiful & amazing young women who are the reason we're all together in the first place! There will most certainly be some bumps along the way, but with the players we have and the structures in place, there won't be anything we can't handle!

Let's rock it out UAI High!  Give it up for 2013!!!!!!!! 

Are you ready for some learning??

First Days ...

This is gonna be a multi-post week... This is the first one

Agenda for PD

Tuesday 04SEPT12     8:30AM-3:20PM

• 8:30-10:00 - Welcome & Orientation Breakfast in Library (yummy hot breakfast provided!)
• Welcome and Introduction
• School Goals and Expectations
• Getting Ready for 2012-2013

• 10:00-1:30PM - Independent Work Time
• At the bottom of this blog, you can sign up for whatever workshops you wish to attend over these two PD days.  You can go to all of them, some of them, or none, depending on what you feel you need to learn in order to achieve our school goals and expectations.

• 1:30-2:00PM - DRP Orientation
• On the first two days of school, we will have special schedules.  We will be giving the Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) as our schoolwide baseline reading assessment to the entire school.  
• FYI  #1- Each grade will also give a math diagnostic (see Noam, Tom, or Mike for details).
• FYI #2 - The 10th and 11th grade will give science diagnostics.  Jess & Hassan will give details for their respective teams.
• FYI #3 - Your grade teams can opt to meet during the independent work time to plan a common activity for the times you have short classes (in between assessment periods), or you can do independent activities.  It is your team's choice, depending on specific grade need.
• FYI #4 - Each grade will have an assembly with me (9th grade - you'll be on Monday during Advisory since you're going to Wagon Road).  11h Grade 8:30AM in Library on Thurs, 10th Grade 8:30AM on Friday in LIbrary, 12th grade at scheduled times on Thursday.

•  2:00-3:20PM - Full School Subject Team Meetings
• Humanities Team - Library 
• Math Team - 403
• Science Team - 309
• Language Team - 409
• ISS Team - 301

Agenda for PD

Wednesday 05SEPT12     8:30AM-3:20PM

8:30 - 8:45:Welcome and Overview (everyone reports to library), w/ Kelly & Kiri

8:45-1:45 - Independent Worktime (workshop opportunities listed below)

• 8:45 - 9:45:     Workshop 1 - JumpRope 101 & 102, Justin and Nicia
• 9:45 - 10:15:   Workshop 2 - Genre Practice, Emily
• 10:15 - 10:45: Workshop 3 - Independent Worktime, Emily
• 10:45 - 11:15:  Workshop 4 - Unison Reading, Kelly D and Meredith
• 11:15 - 11:45:  Workshop 5 - Classroom Environment, Kiri
• 11:45 - 12:45: Workshop 6 - Webpages, Noam and Brodie 
• 1:15 - 1:45:  Workshop 7 - Carrera Best Practices, Jillian and Darby

1:45 - 2:45:  Full Staff Orientation (everyone reports), Kiri, Kelly, Nicia, Jen, Doris, Channay, and Del

2:45-3:20  Closing Remarks with Kiri & Kelly

WORKSHOP SIGN UP

Please sign up by ASAP so that we know who is coming and can better prepare (copies, plans, etc.).

All of the workshops presented are designed to be introductory.  We will cycle back through these topics

Workshop Descriptions 

Understanding Genre Practice - Genre Practice is one of the basic foundations of Learning Cultures in all subjects.  All writing has a purpose and format, but those formats and purposes are broad and varied.  Emily will give a brief intro into what Genre Practice is, how is works, and why it's so important in the development of quality readers and writers at UAI.

Best Practices with Learning Conferences - Everyone's doing Learning Conferences using the same Conference Record and Conference Rubric.  Tara will share best practices in reaching the expectations of the rubric and helping students set and achieve their own goals.

Structuring Independent Work Time - A common concern is how best to organize and communicate work time expectations so that students work productively during lengthy independent work time period.  Emily will help teachers understand the expectations of the Work Time Rubric and help teachers as they plan out their work time expectations for students.

Learning Cultures Organization - Are you new to Learning Cultures and trying to figure out how best to get yourself organized and set up?  Tara will support new Learning Cultures teachers in all the Nuts and Bolts of binder set up, calendar organization, and a checklist of things to make sure are ready for day 1.

Jump Rope Introduction - If you are new to UAI or still don't feel comfortable with JumpRope, you need to attend this workshop.  In this workshop, Nicia, Jen, and Jessica S will go over the basic functions of JumpRope, our main system for tracking attendance, student interactions, and grades.

Classroom Environment - Now that you've been thinking a lot about your independent work, it's time to set up your classroom so that students can access and use your resources with ease and clarity.  Kiri will take participants on a tour of the building to see model rooms, review expectations of the Classroom Environment Rubric, and do a Q&A with some good Feng Shui!

Intermediate and Advanced JumpRope Training- If you feel comfortable with how to enter comments, attendance, and your grades, attend this advanced training workshop.  Justin from JumpRope will cover sharing/cloning of units, reporting and grouping schemes, new features, and your questions and answers.

Setting up Your Class Webpages - All UAI teachers need to have a webpage that provides a basic communication portal between what's happening in class to the students and their families at home.  In addition, many of our technophilic teachers have extended their webpages to do that and so much more.  Join Brodie and Noam in the Computer Lab in the Library to get yourself started.

Unison Reading Training - Reading aloud together and collectively creating an understanding is a challenging skill to master.  Kelly will walk teachers through the steps of

Best Practices of Integrating the Carrerra Academic Team - Are you a grade 6-10 teacher?  Want to know more about the Carrerra Academic Team?  Jillian and Darby are going to share their work from the summer and help teachers build stronger partnerships in the classroom!

New Teacher Orientation - If you are new to UAI, you must go to this workshop to learn about the Nuts and Bolts of joining the UAI staff.  Del, Nicia, and Jen will review policies and procedures for getting on payroll, calling in sick, dealing with disciplinary issues, and all the logistical questions you may have!

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And of course...It wouldn't be a Kiri blog, if I didn't include some self-effacing humor...

In case you missed the reference to the title of this blog, it's in homage to the start of the Football Season (Are You Ready for Some Football is the Hank Williams Monday Night Football Song).  As ome of you know, I hail from Omaha, NE.  Football and corn were my bread and butter.  With no hometown professional teams, I gave my allegiance to the Packers, to whom I connect with via my high school (Ahman Green was a graduate of my high school) and College (Aaron Rodgers graduated from Cal), and my friend Kay (who is the best cheesehead of them all).  Whenever I get a little stressed , I give myself a cheerful break with videos like this one:

Fly like a cheesehead...and proud.

High School News and Do's

High School News -

9th Grade Home Visits 

High School Staff Visits Incoming 9th Grade Homes

Today, we finished our summer home visits to the incoming 9th graders.  For our first attempt, we were happy to have about 25 visits scheduled with new and returning students.  Ideally, we would have wanted more, but families were away, not available, and/or wary of us coming to the homes.  We've learned a lot  - both for future visits and of the girls & their families themselves.  The teams will meet to share details, but in general the experience has been a valuable look into the lives of our students,  developing a stronger bond between school and home.    Thanks so much for  your work - John, Darby, Doris, Noam, Martine, Jen, Elena, Carol, & Nicia!!  Wazina & Adaora - we'll be sure to add you guys in next time!!

Who's Who in the High School

Tuesday, September 04th will be here faster than you can imagine!  We will certainly have time to match names to faces, but for now, take this list as your first intro of names and titles!  If I were fancier and more prepared, I'd have included pictures - but I'll shoot for that next year!!

• Administration & Support
• Kiri Soares, High School Principal
• Kelly DeMonaco, Middle School Principal
• Nicia Fullwood, Assistant Principal
• Jen Cusa, Supervising Social Worker
  
• Emily Jarrell, Urban Assembly Achievement Coach, Learning Cultures
• Tara Silva, Instructional Support Coach UAI, Learning Cultures [WELCOME TO UAI!]

• Doris Twine, High School Dean
• Channay Cross, Middle School Dean
   
• Mara Tucker, Director of Development, Partnerships & College Readiness
• Carol Keenan, Parent Coordinator
  
• Del Carey, Payroll Secretary
• Nancy Johanssen, Pupil Accounting Secretary
  
• Chris Maestro, Director Carrerra Treasure Academy Programs
• Odette Nemes, Director Girls Inc Programs
  
• 9th Grade Team
• Colleen DiGuiseppe, Global Humanities I, Grade Team Leader
• Darby Masland, Global Humanities, Learning Cultures Leader
• Noam Pillischer, 9th Grade Math, Learning Cultures Leader
• Elena Brollo, Spanish, Language Team Leader, Learning Cultures Teacher
• Damon Noland, Living Environment, Learning Cultures Teacher
• Martine Mercier, Instructional Support Specialist, LC Teacher [WELCOME TO UAI!]
• Wazina Zondon, Carrerra Family Life and Sex Educator
• TBD, Carrerra Social Worker
• Ruben Rivera, Carrerra Job Club and College Readiness Teacher
• Jillian Crowther, Carrerra High School Academic Coordinator

• 10th Grade Team
• Jessica Chen, Chemistry, Grade Team Leader
• Natasha Mehta, Global Humanities II, Learning Cultures Teacher
• Marianna Wiles, Global HumanitiesII, Learning Cultures Teacher [WELCOME TO UAI!]
• Tom Leibering, 10th Grade Math, Learning Cultures Teacher
• Raquel Mazo-Infante, Spanish 
• Ian Palmer, Instructional Support Specialist, Learning Cultures Teacher
• Shannon Riley & Marni Brand, Carrerra Social Workers
• Alex Stevens, Carrerra Family Life and Sex Educator
• Ruben Rivera, Job Club & College Readiness Teacher
• Jillian Crowther, Carrerra High School Academic Coordinator

• 11th &12th Grade Team
• Brodie Crawford, US History & Economics, Grade Team Leader
• Heather Nordstrom, American & 12th Grade Literature, Humanities Team Leader
• Kelly Smith, 12th Grade Humanities Teachers, Tech Coordinator
• Mike Somersel, 11th & 12th Grade Math, Dance Company Teacher
• Hassan Mojtabaeezamani, 11th & 12th grade Science
• Denise Lee, 11th Grade French and ESL teacher
• Jen Swartzel, Instructional Support Specialist
• Jen Cusa, 11th & 12th Grade Social Worker
• Adaora Ezika, Girls Inc. Instructor
• Tiffani Credle, Girls Inc. Instructor
• Krystal Cason, Girls Inc. High School Coordinator

Dos

Many of you are gearing up to get back into the swing of school.  Here are some things you should definitely put on your to do list!

• Resource Research & Gathering - Take some time this week to start gathering manipulatives, digital and print resources for students to use in your classrooms! Your classes will need to be structure to have a significant amount of independent work time so that you can conduct learning conferences with individual students (add to that Unison Reading and other formats for LC classrooms). In order to have productive independent work time, you need to amass a number of resources that students can independently access as needed.  Many of our teachers are adopting flipped classroom methods to execute on this expectation.  We do have some funds (limited) for resources.  Please put together and submit your wish lists as soon as possible!
  

• Get to Know the following Rubrics Very Well

• Classroom Environment
• Independent Work Time
• Conferences
• and for LC teachers, Unison Reading

Welcome to the 2012-2013 School Year

Welcome to the 2012-2013 School Year

It's been great to see you some of you guys drop in over the last week.  I'm getting super excited for this upcoming year, and look forward to launching it with all of you.  This post is late, so, I'm gonna make it brief...

Upcoming Events

• Classroom Set Up
• On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of next week, you guys are welcome to come in at any time to pick up your schedules, class lists, and set up your classrooms.  Keys & technology won't be officially distributed until September 4th, but you will have free access to your rooms for set up.  I strongly encourage taking the time to come in at some point over these three days to get a jump start on the year.  The rooms will be open from 8:30AM-4PM on those three days.  You're welcome to come in anytime that works for you.
  
  For Learning Cultures Teachers, Emily will be in the building on Tuesday, and I'll be available those days to help with Classroom Setup.  (If you can't find me, I'm probably wondering around or in someone's room.  Just text my phone 917-776-0460, and I'll come find you!)
  
  
• First Days of Professional Development
• The First Day back for Teachers is Tuesday 04SEP12.  Please report to the library for breakfast at 8:30AM.  We'll start promptly at 9AM with PD.
• I've been emailing about other opportunities (Ramapo training, Wilson training, Noam's Flipped classroom, Math Team work, etc.).  Let me know if you wanted to know more about something.
• First Days of School
• The First two days of school will be a combination of Diagnostic Testing and Orientation Activities.  Different Grades will have different Foci and structures.  You'll have time on Tuesday and/or Wednesday when you get back to school with your grade teams to plan those two days.  Monday 10SEP is the first day of regularly programmed classes

There's so much more that I have for you guys, but I'll have it for you if you come in next week and certainly I'll have it for you on the first official day back (04SEP12).

YAY!!  Welcome to our very first year as a fully formed school!!!! Can I get a "woot! woot!"?

Learning Cultures and Independent Work Time

Blog Parts...

(I'm still figuring out how to make it so you can click and go to specific parts of the blog, but until I do here's a table of contents for you and you can scroll around)

• Reflection on Mission and Independent Work
• Learning Cultures and how it brings order to some of our chaos
• Theory Connecting UAI and LC - why does LC work at UAI?
• Teacher Feedback and Evaluation - what am I going to be looking at providing feedback on next year?

Reflection on our Mission

The mission of UAI is and has always been to develop strong young women who are capable and willing to do anything they so choose.  To realize this, a major emphasis of our school has been to focus reflection on choices, actions, and outcomes.

Looking back over the last 6 years, everyone at out school has worked hard to execute on this ideal, but that's just the problem.  Too much effort has been that of the adults and not enough from our students.

As it is now, all UAI teachers incorporate independent work time and collaborative group work into lessons.  During these periods, teachers frequently speak with students, helping them with their questions, redirecting their off-task behavior, and conferring with students.  However, we have yet to be able to consistently (across all classes, grades, and subjects) see this level of independent work in regularly executed in classes.  Without a consistent set of independent work expectations, our students continue to fall back on dependent coping mechanisms (e.g. hands waiving in the air for teacher attention) or devolution into off-task behavior.

Learning Cultures

Cynthia McCallister's Learning Cultures brings this needed structure and cohesion to our efforts and moves.  One of the biggest criticisms on our Quality Reviews, from our own staff, and from visitors to our school is that we lacked a unifying vision of instruction.  In the past, Kelly & I resisted these criticisms because we could not find a system that wouldn't subjugate student autonomy, something that we needed to preserve.  With Learning Cultures, students work within structured formats to develop and execute their individually developed plans for meeting course learning targets.  Here are two of our own talking more about their own experiences with learning cultures.  Noam, who joined us as a math teacher in 2007, reflects about the changes he sees in his classroom practice.  Wendy who joins our staff this year as a new 6th grade Humanities teacher talks about her own experiences transitioning to Learning Cultures.

The Theory Connecting UAI and Learning Cultures

Cynthia's thinking in the development of Learning Cultures draws from John Searle and his work around Speech Acts and Intentionality.  As a former studentof Professor Searle, a lot of my own thinking around the development of the mission of the school and developing young women who could reflect on and learn from their actions and choices shared the same influences.  So, it's not surprising to find a natural affinity for Learning Cultures and UAI.

Click Here to Watch the Video

I've been rereading a lot of my old Searle books lately.  If you're interested and would like to know which books I'm talking about they are Speech Acts, Intentionality, and Minds, Brains, and Science.  However, while there are pretty accessible in the spectrum of philosophy texts, the reading is still pretty dense and dry.

Alternately, you can also check out the video here (I'm still figuring out how to embed things, so for now - it's just a link).  This is Part 3 of a three part interview of Searle on Language, Literacy and the Modern Mind.  For a real piece of irony of this suggestion, watch the other parts where he talks about how his students are children of the media generation and the differences between that and the printed word...

Teacher Evaluation

Even though not everyone is doing Learning Cultures, the rubrics will still apply, given the schoolwide focus of independent work and conferencing.  Additionally, the lesson and environment rubrics from Learning Cultures are also germaine to teaching in general.  Here are the relevant rubrics.

• Independent Work Time
• Learning Conferences
• The Classroom Environment
• The Mini-Lesson
• Learning Cultures teachers will receive additional feedback on all the formats (Shares, Unison Reading, Learning Groups)

These rubrics are the result of Cynthia's work and research and are aligned to the Danielson Framework for Teaching. I will be following up my visits with conferences, using the same conference form and format that you guys use in your classes (e.g. the conference will be a strengths/needs/goals chat in reference to the school wide goals and student achievement).  

Together in these conferences we will discuss progress, define professional development needs, and plan goals.  I will be using EduCreations (a great app) to record our conferences, and will share them with you for your own records. Check out Educreations for your flipped learning classroom!


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I feel like this blog was a little choppity chop and super long.  My writing was interrupted by a day of camping at Floyd Bennet Field in Brooklyn, where I slept under the stars and was lulled to sleep by the sweet sounds of aircraft and helicopters.  Actually, it was really quite cool.  It was Kelly's idea to drag us all out there, but I highly recommend it for anyone interested in experiencing urban camping at it's best!

However, it does make for a too-long disjointed blog post.  Sorry - will do better next time!!

Speaking of next time - it won't be for a couple of weeks as I am finally off on vacation on Tuesday!  Look for my next post on 20AUG12!

-k