Week of June 1st

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II

Issue 39

Week of June 1st, 2015

Announcements

 

Prom Surprise, Springfest and Last Assembly.  Many thanks and congratulations to Fatima, Nicole, Remy and all of our Girls Inc. partners for a wonderful series of events for our young women.  Thursday's Springfest was a fun celebration of our after school programs and truly brought our community together to honor the talents of  our young women! It as definitely one of our best Springfest events to date.  Additionally, our seniors were surprised for the second year in a row to receive make-overs, prom dresses, shoes and accessories!  All of this coordinated by Remy and her team to make this special day a memorable one for the young ladies.  Finally, many thanks and shout outs to Jen for her work in launching our final assembly of the year. Honoring our graduates and four impressive staff who have indelibly left their mark upon our community was the best way to wrap up the year!

Monday PD.  After school on Monday will be our last full staff meeting of the year.  Colleen will be using some time to review Regents procedures and schedules, and I will be charging grade teams to finalize and review the PID for their grades.  By now, you should have already called home and logged these calls into Skedula for  any student is failing or in danger of failing your class.  Please bring these names to the table for Monday's grade team meeting.  I will need a finalized list from teams to register for summer school.

End of Year Conferences.  I will be scheduling these end-of-term meetings during Regents week.  Now that the Regents schedule is finalized, I will send out calendar invites.  At these meetings, please come prepared to discuss and use student work to illustrate the following

• Reflect on your goals.  Which were successfully achieved? Which were put aside (and why)? Which ones are you still ongoing and what are you planning to do for next year?  It's expected that your goals may have shifted from the last time we spoke.  With the amount of peer feedback through coaches and PODs, that's inevitable.  So, please bring your current goals to the table.

• Reflect on your Data.  Analyze your course passing rates (what percentage passed and what was the grade distribution), your benchmark data, and any other data point(s) of your choosing to discuss  why you think it fell out that way.  Are you satisfied? If so, why? If not, why not?  In either case, what are you planning for next year to keep or change student performance?

Important Dates

• Thursday, 28MAY15 - Springfest, our 2nd Parent Outreach night (the 2nd of 2 that were added with the new UFT contract) - All Teachers report at 6PM (Springfest is 6-7PMish)
• Friday, 29MAY15 - Last Period Celebration of College Assembly

• Monday, 01JUN15- Full Staff PD
• Tuesday, 02JUN15 - Common Core Regents - NO CLASSES
• Thursday, 04JUN15 - Brooklyn Queens Day at UAI - Just UAI HS at UAI HS
• Wednesday, 10JUN15 - Tech Carts are due to Allan by the end of the day
• Thursday 11JUN15 and Friday 12JUN15 - Final Benchmark Exams
• Friday, 12JUN15 - End of the 6th Marking Period
• Friday, 12JUN15 - End of the year Staff Party at Commonwealth Bar
• Monday, 15JUN15 - High School Field Day (Details TBD)
• Tuesday, 16JUN15 - Regents Week Begins
• Wednesday, 17JUN15 - Final Grades are Due
• Monday, 22JUN15 - Pamela's Retirement Party
• Wednesday, 24JUN15 - Plato Training
• Thursday, 25JUN15 - High School Graduation at Kumbel Theater
• Friday, 26JUN15 - Last Day of School

Per Session

No updates

Week of May 26

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II

Issue 38

Week of May 18th, 2015

Announcements

Only 10 Class Days Remain!  It's official.  We have no more full weeks of classes and only 10 class days remain.  For those students who are failing or in danger of failing your classes, please make sure to check in with them on a daily basis via an emergency conference to maximize opportunities for intervention and monitor student progress.  As a reminder, please make sure that you are calling home to keep families aware of the student's status in your class, and be sure to log your call in Skedula.  

End of Year Conferences and Paperwork Wrap Up!  I will be scheduling end of the year teacher conferences starting next week.  I have finished with all the observations and am writing up the last few this week.  This year, you should have received both the Advance rating form and Learning Cultures rubric with my comments and next steps for your observations via email.  If you are missing anything, please let me know.  It's possible that I created the email, got interrupted, and never hit send!  For the final paperwork step, I need to place signed copies of your official advance ratings in your files.  When your paperwork is ready, I will send you an calendar invite for your end-of-year conference and a reminder to stop by Del's desk to sign off on the observation paperwork.  

Prepare to Turn in your Tech!  All of your tech carts, document cameras and projectors are due back to Allan by 3PM on Wednesday, 10JUN15.  Please plan accordingly.  The only exceptions are the summer school teachers.  You guys will hold onto your tech throughout the summer and I will collect them from you in August.  Once Allan has given me his seal of approval on the status of your tech, you will receive your deposits back.

School Spirit Friday.  In celebration of College Awareness month, please wear either your UAI gear or gear from your college alma maters.

Important Dates

• Thursday, 28MAY15 - Springfest, our 2nd Parent Outreach night (the 2nd of 2 that were added with the new UFT contract) - All Teachers report at 6PM (Springfest is 6-7PMish)
• Friday, 29MAY15 - Last Period Celebration of College Assembly

• Tuesday, 02JUN15 - Common Core Regents - NO CLASSES
• Thursday, 04JUN15 - Brooklyn Queens Day at UAI - Just UAI HS at UAI HS
• Wednesday, 10JUN15 - Tech Carts are due to Allan by the end of the day
• Thursday 11JUN15 and Friday 12JUN15 - Final Benchmark Exams
• Friday, 12JUN15 - End of the 6th Marking Period
• Friday, 12JUN15 - End of the year Staff Party at Commonwealth Bar
• Monday, 15JUN15 - High School Field Day (Details TBD)
• Tuesday, 16JUN15 - Regents Week Begins
• Wednesday, 17JUN15 - Final Grades are Due
• Monday, 22JUN15 - Pamela's Retirement Party
• Wednesday, 24JUN15 - Plato Training
• Thursday, 25JUN15 - High School Graduation at Kumbel Theater
• Friday, 26JUN15 - Last Day of School

Per Session

No updates

Week of May 18th

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II

Issue 38

Week of May 18th, 2015

Announcements

Crunch Time is Here.  This is the last full, five-day week of classes this year.  Next Monday is Memorial Day (happy upcoming 3-day weekend), and the following week is June!  With only 15 classes remaining, it's critical for you to make time to have emergency conferences with students who are currently not passing your class.  Please make sure that you call the homes of all students who are failing your class to let their families know.  Please make sure that you also log this call into Skedula, indicating the specific steps students should take to prevent course failure.  During grade teams this week, please review the PID list I sent out earlier.  Students who fail three or more classes are potentially PID.  As a reminder, here are some highlights from the UAI grading policy.

• The UAI grading scale is 50-100.  There are NO grades lower than 50.  Zeros are not to be entered for missing assignments.  Only a grade of 50.
• UAI courses are annualized (except for Poly courses).   Final credits are awarded in June.  The June grade is the grade for the year*.  However, students cannot lose credits.  If students were passing in January (end of the fall term), they are guaranteed at least one credit. *Junior and senior course codes are a little bit different this year.

Grade Analysis.  Like language, math is another tool humans use to communicate and describe the world.  As such, concepts like a Normal Curve (or normal distribution) arose out of observations of natural phenomena and the math used to define the curve is the numeric language of describing this phenomena.  In short, when looking at the characteristics of a large set of data (e.g. DRP levels of the nation), it all tends to be similar - e.g. the Normal Curve.  Another large set of data are your grades. Looking at the PID list, I know that our failing grades are falling outside predicted norms.

• 14% (12/87) of 9th graders are failing more than three classes and will likely repeat
• 28% (29/87) of 9th graders are failing at least one class and will have summer school

• 9% (6/68) of 10th graders are failing more than three classes and will likely repeat
• 29% (20/68) of 10th graders are failing at least one class and will have summer school

• 0% (0/56) of 11th graders are failing more than three classes
• 23% (13/56) of 11th graders are failing at least one class and will have summer school

• 0% (0/65) of 12th graders are failing more than three classes
• 11% (12/65) of 12th graders need additional credits and/or regents exams to graduate and may end up in summer school

If your team has a red percentage, that indicates that at least twice the number of students are failing than is to be expected in a normal situation.  Bottom line, it is indicative of the teams' need to troubleshoot to identify and address causes of student failure.  Please make this analysis a priority in this week's meetings.  As always, please reach out to Jen, Colleen, or myself for any assistance.

Honor Roll & Perfect Attendance Breakfast.  Our 9th annual Honor Roll and Perfect Attendance Breakfast was another wonderful and special event!  Thanks to all the teachers who were able to make it up on their preps to join in with the girls. Many thanks to Carol for her organizational skills and support!  Congrats to all of our honorees!!

Changes with Carrera.  The Children's Aid Society has chosen to no longer support our Carrera Treasure Academy because we fall outside of the geographic priorities of the organization's mission.  As such, we are currently in the midst of a multi-year phase out with our partnership with Carrera.  As we all know, the Carrera partnership has been a integral component to our school and a vital support for our girls and their families.  I am currently in the midst of planning with a variety of other partners and resources to hold onto as many Carrera components as I can as we transition through the next few years.  One of these moves is to begin working to develop our own external support organization that could fund positions and partnerships like Carrera in the future.  One of the main things I am looking for now is people who may be interested in supporting and or becoming a founding member of this organization.  We are working with another UA schools' foundation to help build this out.  So if you know of anyone in your lives who either is very interested in our school's mission and can support (fiscally or otherwise), please send me their contact information so that I can connect them to the people who are helping us build this.

Important Dates

• Wednesday 20MAY15 - Senior Awards Night
• Monday, 25MAY15 - Memorial Day, NO SCHOOL
• Thursday, 28MAY15 - Springfest, our 2nd Parent Outreach night (the 2nd of 2 that were added with the new UFT contract) - Teachers report at 6PM (Springfest is 6-7PMish)
• Friday, 29MAY15 - Last Period Celebration of College Assembly

• Tuesday, 02JUN15 - Common Core Regents - NO CLASSES
• Thursday, 04JUN15 - Brooklyn Queens Day at UAI - Just UAI HS at UAI HS
• Wednesday, 10JUN15 - Tech Carts are due to Allan by the end of the day
• Thursday 11JUN15 and Friday 12JUN15 - Final Benchmark Exams
• Friday, 12JUN15 - End of the 6th Marking Period
• Friday, 12JUN15 - Tentative Date for end of the year Staff Party at Commonwealth Bar
• Monday, 15JUN15 - High School Field Day (Details TBD)
• Tuesday, 16JUN15 - Regents Week Begins
• Wednesday, 17JUN15 - Final Grades are Due
• Wednesday, 24JUN15 - Plato Training
• Thursday, 25JUN15 - High School Graduation at Kumbel Theater
• Friday, 26JUN15 - Last Day of School

Per Session

No updates

Week of May 11th

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II

Issue 36

Week of May 11th, 2015

Announcements

Appreciating Everyone.  Happy Mother's Day to all the UAI Mothers!  It will be a beautiful spring day, today. So, Enjoy.  Also, many thanks to the students, staff, and parents who coordinated a series of small actions that summed up an excellent week of appreciation.  We have had a wonderful year, and it is because of all the work we do together, as a UAIHS family.  Enjoy today, and I look forward to finishing these last 20 instructional days strong!

Full Team Efforts Make All the Difference.  On Friday, we had 4 teachers and 2 admin out for the UAI High School PD retreat.  We also had 2 more teachers out of the building.  To give you some perspective, that was nearly 1/3 of our teaching staff out and 2/3 of the administration out of the building.  On top of that, there was a fire drill.  Guess what happened? A really great day!  The PD Team had a completely productive day that is taking staff feedback to improve practices and strengthen the foundation for next yea.  The rest of the UAI HS team pulled together to actively manage coverages, kids struggling through spring fever, and a fire alarm to have a solid, orderly, successful day.  I am proud to be part of a team that pulls together like this each and every day!

Honor Roll Breakfast.  Students will be receiving their invitations to our annual honor roll breakfast.  This year, we will also be celebrating those students who have made dramatic attendance improvements and/or have been in school everyday this year.  Please make it a point to celebrate both academic and attendance achievements for the girls!

Important Dates

• Friday 15MAY15 - Annual High School Honor Roll Breakfast at 9AM
• Wednesday 20MAY15 - Senior Awards Night
• Monday, 25MAY15 - Memorial Day, NO SCHOOL
• Thursday, 28MAY15 - Springfest, our 2nd Parent Outreach night (the 2nd of 2 that were added with the new UFT contract) - Teachers report at 6PM (Springfest is 6-7PMish)
• Friday, 29MAY15 - Last Period Celebration of College Assembly

• Tuesday, 02JUN15 - Common Core Regents - NO CLASSES
• Thursday, 04JUN15 - Brooklyn Queens Day at UAI - Just UAI HS at UAI HS
• Wednesday, 10JUN15 - Tech Carts are due to Allan by the end of the day
• Thursday 11JUN15 and Friday 12JUN15 - Final Benchmark Exams
• Friday, 12JUN15 - End of the 6th Marking Period
• Friday, 12JUN15 - Tentative Date for end of the year Staff Party Place TBD
• Monday, 15JUN15 - High School Field Day (Details TBD)
• Tuesday, 16JUN15 - Regents Week Begins
• Wednesday, 17JUN15 - Final Grades are Due
• Wednesday, 24JUN15 - Plato Training
• Thursday, 25JUN15 - High School Graduation at Kumbel Theater
• Friday, 26JUN15 - Last Day of School

Per Session

No updates

Week of May 4th

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II

Issue 35

Week of May 4th, 2015

Announcements

May is College Awareness Month at UAI!  This past Friday, our seniors committed to their colleges.   This month's assembly will celebrate the girls, their achievements and their future!  Throughout the course of this month, Jen will be coordinating the efforts of our partners and our college office to find creative ways of celebrating college!  Look for quality connections to college that students encounter in the daily classroom activities (e.g. Responsibility Teams are the blueprints for making their own study groups in college!).  Also look for update emails from Jen to look for the next steps in raising college awareness for our young ladies this month!

Roster Verification is Due on Friday, May 8th.  Colleen sent out directions and we reviewed the necessity of checking your rosters via Stars Classroom at the March full staff meeting.  This is your chance to review your data prior to the final MOSLs in June.

Teacher Appreciation.  This week is Teacher Appreciation week. Our annual staff appreciation party will be in June, but I wanted to take a moment in this week's blog to say thank you!  This has been the best year that we've ever had at UAI.  Through your teamwork, investment, and unending commitment to our girls and our school, you have made this year amazing!  You have 25 more classes with our girls this year. Let's make them the best ones yet!

Regents Review with Advisees.   Please make sure that you have reviewed your advisees Regent Exam Schedule and that you have noted that conversation in Skedula.  Here are some FAQs that may make your conversations easier.


Regents FAQs and Answers:

• Should I retake an exam to get a higher grade?  To be considered "College Ready" students need to have at least a 75 on the English and an 80 on any of the 3 math exams.  We automatically sign up students to retake these two exams.  For the other regents exams, the only real reason to retake is if they are pursuing and are in reach of an Honors or Mastery Regents Diploma.

• What Regents do I need to graduate?
• Regents Diploma (there are more pathways than these, but these are our 2 primaries)
• Standard 
• (1) Any 1 Science, (2) Any 1 Math, (3) US History, (4) English, and  (5) Global
• 4+ One - 
• (1) English, (2) Any 1 History, (3) Any 1 Math, (4) Any 1 Science, and the Plus One can be any of the following - an additional history, math, or science
• Advanced Regents Diploma
• Adv. Regents
• (1) English, (2) US History, (3) Global, (4) Algebra, (5) Geometry, (6) Algebra2/Trigonometry, (7) LOTE, (8) Living Environment, (9) Earth Science or Chemistry or Physics

• How do I get signed up for a Regent?  
• All students who achieved a predicted regent score of 45 or better were automatically signed up for the regent exam.  Look at the benchmark data here.
• If students did not achieve a 45 or were not signed up for a Regent, then they must meet with their classroom teacher.

Important Dates

• Monday, 04MAY15 - MP6, the last marking period of the year, begins.
• Tuesday, 05MAY15 - Kiri out of the building at meeting with Chancellor at the Bronx School for Law, Government, and Justice. 
• Wednesday, 06MAY15 - MP5 Grades are Due by 3PM
• Friday, 08MAY15 - UAI HS Retreat with Lead Coaches (Darby, Marianna, Rebecca, & Ilyana,  and Colleeen/Kiri)
• Friday 15MAY15 - Annual High School Honor Roll Breakfast at 9AM
• Wednesday 20MAY15 - Senior Awards Night
• Monday, 25MAY15 - Memorial Day, NO SCHOOL
• Thursday, 28MAY15 - Springfest, our 2nd Parent Outreach night (the 2nd of 2 that were added with the new UFT contract) - Teachers report at 6PM (Springfest is 6-7PMish)
• Friday, 29MAY15 - Last Period Celebration of College Assembly

• Tuesday, 02JUN15 - Common Core Regents - NO CLASSES
• Thursday, 04JUN15 - Brooklyn Queens Day at UAI - Just UAI HS at UAI HS
• Wednesday, 10JUN15 - Tech Carts are due to Allan by the end of the day
• Thursday 11JUN15 and Friday 12JUN15 - Final Benchmark Exams
• Friday, 12JUN15 - End of the 6th Marking Period
• Friday, 12JUN15 - Tentative Date for end of the year Staff Party Place TBD
• Monday, 15JUN15 - High School Field Day (Details TBD)
• Tuesday, 16JUN15 - Regents Week Begins
• Wednesday, 17JUN15 - Final Grades are Due
• Wednesday, 24JUN15 - Plato Training
• Thursday, 25JUN15 - High School Graduation at Kumbel Theater
• Friday, 26JUN15 - Last Day of School

Per Session

No updates

Instructional Rounds Visit 27APR15

UAI HS Instructional Rounds Visit

27APR15

Meet in the Conference Room, room 145

This is post here is going to basically be my talking points for tomorrow.  I've put together a brief sketch of what I want focus on tomorrow.  In the AM, I will give you guys a more in-depth overview of what we've been up to this year.  I'll also be bringing bagels for you, but coffee is on your own!

Please email me your lunch order from here, CAFE METRO.  I'm treating to lunch, too!

Instructional Rounds Visit

8:30-9:00 - Welcome and Overview of Kiri's Questions

9:00-9:20 - Classroom Visits to Darby and Brodie

9:20-9:40 - Debrief Visits

9:40-10:10 - Classroom Visits to Danielle and Michael

10:10-10:20- Debrief Visits

10:20-10:30 - Break

10:30-11:30 - IR Visit Debrief

----

Learning Cultures Work Time (11:30-3:30PM)

The PM is targeted for collaborative work time with the Principals and Cynthia.  I put two topics on the docket.  People should definitely feel free to add on!

 

Work Time Topic I - Analyzing and Addressing Student Failure (and in particular - Kids who are non-responsive or not responsive enough to multiple interventions/levels of intervention)

Work Time Topic II - Scheduling Discussion/Brainstorm/Problem Solving

Problem of Practice
How can we better develop the cycle of inquiry to build learner investment and collaborative problem solving skills?  This is my question for both kids and teachers!

Theory of Action
If we engage learners in collaborative problem solving around their own questions (vs. questions posed to or for them), then they will become more actively engaged in finding their own solutions together and have a greater investment in seeing those solutions through.

• Pods
• Role of the Peer Coach
• Collaborative Problem Solving
• Theory Introduction
• Ownership and Engagement

• Responsibility Teams as Study Groups
• Basically these are classroom Pods

• Briefs
• Emphasis on Genre selection
• Integrating an Assessment component

Relevant Data

• Sep-Dec DRP Analysis
• PID List
• March 2015 Benchmarks
• UA HS Data Dashboard

Week of April 27th

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II

Issue 34

Week of April 27th, 2015

Announcements

Another Wonderful Assembly.  Please take the time to congratulate all the girls who participated in Friday's assembly! When you stop to think about what it takes to speak publicly in front of nearly 300 peers and teachers, it gives you pause to consider their bravery, confidence and talent!  So, take the time this week to give a quick high five to our creatively brilliant young performers!  Also, many shouts outs and thank-yous to Ms. Abby and Carrera for supporting the girls and coordinating this poetic event!  The last Friday in May will be our final assembly for the year.

Regents Conferences and Lists.  Last week Colleen emailed out the latest Regents lists.  Please take time this week in Advisory to make sure that your students know which exams they are taking in June.  Many of you may have used the extended advisory last Friday to complete this.  If you still have some more students to talk to, review Colleen's List and the June Exam Schedule with your advisees.  Please note in Skedula what their schedules are are make sure to check the boxes that send a copy of the anecdotal to both parent and student (see picture at right for an example).  Please complete the Regents Exam check in with all of your advisees by Friday, May 1st.  Please also

Phone Calls Home.  We are starting to slack off again on attendance calls home.  Please don't forget.  As a reminder, the end of the month is coming and I will need to write some letters to folks who missed 2 or more calls this month.  Make sure that you're making your calls!

In addition, please prepare time to call home for any and all students who are fail your class for the 4th marking period.  Please make sure that parents/families clearly understand why students are failing and for your class, please provide some guidance on how to best support their child's learning at home. MP5 ends on Friday.

Instructional Rounds Visit.  The LC principals will be in the UAI HS house on Monday!  In particular, I am focusing the visit around student inquiry during work time and at looking at the efficacy of briefs and responsibility teams in supporting that inquiry and developing student learning. We'll have time to see about 4 classes.  We'll be visiting Darby, Paula, and Brodie's classes for sure because their POD has been focusing on this question in particular.  You all will get to hear from them during PD on Monday.  I'll also probably try to squeeze in a math or science class, too!

Learning Cultures Open House.  Our amazing English team will be hosting an open house for principals and teachers across Brooklyn on Tuesday.  With the support and expert coordination from Sarah D, we're opening our doors to share Learning Cultures in writing!  Marianna and Ilyana wowed the superintendent and chancellor with their presentation at the district meeting. Now, we're opening our school to follow up and share our best practices more in-depth with our colleagues from other Brooklyn High Schools.

Important Dates

• Monday, 27APR15 through Friday 01MAY15 - Last week of 5th Marking Period - Please DO NOT SCHEDULE any field trips this week.

• Monday, 04MAY15 - MP6, the last marking period of the year, begins.
• Wednesday, 06MAY15 - MP5 Grades are Due
• Friday 15MAY15 - Annual High School Honor Roll Breakfast at 9AM
• Wednesday 20MAY15 - Senior Awards Night
• Monday, 25MAY15 - Memorial Day, NO SCHOOL
• Thursday, 28MAY15 - Springfest, our 2nd Parent Outreach night (the 2nd of 2 that were added with the new UFT contract) - Teachers report at 6PM (Springfest is 6-7PMish)

• Tuesday, 02JUN15 - Common Core Regents - NO CLASSES
• Thursday, 04JUN15 - Brooklyn Queens Day at UAI - Just UAI HS at UAI HS
• Wednesday, 10JUN15 - Tech Carts are due to Allan by the end of the day
• Thursday 11JUN15 and Friday 12JUN15 - Final Benchmark Exams
• Friday, 12JUN15 - End of the 6th Marking Period
• Monday, 15JUN15 - High School Field Day (Details TBD)
• Tuesday, 16JUN15 - Regents Week Begins
• Wednesday, 17JUN15 - Final Grades are Due
• Wednesday, 24JUN15 - Plato Training
• Thursday, 25JUN15 - High School Graduation at Kumbel Theater
• Friday, 26JUN15 - Last Day of School

Per Session

Learning Cultures Lead Teachers.  The Urban Assembly recently put money into our DOE budgets to pay the Learning Cultures lead teachers for their work earlier in the year.  Originally, I was under the impression that the UA was going to pay them directly (so no need for the per session post). But then, those plans changed a couple of weeks ago when the UA transferred the money in.  So, now I need to post the position in accordance to per session rules and regs.  These are the following lead positions (and teachers):  Code Blue (Martine), Culture (Sarah), Curriculum (Darby), Asssessment (Danielle), PD (Rebecca).  The LC leads participated in several cross-school planning and PD work with Cynthia at the beginning of the year.  In addition, many are part of cabinet which met weekly in the fall and will resume this Spring.