UA Institute

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Week of February 12th

UAI Staff News

Volume V

Issue 23

February 12th, 2018

[School Days 102-105]

Highlights and Spotlights

Suzannah Tartin masterfully integrates SEL instruction in Global History. Annie and I had the pleasure of watching Ms. Suzannah prep students for a class discussion. On each table, students had a laminated resource with sentence starters to help them model positive strategies for Disagreeing without Being Disagreeable and students volunteered connections to Accountable Talk. Students also reviewed active listening prior to beginning their discourse. Suzannah attended to preparing students for discourse. With this kind of preparation, students have a much more clear sense of how to engage classroom tasks and activities (like discussion) and thus do so at a higher level of quality and intellectual rigor. Check in with Suzannah in room 509 to learn more!

Diana Vlavianos creatively elevates learning vocabulary to a new level. Seniors in Diana's 12th grade English class approached vocabulary from a new and deeper persepective. Seniors are reading Elie Wiesel's Night and exploring his use of language. In place of traditional definitions of words, Diana's class took a deep dive into more common words, used in uncommon ways. Students defined words like "Never", "Hearded", and "Fire" with the standard definition. In addition, students created their own connections through their own prior knowledge, and took those connections to analyze Wiesel's use of the same words and how the use impacts various aspects of his writing. Writing down definitions is simply the start. It is the first step and level 1 thinking. Having students apply and interpret those facts in a context (in this case, Wiesel's Night) elevates both rigor and student intellectual engagement.

PPO Feedback. Many thanks to everyone for working hard to prepare for Fred's visit last Thursday. Special shout outs go to Natalie, Cherry, Tom, Rebecca, Jamie, and Kelly for hosting wonderful classroom visits. Many thanks also to Jake, Natalie, and Kelly for modelling our co-planning structures and sharing their thoughts with Fred during their meeting. Six of nine rated indicators were rated Effective or Highly Effective. We are still developing in our instructional core, but Fred noted the tremendous growth we've had over the last three years. He said, "Climate and Culture come from heavy investment in curriculum [and Teacher] development and it is paying off!" He said the improvement in our classrooms is palpable, and that our work and focus in "Spot On!"

Lady Eagles Victory! Many, many thanks to all of you who came out to the game last week for the love Lady Eagles. They really were pumped that we were able to make it and the game was a fabulous one! We are now into the Playoffs! The next home game will be on Tuesday, 13FEB18 at 5PM. Please come out and help cheer our girls on to victory once more and in advancing in the Playoffs!

To Do this Week

Observations and Evaluations. Annie and I are deep into our observations for this last two weeks. Some teachers have mentioned being surprised at seeing us because of who was listed on the calendar. Those notes on my calendar are just that - notes. They are not commitments. Frequently, we will switch up who we are going to see based on a variety of different factors. After the break, we will be combining formal evaluative classroom visits (observations) with informal non-evaluative feedback and coaching visits. These coaching visits will have a very different feel than evaluation. During these visits, Annie or I may pull you aside to give you feedback, and/or model various teacher moves during your class. These actions are aimed at developing more rigorous and disciplined teacher habits during instruction that are aimed at constantly pushing student thinking and engagement. We will not be able to get to everyone at once. However, you are more than welcome to reach out to request a coaching visit from us at any time.

Monday PD. The next window for the DESSA is here. We will be completing the next round of DESSA surveys for our students this week during PD and parent outreach time. This will provide us with crucial information about the success of our SEL classes and pullout groups, as well as which students we need to provide with extra support. You will not need to complete a rating for your advisory in this round; we'll only be rating that same half of one of the groups that you teach.

To complete your ratings:

Log on to the DESSA system here: https://sel.datalinkevo.com/#/login
Upon logging in, you'll see a green bar with your group assignment (e.g., "Group A1- Tracy.") Click the green bar.
"Winter rating period (optional)" will appear below the green bar. Look to the right and select "Start rating."
Complete the ratings for your first student and continue clicking "complete and rate next student" after you have finished rating each of your girls. If you need to stop after one of your ratings, click "complete and return to ratings list."
To see your progress on roster of students you need to rate, click the arrow that appears at the top of the gray column on the left.

On another note, Lauren will be on maternity leave for the remainder of the year after the February break. Please continue to reach out to the counseling team as needed:

Jen- JenC@uainstitute.org; ext. 30111
Jennifer- JenniferJR@uainstitute.org; ext. 30421
Marni- MarniB@uainstitute.org; ext. 30431
Julia, SW intern- JuliaA@uainstitute.org (or reach out to Jen)
Eliana, SW intern- ElianaA@uainstitute.org (or reach out to Marni)

Black History Month Assembly. With the Playoff game scheduled for Tuesday, we need to reschedule our evening Winterfest Black History Month. Jen & Vanessa will give you updates on that soon! However, we will continue to have our Winterfest Black History Month Assembly on Thursday during 8th period. All students should report to 8th period and wait until they are called to the gym. At the close of the assembly, we will do a rapid dismissal, so all students should have all their belongings with them prior to going up to the assembly.

Per Session Postings

After School Teachers. Girls Inc After School will be starting up again soon. This is the call out to teachers to work in our after school program. Teachers should teach a passion project for after school. Priority given to course ideas linked to STEM. Please see Ms. Vanessa if interested in the Girls Inc Offices in Room 205 (offices inside the library). There are limited spots so go quickly.

After School Test Prep. We will be offering after school Test Prep for the MS ELA test beginning the week after the break. Students who scored a level 1 or 2 on last year's exams will be slated for after school. To maximize attendance and retention throughout the exam prep process, priority will go to teachers who already have strong positive relationships with these students.

Middle School Interviews. Middle School interviews are this Saturday. Jen emailed about this event a few weeks ago. If you are still interested, please see Jen.

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Week of February 5th

UAI Staff News

Volume V

Issue 22

February 5th, 2018

[School Days 97-101]

Highlights and Spotlights

Elana Green coaches a room of badminton. Annie and I had the pleasure of observing Ms. Elana with her class of 10th graders this week. The 10th grade presents some of the most challenging behaviors for this week's social norms reset, but in Ms. Elana's class they (~40 of them) worked together productively, respectfully, and actively trying to figure out the best moves to improve their game. Ms. Elana artfully provided clear directions and was very explicit about her expectations for performance and behavior. Elana's direction, clarity of performance expectations, and follow through with feedback created a wonderful learning environment. Visit her in the gym this week to get some ideas for your own classroom!

Judy Cappuccio preps juniors for the SAT. Ms. Judy and the juniors launched their SAT prep unit this week. Ms. Judy took the idea of the Zone of Proximal Development and adapted it in kid-friendly language to help students understand their own capacity and master the source of their anxiety when it comes to testing. Visit Judy in room B45 this week to learn more & grow ideas for your own practice!

Lady Eagles Home Game. The final game of the Lady Eagles regular basketball season in on Wednesday 07FEB18 at 4:30PM. This is a very important game for our Lady Eagles as they face off against the John Jay Campus. John Jay is the only team that our Lady Eagles have lost to this season and this their chance to turn that loss into victory! Adams Campus policy is such that we do not allow external spectators, so often our home games lack strong fan support. This is the game to see and this is the game for which our team needs the most support. Please encourage our students to come by announcing it in your classes this week. Make a point to show your school spirit by coming to the game yourself!

To Do This Week

Superintendent Visit. This Thursday is our next PPO visit. This time around our superintendent, Fred Walsh will be visiting. For the visit, I want to highlight our work in planning, particularly around student discourse. For Thursday, please complete a narrative lesson plan that clearly articulates your "Look Fors" in red. The "Look Fors" should represent your best thinking in response to the questions/tasks you put to the students and represent a clear picture of your assessment criteria. For Thursday, please make sure to plan multiple opportunities for student-student discourse (e.g. Turn and Talk) and use the Rigorometer to review your lesson for rigor. Use planning time this week to rehearse Thursdays' lessons to further improve quality and performance.

PPO Visit Schedule. Below is the proposed schedule I am submitting to Fred. However, depending on what Fred decides, we may end up in other classrooms. So even if your name is not on the list, please be prepared.

8:00-8:50AM: Initial Meeting with Kiri, Annie, and Fred

8:30-9:25AM: 1st Period Classroom Visits

8:50-9:05AM: 8th Grade Math (H), Ms. Cherry
9:05-9:20AM: 7th Grade History (E), Ms. Natalie
9:20-9:30AM: Debrief 1st Period Visits

9:35-10:00AM: 2nd Period Classroom Visits

9:30-9:45AM: 12th Grade AP English Language, Ms. Rebecca
9:45-10:00AM: 11th Grade Environmental Science (U), Mr. Tom

10:00-10:30: Debrief Classroom Visits and Discuss Progress Towards CEP Goals
10:30-11:15AM: 3rd Period Classroom Visits

10:30-10:45AM: 9th Grade CC Algebra I, Ms. Jamie
10:45-11:00AM: 9th Grade US History, Ms. Kelly

11:00-11:30AM: US History Lesson Rehearsal

11:00-11:15AM: Meet with Annie & Kiri
11:15-11:30AM: Observe first part of the meeting

Monday PD - Final PLOP Monday. This Monday's PD we will finish our final PLOPs for the year. Please come to room 409 with your computer to finish these. CLICK HERE and select the tab called "05FEB18 Final PLOPs" to see who is on your docket for Monday.

Parent Outreach Tuesday. By now, you should have called all your advisees who failed two or more classes and/or who have less than 90% attendance for the year. Those calls should be logged into Skedula, and you should have made contact with a family member (in person conversation). We'll be going into Skedula this week to check that you were able to make contact. If you were unable to do so, please see Brodie and he will help you! This Tuesday, please make time to call home to celebrate advisees! Call the ones who passed all their classes or have >90% attendance. OR call the ones who had the biggest improvement - either socially or academically! Whichever it is, it will make them feel great, make their families feel awesome, and it will warm your heart! Don't forget to log these calls in Skedula too! Click Here to read a short article on the power of positive phone calls

Per Session Postings

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Week of January 29th

UAI Staff News

Volume V

Issue 21

January 29th, 2018

[School Days 92-96]

Highlights and Spotlights

Alumni Updates. Aysha Nash (Class of 2016) is currently a sophomore at SUNY Oswego majoring in public relations. This past fall she earned Dean's List recognition and was among students who received grade point averages of 3.3-3.9. Cheyenne Brown Wallace (Class of 2015) a junior majoring in public justice at SUNY Oswego also make the Dean's List. Sydney Johnson (Class of 2013) made the Dean's List at SUNY Buffalo State and is finishing her final year majoring in Early Childhood Development. Many congrats to our alumnae as they make their mark upon the world!

Planning Ahead. Shout outs go to Kelly and Danielle who are already so far ahead in their thinking and planning for February. Advance planning is key to quality instruction. If you are ahead of the game in your planning, you have time to work with colleagues to refine and improve your lessons for rigor and intellectual engagement and increase differentiation opportunities for student learning needs (both strugglers and those who excel). For those looking for help with interventions? Check out intervention central.

Smooth As Silk. Shout outs also go to Brodie and Joanna for a wonderfully successful Regents Week. Things operated like a well-oiled machine. Clarity, communication, and attention to detail led to a wonderful testing environment for our students. Thanks Brodie and Joanna for all your hard work!

To Do This Week

Units, Lesson Plans, and Pacing Calendars By the end of tomorrow's PD, you should have completed your Unit Overview and Unit outline for the unit you will be teaching in February. You should also have the first four lessons of the Spring term completed and linked into your Pacing Calendar. We will be kicking observations into high gear starting on Tuesday. Everyone can expect to be observed at least once (if not more) in these two weeks leading up to the midwinter recess. If you chose a formal observation as an evaluation option, you will be observed this week. During the afternoon lesson refinement and review (see below), we will meet with you as your pre-observation conference. Formal Observation lessons need to be in a narrative format so that we can accurately evaluate your planning for rigor and engagement.

Monday PD. Tomorrow's PD Agenda is as follows

8:00-8:30 - Breakfast (Optional)
8:30-9:00 - Welcome and Overview of the Day (Official Start)

Check in on our Progress towards Goals
Teacher Survey Results
Student Achievement
Setting Goals for the Spring Term

Student Achievement
Parent Engagement
School Performance

9:00-10:00 - SEL at UAI -

What's happened and how are we doing?

10:00-11:00 - Planning and Assessment for Student Intellectual Engagement

Please Bring Two Lesson Plans (One from September and One from January)

11:00-12:00 - Lunch

12:00-1:00

MS Grade team meetings (Room 409)
HS Independent Planning Time

1:00-2:00 Lesson Refinement and Review

2:00-2:50 Independent Planning Time

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Week of January 22nd

UAI Staff News

Volume V

Issue 20

January 22nd, 2018

[School Days 87-91]

Announcements

Regent's Week Starts Monday. January Regents Exams begin on Monday, January 22nd. High School teachers, please make sure that you review your schedule. If you are not explicitly scheduled for bathroom, proctoring, or grading duties, please tell Joanna and Brodie where you'll be working for the day. All teachers will be on-call during unscheduled sessions.

End of the Fall Term (and MP3). The Fall Semester is complete for the high school and will finish for the Middle School on Friday. In order to give Jennifer enough time to get grades run, checked, and ready for distribution on the first day of the Spring term, all teachers must submit their final Fall grades by 3PM on Thursday, 25JAN18. For the high school in particular, this is an important grade. All students who earn >65 earn fall credit. For this marking period, the only failing grade is 55 and all other grades must be 65 or higher (i.e. do not give a grade like "60").

This Week's To Dos

PD Sequence. This week's PDs will be slightly different. All MS teachers should report to room 409 for PD as usual (including LDC teachers). We'll be going over a teacher survey and preparing you for PD on the 29th. On Friday 26JAN, all HS teachers should report to room 409 (so no PD on Monday for HS). You will also have a chance to complete the teacher survey and we will be working all day on developing the following:

Your Next Unit Plan and Unit Overview
All Lesson Objectives and Activities
At Least three Narrative Lesson Plans - all linked into your Pacing Calendars

The goal of all of these PD experiences is to have our strongest preparation for the launch of the Spring Term and for the launch of the next round of observations.

Grade Team Reset. The start of the spring term is the perfect time to do a refresh on school and classroom norms and rules. Some grades need this more than others. If your grade team would like support in running a meeting and developing a plan to relaunch standardize classroom expectations across the grade, please reach out to Jen, Annie, Courtney, or Doris for support. We are already planning meetings with the 10th and 11th grade teams. This opportunity is open to all!

Monday, January 15, 2018

Week of January 16th

UAI Staff News

Volume V

Issue 19

January 16th, 2018

[School Days 83-86]

Announcements

Another Lady Eagles Victory! This past Friday, the Lady Eagles emerged victorious in their win over Uncommon Charter bringing their record to 8-1. Now in 2nd place in the division, the Lady Eagles are having another fantastic season and are looking ahead towards the playoffs. If you missed Friday's game, the Adams Campus Lady Eagles (#2 in the Division) are at home again on Wednesday. There are only two home games left in the regular season: (1) Wednesday 17JAN18 vs. Boerum Hill School 7 Digitial Tech (#8) and (2) Wednesday 07FEB18 vs. John Jay (#1). So, come support our team and show that UAI spirit! Spectators will be allowed at both home games!

This Time of Year. Last week was a challenging week at dismissal for some of our students. This is definitely a symptom of the time of year. The end of a marking period, and in particular the end of a term, often exacerbates the levels of stress our students experience. In particular, for students who are struggling academically, this time of year will spike their anxiety and feelings of inadequacy. For some, turning to violence is a relief to these feelings. For others, they withdraw in class or sometimes even go so far as to stop attending school. These last two weeks before the start of the new semester is the time when relationships matter the most for our students and families. Communication is key and paying attention to signs and signals that indicate need is crucial. This week, check in with advisees to see how they are coping with the end-of-term stress, and check in with your students, particularly the ones who are failing, to see how you can support their re-engagement in your class.

This Week's To Dos

Prepare for Regents Week. Regents Exam week begins next week for the high school students. HS teachers will have full schedules. If you have questions about your schedule, please touch base with Joanna or Brodie. During non-proctor or grading times, please be available in your classroom or tell Joanna or Brodie where you are. There are times when teachers are needed to fill in and must be on call. Please use your time when you're not proctoring or grading to work on your unit and lesson plans for February. These will be a focus of our PD on 29JAN17, and all of the first week of February's lessons will have to be complete and linked to your pacing calendar by the end of that PD day. Use the time you have now to get ahead. Middle School teachers will have Monday PD time to get a jump on their lesson planning.

How do students know which tests they are taking? Ms. Joanna and Mr. Brodie will be posting lists on the student floors by Thursday. However, students have already been registered for exams and can check their program in Skedula. Look for courses that are "unscheduled" aka don't meet. Those will be the exams for which students are registered. If students are registered and do not want to take an exam, send them to Joanna or Brodie. If they are not registered and DO want to take an exam, send them to Joanna or Brodie and they will help them sign up.

Prepare for Full Staff PD on January 29th. Our next full staff PD will be on Monday, January 29th. Middle School students will not be in attendance for that day. All staff will report to room 409 (except for those that have already signed up for external PD opportunities). The main goal for Monday's PD is to prepare and plan for the launch of the spring semester. Specifically, you will need to come to that PD with your unit and lesson plans for first two weeks of February. You should use collaborative planning and prep time this week and next to prepare for the 29th. At the end of the day on the 29th you will be submitting unit and lesson plans for review and comment. Also, any teacher who signed up for a full formal observation can expect that their formal will take place during those first two weeks.

[REMINDER] Prepare for Upcoming Midyear Reviews. Reviews will begin next week! As a reminder, please reflect on the following. Please bring the blue items with you for the review.

Focus School Goal. Our main priority goal this year is to increase instructional rigor and student intellectual engagement [Rigorous Instruction & Collaborative Teachers]. To achieve this, we have focused on through improved planning & assessment. Between now, and your midyear review, reflect on your progress with the following:

Improvement in Planning (e.g. UAI Pacing Calendar, Narrative Lesson Plans, Backwards-Designed Unit Plans)
Impact on Student Learning (e.g. samples of Student Work with your feedback, Student achievement (analysis of student grades in course or performance on tests/benchmarks), Student Academic Growth)
Growth in Co-planning with Peer Teachers/Coaches (e.g. quality of planning, quality of lesson execution (Advance Observations) impact on student learning, outcomes of co-planning survey - please click the link to take it now)

Second School Goal. The second goal that we will discuss during midyears is our school goal around increasing Strong Family Ties. Our goal is to increase strong family community ties by increasing both quantity and quality of in-person and phone interactions between teachers and families. This year, each student in your advisory should have had at least 4 interactions and at least 1 in person, all documented in Skedula: 1 welcome to UAI phone call in September; at least 1 in-person visit during MP1, MP2, or SLCs; and at least 2 10-15 minute phone calls for MP1, MP2, or SLC. Specifically, review and reflect on the following data points:

Number of successful contacts (in person and phone) per advisee (as evidenced by Skedula anecdotals)
Growth Advisee attendance rates from September (you can see this in Skedula)
Academic Performance of Advisees from MP1 to MP2 (again Skedula)

Midyear Reflection and Refocus. The Midyear is your opportunity to stop, review your various data points, and reflect on your growth and development. As teachers, we often get too wrapped up in keeping students doing and busy and we don't make the time to step back and evaluate longer-term progress as shown through student thinking and achievement. This is one of the big times in the year to take stock of our work thus far. Where we are strong, we will continue. Where we struggle, we will analyze and refocus spring goals for growth. Here are some logistical things to keep in mind

First Year at UAI? Teachers who are in their first year at UAI or are up for tenure can expect to be scheduled first for their reviews (schedule will be released next week). More explicit details on the Midyear will come in next week's blog. For this week, look back at your planning documents and reflect on your student outcomes (Do your lesson plans result in positive student outcomes? How do you know? Why or why not?)
Are you up for Tenure this year? Teachers who are coming up for tenure are required to submit a formal portfolio of any of the documents or data points listed above. These will become part of their final portfolio of work to be submitted for tenure recommendation. The portfolio consists of three parts (1) a letter explaining why you merit tenure and how the documents you submit are illustrative of your growth and achievement (THIS YEAR - we will add more later); (2) samples of student work (with feedback that shows how students used your feedback to improve performance; (3) complete UAI Pacing Calendar with linked samples of Narrative Lesson Plans and all Units are Linked.
Everyone else? You will have the same reflection question: Do your lesson plans result in positive student outcomes? How do you know? Why or why not? - most importantly, how do you plan to show Kiri/Annie your progress through planning documents and student work?

SEL Update

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Week of January 8

UAI Staff News

Volume V

Issue 18

January 8th, 2018

[School Days 78-82]

Announcements

Lady Eagles Victory! This past Friday, the Lady Eagles emerged victorious in their win over Uncommon Charter bringing their record to 8-1. Now in 2nd place in the division, the Lady Eagles are having another fantastic season and are looking ahead towards the playoffs. If you missed Friday's game, the Adams Campus Lady Eagles are at home again on Monday. Pop up to the gym after PD on Monday to show your support!
There are only four home games left to the regular season: (1) Monday 08JAN18, (2) Friday 12JAN18, (3) Wednesday 17JAN18, (4) Wednesday 07FEB18. So, come support our team and show that UAI spirit!

Snow Day and a Cold Day. Last week had our first snow day of the year, followed by a record low attendance due to the cold weather. Both staff and students were absent in large numbers last Friday. With only a few days left in the Fall term, each day becomes very precious for staff and students alike. Students who have passing grades at the end of the Fall term earn their credits for the fall. Failing students will have a second chance to get fall credits if they pass by June, but passing now secures those credits. Please stress attendance and hard work in these final days of the term so that students finish at their strongest point!

This Week's To Dos

Monday PD. This Monday is the only Monday PD we have this month. Next Monday is MLK Jr. Day, and the following Monday we'll be using for Regents Preparation. So, we're going to use this Monday for PLOPs. Please bring your computers to room 409. Brodie and Joanna will be on hand to provide PLOP writing support during the Monday's PD.

6th Grade: Nezaie Lundy [28JAN18] and Lyric Williams [06APR18]
7th Grade: Zekiah Robinson [28MAR18]
8th Grade: Dalia Ali [01FEB18] and Lauren Harvey [15MAR18]
9th Grade: Rebecca Sanchez [8APR18] Rose Ali [28APR18]
10th Grade: Charlize Jackson [21JAN18], Deasia Davis [11FEB18], and Aliyah Burnett [24MAR18]
11th Grade: Ayanna Brown [24MAR18]
12th Grade: 9th, 10th, and 11th Grade teachers who teach the following seniors, should also complete PLOPs for: Tiarra Dantzler [17FEB18], Jade Nijia McLean [17MAR18], Destiny Williams [17MAR18], Katelynn Rodriquez [23MAR18],

[REMINDER] Prepare for Upcoming Midyear Reviews. Reviews will begin next week! As a reminder, please reflect on the following. Please bring the blue items with you for the review.

Focus School Goal. Our main priority goal this year is to increase instructional rigor and student intellectual engagement [Rigorous Instruction & Collaborative Teachers]. To achieve this, we have focused on through improved planning & assessment. Between now, and your midyear review, reflect on your progress with the following:

Improvement in Planning (e.g. UAI Pacing Calendar, Narrative Lesson Plans, Backwards-Designed Unit Plans)
Impact on Student Learning (e.g. samples of Student Work with your feedback, Student achievement (analysis of student grades in course or performance on tests/benchmarks), Student Academic Growth)
Growth in Co-planning with Peer Teachers/Coaches (e.g. quality of planning, quality of lesson execution (Advance Observations) impact on student learning, outcomes of co-planning survey - please click the link to take it now)

Second School Goal. The second goal that we will discuss during midyears is our school goal around increasing Strong Family Ties. Our goal is to increase strong family community ties by increasing both quantity and quality of in-person and phone interactions between teachers and families. This year, each student in your advisory should have had at least 4 interactions and at least 1 in person, all documented in Skedula: 1 welcome to UAI phone call in September; at least 1 in-person visit during MP1, MP2, or SLCs; and at least 2 10-15 minute phone calls for MP1, MP2, or SLC. Specifically, review and reflect on the following data points:

Number of successful contacts (in person and phone) per advisee (as evidenced by Skedula anecdotals)
Growth Advisee attendance rates from September (you can see this in Skedula)
Academic Performance of Advisees from MP1 to MP2 (again Skedula)

Midyear Reflection and Refocus. The Midyear is your opportunity to stop, review your various data points, and reflect on your growth and development. As teachers, we often get too wrapped up in keeping students doing and busy and we don't make the time to step back and evaluate longer-term progress as shown through student thinking and achievement. This is one of the big times in the year to take stock of our work thus far. Where we are strong, we will continue. Where we struggle, we will analyze and refocus spring goals for growth. Here are some logistical things to keep in mind

First Year at UAI? Teachers who are in their first year at UAI or are up for tenure can expect to be scheduled first for their reviews (schedule will be released next week). More explicit details on the Midyear will come in next week's blog. For this week, look back at your planning documents and reflect on your student outcomes (Do your lesson plans result in positive student outcomes? How do you know? Why or why not?)
Are you up for Tenure this year? Teachers who are coming up for tenure are required to submit a formal portfolio of any of the documents or data points listed above. These will become part of their final portfolio of work to be submitted for tenure recommendation. The portfolio consists of three parts (1) a letter explaining why you merit tenure and how the documents you submit are illustrative of your growth and achievement (THIS YEAR - we will add more later); (2) samples of student work (with feedback that shows how students used your feedback to improve performance; (3) complete UAI Pacing Calendar with linked samples of Narrative Lesson Plans and all Units are Linked.
Everyone else? You will have the same reflection question: Do your lesson plans result in positive student outcomes? How do you know? Why or why not? - most importantly, how do you plan to show Kiri/Annie your progress through planning documents and student work?

SEL Update

Growth Mindset and Grit. 6th and 9th grade SEL students have wrapped up their unit on bullying and drama and are now in full swing with their unit on academic skills. This unit will be focused on topics such as growth vs. fixed mindset, Grit, the best ways to prepare for tests, and how to approach their teachers when they find they are having an issue. Students have even started examining the concrete value of education- that is, the money and freedoms they can earn with each higher educational degree that they acquire.

Setting Goals. Since goal-directed behavior came out of our preliminary DESSA findings as a school-wide area of need, SEL classes have delved deeper into the idea of goal setting and action planning. They set goals and action plans for 3 fictional characters who were each struggling in their classes for different reasons. To continue improving the girls' ability to action plan for themselves, we encourage you to try to complete this conference sheet with your advisees when conferencing during Tuesday outreach time, even if your advisees are not in the 6th or 9th grades. We are hopeful that by the next round of DESSA, our data for goal-directed behavior will improve. Our next round of DESSA will be during Monday PD on 05FEB18.

Monday, January 1, 2018

Week of January 1st

UAI Staff News

Volume V

Issue 17

January 2nd, 2018

[School Days 74-77]

Announcements

Happy New Year! Welcome back from the holiday break! Hopefully, everyone made the time to relax and recharge over the break. As we jump back into the flow on Tuesday, we will be wrapping up the final days of the fall term - marking the midway point of the year already! Despite the roller coaster that the world experienced in 2017, UAI had a strong year. 2018 is shaping up even stronger. Classroom planning and instruction are stronger than it has ever been across grades and classes. Classroom removals are at all-time lows, reflecting the strength of positive learning environments. These are both results of everyone's hard work and dedication towards continually pushing towards the highest possible quality lessons and experiences for our students! Let's keep pushing and make 2018 the best year for UAI yet!

Winter Field Trips. The last week before the break had a lot of different trips for the high school. Many thanks to the teams that organized these wonderful experiences for our girls, and to Mr. Brodie who provided the teams with loads of support to make it all work!

Lady Eagle Home Game. This Friday is the next home game for our Adams Campus Lady Eagles basketball team. Our young athletes are currently undefeated this season. So, come show your support this Friday by coming to the game. It's at 4:30PM and in our gym. Hope to see you there!

This Week's To Dos

[REMINDER] Prepare for Upcoming Midyear Reviews. Reviews will begin next week! As a reminder, please reflect on the following. Please bring the blue items with you for the review.

Focus School Goal. Our main priority goal this year is to increase instructional rigor and student intellectual engagement [Rigorous Instruction & Collaborative Teachers]. To achieve this, we have focused on through improved planning & assessment. Between now, and your midyear review, reflect on your progress with the following:

Improvement in Planning (e.g. UAI Pacing Calendar, Narrative Lesson Plans, Backwards-Designed Unit Plans)
Impact on Student Learning (e.g. samples of Student Work with your feedback, Student achievement (analysis of student grades in course or performance on tests/benchmarks), Student Academic Growth)
Growth in Co-planning with Peer Teachers/Coaches (e.g. quality of planning, quality of lesson execution (Advance Observations) impact on student learning, outcomes of co-planning survey - please click the link to take it now)

Second School Goal. The second goal that we will discuss during midyears is our school goal around increasing Strong Family Ties. Our goal is to increase strong family community ties by increasing both quantity and quality of in-person and phone interactions between teachers and families. This year, each student in your advisory should have had at least 4 interactions and at least 1 in person, all documented in Skedula: 1 welcome to UAI phone call in September; at least 1 in-person visit during MP1, MP2, or SLCs; and at least 2 10-15 minute phone calls for MP1, MP2, or SLC. Specifically, review and reflect on the following data points:

Number of successful contacts (in person and phone) per advisee (as evidenced by Skedula anecdotals)
Growth Advisee attendance rates from September (you can see this in Skedula)
Academic Performance of Advisees from MP1 to MP2 (again Skedula)

Midyear Reflection and Refocus. The Midyear is your opportunity to stop, review your various data points, and reflect on your growth and development. As teachers, we often get too wrapped up in keeping students doing and busy and we don't make the time to step back and evaluate longer-term progress as shown through student thinking and achievement. This is one of the big times in the year to take stock of our work thus far. Where we are strong, we will continue. Where we struggle, we will analyze and refocus spring goals for growth. Here are some logistical things to keep in mind

First Year at UAI? Teachers who are in their first year at UAI or are up for tenure can expect to be scheduled first for their reviews (schedule will be released next week). More explicit details on the Midyear will come in next week's blog. For this week, look back at your planning documents and reflect on your student outcomes (Do your lesson plans result in positive student outcomes? How do you know? Why or why not?)
Are you up for Tenure this year? Teachers who are coming up for tenure are required to submit a formal portfolio of any of the documents or data points listed above. These will become part of their final portfolio of work to be submitted for tenure recommendation. The portfolio consists of three parts (1) a letter explaining why you merit tenure and how the documents you submit are illustrative of your growth and achievement (THIS YEAR - we will add more later); (2) samples of student work (with feedback that shows how students used your feedback to improve performance; (3) complete UAI Pacing Calendar with linked samples of Narrative Lesson Plans and all Units are Linked.
Everyone else? You will have the same reflection question: Do your lesson plans result in positive student outcomes? How do you know? Why or why not? - most importantly, how do you plan to show Kiri/Annie your progress through planning documents and student work?