UHMS Rising Phoenix
Uplift Hampton Middle School February 2, 2020
"Be Committed, Be Consistent, Be Courageous"
Quarter 3 - World Changers
“Education gives us a knowledge of the world around us and changes it into something better. It develops in us a perspective of looking at life. It helps us build opinions and have points of view on things in life.” One of our primary goals is to improve student academic achievement and the work that you are performing does not go on unnoticed. As we navigate the third quarter, we want you to know that this is a time that seeds planted were grown and harvest reaped. Don’t stop, reflect and re-evaluate on what it is our scholars need to know and do to be, “great!” It is in the third quarter that we celebrate our accomplishments and rid ourselves of negative energy as we prepare for closing out the game. Don’t get weary, our scholars are making gains. Keep striving and remember, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” - Nelson Mandela
Thankful to be world changers along side you,
Priscilla, Chataqua, Chrissy, and Jabez
News You Can Use!
Staff Attendance and Tardies: Consistent attendance and punctuality are essential to effective job performance and to minimize disruptions to student instruction and business operations. All Uplift employees are expected to be present at their jobs on the days and hours specified in their respective job descriptions or according to the schedule established by their supervisor. Each employee is required to comply with the following guidelines to maintain satisfactory attendance. (Uplift Employee Handbook)
Grades: Update your grade book. You should have at least 8 grades in PowerTeacher by Feb. 7th.
Scholar Data Trackers: Please update your scholar data trackers to reflect at a minimum, CA and MAP results. You can also include exit ticket and unit assessment data on your trackers. Trackers should be posted and updated by Friday, 2/7th. Reach out to your grade level team lead if you need support or ideas.
Black History Month: In honor of Black History Month, we are asking each class to create a bulletin board or window with student created work that honors famous African Americans that exhibits one or more of the MYP attributes or Learner Profile. Bulletin boards must be completed February 7th. The advisory with the best overall display will win a free dress day for scholars and prize for teachers.
Align Lesson to TEKS: It is important to align the rigor of our quizzes, exit-tickets, and independent practice to TEKs. To do this effectively, we need to spend time evaluating scholars’ work to assess their level of mastery. When we analyze the quality and accuracy of scholar work, we can make strategic changes to future lesson plans that will address scholar deficits and areas of weakness.
1. TEKs: Align all classroom activities to the rigor of the TEKs. Use the know/show strategy to make sure the work we are giving scholars is rigorous by looking for the verbs in the TEKs and aligning scholar work to those verbs. Teach any prerequisite skills needed to match the verbs in the TEKs.
2. TEACH: Teach vocabulary to scholars every day and every class. Start each class with a writing assignment or task.
3. RIGOR: Align quizzes and lesson practice to rigor of STAAR
4. REFLECT: Analyze exit tickets, quizzes, and independent practice to determine scholars’ level of mastery
Examine scholar work during class and after class. Compare scholar work to the exemplar example that you’ve created. We want every scholar to make progress toward creating exemplar level work. Reach out to your content team lead if you need support.
ESL & STAAR Accommodations: ESL & STAAR Accommodations due February 7th . STAAR Linguistic Designated Support Forms will be sent out to 7th and 8th grade teachers for April STAAR exam recommendations on Monday, January 27th. You will receive an email directing you to our ELLevation website. Please complete the STAAR DS Forms by February 7th. LPAC will review and approve all appropriate DSs. If you would like to walk thru a form together email Mary at mhawkins@uplifteducation.org
Aggressive Monitoring!
Aggressive Monitoring: Monitoring the quality and accuracy of scholar work when they are practicing independently from the teacher and providing in the moment feedback in order to help support and improve scholar learning/mastery. Teachers actively work the room during independent practice times to gather data on scholars understanding of the concepts, to identify common misunderstandings, and to redirect and conference with individual scholars.
Why: All scholars are engaged and held accountable throughout the entire lesson.
· Teacher monitors all scholars during IP in a strategic and effective way
· Teacher knows what he/she is looking for and has the exemplar to compare scholar responses to
Teacher recognizes patterns in scholars’ answers (common mistakes, misconceptions, etc.) Teacher gives specific, in the moment feedback to scholars (affirmative and/or corrective)
1. Watch the video on Aggressive Monitoring. https://vimeo.com/187645611
2. Complete the activity below.
You have $2 to spend and each word has a value of 10 cents. Write a brief summary of Aggressive Monitoring by 5:00pm Monday. (Do not go into the negative) Place the summary on Mrs. Mangum's board for a chance to win a prize.
Two Weeks At A Glance
Shout Outs
Javetta, Xavier, Ranae, and Kelsi for stepping up and leading the school!
Laurisa and Trenese for assisting on 7th grade lunch.
Brenda S. for organizing the parent meeting.
Trenese for her positive engagement with parents.
Tasha, Brenda G., and Joe for using quiz data to drive instruction.
Ryan, Coty, and Chelsie for coaching our scholars in tournament play.
Carmen for assisting with deregulation of scholars.
STAAR Goals
UHMS Writing Focus
Push scholars to be more exact and specific when they write. Are scholars answering questions, composing essays, and/or writing paragraphs at a college-level? Or are scholars regurgitating some generic words and phrases, but failing to ever write about the specific and more detailed elements of the topic? Push scholars to be more exact with their language and add more detail to explain their thinking. We can support scholars by showing them how to borrow words from text, and we can provide scholars with word banks of synonyms and high-frequency words.
The best way to know if scholars’ responses are exemplar is for us to do the writing that we expect scholars to do. If we have written the essay, the paragraph, or the written responses to questions, we know exactly what we expect and are able to provide scholars with feedback and specific guidance.
If you have questions about writing reach out to your content team lead, your interventionist, your dean, or Priscilla
February Expectations for Increasing Rigor
Literacy Instruction: Reading and writing occurs in every Core class daily and in Electives at least monthly
· Every period starts with some form of writing. Writing is the most difficult thing you can have the brain do
· All Core classes are using Close Reading Strategies
· Scholars read and use textbooks and other complex readings daily
Teaching Strategies: 100% of teachers will use these 3 strategies to help scholars Interact with New Knowledge
· Compare and contrast
· Note Taking – Identify critical Information
· Chunk content into “digestible bites”
Lesson Execution: Teachers execute high quality lesson plans daily
· Teacher teaches with lesson plan in hand or close by
· Teacher has evidence of high-quality scholar work based on lesson plans
Feburary Expectations for a Brilliant School Culture
Communicate Learning Goals
- Provide clear learning objectives and IB Rubrics
- Track scholar progress - data walls should be up and complete
- Celebrate Scholar Success
Hero Usage: Teachers are utilizing HERO to track scholar behaviors and habits.
- 100% of UHMS scholars have at least 1 positive HERO recognition
- 100% of UHMS teachers have used the HERO system to give positive praise (Precise Praise)
Staff Climate
- 100% of the teachers have someone at work they can talk to “best friend”
- 100% of teachers have at least 1 administrator they can talk to openly and honestly
- 100% of teachers can give a feeling word at huddle by the end of the month
Mastering the Writing Prompt
Do you agree, or disagree with my revising and editing?
Thinking through Spanish!
Phoneix Nation Rise Up
Here's How to Reach Us!
Priscilla Parhms 469.236.2900 pparhms@uplifteducation.org
Chrissy Cormier 214.326.3002 ccormier@uplifteducation.org
Chataqua Mangum 972.897.4659 cmangum@uplifteducation.org
Jabez Deacon 414.562.7592 jdeacon@uplifteducation.org
8915 S. Hampton Rd. Dallas, TX 75232
(972) 421-1982 https://www.uplifteducation.org/Domain/47