CALL
TO ACTION
● FILL OUT THE NYC DOE STAFF SURVEY IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY – THE
DEADLINE IS THIS THURSDAY, MARCH 29
Everyone wants the best students
possible at HSFI – we need to show our prospective families and students what
HSFI is all about – what everyone looks at for this information are the results
of the DOE survey. A high percentage of
responses looks impressive to the world – a low percentage looks very poorly
for us.
● PARTICIPATE IN ‘DRESS LIKE YOUR BEST SELF’ DAY THIS THURSDAY, MARCH
29 / EXECUTE THE META-MOMENT
The culmination of introducing the
‘Meta-Moment’ to both students and staff will be this Thursday, March 29th
(the day before Spring Break) where we will have ‘Dress Like Your Best Self’
day – our hope is that all students and staff participate in ‘Dress Like Your
Best Self’ day.
Now that the entire
staff has been through the ‘Meta-Moment’ professional development, it is time
to use it in your classes and offices.
The ‘Meta-Moment’ is
focused on you imagining your ‘best self’ and then thinking about this ‘best
self’ before responding to stress. I
believe that this time spent on Social Emotional Learning is time well spent
and will pay off handsomely in getting our students ready for college, career
and the real world!
● SAVE THE DATE – INDUSTRY FASHION SHOW DATE SET
Tuesday, May 22 is the
date of our Industry Fashion Show – it would be great to have a huge contingent
of staff in attendance.
● ENCOURAGE HSFI STUDENTS TO CHECK HSFI EMAILS
Supporting our college readiness
theme, remind your students that they should be checking their HSFI email every
day. Students should be getting in the
habit of checking their HSFI every day because they will lose out on many
opportunities if they don’t do so.
FILL OUT NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION STAFF SURVEY
Dear HSFI Teaching
& Guidance Staff:
As of Friday, we are at 81 % (91
staff members) who have filled out the survey – it would send a strong message
if we got 100% participation on the survey - if you have not already done so,
please take a few minutes to complete the anonymous DOE Learning Environment
staff survey online – your supervisor should have given you the postcard below.
If you do not have your postcard, you can also call the NYC Department of Education at 1-877-819-2363 to get an Access Code to complete the survey online.
I look carefully at the
overall results to shape the direction of things like professional development
and staff communication.
Prospective HSFI
parents and families and students look to the results to decide whether they
should apply to our school or not.
We have worked
tremendously hard together to create a wonderful learning environment for our
students and this is your chance to let them know. Thank you!
The link to the survey
is below, but you must have the unique access code from the postcard to
proceed:
HIGH
PROFILE VISITS TO HSFI THIS WEEK
□ On Monday, NYC Department of Education Deputy
Chancellor Phil Weinberg will be visiting HSFI all morning to see our students
in action, speak with our teachers and see our SAGA math tutoring program in
action. Please welcome him if you
interact with him – he is a big fan of HSFI.
□ On Tuesday, we will have 15 educators from
Connecticut from an organization called RISE.
The RISE Network is
a Connecticut-based nonprofit that brings together five high schools to
form a networked improvement community to increase college and career
readiness. Every year, network members take a trip to
learn about high school innovation in cities across the country.
This March, they will be taking 60 teachers, counselors, and
administrators to New York City for a conference and professional
learning opportunity. This Tuesday, RISE
members will go on school visits to several New York City high
schools pursuing strong systems and innovative solutions. The two hour visit would provide
educators with an introduction to the school and its context and give them
opportunities to learn from specific systems and strategies that HSFI is
implementing in relation to college and career exploration, planning, and
readiness.
THIS WEEK’S CALENDAR:
|
MONDAY
|
TUESDAY
|
WEDNESDAY
|
THURSDAY
|
FRIDAY
|
|
MARCH
26
*Regular Bell Schedule
DEPUTY CHANCELLOR VISIT
TO HSFI
STOP EVERYTHING &
REFLECT during Period 3
THIS IS FOR ALL STUDENTS
PM Supervisor:
K Boulamaali (Rm. 703)
|
27
*Regular Bell Schedule
RISE VISIT TO HSFI
PM Supervisor:
M Frank (Rm. 121)
|
28
*Regular Bell Schedule
PM Supervisor:
A Rodrigues (Rm. 515)
|
29
*Regular Bell Schedule
DRESS LIKE YOUR BEST SELF
DAY
PM Supervisor:
N Moore (Rm. 228)
|
30
*NO SCHOOL
SPRING BREAK BEGINS
|
NEXT
WEEK’S CALENDAR:
HAPPY
SPRING BREAK – ENJOY YOUR VACATION!!!
CAREER
& TECHNICAL SPRING SHOWCASE EVENTS CALENDAR
|
Tuesday, April 17 &
Wednesday, April 18
|
Annual Fashion Show Preview Days
|
|
Wednesday, April 18
|
Whole Foods Project
|
|
Wednesday, April 25
|
International Center of Photography Exhibit Opening
|
|
Wednesday, May 2
|
Annual Fashion Show Feeder Show to Middle School Students
|
|
Friday, May 4
|
Senior Graphics & Illustration Art Show
|
|
Friday, May 11
|
Annual Fashion Show - PUBLIC
|
|
Thursday, May 17
|
STOKED (Skateboard Club) Presentation
|
|
Tuesday, May 22
|
Annual Fashion Show – INDUSTRY SHOW
|
|
To Be Determined
|
Kleinfeld Bridal Culminating Event
|
THE ANSWER IS IN THE ROOM
Here are some highlights of the best practices shared by HSFI
Staff Members. This round focuses on the
use of scaffolding and differentiation in the classroom:
In the English department, Ms. McGoldrick is
differentiating for her higher level English 2 students by having them
independently read a more rigorous text than the rest of the class. As
they read a chapter, they work through handouts to guide their reading, and
then they come back as a group to discuss the text and work on group
activities.
In the Math Department, Ms. Husted created a
graphic organizer to assist with the method of completing the square.
Students were provided with steps in order to complete an example where they
converted from standard form to vertex form.
If you would like to
see all of the activities compiled from last year, as well as the weekly
additions, you can check out the shared Google Folder via the link below.
*If any staff member
would like to share a lesson, activity, or best practice,
send it to Ms. Paz at spaz@hsfi.us or Mr. Kearns
at kkearns@hsfi.us
HSFI’S
PARTICIPATION IN THE LEARNING PARTNERS PROGRAM
HSFI is proud to be part of the NYC DOE’s
Learning Partners Program where schools learn from one another. Here is a summary of the last two visits
within our quad of schools:
Learning
Partners Program Visit to HSFI
On
March 1st, teachers and administrators from Fort Hamilton High
School, The High School of Art and Design, and Brooklyn Bridge Academy visited
HSFI as part of the Learning Partners Program. The purpose of these
visits is to share best practices across schools and to give feedback to move
our schools forward.
This visit focused on the city wide
"Equity and Excellence for all" campaign. The mission of this
program is, "The New York City Department of Education is committed to
supporting learning environments that reflect the diversity of New York City.
We believe all students benefit from diverse and inclusive schools and
classrooms where all students, families and school staff are supported and
welcomed. This work is essential to our vision of Equity and Excellence for all
NYC students."
The highlight of this visit was a presentation
by Ms. Cuffie from the English Department. Ms. Cuffie shared a curriculum
she created for 12th grade English students called "Controversy in the
Classroom: Discussing Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Social Justice in
Schools". The presentation contains many excellent articles,
activities, and talking points that teachers can bring back to their own
schools.
Learning
Partners Program Visit to Fort Hamilton HS
As
part of the Learning Partners Program, Mr. Blank, Ms. Moore, Mr. Kearns and Ms.
Paz recently visited Fort Hamilton High School.
During our classroom visits, we focused on and gave feedback on the alignment of objectives posted and those achieved in the classroom.
During our classroom visits, we focused on and gave feedback on the alignment of objectives posted and those achieved in the classroom.
Here
are some highlights of the visit:
1) In most classrooms, there was purposeful planning in that the objectives matched up with what was achieved during the period; teachers focused their lessons around the day's objectives. In some cases, teachers even encouraged students to come up with the objectives themselves based on the activities and prior knowledge.
2) In several of the classrooms, teachers used question formulation techniques (QFT) in order for students to come up with their own questions. Students were later prompted to prioritize the importance of those questions, as well as convert any yes/no questions to open-ended questions.
If you would like further information about the program, please feel free to contact Mr. Kearns or Ms. Paz.
1) In most classrooms, there was purposeful planning in that the objectives matched up with what was achieved during the period; teachers focused their lessons around the day's objectives. In some cases, teachers even encouraged students to come up with the objectives themselves based on the activities and prior knowledge.
2) In several of the classrooms, teachers used question formulation techniques (QFT) in order for students to come up with their own questions. Students were later prompted to prioritize the importance of those questions, as well as convert any yes/no questions to open-ended questions.
If you would like further information about the program, please feel free to contact Mr. Kearns or Ms. Paz.
STOP
EVERYTHING & REFLECT CONTINUES THIS MONDAY
As part of our ongoing efforts to check-in with
our students to see how they are doing and feeling, we will continue our ‘ STOP
EVERYTHING & REFLECT’ activity this Monday, March 19 where we will be
asking students to write a brief reflection to the following questions:
□ Is something Positive going on in your
life? If so, describe
□ Is something bothering you at school? If so,
describe
□ Is something bothering you at home? If so,
describe
Based on student and staff feedback, we will be
doing this activity every Monday moving forward with some slight
adjustments. Once a month we will be
asking the entire school to do this reflection piece / on the Mondays in
between, only students who wish to do the reflection based on changes in their
lives will do the reflection piece.
Teachers are to given students this time for these reflections every
Monday instead of school announcements. This will be done during the 5 minute
announcement time during Period 3 – besides the Pledge of Allegiance, there will
be no announcements on that particular day. Teachers can decide which 5
minutes of the class period that they want students to do this activity.
The main purpose of this reflection is to
provide information to the guidance staff about students. Teachers spend a lot
more time with students and educational research indicates that students share
more information with teachers because they see them every day and develop a
strong comfort level with them. Counselors will see the responses from
the students in their caseloads and be able to follow up appropriately to do
additional check-ins and provide resources to students and their
families. These reflections will provide important information to our
guidance counselors in order for them to contribute even more to looking out
for our students.
If you have any suggestions for this reflection
piece and/or logistics for implementation, please feel free to speak with me
about it or email me suggestions. Thank
you!
IMPORTANT
INSTRUCTIONAL REMINDERS
● OUR INSTRUCTIONAL FOCUS FOR 2017-18 & BEYOND
□ Every student feels cared
for
□ Every student feels
challenged
● SPRING OBSERVATION CYCLES
□ Observation Cycle #4
Intervisitations - Week of April 30
Evaluative Observations - – Weeks of May 7, 14 & 21
● SPRING MARKING PERIODS
□ 2nd
Marking Period ends Friday, April 27
□ 3rd
Marking Period ends Friday, June 15
● SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING & FASHION DOLLARS EXPECTATION
The time and effort spent on connecting
with students on a social emotional level and reinforcing positive behavior
with Fashion Dollars is well worth it – my expectation is that this is done
every day in every class.
● SPECIAL EDUCATION IMPORTANT REMINDERS
Students who are placed
in ICT classes will now have the letter at the end of their official (ex-45P).
Students with SETSS will also continue to have their official noted with a
letter at the end and our Self-contained students will continue to have the
letter at the beginning of their official class. Students within our D75
Inclusion Program will have an L as the first letter of their official class
and by now all teachers who work with these students have access to their
information in SESIS. Teachers with questions regarding D75 students can reach
out to Ms. McGuinness & Ms Smith-Brown.
Please continue to complete and submit the electronic standards-based Teachers Form sent prior to IEP meetings. The information you are required to complete on this form is subject specific and your insight will better help us in determine the needs of our students with IEPs. The Teacher Form in conjunction with your participation at the IEP meeting (if you are invited) are two critical elements we need in order to best serve our students. We try to plan our IEP and Triennial meetings
with teacher schedules in mind, however there are times when families are only available at specific times and a coverage will be requested for your class. The participation of a general education and special education teacher is a mandatory part of the IEP meeting and we appreciate all teachers who participate.
Please continue to complete and submit the electronic standards-based Teachers Form sent prior to IEP meetings. The information you are required to complete on this form is subject specific and your insight will better help us in determine the needs of our students with IEPs. The Teacher Form in conjunction with your participation at the IEP meeting (if you are invited) are two critical elements we need in order to best serve our students. We try to plan our IEP and Triennial meetings
with teacher schedules in mind, however there are times when families are only available at specific times and a coverage will be requested for your class. The participation of a general education and special education teacher is a mandatory part of the IEP meeting and we appreciate all teachers who participate.
OPERATIONAL
NEED TO KNOW
● CHECK YOUR DOE & HSFI EMAILS EVERYDAY
● HSFI STAFF HOMEPAGE LINK - https://sites.google.com/a/hsfi.us/hsfi-staff-portal/
● SUBCENTRAL INFORMATION
When calling in an
absence to Sub Central, please state your official reporting time. The
system is set from 8:00 am - 3:42 pm (periods 1 - 9).
● IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM MS. KLEPACKI
& THE ATTENDANCE OFFICE
□ Three days this week of BLUE SHEETS all here. Keep it
up!!!!
□ Please return Confirmation Sheets from January. Your AP
has a list of the teachers who have not turned in their sheets.
□ Please make sure to turn in any Attendance sheets from February
and March
● EARLY MORNING TIMES FOR STAFF &
STUDENTS
To enhance our safety and security
at HSFI, we are instituting early morning times for staff and students to enter
the building.
The earliest time staff will be
allowed in the building is 6:30 am – by this time, there will be a security
agent at the front desk.
The earliest time students will be
allowed in the building is 7:20 am – by this time, there will be a
supervisor(s) in the building.
There will be exceptions made to
the student time for special events and trips – these exception requests should
be made to AP G. Raschilla and Ms. Ianniello in Room 819.
● CANNOT LEAVE STUDENTS UNATTENDED
You cannot leave students
unattended anywhere in the building – a classroom or office, the Auditorium or
Cafeteria – if you have to leave a particular area, ask the students to leave
with you.
● PROTOCOLS FOR RESPONDING TO CLASSROOM
INCIDENTS
In the event of an incident in your classroom that creates
disruption (student is defiant and / or uncooperative) but is NOT A THREAT
to student and/or staff safety, the following protocol should be followed:
□ Classroom management,
i.e., using your skills as an educator to move on from the situation, followed
by
□ A phone call to your
Supervisor informing them of the incident and the steps you have taken to
address the matter, followed by
□ A referral to the
Peace Center and/or the Guidance Department via Google Docs., followed by
□ Outreach to parents,
informing them of their child’s misbehavior, and request for family support to
correct the matter.
In the event of an incident in your classroom that involves an immediate
THREAT to student and/or staff safety, the following protocol should be
followed:
□ A phone call to the Peace Center (x1491 or x1431) informing
available staff of the incident and requesting assistance, followed by
□ A phone call to School Safety (x1341) informing them of the
location and nature of the incident and requesting assistance, followed by
□ A call to your Supervisor informing them of the incident and the
steps you have taken to address it.
● PARENT INFORMATION LISTING
Familiarize yourself with our student list with
all their Parent Contact information
If you get an updated phone number and/or email
of a student that is different from the information in this document, email AP
Danielle Silva at DSilva3@schools.nyc.gov – include Student Name & 9 Digit ID - with
the correct, updated contact information.
This list will also be added to the Staff Homepage
● KEEPING TRACK OF STUDENT ACTIVITY / COMMUNICATING WITH STUDENTS
ABOUT SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
Tracking Activity
In our effort to understand how ALL our
students are doing, we need to know how much students are participating in
activities around the building – this includes:
TUTORING / CLUBS & ACTIVITIES / PSAL SPORTS
– PRACTICES & GAMES / ESL ACADEMY
MAKE-UP LABS / NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY PEER
TUTORING / USING THE COMPUTER LABS
Use this link to keep track of student
attendance in these activities - https://sites.google.com/a/hsfi.us/hsfi-staff-portal/attendance-for-student-activities
Doing this is mandatory if you oversee these activities and
needs to be done every time you meet with students. You must be signed in
to your own hsfi.us account when you do this. Contact Shannon Kohm with
questions at skohm@school.nyc.gov, or ext. 5311
Communication
Please make sure that you communicate with our
students about anything going on in the school – a club meeting, sports game or
program opportunity – you can do this by including it in our Daily
Announcements email / Jupiter message – here is the procedure for submitting
this information:
(1) Go to the HSFI Staff Home page - https://sites.google.com/a/hsfi.us/hsfi-staff-portal/home?pli=1
(2) From there use the Announcement
form link on the left hand side of the page - all announcements should be
requested by 3:00 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
WEEKLY
PARENT COMMUNICATION
● FASHIONABLE TIMES BLOG
Just like we maintain a blog for staff, we
maintain a weekly blog for HSFI Parents that includes a weekly message from
me. The link is:
STUDENT
INFORMATION RESOURCE
● NYC DOE STUDENT PROFILES
The NYC Department of Education has created a central
location to access key student information – www.nycenet.edu/studentprofile
You have been emailed a one page summary of this
resource. Here are the key categories of
the ‘Student Profile’:
● Grades
– current and historical report card grades
● Assessments
- previous Regents scores
● Attendance
- current and historical daily attendance including lateness
● Schedule
– students’ current schedule
● Details
– student biographical and demographic information including Special Education
and English Language Learner (ELL) status
● Enrollment
– enrollment history including all NYC schools attended
● Guardians
– all the adults on the students’ biographical record including contact
information and preferred language
STAFF MEMBERS WHO SOARR
The
SOARRing staff showcased below come from nominations from their supervisors and
their colleagues. You can nominate a
colleague by using the email: PBISDataTeam@hsfi.us
Please
include the reason why your colleague has SOARRed!
Thank
you to all the staff members who have contributed to our best practices sharing
- MS. HUSTED & MS. McGOLDRICK - the
sharing spirit at HSFI is alive and well!
Thank
you to MS. SAN JORGE, MS. CARTER & MR. RAU for
organizing and running the annual Variety Show; Thank you to the staff members
who oversaw many of the Variety Show performances including MS. PAZ, MS. MEDINA, MS. GARCIA & MS. DAVID.
Thank
you to all the staff involved in our HSFI Alumni Association ‘Paint Night’
fundraiser including MS. ZUBROVICH who
facilitated the activity and MS. DAVID who is our
Alumni Association Director.
Nominated
by MR. STAMPONE, Thank you to MR. RUSSELL for lending his photography expertise to
document the components of a physics lab for use in teacher and student
materials.
Thank
you to MS. DUCK for organizing The Stock Market Game for our 12th grade Economics
classes.
Thank
you to MS. HERZOG, MR. MONTENEGRO & MS. VELEZ for
their efforts to insure our early morning
procedures run smoothly.
Thank
you to MS. DAHILL for organizing this year's Big Read and giving our students the
opportunity to meet published Young Adult authors. Students left not only
inspired to read a new book, but also learned about the determination and hard
work it takes to succeed in a creative field.
Thank
you to ALL THE SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS involved
in NWEA testing of our special education students; Thank you to MS. McKEON for allowing
for the use of the College Office during NWEA testing; Thank you to MR. ABDALLAH for the computer technical support of this
testing.
Thank
you to MS. VEGA for supporting a new student to HSFI and making her feel welcomed
by connecting her with other students.
VTODs
FOR THE WEEK
March
26, Math: Monday
Derive: (v) to take, receive, or obtain
(especially from a specified source). America’s cars run partly on fuels
derived from corn and soy. Arrays are used to build multiplication facts in a
visual way which helps children understand how these facts are derived before
they memorize the multiplication tables.
March
27, Science: Tuesday
Uniformity: (n) sameness; lack of diversity;
Totalitarian states enforce uniformity in their societies since they don’t have
positive ways of dealing with dissent. Uniformity of composition in chemistry
means that the substance or solution is homogeneous or has the same properties
throughout.
March
28, CTE: Wednesday
Constructive: (adj.) useful; helpful, positive.
The exhibition explains the science behind each threat and offers constructive
steps you can take to prepare your home for nature's fury. The job applicants
needed seven years of managerial experience and the ability to be open to
constructive feedback.
March
29, ELA: Thursday
Distort: (v) 1. To change so as to make
false; to misrepresent. The news program distorted the overall meaning of the
governor’s speech by offering a few sound bites from it with no
explanation. 2. To twist or bend out of
shape. The artist used the free online photo editor to distort images for a photomontage.
ALUMNI
ASSOCIATION EVENTS
Our Alumni Association continues to
fund raise to raise money for scholarships for our HSFI students – here are the
links to the next set of Alumni events – ‘Paint Night’ and ‘Salsa & Zumba’ class
– we need your participation to help them succeed.
Salsa
& Zumba’ class - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/latin-groove-salsa-zumba-fundraiser-tickets-42156587488?aff=eac2
ADDITIONS
TO THE BLOG
If you are interested in adding
something to the Weekly Bulletin Blog, please email Angela Ianniello – AIanniello@schools.nyc.gov – by Wednesday of that week. Submissions emailed after this deadline will
be placed in the following week’s Blog.
