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Teacher Times #10
December 3, 2012
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT FOR HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE FACULTYThe Lehman College Now Program in collaboration with At Home In College and the NYC Writing Project will be offering a special PD project during spring 2013. One of the many issues and topics that arise as I meet with students and faculty in both educational institutions is the "educational gap" between high school and college expectations. Last year we addressed this issue in our Bridging the Space PD project. Due to the positive response of the participants from last year's project, we will be offering the seminars once again this spring. This is a great opportunity for high school faculty and college faculty to meet, discuss and develop strategies to help all our students make a successful transition from high school to college.
Below, you will find the application for 2013 BRIDGING THE SPACE: HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE EDUCATORS WORKING TOGETHER seminars.. Please share this application with any high school or college English, Humanities or Social Science faculty member that you believe would be interested in participating. Faculty are compensated with a $750 stipend for completion of the program. 
EMERGENCY LESSON PLANSThere have been instances where the plans are difficult to follow and no learning goal is stated. At the very least, it should be at connected to the teacher grade and subject level. Teachers should strive to provide topical lessons that relate to the unit of study they are in with students.
PIC OF THE WEEK
HEALTH BENEFITS TRANSFER PERIODThe 2012 Health Benefits Transfer Period will end Friday, December 14, 2012.
The transfer period is the only time during the year that you have the opportunity to make changes to your City health benefits without experiencing a qualifying event. Changes you make to your elections will go into effect the first full payroll period of January 2013. Participation is not mandatory and if you are currently enrolled in an insurance plan and you wish to keep that plan for the coming year, you do not need to do anything. For information about health benefit plans and rates, visit the Office of Labor Relations website at www.nyc.gov/olr , and click the Health Benefits Program link in the left-hand navigation pane. Teachers and Administrative Employees: If you are changing plans or adding or dropping an optional rider, avoid paperwork and processing delays by using the Employee Self Service System. To access ESS, please visit www.nyc.gov/ess. To learn more about ESS, visit the DOE website at http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/DHR/ESSintro.htm. All Other Employees: Obtain a Health Benefits Application form from your payroll secretary/HR representative or from the DOE website at http://schools.nyc.gov/dhrforms. Please remember to complete and sign the Health Benefits Application form. If adding or dropping a dependent, please remember to submit the appropriate supporting documentation (e.g. birth certificate, marriage certificate, or divorce decree). Incomplete applications will not be processed. Fax your completed form and supporting documentation to 718-935-5215. Your application (and supporting documentation, if adding/dropping dependents) must be received by HR Connect’s Health Benefits Administration by Friday December 14, 2012 in order for your changes to be processed. Any applications received after December 14 will not be processed. If you have questions, please call HR Connect at (718) 935-4000. |
DECISION SHEETPlease remember to upload your decision sheets from your weekly content meetings. Decision sheet can be downloaded below. If you have any questions, ask your Instructional Lead or myself for assistance.
ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEMSWe are continuing to put step-by-step accountability systems into place at TAPCo.
1. If you purchase any item that is related to your function as a teacher at TAPCo, please retain the receipts. Please refer merchants to www.tapconyc.org and ask them to put the word “exempt” into the search engine box on the home page of our school website to locate the tax exempt form so you are not charged tax. Otherwise, please use the attached to have on hand. We cannot reimburse for tax. Present the tax exempt form and you should not be taxed. You must fill out an “Authorization for Impress Fund Expenditure Form” available from Annie to submit with your receipts. Making copies of your receipts is recommended. 2. This afternoon, Ms. Dalton-Reese and Ms. Domenech will devise a step-by-step guide for ordering and receiving books. This guide will be provided to you. 3. Please refer to the attached for step-by-step guides for requesting items and purchasing. This information and forms will also be available in the next issue of the TAPCo Teacher Times. This should be read every week. Much of the information in our Teacher Times will be incorporated into next year’s faculty handbook. Thank you.
TEACHER'S CHOICE ALLOCATIONSThe Teacher's Choice Program provides an opportunity for teachers to purchase instructional materials and supplies for use in their classrooms. Teacher’s Choice allocations are determined in accordance with EIS title records and will be issued to all eligible staff actively employed as of November 1. Participants who are enrolled in direct deposit will receive allocations on December 4; participants who are not enrolled in direct deposit will receive a debit card with the December 14 payroll.
If you identify any staff members who are mistakenly excluded in the December allocation, you should notify the Special Projects Unit by February 1. There will be a second distribution of Teacher’s Choice allocations at the end of February. For additional information, see here. For questions, email specialprojects@schools.nyc.gov or call 718-935-3304. Library Sign-Up Instructions
ValuesDear TAPCO Community,
Over this past month, we have been working hard to shape TAPCo into a community of responsible, tolerant and empathetic students. We have been integrating responsibility centered discipline into TAPCo's school culture, organized Alpha Day, and took our students to see the movie, Bully. In an effort to continue this work, we are planning a reward trip for TAPCo's middle school to go ice skating. The trip will take place on Friday, December 21st, the day before winter recess. In order to participate in this trip, students must meet the following two criteria based on our work with responsibility centered discipline. First, students must follow the correct procedure when a teacher raises their hand. Students must raise their hands in response, stop talking and give their attention to the teacher. Second, students must properly control the volume of their voices, depending on whether they are participating in independent, pair share or group work. Please remind students that independent work is done silently, pair share work is done at a volume level where only your partner can hear what you are saying and group work is done at a volume that is just loud enough for the entire group to hear. It is important that our entire faculty is consistent in our use of these terms and procedures. We will be using a "three strikes and you're out" method for determining which students deserve to participate in this trip. Students that fail to properly follow these procedures three times before the trip will not be allowed to participate. The tallying of the three strikes will be across classes. Therefore, if a student fails to talk at an appropriate volume once in math, once in science and once in ELA, they will be excluded from this trip. The number of strikes against each student will be entered by each classroom teacher under Anecdotals “Skating on 12/21”. A weekly Progress report will be printed out and put up in the cafeteria. This trip and the criteria for participation will be presented to our middle school students during a lunchtime town meeting today. Once we have developed our foundations, we will have them posted in each room. Teachers should share them with students and get them to started becoming common language for staff and students. Maybe even art students could design the look once staff has written them. Working on our volume level will help the entire school. With the challenging room designs it makes hearing instruction a challenge. If all teachers begin to focus on this issue it will help hallways and the entire building. When admin is in rooms observing weare looking for high expectations and for kids to be giving best effort on the lesson. If not, then teachers should either do a class re-direct or use Give' em Five to have a conversation with the student or students that are not meeting the expectation. I do not want to overwhelm you, but getting yourselves skilled at using the Give' em five in conversation with students is a must for success. We will also plan practice time during teaming for collaboration times with staff. We will be adding a morning assembly to recognize students that were examples of the foundations as a way to involve students in new expectations and get buy in. At this time we will recognize any other success students are having as well. Thank you for your cooperation and support with this project. Special thanks to Robin Konigsberg for contributing to this email. Our cohesiveness and uniformity as a staff in this matter will be necessary to ensure its success. Best, Ron | ||||||||||||
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