School Specialty. Planning & Student Development

Monthly Themes

ugo365™ starts with a year of monthly themes to encourage students to discover their own voice. Students ask questions of themselves and then utilize the elements of the book to develop their own path of goal accomplishment.

• August: Inspiration

  Without inspiration, goals have the potential to lose their luster. Students learn how to keep inspiration aglow.

  The spark in the darkness that lights the whole room, the lightning-bolt strike, the mountaintop tune. The real revolution begins within you.

• September: Intention

  Intention creates purpose. Students gain tools for creating purpose in their lives.

  Where do you want to go? What do you want to see? When we set goals for ourselves, we make our own destiny.

• October: Expression

  Freedom of expression is a civil right, but do students know how to put that right to good use?

  Dance with your dreams, sing like a bird, flow over beats, paint pictures with words.

• November: Gratitude

  Understanding how gratitude positively impacts what happens in your life is an important skill.

  Gratitude is the best attitude with which to approach life. When we give thanks for all things, the haters take flight.

• December: Intuition

  Students can learn how to slow down and listen to, and trust, their intuition, which plays a valuable role in their overall success.

  The third eye open, the sixth sense, the chill— when we know in our gut what some never will.

• January: Community

  Well adjusted students understand how to equally rely on and support their community.

  The circle we're in reminds us of who we are and why we're here. Our people, our peers— those with whom we don't hesitate to celebrate and shed tears.

• February: Shadow

  Students are given opportunity to embrace their inner strength and delve into their thoughts and experiences that require further processing.

  What hides within us—gifts and fear. The subconscious dreams we don't always hear. The creative flow that knows all we've forgotten and inspires us to grow.

• March: Resilience

  Students are encouraged to learn the ability to recover from or adjust to misfortune and/or change.

  The ability to bounce back in the face of failure, or just after disaster, to play with the healing power of laughter.

• April: Trust

  When students learn to trust themselves, they realize they know more than they thought they did; they recognize a new confidence and assistance within themselves.

  It takes courage to believe in the wake of betrayal. But without trust between us, our mission will fail.

• May: Compassion

  Students are presented stories, art and exercises to help them understand that to feel another's pain is good.

  I feel you and your pain. Your tears are my rain. That wound in your heart, I sense in my veins. Through your eyes, I can see the you buried in me.

• June: Wisdom

  Students explore how smart and wise are different. They learn that experience brings wisdom.

  Knowledge is what we gain from school. Wisdom we earn through the trials and tribulations of life.

• July: Balance

  Students are introduced the concept of balance in their lives and encouraged to question what helps them regain their balance.

  The dance of dark and light, day and night, love and fear, black and white. It takes practice to get it right. But the more we stay at this, the better our sight.

Monthly Themes

ugo365™ starts with a year of monthly themes that addresses a high school student's daily challenges. The monthly themes compel students to dig into emotional, social and time-management obstacles. By utilizing the planning, journaling and record-taking elements, students overcome these challenges with a thought process that leads to goal accomplishment.

• August: Inspiration

  Without inspiration, goals have the potential to lose their luster. Students learn how to keep inspiration aglow.

  The spark in the darkness that lights the whole room, the lightning-bolt strike, the mountaintop tune. The real revolution begins within you.

• September: Intention

  Intention creates purpose. Students gain tools for creating purpose in their lives.

  Where do you want to go? What do you want to see? When we set goals for ourselves, we make our own destiny.

• October: Expression

  Freedom of expression is a civil right, but do students know how to put that right to good use?

  Dance with your dreams, sing like a bird, flow over beats, paint pictures with words.

• November: Gratitude

  Understanding how gratitude positively impacts what happens in your life is an important skill.

  Gratitude is the best attitude with which to approach life. When we give thanks for all things, the haters take flight.

• December: Intuition

  Students can learn how to slow down and listen to, and trust, their intuition, which plays a valuable role in their overall success.

  The third eye open, the sixth sense, the chill— when we know in our gut what some never will.

• January: Community

  Well adjusted students understand how to equally rely on and support their community.

  The circle we're in reminds us of who we are and why we're here. Our people, our peers— those with whom we don't hesitate to celebrate and shed tears.

• February: Shadow

  Students are given opportunity to embrace their inner strength and delve into their thoughts and experiences that require further processing.

  What hides within us—gifts and fear. The subconscious dreams we don't always hear. The creative flow that knows all we've forgotten and inspires us to grow.

• March: Resilience

  Students are encouraged to learn the ability to recover from or adjust to misfortune and/or change.

  The ability to bounce back in the face of failure, or just after disaster, to play with the healing power of laughter.

• April: Trust

  When students learn to trust themselves, they realize they know more than they thought they did; they recognize a new confidence and assistance within themselves.

  It takes courage to believe in the wake of betrayal. But without trust between us, our mission will fail.

• May: Compassion

  Students are presented stories, art and exercises to help them understand that to feel another's pain is good.

  I feel you and your pain. Your tears are my rain. That wound in your heart, I sense in my veins. Through your eyes, I can see the you buried in me.

• June: Wisdom

  Students explore how smart and wise are different. They learn that experience brings wisdom.

  Knowledge is what we gain from school. Wisdom we earn through the trials and tribulations of life.

• July: Balance

  Students are introduced the concept of balance in their lives and encouraged to question what helps them regain their balance.

  The dance of dark and light, day and night, love and fear, black and white. It takes practice to get it right. But the more we stay at this, the better our sight.

Students as active participants in their education.

The edgy and thought-provoking content in this planner compels students to take ownership of their education and goal accomplishments. Write it out; draw it out; record it for later; plan it out—students confront emotions, outside influences and other obstacles that get in the way of their goal planning and achievement.

Nobody's planner but the student's.

This is the planner that gets used simply because it is what it is. Edgy, funky, raw, defiant, emotional—however you describe it, point-blank: students use it, because it speaks to them.

Success through planning.

Even planner-resistant students appreciate how this planner operates. This innovative approach to planning coaches students in thought processing rather than tells students to just write down their soccer practice and homework assignments and stick to a schedule. Planning is vital in all aspects of life, but not everyone appreciates the traditional method of planning. ugo356™ offers something different.

Student centered.

Students' engagement level with this planner is unmatched. This is the only planner that revolves around students' lifestyle and social needs with a writing style that is unique and approachable. The size, format and design are well thought out and pivot around usability from a student perspective.

Timely, relevant topics and themes.

With new editions developed every year, the material focuses on timely and constantly fresh information, addressing current world discussions and challenges. It includes practical issues and examples relevant to the context of a student's setting.

Focus on behaviors and attitudes.

This planner encourages students to apply planning and study strategies to their classes while examining their own attitudes and those of peers, which directly impact their own approach.

Exactly what educators need to better engage.

Consider the ugo365™ an intermediary between students and educators who want students to succeed on their own terms. ugo365™ allows a space for students to do that.

Supported with educator tools.

To ensure our products are easy to use and provide the most impact possible, we provide extra resources that help educators integrate the program into the classroom. Learn more about our product support in the Online section above.

The included educator support pieces elevate the program's effectiveness without adding more work for busy teachers. That is why we created ugo365.schoolspecialty.com, a password-protected website where educators can download support pieces.

• Lesson plans: These 11 ready-made lesson plans reinforce concepts introduced in the ugo365™ planner. Extension activities are also included to help take specific lessons further.
• PDFs for use on interactive whiteboards: Download a reusable onTRAC® calendar PDF that helps educators model planner use and teach the onTRAC® planning system. Go one step further and order the full planner PDF to model the student planner in its entirety.
• Family newsletters: Send these already prepared newsletters to encourage home-to-school communication and address the same topics found in the ugo365™ planners.
• Quarterly educator newsletters: These newsletters provide information and tips to administrators and educators about the resources available and how to utilize them effectively. Delivered four times per year: August, October, January and March.

All this support adds additional value and helps educators get the most from the ugo365™ planner program.

To create the revolutionary content for the ugo365™ planner, we teamed with the creative minds at a non-profit, peace-making organization dedicated to the artistic process as a force for individual and community transformation.

Chris Henrikson

The founder and Executive Director of Street Poets Inc., Chris Henrikson has more than 15 years of experience teaching poetry and mentoring at-risk youth and young adults within and around the Los Angeles County educational and juvenile justice system. Originally from Boston, Chris is a graduate of Duke University (B.A. English 1989) and the American Film Institute (M.F.A. Screenwriting 1993). He worked as an arts journalist in New York City and a screenwriter in Hollywood before a volunteer teaching stint in a Los Angeles County juvenile detention camp back in 1995 inspired him to create Street Poets. In recent years, his efforts to initiate young people into lives full of meaning, passion, and purpose have led him into the study and practice of the indigenous healing traditions of Africa and the Americas.

Watch the video

Chris discusses the ugo365™ collaborative vision and development process.

Matt Sawaya

Matt (a.k.a. Matre) is an accomplished recording/performing artist with a focus on social justice, personal, and cultural healing (Matre has recorded five studio albums and performs internationally). As a teaching artist with Street Poets Inc., he works primarily with youth in schools and juvenile detention facilities throughout the Los Angeles area. He earned a bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on "Sacred Art" from U.C. Berkeley and continues to explore the power of the creative process, and of hip hop culture, in supporting individual and collective growth and wellness. He has also taught English as a Second Language to adults; and is a member of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation, a mentoring and community-building organization.

For more information about Matre and to hear his music visit www.mcmatre.com.

Chirag Menon

Chirag (a.k.a Chee Malabar) is a recording/performing artist, writer, and educator. He has recorded and released five albums with hip hop groups Himalayan Project and Oblique Brown. He continues to perform his music and speak at universities and colleges around issues of American identity and race. He was featured in the landmark South Asian-American documentary 'Brown Like Dat', and his lyrics and work are the subject of a forthcoming book 'Hip Hop Desi's and a Global Race Consciousness' by Northwestern University professor Nitasha Sharma. Chirag is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University (B.A. Political Science) and holds an M.F.A. in Fiction from Brooklyn College. He currently serves as a Teaching Artist with Street Poets Inc., and is working on a new album along with a debut novel.

For more information about his music and work, visit www.himalayanproject.com.

Additional content: Where U From (Roots) written by Keith Jones

School Specialty Planning & Student Development initiated product pilots with 1,500 students in more than 44 classrooms and programs in the 09/10 academic year. Pilot groups were provided with three-month samples of the ugo365™ student planner. Participating classrooms were all high school level, however, the schools' settings varied. Pilot schools were chosen from across the United States in urban, suburban and rural settings. The ugo365™ planner was used across schools in classes for leadership, AVID, freshman academy, and with at-risk students and in alternative school settings.