School Profile: Manhattan School for Children
Teachers and students at Manhattan School for Children (MSC) on the Upper West Side have nearly completed their first school year as part of the iZone. Being a part of both iZone360 and iLearnNYC means the school has adopted online and blended learning as a key strategy in developing their student-centered school model.
Blended learning not only creates a learning environment in MSC’s classes that allows students to learn inside & outside the classroom but it also plays an integral part in teacher-to-teacher collaboration, including preparing for the upcoming year. Teachers have immediate access to each student’s progress so they are better prepared in knowing how well students’ knowledge and skills have developed. 8th grade teachers can identify which concepts 7th grade students had difficulty grasping based on the information stored in the iLearnNYC platform (an online tool that houses content and resources for courses, tracks student progress, includes a virtual interaction tool for students and teachers and allows teachers to create and store their own online lessons). By the end of the year, MSC teachers know exactly how to adjust the learning environment and lesson plans for incoming students.
Ms. Lowenstein states “it gives you a sense of community in a different way, because it enhances and extends.” Collaboration among teachers doesn’t stop when meetings end, but continue beyond those set times and places. “iLearnNYC has made it that everybody is a public learner – teachers, parents, students – it’s kind of pushed us, in our curricular journey,” notes Ms. Lowenstein. Teachers have become stronger resources for each other by increasing their accessibly to share and reflect on lessons and assessments through the iLearnNYC platform.
As part of their school-wide redesign, MSC is expanding these strategies and tools to 6th grade students for the 2012-2013 school year.