Last Updated on by
The New York City Writing Project is thrilled to announce that one of its partner schools, the International Community High School (ICHS) in the Bronx, has been awarded a competitive LRNG Grant from Educator Innovator, NWP, the MacArthur Foundation and John Legend’s Show Me Campaign. This was one of fourteen proposals from around the country accepted in the LRNG Grant’s inaugural year.
This project will bring a group of fifteen immigrant teens together with teachers and New York City Writing Project teacher consultants to create an online community called International Community Voices. The online space will be housed on YouthVoices.net and will be used to share students’ interest-driven projects aimed at building their English Language capacity and academic skills. In the two phases of the project, educators will develop tasks for students to complete that combine academic and interest-driven learning, and host an after-school program for 15 students of varying ages and levels of literacy to create multimedia projects, share them, and earn badges. Students will interact collaboratively with leaders and each other as peers and mentors while having the time to strengthen language development and academic learning while engaging in meaningful play. The grant proposal was co-authored by Jane Higgins, Nick Deming, JoAnn DiLauro, James Nine, Glencora Roberts, Paul Allison, and Renee Ehle and the funding totals $20,000.
“We have so much genius in our teachers today and the LRNG partners are excited to celebrate and support it,” stated Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, Executive Director of NWP. “Individually, the teacher-led projects were chosen because of the remarkable vision to challenge everyday norms of teaching and learning. Among the recipients are dedicated teams of teachers seeking to engage students through creative application and use of digital media and technology; to reconfigure and rethink the space where students think and learn; and to help students thrive as part of an inclusive school community.”
Singer/songwriter and LRNG partner John Legend said, “One of the most consistent things we hear from teachers across the nation is that teachers are ready and even eager to lead the way in creating a more powerful and equitable education system. Through LRNG, I hope to support teachers in identifying and addressing the biggest challenges they face in their classrooms. Our teachers will create our classrooms of the future—we need to lift up their voices and invest in them and their ideas.”
Other recipients of the award are as follow:
- Digital Arts/Media Production: Kenilworth Junior High School, Petaluma, CA
- Passion Project: Liberty Elementary School, Riverside, CA
- Supporting Game Design for Students: Critical Design and Gaming School, Los Angeles, CA
- We, Too, Are Connecticut: Staples High School, Joel Barlow High School, Central High School, Bassick High School, Darien High School, Brien McMahon High School, Fairfield, CT
- Tilden Talks: Tilden Career Community Academy, Chicago, IL
- Learning Studio with iPads: Eastern Heights Elementary School, St. Paul, MN
- Making Our Worlds: JM Alexander Middle School, Randolph Middle School, Albemarle Road Middle School, Kannapolis Middle School, Charlotte, NC
- Pop Up and Make: J.H. Rose High School, Greenville, NC
- After School and Summer STEM Labs: Aldo Leopold Charter School, Silver City, NM
- Maker Rings: The Birch School, Circleville, NY
- Connected Learning & Youth Participatory Action Research: School 127, Bronx, NY
- International Community Voices: International Community High School, Bronx, NY
- Linked Communities & STEM: Central Catholic High School, Pittsburgh, PA
- Real World Histories: Center for Inspired Teaching, Washington, DC.
Congratulations to the team at ICHS and to the other grant recipients around the country.
More information about LRNG and NWP can be found at educatorinnovator.org.
