Calling you out!

Jeff!

Find a minute and post, will you! Your last post was at the beginning of August! I'm starting to feel like I'm sitting by the phone, waiting for a call.

Here is my FOURTH post since your last. I've been asked to write a small piece in the network newsletter. I've decided to call it "iCorner." Kinda corny, I know, but it suites me. Here's the latest edition:

iCorner

Hello Bridges of Learning!

I’m Al, the network’s new Innovation Coach, and I’ll be stopping by the newsletter every once in a while to give you a small look into Bridges for Learning’s iZone work.

What is the iZone? Great question, and one that I’m asked often, so don’t feel alone in the asking. iZone is a project housed in the Office of Innovation at Tweed whose mission is to facilitate the design and implementation of innovative instructional practices in schools. iZone engages school communities (on a variety of levels) to develop or engage new systems, practices, schedules, assessments, uses of technology (or any other part of the learning process) with the big goal of personalizing learning for New York City kids.

There are three initiatives within iZone and communicating what it means to be an “iZone School” can get kind of funky. You see, the three initiatives are different and distinct, yet schools working within them all call themselves “iZone Schools.” Here are the three:

iZone360 – this is the initiative that six schools in our network are involved in (Global Tech Prep, IS289, School of the Future, Tompkins Square Middle School, The Young Women’s Leadership School of Astoria, and West Side Collaborative). iZone360 works with schools to develop and initiate their own innovative systems and practices. Each of our schools, with the help of an external design partner, has developed a set of initiatives aimed at personalizing learning. I’ll be writing about how some of those initiatives are going in future. Check back to this space in the newsletter.

iLearnNYC – this initiative is product driven. iLearn’s goal is to help schools implement NYC’s customized online learning platform, Desire2Learn (D2L). D2L allows teachers to create online learning courses that guide students through their own development of academic skills and content knowledge. Theses course can be used for a variety of purposes (from building background knowledge in middle school, to credit recovery in or Advanced Placement courses high school). D2L comes with a plethora of resources and, when completely built out, will offer teachers the ability to create any kind of middle or high school course.

InnovateNYC – this initiative is project driven. Innovate develops projects within the DoE that pilot, evaluate and scale instructional innovations. The School of One project is the best known example of Innovate’s work.

For the official line on each of the initiatives, click here to visit the iZone’s space on the NYCDoE websites.

Any of this sound interesting? Drop me a line at asylvia@schools.nyc.gov. As you may know, we’ll be looking for new schools to join the iZone later this year. Stay tuned (in future newletters) for more about what’s happening in each of our BfL iZone schools.

Peace,
Al