- 4/19 Congratulations to students in our illustration and photography classes, whose work was displayed this past Tuesday, May 19 at the Urban Arts Festival in SoHo, run by Urban Arts Partnership. Their work was admired by students from around New York City and celebrities and artists such as Rosie Perez, Diane Neal from Law and Order, Tim Hamilton and Darrell McDaniels (DMC) from Run DMC. Pictures are here.
- 4/8 All Advisories went on trips to locations ranging from Wollman Rink in Central Park to the ESPN zone. To see pictures from Mr. Wise's Advisory trip to Columbia University, click here.
- 4/6 Kimba Wood, the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, met with Urban Action Academy students, taking their questions and showing them around her courtroom. To see pictures from the event, click here.
- 3/8 Mr. Wise took students out for our first "honors lunch." Students who received scores of 80 or above in all of their classes were treated to burgers and milkshakes at Stand, a restaurant in Manhattan. To see photos from the event, click here.
- 12/16 To see pictures and video from the Romeo and Juliet trial, click here
- 12/15- Thank
you to those who participated in Urban Action Academy's first annual
Staff vs. Students basketball game. The student team won by a final
score of 24-20.
- 11/20- Students from UAA went on trips to downtown Manhattan. They learned about The Gangs of New York, and they wanted to see the old "Five Points" area for themselves. To see photos from the trips, click here.
- 10/24- Students in Mr. Kleinbard's Community Activism elective class are doing great things in the Canarsie Community. To learn about their work, click here!
- 8/14- The Canarsie Courier published an article on Urban Action Academy. Check it out:
NEWS
New School Offers Different Kind of Education At Canarsie High School
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In a small second floor wing of Canarsie High School a new learning community will open at the start of the new school year. Along with the high school, which will be completely phased out in two years, the Urban Action Academy (UAA) is one of three schools that will be located in the 44-year-old building at 1600 Rockaway Parkway.
These schools are a product of the small schools movement the city's Department of Education has undertaken in recent years, explained UAA Principal Abe Correa.
"I strongly believe that school reform is not going to happen unless you have small schools," said Correa.
Correa teamed up with Daniel Wise, an English teacher and UAA's program director, to make the idea a reality. Each educator previously set up small, successful schools in The Bronx. The learning communities at the Canarsie campus will focus on collaborations between teachers, administration and students. The educators believe this can only be achieved in a small school environment.
Wise explained that small schools provide "a more personalized education," and can "grow with each class of new students."
The UAA will focus on college readiness. "It's important to parents that their children have the option of going to college and they're well equipped if they choose to," said Wise. "It's our expectation that every student will be accepted to college."
Earlier this year, Wise, Correa and the academy's staff went out into the community to recruit students at local pizza parlors, recruitment fairs and middle schools. They also distributed posters and flyers to prospective students as they traveled a portion of the L subway line. So far, Urban Action Academy has enrolled seventy students for its initial freshmen class and will add new grades over the next few years.
"It's a great day when schools are competing for kids and not the other way around," said Correa.
The UAA's goal, Correa pointed out, is to call attention to the many cultures in New York and, especially, in Canarsie, in a small, personalized high school focused on college readiness and community activism.
Correa explained that they wanted "to make use of what the city had to offer, not just to supplement, which is what other schools do, but enrich the education of the students."
Therefore, Urban Action Academy will offer a variety of electives, including classes in digital photography, illustration and design, in partnership with Urban Arts Partnership, a not-for-profit cultural organization. Sports will be part of the curriculum in conjunction with Canarsie High School. This will give students a chance to interact with their peers.
The schools' administrations will share facilities and security concerns. "Collaboration is going to drive this place in the right direction," Correa said.
Although the ten-person staff, including teachers and administrators, admits to being slightly nervous as opening day approaches, they also say they are very excited.
"As a first year teacher it is a dream come true to be able to start at the school from the ground up and have a real part in the development of a new great school," said Martin Kleinbard, math teacher.
Urban Action Academy will hold student orientation from August 25-27 with the first day of classes on September 2.
"We really want to establish those relationships (with students and parents) that make it clear that we care, we're competent and we're here to teach," said Correa.
Late last year, the DOE announced Canarsie High School would be phased out at the end of the 2007-08 school year. That news came five weeks after the secondary school received a grade of "F" in the first citywide schools progress reports and one year after the DOE announced two other local high schools — South Shore and Tilden — were being reorganized.
In addition to the UAA, the other two new schools at Canarsie High School are the High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media and the High School for Medical Professions.
- 6/6- We just found out that next year we will be receiving support from the Carmel Hill Fund Education Program. They bring The Accelerated Reader Program to schools and offer other fantastic programs such as SIG, the Summer Institute for the Gifted, through which students can spend the summer at some of the best colleges in the country.
- 6/3- We are teaming up with The Urban Arts Partnership to bring exciting project-based electives to our school
- 2/26- Urban Action Academy was featured in today's Daily News!!!!!!! The full article is below:
Students to Have A Say at New SchoolThis new high school will be of, by and for the students.
Urban Action Academy's creators plan to involve students in choosing after-school activities, field trips and even disciplining their fellow students.
"Students will have a voice," said Myrna Gomez, 15, a ninth-grader at Urban Assembly School for Design and Construction, who helped with planning the new school.
"If they want to build a club - a dancing club, a chess club, a singing club - they could actually ask for that help. That help will be given to them."
The new school, slated to open on the Canarsie High School campus next fall, is among eight in Brooklyn accepting applications through Feb. 26 from city eighth-graders.
"Typically, there's student government, and that's about it," said founder Abe Correa, who has been a teacher for 10 years. "The school's really building structures that are...more inclusive so that all students are involved in making decisions."
Correa has already put his ideas about student involvement into action - including former students in designing the activism-themed high school.
"I gave a lot of suggestions for the school," said Gomez.
"We came up with compromises," said Shaun Abreu, 17, a 10th-grader at George Washington High School in Washington Heights.
He noted the adults had taken his suggestions to expand the choices for school uniforms, based on his own experience with them. "I didn't like it. I wanted to feel free," he said.
The city Department of Education announced in December that Canarsie would begin closing next fall.
Since then, the city has announced plans for two other new small schools for the campus - including Borough President Marty Markowitz's High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media.
The lack of a track record means small schools often have trouble recruiting students for their first year. But Urban Action, which is slated to accept 108 ninth-graders for the fall, had help from its student planners on that, too.
"That's who parents and students want to hear from," said Daniel Wise, 25, a teacher at Middle School 328 in Washington Heights. "It's been incredibly helpful."
Correa has already inspired dedication among his former students. Both Gomez and Abreu, who has taken time off from his job at the New York Public Library in Morningside Heights to volunteer on the project, traveled twice this weekend all the way from the Bronx and the upper West Side to Canarsie to recruit students. "He was like a father to me. When I had questions about my personal or academic life, he was there for me," said Abreu.
- 2/24-This is the week to get your new school applications in! If you are having ANY trouble at all getting an application, filling it out, or handing it in, please contact us.
2/21- Urban Action Academy was featured in an article in local paper Flatbush Life
2/15- Our local newspaper, The Canarsie Courier, has printed two articles about the new schools in the neighborhood, including Urban Action Academy
- 2/12- The website www.insideschools.org has just posted a page for Urban Action Academy. Inside Schools is an excellent resource for students, parents, and teachers. They have school reviews and a blog with up to date news about New York City schools. Our page on the site is pretty basic at the moment, but it does have space for comments, and it will eventually have a review.