A taste of the Inwood Academy's focus on community-focused leadership, character development, and college preparedness.
We began our first school year in 2010, a small group of eager teachers, myself included, housed in a trailer outside a local public school. We were entrusted with 125 fifth graders, charged with the task of supporting their educational growth by meeting their specific learning needs. This first group of children will be entering […]
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One of our goals at Inwood Academy is to ensure our high school graduates are young men and women of good character, with outstanding leadership ability. Sometimes my job is easy because I believe you can be a natural leader and my tenth grade student Leydiann is one such student. Manhattan Borough President Gale A. […]
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While a silent debate might sound like an oxymoron it was a tool that I used to encourage my students to come up with ways to reduce waste in their daily lives. From thoughts on unplugging unused electronics, to changing construction materials, the sixth graders made some very viable suggestions to reduce energy costs. When […]
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Parents, families, students, faculty, administration and friends of Inwood Academy celebrated scholars at the 2016 National Junior Honor Society Induction Ceremony. The National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) recognizes the highest achieving students. More than just an honor roll, NJHS welcomes students who have demonstrated excellence in the areas of Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Citizenship and Character. […]
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It’s amazing when young scientists come together! The Inwood Academy Middle School science fair became far more than was expected. The sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students that were featured in the 2016 Science Fair represented an elite group of young scientists at the school. As the projects came in, the science teachers couldn’t help […]
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Fabian and Sebastian are 10th grade students at Inwood Academy. This is their blog post about what they’ve been doing outside of school and a huge honor they recently received. Read on. Ever since we were young children we have dreamed of going to a famous dance school and training to be professional dancers. We want to […]
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One of my goals is to ensure the school engages all students and to help us achieve this we use personalized learning strategies and integrating technology into the classroom. The result, Inwood Academy is creating learners—children who are engaged and thriving in a learning environment. Another means to achieving my goal is to partner with […]
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Inwood Academy scholars had the privilege of participating in a coding event this month—CS50 Hackathon NYC. We were just one of nine schools invited to participate in this Microsoft sponsored event. The hackathon was more than a room filled with free t-shirts, bags, candy, and pizza. It was a collaborative computer science learning environment where […]
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It was an honor and a privilege to welcome medical students from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons to my fifth grade math class. As a teacher, I liked how the Young Doctors were very organized and they set up four stations for small groups to rotate through—circulatory and digestive systems, skeletal, and nerves […]
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10 Questions in 5 Minutes is our new blog series in which staff members are interviewed. The first post in the series is with our new High School Principal in Residence Stacy Woodard. You can read more about her on our Leadership page. 1. What’s your favorite book? My favorite book is by T.D. Jakes […]
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Are you interested in becoming a lawyer, a politician or just like to have the last word with your friends, parents and teachers? That’s what we asked our students last month and within three weeks Inwood Academy Middle School had its first debate team and were off to its first tournament. The debate team is […]
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Welcome to Part 2 of the interview with Ms. Valerie Hoekstra, Inwood Academy’s Middle School Director. See Part 1 here. Q. Based on your five years of experience at Inwood Academy, are you making any major changes at the middle school? We spent a lot of time focusing on academics and trying to make it rigorous, […]
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Valerie Hoekstra has led the school’s special education and academic intervention services since Inwood Academy launched in 2010 and was named its Middle School Director in June 2015. She was one of the authors for the original Charter School Application in 2009, outlining how the school would serve students with special needs. For the past five […]
+ Read MoreWelcome new families and welcome back returning families. School officially began this week for all students. The start of a new school year is such an exciting time to meet new people, reconnect with friends, and reflect on your goals for the coming year. One goal that I am most happy to share with you […]
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I hope you enjoyed your summer and had an opportunity to spend extra time with your family and friends. This is the first of many times I hope to connect with you throughout the course of the year on this blog. Today, I want to introduce two new staff members and announce new roles for […]
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Each year, hundreds of kids from Inwood Academy are home during the summer due to lack of quality and affordable summer camp programming in our community. We want to give our kids an awesome summer camp experience this year. To raise funds for our camp, we’ve created an easy way for you to contribute and […]
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Years ago in a professional setting, a respected educator asked a group of teachers a simple question: “What do you teach?” The group of skeptical middle school educators answered with different responses that varied from subjects to grades. At the end of the process, the facilitator reminded us that none of the things we mentioned, […]
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Often I approach the vital decisions that come with being a principal from a few different perspectives. The roles of principal, teacher, dad, and anxiety sufferer often overwhelm my mind when a decision is to be made. When discussing homework I think about what research says, what it was like to assign and grade as […]
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It was a great season to be a member of Inwood Academy’s Trailblazers. The new school year brought about exciting changes to our programming along with bringing together many familiar faces while welcoming new ones. As we completed the first season our third year of athletic programming at IAL, we couldn’t be more pleased with […]
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During Inwood Academy for Leadership’s first two months of Season of Service, students, families, and staff helped many of its neighbors most in need. This new IAL program also helps us reinforce a simple message to our students: that we all can be leaders by making a difference. In November, we partnered with over twenty […]
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Good teachers understand that interactive technology, the kind that lets kids explore and create, significantly improves students’ academic performance, and helps to close the achievement gap, especially for students most at risk of low achievement. It prepares students for the types of jobs they’ll have in a complex technological, knowledge based economy. These good teachers […]
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I am always in search of inspirational stories and videos to share with my kids because they are inquisitive, full of creative ideas, and interested in new technology. If you’re in a similar situation, TED Talks (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a great source for inspirational videos with some of the most fascinating people in the […]
+ Read MoreExcerpt from the charter renewal hearing on September 30, 2014 My name is Bryan Davis and my son Austin attended Inwood Academy for Leadership for the past 4 years. For five years I served as the Vice President of Community Education Council District 6 (CEC6). I can say that during my time on the CEC I […]
+ Read MoreInwood Academy for Leadership’s Middle School building has experienced some serious change from July to now. Below are some links to pictures that will take you through the journey of its renovation. Inwood Middle Transformation Pictures: July – https://flic.kr/s/aHsk34ZTyB August – https://flic.kr/s/aHsk3RYUzn September- https://flic.kr/s/aHsk3SggHy Pictures taken by Elizabeth Castro
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