Murray Hill Teacher Recognized For Work Teaching English

MURRAY HILL, NY — A Murray Hill teacher has been recognized by the New York Daily News for her work teaching English to non-native speakers.

The newspaper awarded English teacher Lauren McCoy a Hometown Heroes in Education Award to recognize her work.

McCoy, a teacher at Manhattan Academy for Arts and Language, taught the school's first Advanced Placement course in English this year. The high school, which has about 300 students enrolled, is focused on teaching English language learners. It has a transitional bilingual education program for native Spanish speakers. Nearly 73 percent of students at the school, located at 111 E 33rd St., were English language learners this year, according to city data. (Want more local news? Subscribe here for free breaking news alerts, features and community updates from Patch.)

McCoy, who is teaching largely non-native English speakers, helped launched the school's first Advanced Placement English course last year.

"I was teaching classes to prepare students for the English regents but then realized we wanted to aim higher than that and make them college and career ready," McCoy, 28, told the Daily News. "I didn’t make the readings easier, but gave them the tools they needed to understand the readings."

The school was heralded by the city's education department last year for being one of 63 schools to offer additional AP courses in 2016. As part of the city's AP for All initiative, the education department is working to expand access to the more-rigorous AP courses to more students.

Lead image via Shutterstock.