Jack Hart
Pictured: New Haven teachers who are prospective Institute Fellows in 2010.
New Haven Public School teachers and Institute seminar leaders — members of the Yale faculty — gathered Tuesday to discuss the program generally and this year’s seminars specifically, including two each in the humanities and the sciences.
The following write-up was contributed by the program’s Josiah Brown:
Teachers Institute Previews 2010 Seminars
On Tuesday evening, January 12, the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute held an Open House for New Haven Public School teachers seeking to learn more about this program and its 2010 seminar offerings.
The Institute’s teacher leadership, including school representatives and contacts from across the district, hosted the event at Yale’s Rosenfeld Hall for their colleagues from New Haven’s elementary, middle, and high schools.
The Institute is an educational partnership between Yale University and the New Haven Public Schools designed to strengthen teaching and learning in local schools and, by example and direct assistance, in high-need schools around the country. Through the Institute, Yale faculty members and school teachers work together in a collegial relationship. Established in 1978, the Institute is also an interschool and interdisciplinary forum for teachers to collaborate on new curricula. Each participating teacher becomes an Institute Fellow and prepares a curriculum unit to be taught the following year. Teachers have primary responsibility for identifying the subjects the Institute addresses. The partnership is a way to support the district’s continuing effort to attract, develop, and retain additional effective educators in a teaching force of more than 1000 individuals.
In 2010 the Institute is offering four seminars to participating New Haven Public School teachers:
- • Interdisciplinary Approaches to Consumer Culture,” led by Jean-Christophe Agnew, Professor of American Studies and of History• The Art of Reading People: Character, Expression, Interpretation,” led by Jill Campbell, Professor of English• Geomicrobiology: Life on the Rocks,” led by Ruth E. Blake, Professor of Geology and Geophysics• Renewable Energy,” led by Gary W. Brudvig, Eugene Higgins Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry
Pictured: Ruth E. Blake, Professor of Geology and Geophysics, describing the seminar that she will be leading on “Geomicrobiology: Life on the Rocks.”
The Open House reviewed representatives’ work in planning seminars that respond to the expressed needs of teachers, and of their students, in New Haven. Colleagues talked about the rewards and responsibilities of participating as a Fellow. The Yale faculty members leading the seminars each made brief presentations, followed by informal questions and discussion.
Seminar descriptions and applications are available from the Institute’s teacher Representatives and Contacts in the schools. Printed copies of the Institute’s 2010 brochure (including the schedule) are also available in schools.
Applications, and completed principal review forms, are due to the Representatives by 12:00 noon on January 26. Seminars begin on March 2. The Institute encourages interested teachers to speak with their school colleagues who are Representatives and Contacts.
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Some 1700 curriculum units that Fellows, in collaboration with Yale faculty members, have written for New Haven students since 1978 are available online. These materials address subjects from history, literature, art, language, reading and writing instruction to math, science, and health. All members of the community are invited to use these curricular resources for educational, non-commercial purposes.
An October 2009 news release issued jointly with the district addressed the curriculum units Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute Fellows wrote in 2009, in the context of a recent evaluation report about the Teachers Institute approach.
In 2009, there were some 20 different New Haven public schools represented among the Fellows. Thirteen (13) schools had at least two 2009 Fellows. Seven (7) schools had at least three 2009 Fellows, including:
- • Cooperative Arts and Humanities (6) • Betsy Ross (5) • Career (4) • Davis Street (3) • Metropolitan Business (3) • Nathan Hale (3) • New Haven Academy (3)
Based on the schools whose teachers attended the Open House on January 12, it is likely that a similar range of colleagues from across the New Haven Public Schools will be participating in the Institute in 2010. Representatives look forward to working with these colleagues on their applications in advance of the January 26 deadline.