New Haven Independent

On Tuesday evening, January 15, 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 2008 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 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 well-qualified educators.

The teacher Representatives have recommended the Institute offer the following six seminars in 2008:
• “Controlling War by Law: Averting War, Adjudicating Conflicts between National Security and Civil Liberties during War, and Pursuing Accountability and/or Reconciliation after War,” led by Robert A. Burt, Alexander M. Bickel Professor of Law
• “Storytelling: Fictional Narratives, Imaginary People, and the Reader’s Real Life,” led by Jill Campbell, Professor of English
• “Pride of Place: New Haven History through Its Art and Material Culture,” led by Edward S. Cooke Jr., Charles F. Montgomery Professor of American Decorative Arts
• “Representations of Democracy in Literature, History and Film,” led by Annabel Patterson, Sterling Professor of English Emerita
• “Forces of Nature: Using Earth and Planetary Science for Teaching Physical Science,” led by David Bercovici, Professor of Geophysics
• “Depicting and Analyzing Data: Enriching Science and Math Curricula through Graphical Displays and Mapping,” led by William B. Stewart, Associate Professor of Anatomy (Surgery)

The Open House comprised both prospective first-time and returning Fellows. Representatives discussed their work in planning seminars responding to teachers’, and their students’, needs and interests. They talked about the rewards and responsibilities of participating as a Fellow. The Yale faculty members leading the seminars made brief presentations, followed by informal questions and conversation.

Seminar descriptions and applications are available from the Institute’s teacher Representatives and Contacts in the schools. Printed copies of the Institute’s 2008 brochure (including the schedule) are also available in schools. An online version appears here.

Applications, and completed principal review forms, are due to the Representatives by 12:00 noon on January 29. Seminars begin on March 4. The Institute encourages interested teachers to talk with their school colleagues who are Representatives and Contacts.

Some 1600 curriculum units that Fellows, in collaboration with Yale faculty members, have written for New Haven students since 1978 are available here. 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.