Public School Teachers Named Yale National Fellows

Leading Establishment of New Teachers Institutes

The seminar on "Shakespeare and Human Character," July 2009. (Left to right: seminar leader Paul H. Fry and National Fellow Aleco Julius.)

Sixty-two public school teachers from thirteen school districts in nine communities in eight states have been chosen to participate in national seminars and an Intensive Session as part of the Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools®.

Forty of the teachers, named Yale National Fellows, are from five communities that are planning or exploring the establishment of a new Teachers Institute: Chicago, IL; DeKalb County, GA; New Castle County, DE; Richmond, VA; and San Francisco, CA. Other National Fellows are from Teachers Institutes that are members of the League of Teachers Institutes® located in Charlotte, NC; New Haven, CT; Philadelphia, PA; and Pittsburgh, PA.

The twin purposes of the national seminars are to provide public school teachers further preparation in their subjects and a first-hand acquaintance with the Teachers Institute approach to high-quality professional development. This increases their leadership in a League Teachers Institute or prepares them to lead the establishment of a new Teachers Institute. Each participating teacher writes a curriculum unit to teach his or her students what they learn in seminars and to share with teachers in their school district and, over the Internet, with other teachers internationally.

The seminars, which begin on May 7 and conclude in mid-August, include "Poems about Works of Art, Featuring African American, Hispanic, and Women Writers," led by Paul H. Fry, William Lampson Professor of English; "Persuasion in Democratic Politics," led by Bryan Garsten, Professor of Political Science; "Creating Lives: An Introduction to Biography," led by Langdon L. Hammer, Professor of English and of American Studies; "The Mathematics of Wallpaper," led by Roger E. Howe, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Mathematics; "Nanotechnology and Human Health," led by W. Mark Saltzman, Goizueta Foundation Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering; and "Evolutionary Medicine," led by Paul E. Turner, Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Participants in the two-week Intensive Session in July, who live on the Yale campus, will include not only the Yale National Fellows but also directors of Teachers Institutes and college and university faculty members who have led or may lead local Teachers Institute seminars. Between July 5 and 16 Fellows will attend daily seminar meetings and will confer individually with their seminar leaders.

One National Fellow will serve as the Coordinator of each seminar. The Coordinators are Carol P. Boynton of New Haven, Jeffrey C. Joyce of Charlotte, Kristen Kurzawski of Pittsburgh, Eric J. Laurenson of Pittsburgh, Samuel A. Reed, III of Philadelphia, and Connie S. Wood of Charlotte.

The Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools (online at www.teachers.yale.edu) is a long-term endeavor to establish exemplary Teachers Institutes in under-served school districts in states throughout the country. The League of Teachers Institutes is an alliance that advances their work locally and nationally. Teachers Institutes are educational partnerships between universities and school districts designed to strengthen teaching and learning in a community’s public schools. Evaluations have shown that the Institute approach enhances teacher quality in the ways known to improve student achievement and encourages participants to remain in teaching in high-need schools.