Yale National Initiative®

The Pittsburgh Teachers Institute 2004 program of eight seminars, guided by faculty members from Carnegie Mellon University and Chatham College, for Pittsburgh Public School teachers began holding its first weekly meetings in February. The two-hour meetings run through the first week of June, concluding with the successful submission of a curriculum unit by each participant in the seminars in late July.

This year's program includes three seminars in which preference for admission was given to teachers of specific grades or courses and five seminars open to teachers of all grades and courses. Teachers of mathematics, American history, and middle and high school science had priority for admission to, respectively, "The Great Problems of Mathematics," "A Mobile People: American Immigration and Migration, 1750-1900," and "Everything You Wanted to Know about the Universe...but Were Afraid to Ask! (Cosmology)." One of the seminars' leaders, Richard Holman, Ph.D., a professor from the Carnegie Mellon Department of Physics, is leading a sixth Teachers Institute seminar. He has led a seminar every year since the Institute's founding.

The seminars open to all teachers include "Healthy Minds/Healthy Bodies," "Introduction to Folktales," "Pittsburgh Parks and Landmarks," "Writing, Its Role in Literacy, K-8 (Rendering the Visible in Writing)," and "The Essentials of African Culture." Among the seminar leaders, Karen Goldman, who is leading her fourth seminar, on folktales, is in the Modern Languages Department at Chatham College where she teaches courses in Spanish and French and is this year serving as faculty chair of the college's global focus program.

The topics for seminars were determined by teacher Representatives, leaders of the Institute drawn from public schools throughout Pittsburgh, and in conjunction with the Executive Director for Instructional Support Services and Instructional Specialists from the Pittsburgh Public Schools for seminars with limited enrollment. Teacher Representatives and teachers who served as seminar Coordinators last year comprised an admissions committee to review the applications to participate in the seminars, to determine applicants' eligibility and to make recommendations concerning the composition of each seminar. This year, 94 teachers from schools throughout Pittsburgh are participating in the seminars.

The Pittsburgh Teachers Institute is a member of the League of Teachers Institutes within the Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools. It was established during the National Demonstration Project of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. Building on the success of the Demonstration Project, the Initiative seeks to establish Teachers Institutes in states around the country.