A celebratory gathering in Sterling Memorial Library on Sept. 30 showcased the work of this year's fellows in the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, a partnership between Yale University and New Haven Public Schools to strengthen teaching and learning in New Haven's public schools.
This year, 21 local K-12 educators completed the five-month program, attending seminars led by Yale faculty and developing new curriculum units for their own classrooms.
The celebration also offered the fellows a chance to share their work with their peers, family, and friends.
Founded in 1978, the institute each year offers local teachers the chance to enrich their knowledge on a topic, develop new teaching strategies, and forge collegial bonds with Yale faculty and other teachers.
This year, teachers applied in January for acceptance into one of two seminars: "History, Science, and Racism: The Long Shadow of Eugenics," led by Daniel HoSang, professor of American studies in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS); and "Objects, Material Culture, and Empire: Making Russia," led by Molly Brunson, associate professor of Slavic languages and literatures in the FAS.
In addition to weekly seminar meetings, fellows attended lectures and visited the university's museums and galleries. They became members of the Yale community - receiving a university ID card and borrowing access to university libraries. These resources all informed their development of a curriculum unit, shaped by their own expertise and teaching needs and supported through workshops and faculty feedback. Fellows will now use these curriculum units in their own classrooms and make them available to other New Haven teachers.
