Seminars Offered By The Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, 1978-1991

1978

Guidelines for Writing a Curriculum Unit, 1991

The Institute attaches great importance to the process for writing curriculum units, which includes a prospectus and two drafts before submission of a completed unit. These steps for writing a unit provide you the opportunity to develop your ideas with regard to the comments of your seminar leader and other school teachers, who are the main audience for whom you are writing. Because of the importance of the writing process and the care with which the Institute schedule has been designed, it is essential that Fellows meet all deadlines. Units which have not been prepared in accordance with this process cannot be accepted.

The prospectus, each draft and the completed unit should be submitted to your seminar leader by the following dates. Individual assistance with technical questions about the preparation of curriculum units consistent with these Guidelines is available by advance appointment with an Institute Coordinator in the seminar.

Unit Topic and Reading List: due April 9

Prospectus: due April 23

First Draft: due May 28

Second Draft: due July 2

Completed Unit: due July 31

The Elements of a Curriculum Unit

1. objectives-a clear statement of what the unit seeks to achieve;
2. strategies-a unified, coherent teaching plan for those objectives;
3. classroom activities-three or more detailed examples of actual teaching methods or lesson plans;
4. resources-three annotated lists of materials you have reviewed: a bibliography for teachers, a reading list for students, and a list of materials for classroom use. You should explain in the prose section of the unit how these resources relate to your objectives, particularly if a main purpose of your unit is to develop new classroom materials such as sets of slides.

You may present the first three elements in a unified essay or in separate sections. Whatever organization you devise, the discussion of objectives and strategies must be in prose, and must constitute at least two-thirds of your completed unit. Outlines, lists, and worksheets, when included, belong in the section devoted to classroom activities. In selecting examples of classroom activities, you should present methods you have developed, rather than those gleaned from other sources. Considered together, Remember that the main audience for your unit is other teachers. The presentation of work-in-progress in Institute seminars will provide you with responses from one group of teachers-ideas you can use in revising your unit to make it as widely useful as possible.

Use of Copyrighted Materials

The Completed Unit

Upon successful completion of the seminar and the unit, and after the Institute has received your evaluation, Fellows who are in good standing will be mailed an honorarium of $1000 and may renew their University identification and library cards for the balance of a year. Fellows should not expect these checks to be mailed before August 15. They may also petition for certification of their course of study. Any Fellow who intends to seek for Institute studies to be recognized for credit in a degree program is advised to consult in advance with the dean of the institution where he or she is enrolled.

Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute Support Awarded 1977-1991

Local Corporate Contributors

The Authors

Bill Derry teaches with Drama and K-5 curricula for New Haven's Comprehensive Arts Program. He has been for two years an Institute Fellow and the Institute Contact for the Comprehensive Arts Program.

Benjamin A. Gorman teaches Social Studies at Fair Haven Middle School. He has been an Institute Fellow for thirteen years and was an Institute Coordinator for twelve years (1978-1990). He served as the Institute's teacher representative to the College Board Models Program for School-College Collaboration.

Peter Neal Herndon teaches ninth-, tenth-, and twelfth grade History at the Cooperative High School. He has been an Institute Fellow for nine years, an Institute Representative for three years, and an Institute Coordinator for one year (1988-1989).

James Francis Langan teaches Mathematics and Computer Programming to grades nine through twelve at Sound School. He has been an Institute Fellow for eight years, an Institute Coordinator for four years (1980-1981; 1985-1988), and a School Contact for three years.

Jane K. Marshall teaches eleventh- and twelfth-grade English at the Cooperative High School. She has been an Institute Fellow for eleven years and was an Institute Coordinator for five years (1982 1987). In 1990 she prepared a manuscript for a book on Exploring Literature and History Through the Visual Arts based on six curriculum units she developed through the Institute.

Norine Polio is a Curriculum/Staff Developer at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School. She was an Institute Fellow for five years, an Institute Representative for one year, and an Institute Coordinator for two years (1984-1986). While on a sabbatical from teaching, she coordinated arrangements for the 1986 Institute conference on "Strengthening Teaching through Collaboration."

Hermine Smikle teaches Mathematics at Roberto Clemente Middle School. She has been an Institute Fellow for three years and was an Institute Representative for one year.

Phyllis Taylor taught English at Sound School and was an Institute Fellow for four years, until her death in 1985.

Lois Van Wagner is a Science teacher at East Rock School. She has been an Institute Fellow for three years, an Institute Representative for three years, and a Coordinator for one year (1991).

James R. Vivian has been Director of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute since its inception in 1977.

Thomas R. Whitaker is Frederick W. Hilles Professor of English, Professor of Theater Studies, and a member of the University Advisory Council on the Teachers Institute. He has led nine Institute seminars: "Language and Writing" (1979), "Drama" (1980 and 1983), "American Musical Theater" (1985), "The Process of Writing" (1986), "Writing About American Culture" (1987), "Writing About American Fiction" (1988), "Contemporary American Drama: Scripts and Performance" (1990), and "Recent American Poetry: Expanding the Canon" (1991).

Anthony B. Wight teaches Mathematics, Physics, and General Science at High School in the Community. He has been an Institute Fellow for two years and was an Institute Representative for one year.

Karen Wolff teaches History at High School in the Community. She has been an Institute Fellow for five years and was a Coordinator for four years (1980-1984).