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Category Archives: News
CTI InsightsJuly 25, 2012
July 25, 2012 – 5:44 pm
CTI Recognized in New “Charlotte in 2012” Video
July 12, 2012 – 9:46 pm
Charlotte Teachers Institute was recently recognized by Social Venture Partners Charlotte as one of 10 finalists in its SEED 20 program, a competition for nonprofit social entrepreneur organizations with compelling ideas for creating positive social change in the Charlotte region. A new “Charlotte in 2012” Carolina Stories video about SEED 20 features several of its finalists including CTI Executive Director Scott Gartlan. CTI received a $2000 gift from Wells Fargo for making it to the top 10 of 82 organizations that applied to SEED 20.
Professor and Teacher are “Angry” about Math
June 22, 2012 – 7:19 pm
Tim Chartier, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Davidson College and CTI Seminar Leader, and Kristianna Luce, Math Teacher at North Mecklenburg HS and CTI Fellow in “Math Through Popular Culture, explore how the popular video game, Angry Birds, can be used to teach core math concepts. A recent article about their experiences was published in the Huffington Post.
CTI Fellow Named a 2012 MeckEd Teacher of Excellence!
May 22, 2012 – 6:46 pm
Michael Pillsbury (“Entertaining with Math”), a CTI Steering Committee Member and Local Fellow, has been named a 2012 MeckEd Teacher of Excellence! MeckEd was flooded with nominations from many principals seeking to recognize teachers who are extraordinary educators and leaders. MeckEd collaborated with CMS officials to narrow the pool of impressive nominees down to 40 teachers. Michael’s remarkable accomplishments and unyielding dedication to students shined throughout this highly selective process.
The first annual MeckEd Teachers of Excellence reception and awards program is Wednesday, May 16th from 6:00-7:30pm at the Mint Museum Uptown. Please click the link to purchase your tickets: http://www.mecked.org/index.php/events/teachers-of-excellence/
Congratulations, Michael!
2012 Fellows Orientation
April 27, 2012 – 8:47 am
Congratulations to the 104 CTI Fellows and 8 Seminar Leaders! This picture was taken on the patio of the UNC Charlotte Center City campus in Uptown Charlotte. Notice the Charlotte skyline in the background, including ImaginOn, Charlotte’s Children’s Library and Theatre.
(4/3/12) CTI Presents “Exploding Canons: Violins of Hope, Courage and Music”
April 3, 2012 – 9:49 pm
CHARLOTTE — April 3, 2012 — Charlotte Teachers Institute will present “Exploding Canons: Violins of Hope, Courage and Music” from 5:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Monday, April 16, at UNC Charlotte Center City. Local academic experts and music educators will reflect on 18 revealing violins and their extraordinary histories related to the Holocaust, considering their structure, their pasts and their power. The audience also will have the opportunity to view the instruments and meet the visionaries who brought the “Violins of Hope” exhibition to life.
Israeli master violinmaker Amnon Weinstein collected and carefully restored the violins and gathered their stories to give voice to the people they represent. Weinstein’s Violins of Hope were first played publicly in 2008 and are making their first journey to the Americas in this debut exhibition at UNC Charlotte Center City April 15-22.
This Exploding Canons series event offers something special for the Charlotte community, says CTI Executive Director Scott Gartlan. “This is an opportunity for us to share the work and passion of Amnon and Assi Weinstein,” Gartlan says. “We are incredibly fortunate to have four professors, two teachers and the Weinsteins in one place on one night to illuminate the beauty, mystery, and music of these violins.”
“Exploding Canons: Violins of Hope, Courage and Music” begins with a reception in the Center City Atrium at 5:15 pm., followed by the panel discussion from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in the Center City Auditorium. The Center City Gallery’s Violins of Hope exhibition will remain open until 9:00 pm.
Writer Assaela (Assi) Bielski Weinstein, wife of Amnon and daughter of one the Bielski partisans, will provide the welcome address. Featured topics and presenters for the Exploding Canons panel discussion include:
- “Strings + Wood = Violin?” – Dan Boye, professor of physics, Davidson College
- “Music: A Human Response” – Rebecca Engen, associate professor and director of music therapy, Queens University of Charlotte
- “The Violins of Hope in the Holocaust “ – Jay Grymes, associate professor of musicology, UNC Charlotte
Ken Lambla, dean of UNC Charlotte’s College of Arts + Architecture and a key organizer for “Violins of Hope” in Charlotte, will moderate the panel discussion. Musical performances on violin and cello by Jennifer Frisina, orchestra director at Randolph IB and Alexander Graham Middle Schools, and Leigh Marsh, orchestra director at South Mecklenburg High School and Quail Hollow Middle School, will complete the program.
CTI’s “Exploding Canons: Violins of Hope, Courage and Music” is sponsored by the John S. & James L. Knight Foundation and CTI’s educational partners: UNC Charlotte, Davidson College and CMS. Community partners include the Charlotte Symphony, Musical Minds and WFAE 90.7. The “Exploding Canons” speakers series leverages the partnerships among CTI to offer educators and the public collaborative educational opportunities that highlight university and college faculty, explore diverse topics in an interdisciplinary manner, and encourage community conversation.
This “Exploding Canons” event is free and open to the public. For more information and registration visit CTI’s website at www.charlotteteachers.org. CMS teachers and administrators from all grade levels and subject areas are especially encouraged to attend. Seats are limited and will be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.
UNC Charlotte Center City is located at 320 E. 9th Street, at the corner of Ninth and Brevard streets. Parking is available for $5 at the 707 N. Brevard Street parking lot at the intersection with 11th Street.
About the Charlotte Teachers Institute
The Charlotte Teachers Institute, a collaboration among Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Davidson College and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, cultivates content-knowledge, creativity, leadership skills and collaboration within and among Charlotte’s public school teachers through intensive, long-term seminars and a variety of educational events. CTI’s “Exploding Canons” events engage and educate CMS teachers and the community-at-large, as CTI and a variety of partnering organizations produce forums for college and university faculty and other educators to examine topics through multi-disciplinary lenses. CTI is made possible by generous support from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the Wells Fargo Foundation, the Belk Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
About “Violins of Hope”
“Violins of Hope” is presented in Charlotte by UNC Charlotte’s College of Arts + Architecture in partnership with about 20 cultural and academic partners in the region and through financial support from Wells Fargo Private Bank, the Leon Levine Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Blumenthal Foundation, the Arts & Science Council, Foundation for the Carolinas, the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte, US Airways, Lufthansa German Airlinesand other individual and community supporters. More information is on the Web at www.violinsofhopecharlotte.com. Watch “Violins of Hope” on YouTube.
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For more information, contact CTI Executive Director Scott Gartlan, 704-687-2026, info@charlotteteachers.org
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Public Relations media contact: LaTarzja Henry, 980-344-0009, l.henry@cms.k12.nc.us
Davidson College Public Relations media contact: Stacey Schmeidel, 704-894-2798, stschmeidel@davidson.edu
UNC Charlotte Public Relations media contact: Buffie Stephens, 704-687-5830, BuffieStephens@uncc.edu
(3/1/12) CTI Presents “3 UpTown: Tchaikovsky Tchats”
March 1, 2012 – 6:50 pm
CHARLOTTE – March 1, 2012 – Teachers and the public can engage with artistic leaders from three of Charlotte’s premier performing arts organizations at “3 UpTown: Tchaikovsky Tchats” on Thursday, March 15, at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, at a free event presented by Charlotte Teachers Institute.
The evening begins with a reception at 5:15 p.m., followed by an informal panel discussion at 6 p.m., and culminating with Opera Carolina’s “Student Night at the Opera” performance of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at 7 p.m.
The “3 UpTown: Tchaikovsky Tchats” panelists are James Meena, general director and principal conductor of Opera Carolina; Jacomo Bairos, associate conductor of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra; and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, president and artistic director of the North Carolina Dance Theatre. The three organizations are collaborating to produce Charlotte’s Ulysses Spring Arts Festival, with this year’s focus on the Russian composer Peter Illych Tchaikovsky. Each will present a variety of performances related to the iconic composer who worked in musical forms from symphony to opera to ballet. The panelists will reflect on their own relationships with Tchaikovsky’s work and provide a behind the scenes look at Opera Carolina’s performance of Eugene Onegin. read more
Social Venture Partners Charlotte Recognizes Charlotte Teachers Institute as Innovator in Inaugural SEED20 Class of 2012
January 16, 2012 – 10:11 pm
(1/13/12) CTI Unwraps Mysteries of Mummies
January 13, 2012 – 9:51 pm
CHARLOTTE – Jan. 13, 2012 – Charlotte Teachers Institute will help unwrap the secrets and complexities of mummies in its “Exploding Canons: Mysteries of Mummies of the World” at Discovery Place from 6-10 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26. This installment of CTI’s “Exploding Canons” discussion series focuses on Discovery Place’s highly popular Mummies of the World exhibition, the largest collection of real mummies and related artifacts ever assembled.
“Exploding Canons events offer new ways of looking at hot topics,” says CTI Executive Director Scott Gartlan. “We hear from a wide array of local academic experts whose varying expertise and focus areas help us see the issues through multidisciplinary lenses.”
The latest event brings new perspectives to Discovery Place’s Mummies of the World exhibition with a panel discussion including faculty members from UNC Charlotte, Davidson College, the Charlotte Museum of History and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The evening starts with a 6 p.m. reception, and guests can explore the exhibition afterward until 10 p.m.
“Exploding Canons: Mysteries of Mummies of the World” presentations and panelists include:
- The Controversies of Studying Human Remains — Helen Cho, associate professor of anthropology at Davidson College
- The Value of Archaeological Textiles in Mummification — Angelica Docog, executive director of the Charlotte Museum of History
- Costume Research and Cultural Findings: A High School Performance of ‘Aida’ — Barbara Wesselman, apparel and costume design teacher at Northwest School of the Arts.
- Mummies of London — Alan Rauch, professor of English at UNC Charlotte and editor of “Configurations: A Journal of Literature, Science, & Technology”
Douglas Coler, coordinator of in-house education for Discovery Place, will serve as moderator for the panel discussion.
Admission (including the exhibition visit) is free and open to the public, thanks to the event’s primary sponsor – the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Space is limited, so pre-registration at www.charlotteteachers.org by Jan. 22 is required. CMS teachers and administrators from all grade levels and subject areas are especially encouraged to attend, with CMS educators’ admission sponsored by the Arts & Science Council. Discovery Place is located at 301 N. Tryon St. in uptown Charlotte. Free parking is available for guests in the Discovery Place parking deck.
Mummies of the World is a major international touring exhibition including both naturally and intentionally preserved, human and animal mummies and related artifacts from cultures around the world, offering unprecedented insights into earlier civilizations.
“Exploding Canons: Mysteries of the Mummies of the World” is sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, with support from Discovery Place, Arts & Science Council and Charlotte Museum of History. “Exploding Canons” events leverage the partnerships among CTI to offer educators and the public collaborative educational opportunities that highlight university and college faculty, explore diverse topics in an interdisciplinary manner, and encourage community conversation.
About Charlotte Teachers Institute
CTI is an educational partnership among Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Davidson College and UNC Charlotte and is affiliated with the Yale National Initiative for Strengthening Teaching in Public Schools. CTI cultivates content-knowledge, creativity, leadership skills and collaboration within and among Charlotte’s public school teachers, offering intensive, semester-long professional development seminars for teachers as well as a variety of community programs. CTI’s “Exploding Canons” events engage and educate CMS teachers and the community-at-large, as CTI and a variety of partnering organizations produce forums for college and university faculty and other educators to examine topics through multi-disciplinary lenses. CTI is made possible by generous support from The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the Belk Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Wells Fargo Foundation, as well as its partnering institutions.
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For more information, contact CTI Executive Director Scott Gartlan, 704-687-2026, info@charlotteteachers.org
Congratulations to CTI’s 2011 Fellows!
January 11, 2012 – 2:02 pm
Congratulations to CTI’s dedicated, creative 2011 cohort of Fellows! After nearly nine months of thinking, writing, teaching and learning, the 2011 CTI Fellows and their seminar leaders (UNC Charlotte and Davidson College faculty members) enjoyed some fun and reflection at the annual Fellows’ Finale celebration Dec. 13 at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art.
As part of a growing end-of-year tradition, CTI Director Scott Gartlan shared the collective impact of these 82 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teachers by the numbers:
Together these teachers span all 13 grade levels from kindergarten through high school. They represent more than 15 subjects – from elementary teachers to biology teachers, world history, American history, and art history, language arts and costume design, Spanish, French, German, earth science, environmental science, physics, math and technology.
Together they have taught for 960 years with 762 of those years in CMS, and together they plan on teaching for an additional 1,163 years. They will teach over 10,000 students during the next 12 months. These 82 teachers plan to share the curriculum units they wrote for CTI with over 500 other CMS teachers, and 7,200 students will be taught the units Fellows created this year. Together they will have spent 2,730 hours attending CTI seminars at UNC Charlotte, Davidson College, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art and the Mint Museum. And together these teachers have written approximately 1,640 pages of new curriculum that will be accessible to teachers around the world through CTI’s and the Yale National Initiative’s websites.
Cheers to our 2011 CTI Fellows!
2011 CTI Fellows Orientation in April at the Mint Museum
CTI Teams Up with Yale National Initiative to Support Legislation in Congress
November 21, 2011 – 2:14 pm
As a fellow member of the League of Institutes, the Charlotte Teachers Institute has proudly partnered with the Yale National Initiative, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, Pittsburgh Teachers Institute, Teachers Institute of Philadelphia, and the Delaware Teachers Institute in New Castle County to recognize the Teachers Institute model as a nationally significant program. Senators Joseph Lieberman (I, CT) and Richard Blumenthal (D, CT) and Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D, CT-3) and Chaka Fattah (D, PA-2) recently introduced legislation (S. 1240 and H.R. 2255) to create a competitive grants program to establish Teachers Institutes in other states.
Three Distinct Features of the Teachers Institute Model
1. The University-School Partnership Approach
This approach threads the needle of the academic and intellectual pipeline by connecting world-class university and college faculty with motivated, talented K-12 teachers in a highly collaborative learning environment. This results in meaningful and lasting professional relationships among educators spanning entire spectrum of the educational system from K through university scholarship.
2. Focus on Content Knowledge Linked to Pedagogy
Unlike traditional teacher professional development programs that place heavy weight on pedagogical knowledge alone, the Teachers Institute model emphasizes the balance between content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. This blended approach reenergizes teachers, professors, and their students at the K-12 level, as well as at the university level, to focus on the core curriculum in their schools and in their fields. Writing the Curriculum Unit develops teachers writing skills and increases their content self-efficacy.
3. Teacher-Led Leadership Structure
The teachers are the leaders. Teachers have the opportunity to contribute to CTI in a variety of leadership roles including the Steering Committee, an advisory group responsible for making decisions about institute functioning; the Seminar Coordinators, the teacher leaders representing each seminar group; and the School Contacts, a group of motivated teachers who promote CTI to other teachers in the district.
Based on its recent growth and success in establishing educational partnerships throughout the country, the Teachers Institute model should be considered a nationally significant program for the following reasons:
- Teachers Institutes engage and excite teachers to motivate their students for success.
- Participation in Teachers Institutes is strongly correlated with teacher retention in high-need schools.
- Teachers Institutes are an investment in innovation and creativity in education.
- Teachers Institutes provide opportunities for students to develop a deep understanding of the content across a wide variety of subject areas.
Currently, as a way to spread the word about what’s going on here in Charlotte, the Charlotte Teachers Institute is undergoing a good old-fashioned letter writing campaign to Congress. We are encouraging teachers, faculty, school and university leaders, parents, and students to write letters to Members of Congress and their legislative assistants for education by e-mail. The letters are simply a way of expressing support for the work of the Teaches Institute model. If you are interested in learning more about the legislation or how to help, please click on the following documents below.
Helpful Information about the Legislation:
Arguments for Enacting of the Teachers Institutes Bill
CTI Fellows Recognized by Bank of America as Outstanding CMS Teachers
October 27, 2011 – 3:51 pm
Charlotte Mecklenburg teachers were recognized as part of the festivities at the Bank of America 500 held Saturday October 15th at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Dr. Cindy Moss, the director of STEM for CMS, was the official starter and 41 teachers, who were selected for their contributions to CMS in the areas of science and math, were paired with NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers and introduced with their drivers prior to the race. There were six teachers among the group who are associated with CTI pointing to the high caliber of teachers in CTI.
Pictured fellows, in order from left to right are: Stacey Hartberger, James Martin Middle School, “Sports and Physics” seminar; Jashonai Payne, David Cox Elementary, “Sports and Physics” seminar; Michael Pillsbury, Randolph Middle School, “Math through Popular Culture” seminar; Cynthia Woolery, Elizabeth Traditional Elementary, “Sports and Physics” seminar;Karma Banks, David Cox Elementary, “The Chemistry that Surrounds Us” seminar; and Amdana Reasoner, Sedgefield Middle, “The Chemistry that Surrounds Us” seminar (not pictured).
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