The Charlotte Teachers Institute (CTI) has welcomed its new cohort of 104 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) teachers into its innovative, interdisciplinary seminars for 2015.
“This year’s CTI Fellows represent the wide range of teachers in CMS, from new to veteran, kindergarten to 12th grade and physics to interior design,” said CTI Director Scott Gartlan. “We continue to create significant growth opportunities for teacher leaders looking to deepen their knowledge base and impact the lives of their students.”
CTI’s eight concurrent seminars began with an orientation at Discovery Place in April and will run through November. CTI seminars are led by faculty experts in the arts and sciences, including four from Davidson College and four from UNC Charlotte. Seminars meet on those campuses and also at the Discovery Place Education Studio.
In each seminar, 13 CMS teachers (CTI Fellows) and a faculty leader work closely together to explore a topic, long term and in depth, with each teacher creating new curriculum designed for his or her own students as a culminating project. CTI Fellows receive full access to both Davidson College and UNC Charlotte resources, as well as family memberships to Discovery Place. Upon completion each Fellow is awarded a $1,500 stipend and continuing education credits.
The 2015 CTI seminars and leaders include:
- Exercise and the Brain – Barbara Lom, biology, Davidson College
- What Makes a Nation? – Shelley Rigger, political science, Davidson College
- The Origins of Human Language – Ron Lunsford, English, UNC Charlotte
- Fundamentals of Mathematics: Problem Solving and Process Standards – Harold Reiter, mathematics and statistics, UNC Charlotte
- Peace Education: Psychological Factors that Endorse War – Rick Gay, educational studies, Davidson College
- Integrating Concepts in Life Sciences – Malcolm Campbell and Chris Paradise, biology, Davidson College
- Africa: Moving Beyond Popular Culture – Beth Whitaker, political science and public administration, UNC Charlotte
- Supernatural Figures in Theatre, Film and the Brain – Mark Pizzato, theatre, UNC Charlotte
The complete list of 2015 CTI Fellows is on the Charlotte Teachers Institute website.
CTI programs are made possible by a joint commitment of resources from CMS, Davidson College and UNC Charlotte and through the generosity of private funding institutions, such as the Wells Fargo Foundation, Belk Foundation, Duke Energy Foundation, Piedmont Natural Gas Foundation, Charlotte Hornets Foundation and Lowe’s Home Improvement. The institute is housed in the UNC Charlotte College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.