What the Teachers Institute Is
The Teachers Institute is a professional learning program for PreK–12 educators who want to understand the social, economic, and cultural forces that shape classrooms and the communities around them. Instead of treating race, class, gender, or sexuality as categories to manage, fellows examine these constructs as symptoms of social disconnection. Through mentoring, seminars in social theory, public symposia with leading thinkers in the arts, humanities, and sciences, and a strong online resource community, fellows study the art and science of human connection as the foundation of teaching and learning.
Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and social cognitive neuroscientist Matthew Lieberman in conversation during the Teachers Institute symposium: "Is Racism the Neural Adversary of the Social Mind?"
“The Teachers Institute was an amazing experience because it allowed me to have a voice and be heard; it gave me a new sense of confidence and embraced my passion for art, education, and social justice.”
How the Institute Began
Designed and facilitated by Dr. Lisa Arrastia, the Teachers Institute began in 2011, when Minneapolis Public Schools partnered with the University of Minnesota’s Department of African American and African Studies to create an innovative alternative to standard cultural competency training for educators. The program, now independent, has developed into a place-based model that works with schools, districts, arts partners, and community organizations.
Fellows learning from writer, educator Bill Ayers during the Teachers Institute symposium, "Love Pedagogy: Disrupting the Violence Against Young Bodies."
“The Ed Factory’s Teachers Institute has helped me to see student-student relationships in a new way. It has changed my daily practice and how I relate with my students and how I encourage them to relate with one another.”
What the Institute Does
The Institute helps teachers build democratic classrooms where curiosity, imagination, and meaningful relationships shape the work. Fellows learn to teach for understanding, examine their own assumptions, design interdisciplinary projects rooted in students’ real lives, and create conditions where young people want to learn. This work is grounded in love pedagogy™, a practice Lisa has developed over more than a decade to strengthen connection, deepen listening, and help teachers and students see themselves and one another with greater clarity.
Listen to how the Teachers Institute inspired Je'meyah to attend school every day.
What Fellows Design
Fellows complete an individual project supported by an Institute Mentor. Projects have included interdisciplinary inquiries on math, race, and housing; narrative and aesthetic practices; and classroom explorations that position students’ lived experiences as sources of knowledge. Several Institute fellows have presented nationally—most notably at the “Creating Balance in an Unjust World” conference in San Francisco—and have been recognized with national teaching awards.
“The Teachers Institute is an unbelievably powerful and critical medium for development. I’m grateful to the institute for enriching my ways of thinking. I’m a better teacher, student, and person because of the exposure to critical thinking that the institute facilitated.”
Becoming a Fellow
When the Teachers Institute is scheduled in your city, you can apply to join a cohort of educators who take part in seminars, symposia, and guided project development. Fellows typically meet for 6 to 8 Saturdays during the fellowship term and receive CEUs for all seminars. Many cohorts also receive a fellowship award and may earn graduate credit or a Certificate of Advanced Study through a local college or university.
Claudia Rankine, author of the award-winning Citizen: An American Lyric and Iseman Professor of Poetry at Yale University in conversation with Marlon James, winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings, and Professor of English at Macalester College in conversation during the Teachers Institute "'Strangers in the Village': Imagining (Young) Black Bodies in America."
Bring the Teachers Institute to Your Community
The Ed Factory partners with schools, districts, arts organizations, and universities to design single-day seminars, multi-day experiences, or semester- and year-long programs. The work can occur inside classrooms, across schools and districts, or in collaboration with local cultural institutions. Contact us to explore how the Institute can support educators and young people in your community.