WHAT IS THE TEACHERs INSTITUTE?
The Teachers Institute is a professional development institute for K-12 teachers. The institute provides opportunities for teachers to examine the social, economic, and political relationship between stereotypes, the larger culture and schools, and their effect on the classroom, school, and communities surrounding the school. In this respect, the Teacher's Institute is fundamentally different from cultural competency training programs. The concept of cultural competency assumes that social categories of difference are physical, mental, or cultural conditions for which individuals can learn a particular language or cultural skills to help them "manage" difference. At the Teachers Institute, fellows learn to understand race, social class, gender, and sexuality stereotypes as symptoms of social disconnection. Through individual mentoring, online resources, seminars in social theory, and symposia with local and global innovators and trendsetters in the humanities and arts, (neuro)science, and mathematics, the Teachers Institute provides fellows and their students a professional development experience rooted in the science and the art of social connection.
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 did The institute get started?
The Ed Factory's Teachers Institute is the brainchild of Lisa Arrastia, the founder of and senior consultant for the Ed Factory. The Teachers Institute began in 2011 in the Twin Cities. Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) sought an innovative professional development program for their teachers. Funded by MPS' Office of Equity and Diversity, and coordinated by University of Minnesota's Department of African American and African Studies, The Teachers Institute @Minneapolis was the first Ed Factory institute.
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 Does the institute accomplish?
Answer: deepen students' understanding of the effect of politics + economics on their community
Morgan Fierst and Stephanie Woldum started in the Teachers Institute as fellows and later became Institute Mentors to new fellows. During their fellowship term, Morgan and Stephanie led their algebra students through an examination of math, race, and Minneapolis home foreclosures resulting from the Great Recession. Morgan and Stephanie designed a challenging, project-based learning experience for students. Supported by the Teachers Institute, Morgan, Stephanie, and six of their students presented their project at the "Creating Balance in an Unjust World" conference in San Francisco. Morgan is the winner and Stephanie was a finalist for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching.
Read about their work, inspired by the Teachers Institute, in the Twin Cities' Star Tribune.
ANSWER: use a love pedagogy to build social connections between teachers + students
Listen to how the Teachers Institute helped Je'meyah want to come to school every day.
Morgan Fierst, Teachers Institute 2011-2012 fellow and 2014-2015 mentor.
“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.”
how can i be a part of the teachers institute?
Contact us so that we can let you know when the Teachers Institute will be in a city near you. Then we'll email you an application link.
As a fellow, you'll have the support of an experienced Institute Mentor as you focus on your individual, interdisciplinary project while also learning to teach for understanding, promote social connection, engage students in the making of their own learning, and develop classroom values dedicated to curiosity, innovation, and imagination. After the successful completion of the program, your fellowship award amount will be anywhere from $500-$1,000 depending on your city, and you could receive a Certificate of Advanced Study from a local college or university. In addition, CEUs are provided to fellows for all of the Teachers Institute seminars and symposia.
With the exception of the Teachers Institute Foundations seminars, which are held on designated school days in the beginning of the fellowship term, throughout the term you can expect to spend six to eight Saturdays with the Institute for three to four hours each day. Most Institute events are held at the city's host organization.
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."
how can i bring the institute to my city?
The Ed Factory is an open collective, so we're available to facilitate everything from one-day consultations and week-long workshops to full-semester or year-long programs. We work with teachers inside and outside of their classrooms, educational organizations, districts, and individual schools while collaborating with local art institutions, artists, colleges, and universities.