News – Teachers Institute of Philadelphia

Teacher Institute of Philadelphia Launches Spring 2026 Seminar Program February 10, 2026

Photo (L-R): Seminar leaders Kathy Brown, Robin Kolodny, Xiaojiang Li, Dominic Sisti On Wednesday, On Wednesday, January 21, a new cohort of Philadelphia public school teachers began their journey toward professional advancement. The teachers (called fellows) have begun semester-long seminars in which they will acquire cutting-edge knowledge from Penn and Temple professors. They will use this knowledge to develop curriculum units, which they will implement in their classrooms to enhance student learning. Successful completion of…

Vaux High School Student Attends Yale Annual Conference with TIP Teacher November 10, 2025

On November 7th and 8th, a group of TIP Fellows and Vaux High School student Ameen Fleming accompanied his teacher Ms. Danina Garcia to the annual Yale National Initiative Conference. Ameen proudly represented the School District of Philadelphia at an event that drew teachers, students, and school district leaders from around the country. Ms. Garcia’s curriculum unit, “Efficiency & Faithfulness: How One Philly Nurse Fought Tuberculosis,” highlights the story of Elizabeth Tyler, a trailblazing Black…

TIP Showcase for USA 250 Workshops September 29, 2025

This fall, TIP will collaborate with the Penn Press and Penn GSE to offer a special set of workshops on Philadelphia History in preparation for the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. These workshops will be led by authors of the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, a resource the Penn Press is distributing free to schools in the School District of Philadelphia. To celebrate the work of TIP Students and Fellows, a showcase…

2025 Spring Curriculum Units Posted! September 26, 2025

Pictured Above: Seminar leader Russell Richie teaches Fellows in his Introduction to Cognitive Science Workshop The 2025 Spring Curriculum Units are now available to view on our website! Last Spring there were four seminars led by our TIP Professors: Diverse Children’s Literature: Literary Art, Cultural Artifact and Contested Terrain led by Wanda Brooks Introduction To Cognitive Science: Uncovering the Machine in The Mind led by Russell Richie Robots And Smart Tech for Physical Therapy led…

TIP Fellows Complete the 2025 Yale National Initiative Program

Five Fellows from The Teachers Institute of Philadelphia (TIP) have completed the 2025 Yale National Initiative Program. The School District of Philadelphia has been a long-time participant in the Yale National Initiative, and it has led to impactful partnerships between TIP educators across the Philadelphia school district and local colleges, and universities. Five School District of Philadelphia educators who are also TIP Fellows, spent intensive time developing their content knowledge in the subjects they teach.…

TIP Professor Wins Pulitzer for Book on Soviet Dissent September 8, 2025

TIP Seminar Leader Benjamin Nathans won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction for his book To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement. Benjamin Nathans is a historian and critically acclaimed professor at the University of Pennsylvania where he has taught since 1998. During his long tenure, he has devoted over four decades to the study of Soviet and Russian history, modern Jewish history, and the history…

USA 250 Showcase, September 18, 5-7 PM August 21, 2025

Together, the Teachers Institute of Philadelphia (TIP), Penn Press, and Penn GSE, are helping boost K-12 teachers’ knowledge of regional history and ecology, in preparation for the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding. Our USA 250 Showcase will introduce a series of teacher workshops we are offering this fall, led by authors of Penn Press’s Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. In the workshops, teachers will write lesson plans that make use of Encyclopedia, a copy of…

TIP Fellows Join National Seminars at Yale Summer Institute July 15, 2025

Five Fellows from the Teachers Institute of Philadelphia (TIP) are currently in New Haven, Connecticut, participating in the Yale National Summer Institute. These dedicated educators are taking part in an intensive seminar experience, where they are developing original units of study to bring back to their Philadelphia classrooms. The TIP National Fellows (as pictured) and their Yale seminars are: Marla Colondres, Swenson Arts and Technology High School: “Graphic Narratives as Teaching Tools,” led by Marta…

Temple’s College of Education and Human Development Host Its First TIP Seminar July 8, 2025

Temple University’s College of Education and Human Development recently led its first Teachers Institute of Philadelphia (TIP) seminar, marking a major step forward in its partnership with the program. The seminar, facilitated by Wanda Brooks, literacy professor and chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning, focused on innovative curriculum development to support Philadelphia public school teachers. As the first TIP seminar led by Temple’s College of Education, it highlighted the university’s commitment to empowering…

Colondres Receives Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award April 16, 2025

Fellow Marla Colondres has been selected as a recipient of the prestigious Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award. Each year, the Lindback Foundation grants this award to 60 School District of Philadelphia teachers who have made a significant impact on the intellectual and character development of students. Colondres has been at Swenson Arts and Technology High School since 2016, where she teaches Spanish 1 & 2, and Spanish for Heritage Speakers. She has contributed to TIP for…

TIP Teachers Named Yale National Fellows April 14, 2025

Five members of the TIP program have been selected as 2025 National Fellows by the Yale National Initiative to strengthen public schools. They will travel to Yale University in July to participate in seminars led by Yale faculty, alongside peers from around the country. As they do at TIP, these School District of Philadelphia teachers will study a topic intensively under the guidance of their professor and develop a curriculum unit to be implemented into…

TIP Seminar Leader and Students Record Oral Histories of African Jewish Community March 28, 2025

Peter Decherney, who led the TIP seminar “History of Hollywood,” brought students to Uganda this past fall as part of a Penn Global Seminar. The Penn professor and TIP Advisory Council Member taught “Global Jewish Communities” with Sara Byala, in which students learned about the Abayudaya, an African Jewish community in Uganda. As the semester concluded, the seminar traveled to Mbale, a city in eastern Uganda, where the students conducted video interviews with the Abayudaya…

Students of TIP Fellow Honored at National Constitution Center March 21, 2025

Three students of Trey Smith, a TIP fellow and teacher at the Marian Anderson school, recently earned a first-place award at National History Day Philly for creating a documentary detailing challenges and changes that have shaped Chinatown’s complex history. The documentary, “Changes to Chinatown: Rights and Responsibilities” was produced with the help of stop-motion animation software Smith learned about in a fall 2024 TIP workshop. The workshop, titled “Animation and Learning” was led by Penn…

Temple’s College of Education Hosts First TIP Seminar March 12, 2025

Temple’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) joined the TIP partnership this spring with the seminar “Diverse Children’s Literature: Literary Art, Cultural Artifact and Contested Terrain.” Led by Professor Wanda Brooks, this course will cover literature for children and adolescents that reflects the perspectives of underrepresented groups. Since 2018, professors from Temple’s College of Liberal Arts have offered TIP seminars, but “Diverse Children’s Literature” is the first led by a CEHD faculty member. The…

TIP Advisory Council Member elected to National Academy of Education February 5, 2025

This past January, TIP University Advisory Council member Sigal Ben-Porath was elected to The National Academy of Education (NAEd). A prestigious honorific society founded in 1965, NAEd focuses on conducting research to improve education policy and practice. Ben-Porath’s research interests center on how academic institutions can advance and sustain democracy, and her current research involves civil dialogue in schools and colleges. Ben-Porath has been a part of Penn’s faculty since 2004. Alongside her role in…

Workshop Leader Emily Wilson’s Odyssey Translation in the News January 15, 2025

Penn Professor and TIP Workshop Leader Emily Wilson, the first woman to translate Homer’s Odyssey, made the news recently when film director Christopher Nolan announced that he is working on an adaptation of the classic. Her 2017 version of the epic has been acclaimed as “a revelation” and “radically contemporary” by critics. Many hope he will use Wilson’s translation as a starting point for the film’s screenplay. Wilson also completed a translation of Homer’s Iliad…

Fellows, students, present work at Yale Annual Conference October 31, 2024

(Photo, L-R: TIP fellow Tyriese Holloway, student Shaqueah Henry, School District of Philadelphia Deputy Superintendent Jermaine Dawson) The Yale National Institute Annual Conference provided an opportunity for TIP teachers to showcase their work to peers around the country. The event featured a presentation by TIP fellow Tyriese Holloway and his student, Shaqueah Henry, an Overbrook High School senior. The conference was held from October 25th-26th at Yale University in New Haven, CT. Among those in…

Workshop Leader Carol Muller on the Sound of Philadelphia August 29, 2024

Teachers Institute of Philadelphia workshop leader Carol Muller, a professor of musicology in Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences, possesses a wide body of knowledge about the origins of music from around the world. In this Omnia podcast, Professor Muller discusses our city’s own musical heritage, focusing on Gamble and Huff’s “Sound of Philadelphia.” The podcast also features an interview by her graduate student Kwame Ocran with grammy-award winning hip-hop producer Jahlil Beats. A native…

TIP Fellows Attend Yale’s Summer Intensive Program July 22, 2024

From July 5th – 19th, five TIP fellows traveled to New Haven for the Yale National Initiative’s 2024 intensive seminar program. The Philadelphia public school teachers were among 47 from 15 school districts across the United States chosen to participate in Yale’s Summer Institute. Like TIP, this national program helps teachers expand their knowledge base and improve their confidence in the classroom by studying with renowned university faculty members. The five national fellows, and the…

Holloway Receives Lindback Teaching Award May 29, 2024

The Teachers Institute of Philadelphia congratulates Fellow Tyriese Holloway on receiving the prestigious Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award. Mr. Holloway teaches 11th and 12th grade English at Overbrook High School, a position he has held for the past 6 years. Each year, the Lindback Foundation awards 60 distinguished teachers and seven principals from The School District of Philadelphia public schools who demonstrate excellence in promoting learning at the highest levels. The teacher award recipients are chosen…

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