News – Teachers Institute of Philadelphia

National Teacher of the Year Award Winner Speaks at Yale National Initiative

Rodney Robinson, a three-time fellow at the Yale National Initiative (YNI) Summer Intensive program, was named Teacher of the Year by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). He addressed Yale’s Annual Conference on Saturday, October 26th, where Teachers Institute fellows from around the country had gathered to celebrate the completion of their unit-writing process. He explained the challenges of his former role teaching in a juvenile detention facility in Richmond, Virginia, and described…

TIP Fellows Present their Units at Annual Educator Convening

TIP fellows contributed enthusiastically to the Celebration of Writing and Literacy (CoWL) on Saturday, October 12, 2019, an annual convening that brought teachers and scholars from around the region. It was the third year TIP will partnered with the Philadelphia Writing Project on this event, in which teachers share self-authored curricula and research. Presentation sessions by TIP fellows showcased materials from 2019 seminars in Philadelphia and at Yale, and included “Intercultural Storytelling,” “Lead and Health,”…

Freda/Frankie Anderson wins 2019 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching

TIP Teacher Freda/Frankie Anderson, won the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching this summer. Anderson teaches a community activism class to high school sophomores and juniors at the U School. “She comes up with ideas for her class by researching topics she is passionate about, borrowing some from Date, the previous teacher, and receiving input from other people. This includes not only her students, but also organizations such as Youth United for Change and Teaching Tolerance, more…

TIP Teacher Lisa Yau Publishes book of poems on depression, features work of 5th grade students

Kirkbride Elementary teacher and TIP Teacher Representative Lisa Yau created a book of her 5th graders’ poems entitled Demystifying Depression: 29 Voices to Normalize Crazy Goodness. The book stemmed from a project in which Yau’s students researched depression, then wrote and made art on the subject. Yau’s work in the 2019 TIP seminar “Modern & Contemporary U.S. Poetry” taught by Professor Al Filreis, inspired her to use poetry to teach about this important and difficult…

TIP Fellows Present at Penn Ethnography Forum

TIP Fellows Amanda Schear and Charlie McGeehan participated in The University of Pennsylvania’s 40th Ethnography in Education Research Forum, February 22 – 23, 2019 at the Graduate School of Education. This year’s theme, “The Future of Ethnography and Education: Methodologies, Equity, and Ethics” covered a wide range of topics in educational research, both local and international. The conference featured a full day of presentations and workshops led by educational practitioners. Amanda Schear led a session entitled: “When…

Professor Karen Detlefsen featured in Penn Today

Professor Karen Detlefsen, TIP seminar leader and advisory council member, was recently recognized in Penn Today for teaching Philosophy to 5th grade students at the Comegys Benjamin School, a Pre K – 7 school in southwest Philadelphia. She developed students’ critical thinking skills by ‘helping them understand that some questions are hard to fully understand and encouraging them to change their minds when faced with reasons to do so’. This is Detlefsen’s fourth time teaching…

Educators Gather for Celebration of Writing and Literacy

This year’s Celebration of Writing and Literacy was a smashing success! Sponsored by the Philadelphia Writing Project, Teachers Institute of Philadelphia (TIP), Mighty Writers, and Penn Graduate School of Education, the Celebration featured educators from around Philadelphia presenting ideas on teacher research and knowledge. Throughout the day, teachers learned from peers and university scholars about new approaches to classroom learning, both content and pedagogy. To kick off the conference, Matt Kay, Science Leadership Academy Teacher presented…

James Forman Jr. Keynote at TIP-PhilWP Conference

TIP welcomed Yale Law professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author James Forman, Jr. to the Penn campus on Saturday, October 6 to lead a keynote session as part of the TIP-Philadelphia Writing Project annual Celebration of Writing and Literacy (CoWL). The keynote addressed a seminar Forman led for teachers attending the Yale National Initiative’s summer intensive program this past July. Forman based his summer seminar on his book Locking up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in…

TIP Fellows Learn With Peers from Around the Nation at the Yale Summer Intensive Session

This summer from July 9th to 20th, TIP’s National Fellows gathered in New Haven for the Yale Summer Intensive Session. The four fellows that participated in the session–Cristobal Carambo, Bridget Mason, Matthew Menschner, and Eual Philips–spent two weeks at Yale attending special seminars and writing curriculum units. This year’s National Seminars covered topics including “Race, Class, and Punishment,” “Manipulating Biology: Costs, Benefits, and Controversies,” and “Poems about Works of Art, Featuring Women and Other Marginalized…

TIP Fellow Terry Anne Wildman Teaches Origami in Class

Terry Anne Wildman describes how she’s using what she learned in the TIP seminar “Origami Engineering” to teach the students in her class at Alexander McClure Elementary School qualities like perseverance and patience through origami. The following are excerpts from Ms. Wildman’s description of her experience teaching her origami curriculum. When teaching something to students that has many steps, you need to use different strategies to reach all students. I knew teaching origami shapes and…

TIP Fellows Gather to Celebrate a Successful Seminar Session!

On May 22 at 4:30 pm, the 2018 TIP fellows gathered with leaders and friends of the program to celebrate their accomplishments this past semester. At weekly seminar meetings from January through April of this year, the fellows acquired cutting-edge knowledge from Penn and Temple professors about topics in science, math, social science, humanities and the arts. Fellows representing each seminar gave a summary of what they had studied. The representatives were: Keeler Park from…

Philadelphia School Students Visit Robot Lab

This spring, TIP seminar leader and Penn Medicine professor Michelle Johnson has invited students from her TIP fellows’ classrooms to visit her robotics lab. Johnson and her lab staff will familiarize the students with the latest rehabilitation technologies, including robots “Lil’ Flo” (pictured), BAXTER and PANDA. Curriculum units developed by the fellows in Johnson’s seminar Robots in Healthcare: From Science Fiction to Reality will be posted on TIP’s website at the conclusion of the 2018…

TIP Fellow Sam Reed Awarded Villanova’s Teacher of Courage and Conscience Award

Villanova University’s Department of Education and Counseling honored longtime TIP Fellow and U-School Teacher Sam Reed with its Teacher of Courage and Conscience Award. The award recognizes a teacher’s commitment to the growth, creativity and learning of students in under-served schools, and to making change in the education profession. More on the Villanova Teacher of Courage and Consience Award

Join TIP at TAG’s 9th Annual Education for Liberation Conference

TAG is hosting its 9th Annual Education for Liberation Conference this year on Saturday, May 5th. In anticipation for TAG’s 10th year anniversary, Samuel Reed, a current TIP Fellow and humanities teacher at the U School, has focused on leading the sponsorship committee for the conference, while Charlie McGeehan, also a TIP Fellow and humanities teacher at the U School, has focused on organizing the conference workshops and panel presentations. The conference theme is Connecting the…

4 TIP Fellows Named Yale National Fellows

Four current TIP Fellows — Cristobal Carambo, who holds a Masters from in Chemical Education from Penn, Bridget Mason, Matthew Menschner, and Eual Phillips, who holds a Masters of Science in Engineering from Penn — have been selected as this year’s Yale National Fellows, recognizing their accomplishments in bringing new knowledge and innovative curriculum ideas to their classrooms in Philadelphia. In attending the Yale National Seminar, each will be able to deepen their knowledge of…

Previous TIP Fellows Kate Reber and Alan Tso Receive the Lindback Award

Previous TIP Fellows Kate Reber and Alan Tso are being recognized for excellence in education by the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation. Reber, who teaches at Bodine High School, participated in TIP from 2008-2011 and served as the TIP Teacher Representative from Bodine High School during those years as well. Tso, who teaches at Furness High School, participated in TIP in 2013 and was critical in expanding TIP’s programming to reach STEM teachers…

Join TIP for our Annual Spring Gathering!

The Teachers Institute of Philadelphia (TIP) is pleased to invite you to our annual Spring Gathering, which will be held on May 22, 2018, 4:30-6:00 PM in Room 108 of the Arch Building at the University of Pennsylvania. At the Spring Gathering, the TIP community will reflect on a successful year of teaching, learning, and leading. Five Fellows will speak to their experiences in Spring 2018 seminars: “Data Visualization”; “Philosophy, Science and Society”; “Robots in Healthcare”; “Origami…

TIP Fellow Bonnee Breese Receives the Overbrook High School Legacy Award

Longtime TIP and Yale National Initiative Fellow Bonnee Breese has been awarded the Overbrook High School Legacy Award. Breese taught English for many years at Overbrook, and also received the Lindback and Teachers as Heroes awards for her outstanding contributions to teaching. She currently teaches at Science Leadership Academy/Beeber. Congratulations Bonnee!

TIP Fellows Samuel Reed, Monique Henry and Cristobal Carambo Receive the Lindback Award

TIP Fellows Sam Reed, Monique Henry, and Cristobal Carambo are being recognized for excellence in education by the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation…

Join TIP for our Annual Spring Gathering!

The Teachers Institute of Philadelphia (TIP) is pleased to invite you to our annual Spring Gathering, which will be held on May 30, 2017, 4:30-6:00 PM in the Golkin Room of Houston Hall at the University of Pennsylvania. At the Spring Gathering, the TIP…