StannfordSummerTeachingInstitute

Spring 2008

Dear Colleagues,

As we cheer the finale of another successful school year, we at the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) and the Teachers for a New Era (TNE) project enthusiastically invite you to join us for the third annual Stanford Summer Teaching Institute.

Building upon the success of our earlier Institutes, this year’s program offers a constellation of courses that will delve deeply into issues of powerful teaching, mentoring, and school leadership. They also bring together as instructors expert educators from a range of institutions, from K-12 schools and the Santa Cruz New Teacher Center to departments from across Stanford University. Through the lens of our organizing theme, “Content Matters”, the Institute courses will invite you to collaborate with colleagues as you inquire into the pedagogical issues that are at the heart of each discipline.

The Institute is organized into morning and afternoon sessions. The morning sessions focus on cross-disciplinary and grade-level themes such as teaching English language learners, developing authentic assessments, differentiating instruction, and ways of bringing art into the classroom. The afternoon sessions break out into content area topics such as the science of global warming, the teaching of humanities, and elementary mathematics instruction. Over the four days of the Institute, these exciting courses will help you make connections between current research and theory and your own classroom practice.

We are also pleased to offer a chance for school administrators to come together for half-day Forum to investigate topics related to student and teacher retention, professional development, and sustainable school reform. This will be a powerful opportunity for leaders from both large and small schools to come together and learn from our own collective wisdom as well as external experts.

Above all, the Institute is a chance for the teachers and schools in the STEP community to stay connected with each other and with STEP as a way to continue to grow and learn. We look forward to seeing you this summer!

Sincerely,

Peter W. Williamson

Director, Teachers for a New Era