As a partnership between Tulsa Public Schools and the University of Tulsa, the Teachers Institute for Tulsa is designed to provide local educators with the resources they need to succeed in our professional development program. Below you will find definitions for key aspects of the program.
Fellows
TPS educators who apply and are accepted into the Teachers Institute for Tulsa are named “Fellows.” Fellows work with colleagues across the TPS district while participating in seminars and researching and writing a curriculum unit. Fellows gain experience collaborating and writing curriculum that is shaped with their classrooms and students in mind. In addition to working with a TU professor in seminar, Fellows are granted access to library materials and databases at the University of Tulsa and other privileges, such as access to the Collins Fitness Center.
Seminars
Unlike most teacher professional development, TIFT runs interactive, collegial, and long-form seminars that meet on select Tuesday nights (5:30-7:30p) from November to April. Our seminars are focused on content and building subject-matter expertise, and are run by TU professors who are published experts in their field. In addition to typical seminar meetings, Fellows will attend orientation, a faculty talk, a peer-review session, and one-on-one meetings with their seminar leader.
Seminar Leaders and Coordinators
Seminar leaders are TU professors with an interest in working with local educators outside of the walls of the university. Their role in the program is to lead seminar, a series of meetings that investigate a particular topic or field. In addition, seminar leaders guide and support fellows as they research and write their curriculum units. Seminar coordinators are experienced fellows whose job it is to work with other Fellows in the seminar, ensuring that they are successful in the Fellowship. They support both the seminar leader as well, helping the seminar to run smoothly and effectively.
Curriculum Units
As fellows attend seminar, they research and write an original curriculum unit to be used in their classrooms the year following seminar. These curriculum units go through multiple stages and rounds of feedback to ensure that the curriculum produced is high quality. Units will range from 5000-10000 words, and will focus in large part on the unit content each teacher seeks to cover. This particular section of the unit will reflect the intellectual work each teacher has put into writing and will form the foundation of the curriculum/lessons the teacher develops.
