The Program in New Haven
Annual Report 2000 Contents
Contents of section:
- The Seminars and Curriculum Units
- Women Writers in Latin American
- Crime and Punishment
- Constitutional and Statutory Privacy Protection in the 21st Century
- Ethnicity and Dissent in American Literature and Art
- Sound and Sensibility: Acoustics in Architecture, Music, and the Environment
- The Chemistry of Photosynthesis
- Bioethics
- The Process of Determining the Seminar Topics
- The Fellows’ Application and Admissions Process
- The Fellows Who Were Accepted
- Activities for Fellows
- Rewards for Fellows
- Relating Seminar Topics to Curriculum Units
- Results for Participants
- Teams of Fellows
- Benefits for Students
- Participants’ Conclusions Overall
- Electronic Resources and Assistance
- Institute Centers for Curricular and Professional Development
- Preparation for the Program in 2001
- Local Advisory Groups
- Local Program Documentation and Evaluation
This seminar dealt with topics in the theory and practice of crime and punishment in contemporary America from the standpoint of politics and political theory. The readings and seminar discussions were organized around four topics: moral foundations of the criminal law; players and procedures in the criminal law; politics and the criminal law; and the edges of the criminal law. The Fellows in the seminar worked on a variety of topics that to some extent cut across, and drew on, all four areas. Joan Rapczynski focused on the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Angela Beasley-Murray explored the different legal tests for criminal culpability and the extent to which these comport with commonsense understandings of insanity as well as standard medical definitions. Joyce Bryant explored various ways in which the criminal justice system stands in need of reform if democracy is to speak through the criminal law. Four Fellows developed units on different aspects of the juvenile justice system. Deborah Smereczynsky focused on the constitutional rights of juvenile offenders. Cynthia Roberts dealt with status offenses-activities that would not be crimes if committed by adults-and the role of the juvenile court. Joseph Wickliffe dealt with debates about the causes of juvenile delinquency. And Afolabí J. Adebayo dealt with the disposition of juvenile offenders. The curriculum units, with their recommended uses, included: "Rehabilitation and Control of Juvenile Delinquency Offenders," by Afolabí James Adebayo (grades 7-12); "…By Reason of Insanity: An Exploration of the Mental Disease/Defect Defense," by Angela Beasley-Murray (grades 9-12); "Democracy Speaks Through Criminal Law?," by Joyce Bryant (grades 7-8); "Search and Seizure," by Joyce Rapczynski (U.S. History, grades 10-11); "Juvenile Delinquency: Cause and Effect," by Cynthia H. Roberts (Social Studies and Civics, grades 7-12); "Juvenile Justice/The Real Deal," by Deborah Smereczynsky (U.S. History and English, grades 7-8); and "Why Juveniles Commit Crimes," by Joseph A. Wickliffe (Social Studies, grades 9-12). |
This seminar dealt with the theory and practice of crime and punishment in contemporary America from the standpoint of politics and political theory. |
This seminar went beyond the original limitation of this field to medicine and included also the fields of genetic ethics (which includes both medical and agricultural components) and environmental ethics. The texts were Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine, by John Arras and Bonnie Steinbock, and State of the World 2000, by Lester Brown et al. The seminar devoted the first two weeks to discussion of various ethical theories and their applicability to modern bioethical problems; thereafter it dealt with problems outlined in the two books and, later on, in the current press. Two of the curriculum units deal with food. Waltrina Kirkland-Mullins leads her first grade students to appreciate the biological sources of the common foods they eat and the bases for an adequate nutritional regime. Richard MacMahon examines with his high school students the genetic engineering of agricultural crops and analyzes the political, social, economic and ideological controversies surrounding their use in Europe and America. Other units focus on a variety of topics. Lynn Marmitt summarizes modern thought and progress in genetics and cell biology for her seventh grade students and then moves to a discussion of ethical problems associated with the human genome project and the cloning of organisms. Carolyn Kinder, an assistant principal, provides a summary of ethical theories related to the problem of developing a fair, effective, and sustainable medical system for the United States. And Grayce Storey prepares for her middle school students a unit on the subject of surrogate motherhood, emphasizing the different roles played by genetic, gestational, and care-giving parents, and drawing much of her ethical analysis from scriptural sources. Curriculum units, with their recommended uses, include: "Inside Out: An Up-Close Look at Foods We Eat," by Waltrina Kirkland-Mullins (Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts, grades 1-2); "Genetic Engineering of Crop Plants," by Richard R. MacMahon (Biology, Genetics and Evolution, and Bioethics, grades 9-12); "Brave New World: Genetics in the Modern World," by Lynn Marmitt (Integrated Science and Giology, grades 6-9); "Bioethics and Effective Health Care," by Carolyn Kinder (Science and Social Development, grade 7); and "Ethical Problems surrounding Surrogate Motherhood," by Grayce P. Storey (Home Economics, Civics, and Science, grades 7-12). |
This seminar included the fields of genetic ethics and environmental ethics. |
Fellows came from 7 of the 8 high schools, 7 of the 9 middle schools and K-8 schools, and 1 of the 5 transitional schools. Of the 27 elementary schools, 8 had teachers participating. The Institute first admitted elementary school teachers in 1990; this year 14 (23 percent) of all Fellows were elementary school teachers. Forty-two percent were middle or K-8 school teachers, and 29 percent were high school teachers. Three schools had five or more Fellows; nine schools had three or more. Overall, about 37 percent of the Fellows were 41-50 years old; 32 percent were younger and 32 percent were older. As Chart 2 shows, about one fifth of the Fellows (20 percent) had four or fewer years of total experience in teaching. The Institute attracted a somewhat higher proportion (33 percent) of teachers with 20 or more years of total experience in teaching. Nearly one third (30 percent) of the Fellows, however, had four or fewer years of experience teaching in the New Haven school system. Illustrative of the need for the professional development that the Institute provides, almost half (48 percent) of all Fellows have been in their present teaching position four or fewer years; nearly three quarters (71 percent) have taught in their present position for nine years or less. Thus, even though 59 percent of the Fellows have 10 or more years of total teaching experience, almost half have four or fewer years of experience in their present position. These figures help to explain why many teachers say they need to develop their knowledge in subjects that they have been recently reassigned to teach, or curricular materials for students of a different age or background from those they have taught before. (Chart 2 available in print form) Moreover, as in past years—and as is the case in the school system generally—many of the 2000 Fellows did not major in college or graduate school in the subjects they currently teach. As Chart 3 shows, in no fields except art and biological science did all Fellows teaching a subject have a graduate or undergraduate degree in that subject. In six fields—bilingual education/ESOL, earth science, general science, foreign language, general science, and history—no Fellows had a graduate or undergraduate degree in a field they taught. Of the Fellows teaching in the field of English, only four fifths had an undergraduate or graduate degree. Of those teaching in the field of social studies, only one third had so much as an undergraduate degree. (Chart 3 available in print form) Chart 4 shows the subjects Fellows taught in the 1999-2000 year of their Institute participation. Overall, more than half (53 percent) of Fellows in the humanities and almost three quarters (71 percent) of Fellows in the sciences had not majored either in college or in graduate school in one or more of the subjects they taught in that year. (Chart 4 available in print form) Understandably, therefore, when the 2000 Fellows were asked about the incentives that attracted them to participate in the Institute, they responded (as Chart 5 shows, reading left to right from the most to the least important) that the most important incentives were the opportunities to develop materials to motivate their students (96 percent), to develop curricula to fit their needs (94 percent), to increase their mastery in the subjects they teach (86 percent), and to exercise intellectual independence (86 percent). Indeed, incentives that might be imagined to be important for teachers with access to Yale University—credit in a degree program and access to Yale athletic facilities—were much less important for Fellows in the Teachers Institute. (Chart 5 available in print form) |
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As past Institute studies have shown, Fellows are in most respects highly representative of all New Haven teachers. So, for example, this year's Fellows continue to reflect the gender and ethnicity of all New Haven teachers, though there are great disparities overall between the ethnic and racial characteristics of New Haven teachers and those of their students. (See Table 1 below.) Similarly, the Yale faculty members who have led Institute seminars generally reflect the wider faculty at Yale. |
Fellows are in most respects highly representative of all New Haven teachers. |
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Table 1
Totals may not add to 100% due to rounding. |
© 2001 by the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute