Richard S. Miller
The seminar title, “Man and the Environment,” was a fortunate choice. It was broad enough to encompass a wide variety of topics and interests, and this was certainly necessary for this particular group of Fellows. Twelve New Haven teachers with interests ranging from urban wildlife through human populations, energy, sex education and plant evolution produced curriculum units which often differed quite markedly in approach and content. Their common quality is ingenuity and inventiveness, based on a strong teaching commitment to new ways of presenting the concepts and ideas of traditional areas of service. The research and thought that went into these units was impressive, and it is hoped that the classroom results will be equally satisfying, both to the Fellows and other teachers in the New Haven system.
The nature of the curriculum units and their approaches to different problems will be evident to the reader, but beyond these units there was an excellent exchange and discussion of suggestions and ideas that was stimulating to me and, I think, a source of intellectual renewal to the Fellows. Our seminar sessions were an education to me in the challenges of teaching in a city high school system, and it gave me a new level of respect and admiration for the dedication of New Haven’s teachers.
Richard S. Miller
