Welcome to CTTI: The Chicago Transformation Teacher Institutes
   

Upcoming Events and News

*Save the Date*

Thursday, January 12, 2012
Workshop 3 fourth meeting, 5 - 8:30 pm
University of Illinois at Chicago
Stipends and dinner provided
Previous attendance not required

Thursday, February 9, 2012
Workshop 3 fifth meeting, 5 - 8:30 pm
University of Illinois at Chicago
Stipends and dinner provided
Previous attendance not required

Next Workshop 3 meetings: March 8, April 12, May 10, June 7

For more info, email Dean Grosshandler, Project Coordinator, at grosshan@uic.edu

 

Math Course offered this Winter at DePaul

Logic and the Secondary Mathematics Curriculum will be led by Professor Susanna Epp. This course is open to any math teacher who has not taken it already. The class will meet on DePaul's Lincoln Park campus Tuesdays from 5:00 - 8:15 pm, beginning January 10, 2012 and ending March 13. As with all CTTI courses, CTTI teachers will receive a $1000 stipend upon completion of the course. (This class is now closed to new registrations.)

For more details, please contact Dean Grosshandler at grosshan@uic.edu.

Science Course offered this Spring at Northwestern

Teacher Leadership: Energy, Transportation & the Environment will be led by Professor Kim Gray. This course is open to any science teacher who has not taken it already. Math teachers who wish to enroll should contact Dean Grosshandler. The class will meet on Northwestern University's Evanston campus on Tuesdays from 5:00 - 8:00 pm, beginning March 27 and ending June 5.

As with all CTTI courses, CTTI teachers will receive a $1000 stipend upon completion of the course.

For more details, please contact Dean Grosshandler at grosshan@uic.edu.

Workshop 3 offered this Fall and Winter

Workshop 3, Incorporating, Selecting, Refining, and Implementing Curricula in High School Math and Science, builds on previous courses and workshops to address two key tasks for CTTI teachers: 1) Planning 12th grade curricula, and 2) Developing leadership in vertical integration within schools in support of better outcomes for students.

Workshop 3 meetings are held monthly during the school year and build on current teacher work in schools. You are free to attend individual meetings as your schedule allows. Fall dates included October 18, November 8, December 13, 2011 and Winter and Spring 2012 dates include: February 9, March 8, April 12, May 10, June 7, from 5 - 8:30 pm.

Please see the Cohort I and II schedules below for more detailed CTTI schedules.

As with other CTTI activities, teachers will receive a stipend for their participation.

Do you have questions about CTTI? Please contact Dean Grosshandler, the CTTI Project Coordinator, at grosshan@uic.edu

About CTTI

The Chicago Transformation Teacher Institutes (CTTI) is an NSF-funded Math Science Partnership of five universities (University of Illinois at Chicago, DePaul University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Loyola University Chicago, and Northwestern University) and the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Its aim is to increase the content, pedagogical, and leadership skills of teachers through a school leader-team approach.

The CTTI teacher program includes several components in addition to networking programs:

  • Coursework in mathematics, physical science, and life and environmental science. The courses provide for increased content knowledge by teachers, including how the content is embedded in contemporary issues and current research. They also support the growth of deep knowledge required for strong cross-curricula work.
  • Workshops on leadership and teaching that provide increased skills in how to use content to understand classroom practice, including instructional design, selection of classroom materials, pedagogy, and assessment of student knowledge.
  • Improved curricula for schools to use in 12th grade capstone and AP classes. These curricula will be part of a vertical alignment of all four years of high school science or mathematics.

Benefits for teachers

All courses in the core CTTI program are graduate-level university courses and can be applied to a degree program.  Please note that participation in the CTTI program does not ensure automatic acceptance into a degree program. For information on the exact number of credit hours that can be transferred into a degree program, please contact a graduate advisor at the host institution. 

The CTTI has the exact structure required for teachers to be able to obtain the new Teacher Leader Endorsement (TLE) of the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE 2009). This endorsement has been developed to enable districts to work with University partners and teachers to develop leaders within schools that are not necessarily on an administrative track.

Benefits for schools

Schools with teachers participating in the CTTI benefit in three particular ways. First, the teachers work directly on 12th grade science and math curricula, critical to providing students with college and career readiness. The CTTI courses bring teachers into contact with new ideas and they are expected to change their plans to adapt these for classroom use. At the same time, teachers purposefully bring content they learn in courses into their 12th grade plans. This will build over the course of the institute, culminating in their CTTI-supported work within Workshop 3, which will then focus on supporting their selection of materials, development of course planning and pacing materials, and determining and procuring classroom supports for the new course.

A second aspect of teacher leader work involves grades 9-10-11. In this case, teachers lead an examination of the vertical and thematic integration of instruction in their schools (of course, they will also be teaching in one or more of those grades). Particular goals include (a) leading departments in considering the instructional implications of the math or science reasoning characteristics of the ACT College Readiness Standards; (b) determining specific instructional components that strengthen or weaken student preparation for grade 12; and (c) providing professional development experiences that reflect emerging skills in translating particular content ideas into useful classroom practice.

Thirdly, the leadership components of CTTI support the development of teacher leaders within the school. Their work fits within the existing and developing plans for overall leadership in the school, leading to stronger departments that can work well with the overall school plan as developed by the school principal and Local School Council.

More Information

Program Overview

Course and Workshop Details

Other information

How to Apply

We encourage teachers to contact us about becoming part of CTTI, whether or not they are part of a school team at this time.

School teams: Please review the CTTI informational files linked to above before completing the application. As part of the process of preparing your application, we highly encourage you to schedule a meeting with us and your team at your school.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. We will review applications and provide responses as quickly as possible. If you have any questions, please email Dean Grosshandler, Project Coordinator, at grosshan@uic.edu. Thank you!