CORNELIUS – A Hough High School English teacher has been selected to participate in a national seminar as part of the Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools.

Dana Pillsbury, along with seven other Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ educators, will join 76 public school teachers from 22 school districts in 11 states to take part in the program. The initiative is a long-term endeavor by Yale University’s Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute to link institutions of high education with urban or rural school districts, where many students come from low-income communities.

The purposes of the national seminars are to give public school teachers a deeper knowledge of the subjects they teach and first-hand experience with the Teachers Institute approach to high-quality professional development.

Each participating teacher writes a curriculum unit for his or her students based on what they learn during the seminar. They are expected to share the curriculum with other teachers in the district. Pillsbury will attend a seminar titled “The Art of Reading People: Character, Expression, Interpretation.”

The seminars begin May 6 and conclude in mid-August.