An Arts Education Professional Development Series and Community of Practice
–Teaching Artist Workshop Series by the Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School and Local Learning: The National Network for Folk Arts Education–

Workshop participants at FACTS program kick off in November.

Calling Philadelphia Area Teaching Artists! Join a year-long exploration of what it means to be a culturally-responsive Teaching Artist and how your arts education practice can embrace a trauma-informed approach to support student belonging, inquiry, and agency. 

• Be a part of establishing a community of culturally-responsive and trauma-informed Teaching Artists for ongoing networking, mentorship, and growth opportunities.
• Build your portfolios, create lessons that connect across the curriculum, and gain methods for teaching about your art forms and their context to diverse students of all ages.
• Additionally, participants will have a chance to apply to a paid classroom residency opportunity in Spring 2026 following the FREE skills-based workshops series.

Classroom Teachers–you are also invited to join this series! – Discover how arts and guest residencies can be assets in your classroom, build inclusive learning plans with proven tools for student engagement, and learn with a cohort model that centers participants’ expertise.

2026-2027 Teaching Artist Mentorship Cohort Program

Local Learning and Philadelphia’s Folk Arts and Cultural Treasures Charter School (FACTS) are proud to announce the Teaching Artist Mentorship Cohort, a year-long mentorship program for Philadelphia and Camden artists of any discipline to expand their teaching practice and artist network, explore culturally responsive and trauma-informed pedagogy, build portfolios with lessons that connect across the curriculum, and connect with educators and cultural centers in Philadelphia and Camden.

With funding thanks to the William Penn Foundation, Local Learning and FACTS will be convening a year-long Community of Practice of 10 teaching artists who are interested in becoming mentors and leaders in the teaching artist ecosystem of Philadelphia. As part of the cohort, teaching artists will participate in a paid classroom residency during the 2026-2027 school year.

Artists will apply to participate, and selection criteria will include artistic excellence, teaching experience, connection of their art form to Philadelphia’s diverse communities, and a commitment to the development of other teaching artists.

Cohort Application

Cohort Application will open on January 8, 2026 and close April 20, 2026.

Application Form

Upcoming Workshops in this Series:

Inclusive Strategies for Diverse Learners: Building learning activities that engage learners of all abilities and diverse backgrounds.

Location: Virtual/Zoom
Date: March 12, 2026 | 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
FREE!

In this conversation we’ll consider What does “inclusion” mean? How have we seen inclusion enacted in teaching and learning venues? What does “inclusion” mean in your own practice? Register here.

 

Student Health and Wellbeing

 

Location: Virtual/Zoom
Date: April 9, 2026 | 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
FREE!

In this conversation we’ll consider what a culture-centered approach to trauma-informed teaching looks like and discuss how we as educators can create learning spaces that cultivate a sense of safety, connectedness, and hope. Register here.

About the Workshop Series and the Faculty

Special topics to be covered in upcoming workshops throughout 2026 and 2027 in this series include:

• Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
• Trauma-Informed Pedagogy in the Arts Classroom
• Activating Arts Conversations to Connect Across Disciplines
• Student health and Well being through Cultural Lens
• Working with ELL Students
• Cultivating a Whole School Community Ecosystem through Arts Education
• Site-specific tours and opportunities to meet FACTS-seasoned Teaching Artists in both Ensemble and Class Residency settings (by invitation only)

__________________________________________

The Folk Arts Cultural Treasures Charter School (FACTS) provides children with an exemplary education that utilizes traditional arts and cultures found within their own and neighboring communities as the catalyst for critical inquiry and community engagement. It provides children with an education which has high academic standards, is truly community based, incorporates and respects the lives of students and their families, engages students in understanding their own cultures and communities, and engages students in understanding their role as active participants in working for a just society. FACTS serves kindergarten through eighth grade elementary school students of diverse racial, ethnic, linguistic and cultural backgrounds from the City of Philadelphia.

The FACTS mission quotes Grace Lee Boggs, “Giving meaning to the lives of our children in the present while preparing them to become active citizens in a democratic society.”

Claire Denny, M.A.I.S, is the Folk Arts Education Specialist at the FACTS Charter School. She holds a Masters of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Folklore from George Mason University. Her education also includes a B.A in Anthropology and a certificate in Studio Art. At her previous job as Folklife Education Coordinator at the Arts Institute of Middlesex County she worked extensively with teaching artists and created education materials for educational settings. She also has experience working with diverse youth populations stemming back to her time living and teaching on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. In her current job at FACTS, her primary responsibilities include coordinating folk arts residencies, training classroom teachers and artists in folk arts education, and playing a lead role in the implementation and continuous improvement of folk arts education curriculum.

Local Learning is a National Arts Service Organization that will bring their national faculty and local experts together to support this training opportunity.

Dr. Lisa Rathje is Executive Director of Local Learning. She directs teacher and artist training institutes and advocates for the inclusion of culture in diverse learning spaces. She consults nationally, including currently a 5-year consultancy for the REACH program of the University of South Florida funded by the U.S. Department of Education to strengthen arts and culture programming in the nation’s educational system. With Paddy Bowman, she is co-editor and founder of the Journal of Folklore and Education, an international, freely accessed, multimedia juried journal.

 

Mira Johnson, D. Ed., is the Local Learning Director of Learning Networks and Training where she works collaboratively with staff, artists, and community members on the design, development, and engagement of folk arts learning opportunities and resources. She is also an adjunct assistant professor at Bronx Community College in the English Department and the First Year Seminar Program. As a regional culture specialist for Pennsylvania’s state folklife program she conducted fieldwork with rural and urban folk artists and tradition bearers, and served as the program coordinator at FolkArtPA, Pennsylvania’s statewide folklife program. She holds a doctorate in Adult Education and Lifelong Learning from Penn State University and an M.A. in folklore from the University of Oregon.

Thank you to the William Penn Foundation for supporting this work through their Arts Education Teaching Artist Training Program. This grant is expected to offer teaching artists with professional development and networking support to improve their practice and connect them to colleagues and additional resources.

Lead Support Provided By:

About William Penn Foundation The William Penn Foundation, founded in 1945 by Otto and Phoebe Haas, is committed to expanding access to resources and opportunities that promote a more vital and just city and region for all. We do this through funding programs in the Philadelphia region in arts and culture, children and families, democracy and civic initiatives, environment and public space, and workforce training and services. Learn more at www.williampennfoundation.org.

The post Building the World We Want for Philly Students appeared first on Local Learning.

November 15, 2025 | 11:00 am-1:00pm | FREE to attend
Westbury Arts | 255 Schenk Ave., Westbury, NY

Welcome to the CCC Showcase.
Experience important local artforms and learn what happened when educators included guest artists in their classrooms this fall.
 Find out what students learned and enjoy artists’ sharing. 

Thank you for attending today!

Meet the Artists

Angie Hernandez – Angie Hernandez is a singer, poet and multi-Emmy Award-winning journalist and producer who currently serves as a national correspondent for Spectrum Noticias. She covers breaking news and sheds light on critical issues, including immigration, education, and climate change. Hernandez holds degrees in the arts, communications, and broadcast journalism, as well as a master’s degree in journalism with a concentration in international reporting from Columbia University. In addition to her journalism work, Angie is the producer and host of “Action with Angie”, and “Let’s Talk with Angie – Hablemos con Angie”, that foster dialogues on culture, social issues and community impact. She is also the founder of Angie Productions LLC, through which she offers journalism workshops to the youth and a range of media-related and personalized services designed to empower people across generations. Her mission is deeply rooted in her own journey as an immigrant from the Dominican Republic. Arriving in the United States at the age of 19, Hernandez learned English, pursued her education, worked multiple jobs, and supported both herself and her family back home. Angie Hernandez is a testament to how education and discipline can open doors and create lasting impact.

Oluwaseyi (Shayee) Awoyomi – Shayee is a multifaceted Nigerian artist, born into a family of visual and performing artists. She started at the tender age of three, dancing, singing, and doing textile and painting alongside her mother, Nike Okundaye. She has always found a way to infuse her artistic background and talent in every area of her life. She grew up in an artist village and can remember vividly following her mother to different textile markets in search of unique Adire cloths. Shayee derives energy from the patterns in the traditional Adire of the Yoruba people, carrying on their unspoken communication language patterns in all of her works. 

Juan Uribe – Is a Colombian musician and recording engineer living in New York, he has played with La Cumbiamba Eneye, Rebolu, Edmar Castañeda, and the United Nations Orchestra. After earning his degree in Jazz Performance (Saxophone) from City College of New York, he began working at Sean Sweeney Recording Studio, where he continues to collaborate with Juilliard students and graduates. Alongside his recording work, he teaches music workshops on Long Island, introducing children to the African and Indigenous roots of Cumbia and its traditional instruments.

Zaman – Mohamed A. Amin is a queer Indo-Caribbean, Guyanese Muslim artist commonly known as International Dancer Zaman (he/him/they) and the drag-centric activist Sundari The Indian Goddess (she/her/they). He uses performing arts to promote Caribbean Arts & Guyanese Culture along with the multiple, intersectional identities of LGBTQ Caribbean immigrants in the diaspora.

Chris Hale – Chris Hale is a master craftsman specializing in traditional wooden boats and half models, a maritime art once common on Long Island. Since the 1990s, he has worked at Weeks Boatyard in Patchogue and has experience in several boatyards across Long Island, from Shelter Island to East Quogue.

Denise Silva-Dennis – Denise (WeeTahMoe) is a multidisciplinary artist and educator based at the Shinnecock Nation in Southampton, New York. Denise is currently the workshop coordinator/ beadwork instructor at Ma’s House, a BIPOC art center founded by her son, Jeremy Dennis. Denise also presents her Shinnecock/Hassanamisco culture through her artwork which includes life-size figurative paintings, historical murals, beadwork, regalia, talking sticks, dreamcatchers, and other artifacts.

Tristan Japsi – As a steelpan musician, arranger, and educator, my work is rooted in honoring the Caribbean’s living traditions while pushing the instrument into new creative spaces. I see the steelpan as both an archive of our history and a bridge connecting cultures across the diaspora. Through performance and teaching, I aim to inspire young musicians to recognize the instrument’s power, innovation, and beauty. My artistry is guided by the belief that pan carries memory, community, and possibility—and that every performance is a chance to keep that legacy alive.

Paul Rodriguez – All of the art I make – be it children’s books, theater, or dance – is inspired by ideas that may help someone in some way. The idea is to be proactive, not reactive. I want to help children learn the life skills they need to avoid life’s pitfalls rather than be forced to learn those skills from life’s pitfalls.  Accordingly, I believe that the greatest lesson we can teach our children is how to teach themselves. I believe that social-emotional learning makes all other learning possible, and I believe in empowering children with the infinite wonder of their creativity.

Thank you for Attending the Culture, Community, and the Classroom showcase! This program happens because of the support of many important funders and individuals like yourself. Please consider donating to support these programs.

About the project

Three teachers in school districts around the region participated in a summer workshop with nationally recognized faculty from Local Learning: The National Network for Folk Arts in Education. These educators were selected to host artists in their schools. Learn from these local teachers and traditional artists who participated in this national initiative to incorporate diverse cultural arts and knowledge into classrooms in a lively showcase. Learn more about the summer workshop here.

Thank you to these funders who made it possible to offer this as a free professional development opportunity for teachers and artists: The National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and individual donors to Local Learning.

We are grateful to our local colleagues Violet Baron and Adriana Devers-Rodriguez for their help in planning this professional development series. We also want to acknowledge the support of Ellen McHale and New York Folklore. 

Local Learning’s Culture, Community, and the Classroom programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

The post Long Island CCC Showcase 2025 appeared first on Local Learning.

FOLKLORE AND EDUCATION SECTION GUIDE TO AFS 2025

American Folklore Society conference sessions of particular interest to educators and our section membership

The 137th annual meeting of the American Folklore Society is October 18–21, 2025, at Crowne Plaza Midtown in Atlanta. The virtual part of the meeting will be held on the conference platform November 12–14, 2025.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2025

563 Teaching with Folk Sources: Learning from People’s Stories  8:30 AM – 3:00 PM Georgia Ballroom (with add-on events Friday night for GA Teachers interested in potential PLUs Credit Hours)

Sponsored by Folklore and Education Section

The Local Learning TPS team offers teaching tools and materials that engage the digitally available archival holdings of the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress alongside local and regional collections, bringing them into conversation to create a fuller, more complex narrative of American communities, history, and people. From hip hop narratives to veterans’ oral histories, and from teaching with sound to identifying bias in the archive, Local Learning has worked collaboratively with partners across the nation to use American Folklife Center collections of the Library of Congress to engage, inspire, and inform learners through their Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program. TPS is the Library of Congress’ premier educational program, focused on helping educators enhance students’ critical thinking, analysis skills, and content knowledge using the Library’s collections of millions of digitized primary sources.

Presenters include

• Lee Ann Potter, Director of Professional Learning and Outreach Initiatives at the Library of Congress
• Monica Mohindra, Director of the Veterans History Project, Library of Congress
• Dr. View, Assistant Professor of Creative Practice in Popular Music at The Ohio State University and founder of Fire in Little Africa, a 21-track hip hop album signed to Motown Records and project that engaged primary sources from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
• Hayden Haynes (Seneca, Deer Clan), Director at Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center/Seneca-Iroquois National Museum
• Local Learning and our Partners, with staff from the American Folklife Center, Vermont Folklife, Oklahoma Oral History Research Program, and New York Folklore

The workshop is free for registered attendees of the Oral History Association or American Folklore Society meetings. Note, even if you are registered for OHA or AFS, we suggest you register for the workshop since seats are limited. Walk-ins are limited to seats available and may not receive handouts or certificates of participation without registering in advance. Register and learn more at https://locallearningnetwork.org/teaching-with-folk-sources.

Cost for teachers and education staff, including paraprofessionals, is $25.

Pay the $25 Educator Day Rate when you register here. This includes Dr. Bettina Love’s OHA keynote Friday 7:00-9:00 PM (see below).

Of special interest

This year, Atlanta will be a very exciting place to be since the Oral History Association conference overlaps the American Folklore Society conference. We also invite you to look over the Oral History Association’s conference program as they have much of interest to folklife educators including paper sessions and hands-on workshops. https://oralhistory.org/2025/07/08/view-the-preliminary-program-register-for-the-annual-meeting

OHA’S KEYNOTE FRIDAY OCTOBER 17, 7:00-9:00PM, IS BY BETTINA L. LOVE. 

WORTH ARRIVING AT AFS EARLY TO CATCH THIS!

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2025

01-04 Narratives that Reshape and Restory Children’s Lives 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EDT Sky East

Brandon Barker, Negar Noofeli, Gina Zimbardi, Elisa Alfonso

369 Nursery Rhymes ReStorying in Interwar America – Nursery Rhymes in Safety Education 8:45 AM – 9:15 AM EDT Sky East

Gina Zimbardi

In the early 20th century, America saw unprecedented economic, population, and diplomatic growth. This era introduced groundbreaking advancements like the light bulb, flight, and automobiles, driving the golden age of industrialization. Post-World War I, these innovations became accessible to the middle class, prompting safety regulations. The Progressive Era ushered in educational and social reforms, using nursery rhymes to educate on safety amid technological luxuries. Government bodies and safety committees employed nursery rhymes to teach health practices, aiming to protect children and standardize safety nationwide. This presentation examines how nursery rhymes conveyed safety during this transformative period in American history.

219 02-02 Roots of Knowing: At the Intersection of Folklore Studies and Library Science 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EDT Atlanta Ballroom/AB

Virginia Siegel, Sara Barclay, Ellen Urton, Sarah Milligan, Ceylon Woods

The disciplines of folklore studies and library and information science have long held a shared concern for the ways that individuals learn, assess, and share information. As is common in academia, though, these scholarly conversations are often held in parallel rather than common spaces. This panel brings together five individuals (four panelists and one discussant) working in libraries, each having taken different pathways to the field of folklore. While each panelist discusses different projects at the intersection of folklore and librarianship, the underlying thread asks what folklorists might learn from librarianship, and, crucially, what folklore might contribute to library science.

464 02-04 Sustaining Tradition, Building Careers: Public Folklore, Applied (Ethno)musicology, and University Partnerships in the 21st Century 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EDT Sky East

Sponsored by the Independent Folklorists Section.

Carrie Danielson, Elizabeth Uchimura, Gwendolyn Saporito-Emler, Julian Duncan, Zachary Moreau

This forum explores how university-community partnerships connect students to careers in applied ethnomusicology and public folklore. Panelists, including music faculty, library staff, and graduate students, will share best practices for integrating community engagement into academic programs. Case studies like the Tallahassee Regional Music Collection (TRMC) and folk festival collaborations highlight how these partnerships foster cultural sustainability, community empowerment, and professional development. Emphasizing that culture work is care work, these collaborations preserve traditions, build community resilience, and provide students with hands-on experience in documentation, curation, and festival management, creating meaningful career pathways in ethnomusicology and public folklore.

520 02-08 Lessons in Crafting Community 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EDT Peachtree

Diana Baird N’Diaye, Dawn Murphy, Darcy Holdorf, Minuette Floyd, Camila Bryce-Laporte

This forum presents stories, perspectives and gleanings from participants in a week-long planning and craft education event at the in Brasstown, North Carolina–an outgrowth of a three year participatory research partnership between the African American Craft Alliance and the John C. Campbell Folk School. Discussants will consider the narratives emerging from the event with reference to the following theory of change: Community cohesion and collective agency can be reinforced and enhanced across differences through the utilization of folk methodologies ie. Collective participation in folk and craft activities, informal and formal exchanges of dialogue, craft knowledge and skills in the context of folk schools and joint participation in other craft events.

Folklore and Education Section Business Meeting 12:15 PM – 1:15 PM EDT Roswell

Sponsored by Folklore and Education Section

The Folklore and Education Section meets to discuss section business, award section prizes, plan for the coming year, and discuss issues of interest to our section membership. Anyone interested in folklore and education is invited and welcome to attend. (Note – only section members can vote, but all can participate in discussions.)

03-07 Folklore, Pedagogy, and Cultural Bridges 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM EDT Rear Salon

Christine Zinni, Kathryn Kimiecik Foley, Veronica Ponce de Leon Plascencia

483 The Fight of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation for their Way of Life: Cross Cultural Communication and Relevant Conversations 1:30 PM – 2:00 PM EDT Rear Salon

Christine Zinni

This Session focuses on teaching strategies in my Environmental Knowledge and Women’s lives classes that have engaged SUNY Brockport students in Cross-cultural Communication with citizens of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation who currently face an existential threat to their existence and lifeways with the creation of mega industrial data center adjacent to their homelands in western New York State. It is proposed in conjunction with a screening of the ten-minute film co-produced by the Tonawanda Seneca “Unheard Voices: The Fight of the Tonawanda Seneca’s for Their Way of Life” scheduled at a separate time during the conference.

516 Puppets and Folk-Art Education Help Newcomer Students To Belong To A New Place  2:15 PM – 3:00 PM EDT Rear Salon

Sponsored by Folklore and Education Section

Veronica Ponce de Leon Plascencia

The puppet as the main protagonist in the learning of the English language for students K-12 new welcomes to this country creating from scratch a character of a Mayan legend, will initially read the legend in his own language. Then they are given the script of the play in English they will go to the music section, they will know instruments they will play them, and they will be created a puppet with papier mâché, it is a puppet show for children, they all will read in English, they will act their character, with emotions and set up their stage, play the music and move their puppet.

03-09 Diving Deep into Culture Learning: Folklife Education in K-12 Music Classrooms 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM EDT Roswell

Linda Deafenbaugh, Lindsay Dodoras, Avalon Nemec, Lisa Stein

Sponsored by Folklore and Education Section

147 What a Meaningful Way to Study Culture: Folklife Education in Music Class 1:30 PM – 2:00 PM EDT Roswell

Linda Deafenbaugh

Folklife education provides an educational approach that enables educators to deepen student learning about culture. Music educators have long been invested in including the richness of the world’s music into their classrooms, but far too often the ways this has been done end up falling short by being cursory or superficial. What is the folklife education approach? Why include it in music classrooms? What can K-12 students gain from a music program that includes folklife education? I examine some of the many ways folklife education can help educators center culture in meaningful ways in the music classroom.

235 Welcoming the Authentic Voice: Fostering Folk Art Education in the General Music Classroom 2:00 PM – 2:30 PM EDT Roswell

Lindsay Dodoras

Music educators can serve as the guide to a students’ self discovery and foster their connection to the culture of others, in their own community and across the globe, through the opportunities cultivated in the classroom. I will explore how to craft enriching musical experiences that engage students in the culture beneath the music and present strategies on how to facilitate mindful discussions that lead to a depth of knowledge and self reflection. I discuss developing folklife curriculum that can span the course of a students’ education: how it can be approached, revisited and scaffolded upon for a deeper understanding over time.

395 Facilitating Cultural Connections between Artists and Students 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM EDT Roswell

Avalon Nemec

Educators are invested in bringing new experiences to students; music educators might aim to do this by incorporating music from various cultures into their classrooms. However, it is sometimes more culturally sensitive to offer the classroom as a platform for artists/cultural experts to share their firsthand knowledge and musical experiences. What does it mean to facilitate a welcoming classroom environment where students without a particular cultural experience can engage respectfully with an artist who might not have traditional classroom experience? I offer anecdotal experiences about working with artists in a public K-8 setting, and practical advice for music educators who wish to enhance student learning by inviting community artists to teach.

226 Concert Themes: An Invitation for Cross-Cultural Comparison 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM EDT Roswell

Lisa Stein

When music educators choose a theme for a school concert with repertoire from diverse musical traditions, they are naturally creating an invitation for students to engage in cross-cultural comparison. However, the deeper layers of cultural engagement often remain untouched. Folklife education provides a framework for students to examine their own cultures in order to more meaningfully engage with music from other cultures. In this paper, I explore strategies for choosing a concert theme, selecting diverse repertoire, and delving deeper into each cultural world to create a more nuanced understanding of the traditions and worldviews that shape music across diverse cultures.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2025

04-09 Rethinking Folklore and Pedagogy 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EDT Roswell

Maria Kennedy, Azadeh Najafian, — Frog

257 Using Folklore as a Tool for Teaching Farsi as a Second Language: A Case Study 8:30 AM – 9:00 AM EDT Roswell

Azadeh Najafian

Teaching languages is one of the most complicated subjects. However, when teaching a less commonly used language as a second language is the case, the situation gets more complicated. Farsi/Persian is a relatively new language for American students. Farsi is an old language with a derivative structure and many syntactic and lexical exceptions. Additionally, the word pronunciation makes it even more challenging to learn or even connect with. My paper will focus on the use of different genres ‌of folklore in Farsi language classes to facilitate students’ mastery of language skills. With specific applied examples, I will illustrate how these genres can be used in an interactive classroom setting.

266 ‘Pedagogy of Resistance’: Explorations of a Phenomenon 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM EDT Roswell

— Frog

The term ‘pedagogy of resistance’ was used by David M. Carr (2005) to describe the adaptation of writing technologies from a dominant culture to serve ancient Hebrew religion and collective identity. The present paper abstracts ‘pedagogy of resistance’ as the phenomenon of adapting technologies, paradigms, and infrastructures of a dominant culture with pedagogical aims of impacting the understanding and evaluation of a particular tradition, group, culture, or group of cultures. Cases considered include the Hebrew Bible, vernacular mythology in medieval Iceland, 17th-century Iceland, and Elias Lönnrot’s Kalevala (1849), briefly also considering heritage-construction projects today.

362 Podcast Pedagogy: Media and Oral Storytelling in the Classroom 9:30 AM – 10:00 AM EDT Roswell

Maria Kennedy

I propose “Podcast Pedagogy” as a unique opportunity to explore the theoretical riches of oral storytelling, oral history, sound recording and archiving, and media literacy in an undergraduate university classroom. While podcasts are increasingly used in the classroom as media content, and sometimes used as alternative assignments for traditional papers, creating a full pedagogy that introduces students to theories of oral culture and sound, and that creates structured opportunities to break down the writing, production, and performance process are rare. This paper explores how the creation of sound-based research, writing, and storytelling can be integrated into classroom settings, through the development of a podcast course at Rutgers University.

05-05 Rethinking Family and Folklore 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EDT Sky Salon

606 Uprooted, ReGrounded and Growing 11:15 AM – 11:30 PM EDT Sky Salon

Dr. Octavia Fugerson Brewington

The story of disconnected youth in America; such as those with experience with foster care, homelessness, adjudication, or migration is often seen in a deficit- too often associated with poor outcomes such as: housing instability, lack of social capital, and limited access to resources. The author (2018) exerts an anti-deficit perspective and explores their strengths, competencies, values, resources, and supports of the vulnerable population. Uprooted, ReGrounded and Growing was presented in the conflict resolution setting as peace education(2023). It was intended to de-escalate threats to vulnerable families with complex situations by equipping permanency mediators with knowledge of talent identification and development.

05-08 Folklore in Education Today: Methods and Tools in Action 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EDT  Peachtree

Paddy Bowman, Kennedi Johnson, Mira Johnson, Taylor Dooley Burden, Claire Denny

Sponsored by Folklore and Education Section

We know stories have the power to shape our collective understanding of place, time, and belonging. How do we harness that power to help learners and educators alike recognize the value of their own communities’ stories? In this session, a new generation of folklore in education practitioners share their distinctive ways of working with educators, artists, and students. Presenters’ projects illuminate the value of a folkloristic, ethnographic approach to education, from sense of place to assumptions about students, material culture to celebrations. Expect hands-on engagement and new ideas to try in your learning environments..

228 07-12 Teaching in Thorny Times 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM EDT Sky Board Room

Thomas McKean, Mary Sellers

Sponsored by Folklore and Education Section

Our world seems to be increasingly precarious. From Covid-19 to political and social turmoil, students and educators alike having been feeling stress, anxiety, and despair for years. How can we help our students? How can we help ourselves as teachers? This workshop will focus on how educators (K-12 and higher education) can use folklore (storytelling, community, crafts, games, and more) to adapt assignments for students who are affected during this time of change and fear. It will be a space to voice concerns, ask questions, and develop practical activities and assignments that will work in the classroom.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2025

08-03 From One Body to Another: The Transmission of Physical and Cultural Knowledge and the Stories We Share  8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EDT Sky West 

Daniela Nyberg, Amy Mills, Katherine Borland, Daniela Ivanova-Nyberg

504 Just Tell Me How To Do It Right: Adventures in Social Dance Teaching for Beginners 8:30 AM – 9:00 AM EDT Sky West 

Amy Mills

Raised in a family of avid social dancers, public folklorist Amy Mills learned as much from others on the dance floor as in formal dance classes. Her mother’s offhand remark – “get your generation dancing” – became a life goal. She soon realized how different that process would be from her own experience. How do you teach beginners in a culture that doesn’t dance? Drawing on insights from social dance teachers and her own experiences teaching cowboys, college students, folk dancers and physicists, she explores the core assumptions and adaptive strategies that help newcomers get moving in community with joy and confidence.

495 The Stories Behind Bulgarian Dance Teaching and Learning in U.S. Bulgarian Diasporic Communities: What Do They Reveal?  9:30 AM – 10:00 AM Sky West

Daniela Ivanova-Nyberg

Since the early 21st century, Bulgarian cultural centers and schools in the United States have played a pivotal role in transmitting Bulgarian dance traditions. Initially centered on social dance, instruction gradually evolved into performance-oriented training, shaping new artistic expressions within the diaspora. This study examines the transformation of Bulgarian dance pedagogy through the perspectives of teachers, dancers, and audiences. It explores the shift from social to staged performance, the cultural influences shaping these presentations, and the symbolic meanings embedded in dancing in traditional costumes. These narratives reveal deeper insights into cultural continuity, adaptation, and identity within Bulgarian diasporic communities.

08-08 Remaking Community through Storying and Restorying 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EDT Peachtree

514 Local Stories Matter: Collaborative Storytelling  9:38 AM – 10:00 AM EDT Peachtree

Alli Crandell

Over the past decade, The Athenaeum Press at Coastal Carolina University has collaborated with community and student partners to create stories, from museum exhibits to publications. Our topics range from homelessness to Gullah Geechee spirituals, always centering the originating communities in the exploration of narratives. Students gain practical experience and insights into topics and production methods; community members gain storytelling vehicles and, often, long-term partnerships. This paper will provide two project case studies and the pedagogical model(s) of a publishing lab that allow for project-based storytelling involving and surrounding regional subcultures. Local stories matter, how do we tell it?

11-05 Putting Music to Uses New and Old  3:15 PM – 4:45 PM EDT Sky Salon

Joe Kinzer, Marion Jacobson, Emily Allen

336 Fast, Cheap and Out of B-Roll: Filling in Musicians’ Missing Stories with ‘Artist Profile’ Videos  3:45 PM – 4:15 PM EDT Sky Salon 

Sponsored by Folklore and Education Section

Marion Jacobson

The World Music in the Schools (WMIS) Residency brings traditional artists to New Jersey K-12 band, chorus and general music classrooms to support the students in connecting with their own cultural heritage and that of surrounding communities through musical exploration. We designed the Artist Self Introduction video project to identify and fill in the artists’ missing “stories” to present to students and teachers ahead of the classroom visits. I I will describe some unexpected challenges and share insights into how to improve the process, engage students and support the artists in their self-documentation journey.

344 Collaborative Podcasting as Public Musicology 4:15 PM – 4:15 PM EDT Sky Salon

Emily Allen

This paper explores collaborative podcasting as an effective tool for public musicology, enabling musicologists to engage wider audiences. By examining case studies from the author’s work on the New Books Network (NBN) and Take on the South (TOTS), the paper highlights how podcasting fosters collaboration in both scholarly and classroom settings. It discusses the potential of podcasting for ethnographic fieldwork, training musicologists in podcast production, and expanding public outreach. The paper also addresses the challenges of collaboration, such as logistical issues and audience engagement, while emphasizing the role of podcasting in enhancing the accessibility and impact of musicological scholarship.

11-10 Orality, Aurality, Performance, and Folklore in Medieval and Early Modern Texts  3:15 PM – 4:45 PM EDT Lenox

Charlotte Artese, Heather Hoyt, Lindsay Mapes, Judith Lanzendorfer

Verbal folklore is at the heart of three of the best-known texts of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales and Hamlet recall traditional modes of narrative, incantation, and the acoustic aspects of verse performance. This panel considers the oral and aural experience of both Beowulf and Bea Wolf, a recent adaptation for children; the courtly and popular storytelling audiences of The Canterbury Tales; and how Ophelia’s distribution of flowers echoes the repetitions found in an Old English herbal charm. By invoking folk practices, these literary works reflect their oral and traditional origins.

271 The Saga of Bea Wolf: A Retelling of Beowulf for Children 3:15 PM – 3:45 PM EDT Lenox 

Heather Hoyt

Bea Wolf, is a graphic retelling of the Old English poem, Beowulf, from the perspective of children. This presentation discusses Bea Wolf’s imitation of the language, characterization, and action of Beowulf, while using humor to appeal to children. Although the book is illustrated, it’s better read aloud. The author, Zach Weinersmith stays true to the rhythm and syntax of Beowulf. Some critics assert children will have difficulty understanding the text. However, this presentation argues that hearing Bea Wolf read aloud can make it accessible. Maximizing understanding of both Bea Wolf and Beowulf hinges on oral and aural experience of them.

214 State of the Field – Folklore in Higher Education. AFS Fellows Utley Lecture Plenary Session 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM Georgia Ballroom

Robert Baron, David Puglia, Rachel Gonzalez-Martin, Lisa Gilman, Cory Thorne Gutierrez, Jeana Jorgensen

Folklore Studies lives in a wide variety of higher education settings. While there are now fewer graduate programs, folklorists teach in other departments one way or another. They teach folklore courses or infuse it within other classes, as full time or contingent faculty. The programs remaining address sustainability challenges and incorporate the academic profession and public practice. Universities that discontinued programs have faculty teaching folklore in other ways. Folklorists occupying diverse positions will discuss how they maintain and expand folklore’s foothold while addressing challenges distinctive to folklore and shared broadly in academe. Exploring advances and challenges will open vistas for understanding the landscape of folklore studies in colleges and universities.

330 Folklore in the Community College: Teaching, Research, and Institutional Sustainability 5:00 PM Georgia Ballroom

David Puglia

Community colleges provide an ideal yet often overlooked setting for folklorists to teach, research, and engage with diverse student populations. Emphasizing accessibility and local engagement, two-year institutions align with folklore’s democratic ethos while presenting challenges in curricular sustainability, disciplinary visibility, and institutional support. This presentation explores strategies for infusing folklore into non-folklore courses, leveraging community connections for research, and navigating folkloristic careers within a teaching-centered environment. Drawing from my ten-year experience at a community college, I argue that folklorists can thrive in these institutions while strengthening folklore’s presence in higher education through innovative pedagogy, interdisciplinary collaboration, and public-facing scholarship.

373 Rethinking How We Think: Mentoring through Variants 5:17 PM Georgia Ballroom

Rachel Gonzalez-Martin

This paper offers commentary on the state of the field from the perspective of mentoring strategies working with and supporting a growing population of neurodivergent students. Student self-identification and official diagnoses of non-neurotypical learning traits require that educators rescript our mentoring practices while also transfiguring our own priorities as intellectual gatekeepers in higher education. Focusing on the context of a large public university in the south, where the field of folklore does not hold programmatic or departmental status, this contribution will consider: How can a focus on variants help us better serve the collective body of contemporary student populations?

216 Folklore Studies as a Model: Pedagogy, Research, and Professionalization through On- and Off-Campus Collaborations 5:34 PM Georgia Ballroom

Lisa Gilman

The scholarly basis of folklore studies combined with its application across different spheres (academic, public sector folklore, community-based work, social services, and policy-making) offer a model in United States higher education, especially the humanities. A strength of our field are the strong networks among ourselves, which bolster our ability to develop innovative and effective collaborations. Though strained from the lack of graduate funding, George Mason University’s folklore program takes advantage of its geographic location near Washington DC to create opportunities for partnerships within and outside the university that benefit students in the program as well as bolster the institution’s mission.

388 Stealth Folklore: Their Objectives, Our Content 6:08 PM Georgia Ballroom

Jeana Jorgensen

Many folklorists find themselves affiliated with non-folklore programs, but problems of disciplinary identity and continuation intensify when a folklorist is also a contingent lecturer or adjunct. Thus it is important for contingent folklorists in academia to be prepared to introduce folklore into the classroom in dynamic ways that reveal how vital it is to the learning goals of a variety of course types and disciplines. In core curriculum courses in particular, folklore materials can shine as we introduce folklore content, theories, and methods in novel ways that can integrate seamlessly with course objectives created without folklore in mind.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2025 VIRTUAL MEETING

63 Meet the Editors: Demystifying the Journal Publishing Process 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM EST Virtual Session Room 2

Danille Christensen, Sheila Bock, Paddy Bowman, Lisa Rathje, Timothy Thurston, Solimar Otero, Robert Guyker, Jr., Norma E. Cantú, Coppélie Cocq, Tim Frandy, Lisa Gabbert, Shelley Ingram, Lorraine Walsh Cashman.

The editors of the Journal of American Folklore, Journal of Folklore Research, Western Folklore, Narrative Culture, Cultural Analysis, Contemporary Legend, and the Journal of Folklore and Education are hosting this session to demystify the process of publishing in an academic journal. We will discuss the foci and missions of each journal, when to consider submitting, how to prepare a manuscript for submission, what happens after you submit, and what happens after acceptance. We invite students, junior scholars/professionals, and anyone who would benefit from learning about the process. We especially encourage colleagues of color and/or those working in DEI areas of study to join in the discussion.

The post AFS Education Session Guide 2025 appeared first on Local Learning.

Resources

Announcing publication of Cultural Frameworks for Transformative Documenting and Learning, Naomi Sturm-Wijesinghe and Mauricio Bayona, of Los Herederos, are Guest Editors. This volume offers educators case studies, activities, and creative entry points to engage the art of documentation in our learning spaces.

Write for our upcoming issue on Teaching with Monsters: From Whimsy to Shadow.
The 2026 Journal of Folklore and Education seeks submissions that recognize monsters, cryptids, and the legendary beings of our family stories and community narratives as powerful communicative tools in the classroom and beyond. The exploration of monstrosity can serve as a medium that helps us to talk about topics that can be difficult to address in other ways. Considering the role that monsters play in informal modes of education within a diverse range of communities, this issue will provide models for thinking about how educators both inside and outside the classroom might engage with these expressions of folklife in their pedagogy.

We seek submissions that present case studies, programs, lesson plans, teaching modules, and research based in education through monster and legendary creature exploration. Examples might include:

• Stories and/or examples of diverse teaching approaches in classroom settings and beyond, in which monsters, cryptids, and legendary creatures serve as an educational tool
• Lesson plans and/or curricula that involve education through monsters, cryptids, or their related creatures–from the whimsical to the terrible
• Interdisciplinary approaches to monstrosity as a communicative tool to explore complex information through education, such as diverse art forms, narratives, movies, TV shows, podcasts, memes, TikToks, and other media

Access the full call and submission portal here.

Have a text, website, film, or resource that you would like to be considered for review in the Journal of Folklore and Education? Please contact our Review Editor Taylor Dooley Burden at reviews@JFEpublications.org.

Two websites published with your education needs in mind.
https://LocalLearningNetwork.org
The Local Learning website offers resources that include learning activities and research that are searchable by theme, topic, and subject. We have also continued to maintain and update our national and regional folklife listings–pointing visitors to organizations and individuals near them. We also invite all our visitors to learn more about why they might want to bring Local Learning staff and consultants into their school, museum, or community to build resources, learning activities, and deeper understanding of shared assets. You might even discover there is a Local Learning workshop planned in your region! Have feedback or updates you want to see on our website? Contact us.

https://JFEpublications.org
The Journal of Folklore and Education (ISSN 2573-2072) is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published annually by Local Learning: The National Network for Folk Arts in Education. Housed in the website JFEpublications.org, you can search by author, find full citations for the articles, browse by theme and issue, and more easily sort by subject, theme, and topic.

Connect

• Culture, Community, and the Classroom offers targeted professional development to artists who are then partnered with teachers for direct applications of their new knowledge and offering teachers an opportunity to learn more about the cultural expertise in their own community. 2025 saw CCC on Long Island, New York and Madison, Wisconsin.
• New York Folklore continues to be a core partner and contributes to supporting Mira Johnson is our Director of Learning Networks and Training. (You can reach her at Mira@locallearningnetwork.org.) A special project that was started in 2025 is the NY Teaching Artist Roster with a special credential available to artists who have completed the training offered through CCC.
• Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) is the Library of Congress premier educational program, focused on helping educators enhance students’ critical thinking and analysis skills and content knowledge using the Library’s collections of millions of digitized primary sources. Local Learning is co-directing the curriculum and professional development project with the American Folklore Society and our partners Vermont Folklife Center, Oklahoma State University Library and the Oklahoma Oral History Research Project, and New York Folklore. Now in our 4th year, we have curricula and learning activities available for immediate use. Learn more, find the most recent news, and access resources as they are available at https://locallearningnetwork.org/professional-development/tps.
• Share your updates and new resources for the Regional Resources section https://locallearningnetwork.org/resources/regional-organizations/
• If you have news for our quarterly e-bulletins with a national audience, send us a 100-word summary with a photo to mira@locallearningnetwork.org with the subject line: For LL Quarterly News

Local Learning at AFS

Local Learning staff will be at the American Folklore Society Meeting in Atlanta. Specific events to highlight can be found at https://locallearningnetwork.org/afs-education-session-guide-2025

Please note that the Local Learning Workshop open to the public is happening on Saturday, October 18th. All are welcome. Please let us know you are coming, using the registration link.

Advocacy

Local Learning continues to take an active role in national conversations around advocacy for arts, arts education, and folklife. This year it has mattered more than ever and reports were made as needed to the Living Traditions Network, AFS member gatherings, and to the Local Learning Network via our listserv.

Consultancy and Cross-disciplinary presentations to increase folklore visibility

If you want to bring us to your community or organization for professional development or a project (large or small), let us know. Some examples of projects we have been engaged in over the past year include:

• As a named consultant in the REACH grant from the Department of Education to the University of South Florida and Arts Schools Network with Distinctive Schools, Local Learning is continuing to ensure that folk arts are included in the development of culturally-inclusive arts integration curricula..
• National Arts Education Association and National Council for Social Studies presentations for national audiences
• Consultant for the Whole Schools Conference in Mississippi. Also coordinated with the Mississippi Arts Commission to write a National Folk Festival Guide for schools to encourage learning through the festival hosted in Jackson, MS.
• As a consultant on the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage we are supporting “For the People,” a ten-month professional development pilot program for teaching artists and middle school classroom educators that uses local festivals as experiential learning laboratories. We’ll work with seven cohorts of participants from Tucson, Arizona; Detroit, Michigan; Jackson, Mississippi; Montclair, New Jersey; Washington, D.C.; and Wisconsin (location TBD). Know Teaching Artists or Educators who should apply? The Fact Sheet with the application for either Educator or Teaching Artists can be found here: https://folklife-media.si.edu/docs/folklife/applications/For-the-People-Fact-Sheet.pdf
• With the Folk Arts Cultural Treasures School (FACTS), Local Learning is developing a two year professional development program for Teaching Artists and Educators, funded by the William Penn Foundation. Learn more here.

The post 2025 AFS Report appeared first on Local Learning.

Atlanta, Georgia | Saturday, October 18th

Learning from People’s Stories

Join us in this interactive professional development workshop on teaching with folk sources as primary sources. It will feature speakers and content from Local Learning, Vermont Folklife, the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program, New York Folklore, the Veterans History Project, and the Library of Congress.

We regret to announce that Lee Ann Potter, Director of Professional Learning and Outreach Initiatives at the Library of Congress; Monica Mohindra, Director of the Veterans History Project; and Guha Shankar, American Folklife Center, are unable to join us in person due to the temporary shutdown of the federal government.

General Registration is now closed. Walk-ins welcomed if a registered attendee of either AFS or OHA. Handouts and Certificates of Attendance only available for those who pre-registered by October 15. 

Saturday, October 18, 2025
(with add-on events Friday night and Sunday for GA Teachers interested in potential PLUs Credit Hours*)
Crowne Plaza Atlanta Midtown, 8:30 am-3:00 pm
Cost: $25 for Teachers and Educational Staff, including paraprofessionals

• Pay the $25 Educator Day Rate by registering through the Oral History Association link here: https://oralhistory.org/annual-meeting
• The workshop is free for registered conference attendees of the Oral History Association or American Folklore Society meetings.
• Please note, even if you are registered for either OHA or AFS, we suggest you register for this workshop because seats are limited. Walk-ins will be limited to seats available. You may also not receive the handouts or certificates of participation without registering in advance.

About the Workshop:

Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) is the Library of Congress’ premier educational program, focused on helping educators enhance students’ critical thinking, analysis skills, and content knowledge using the Library’s collections of millions of digitized primary sources. The Local Learning project team offers teaching tools and materials that engage the digitally available archival holdings of the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress alongside local and regional collections, bringing them into conversation with each other to create a fuller, more complex narrative of American communities, history, and people.

Local Learning is hosting this workshop for K-12 teachers focusing on building and accessing oral history and ethnographic primary sources in the classroom. Over the past four years, Local Learning has worked collaboratively with partners across the nation to use American Folklife Center (AFC) collections of the Library of Congress to engage, inspire, and inform learners of all ages through their significant Teaching with Primary Sources education program.

This day-long event will include concurrent sessions featuring Oral History content from 8:30-10:00, a poster session featuring curriculum and content from the TPS partners/Consortium (which includes members around the U.S.), and plenary sessions with both interactive activities and guest speakers from 10:30 am-3:00 pm. The plenary program will feature speakers from Local Learning, Vermont Folklife, the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program, New York Folklore, the Veterans History Project, and the Library of Congress.

We regret to announce that Lee Ann Potter, Director of Professional Learning and Outreach Initiatives at the Library of Congress and Monica Mohindra, Director of the Veterans History Project, are unable to join us due to the temporary shutdown of the federal government. There is still so much to experience in our workshop and we built our agenda with contingencies in place due to the nature of the federal government at this time, so we hope to see you here! 

Lee Ann Potter

Lee Ann Potter is the Director of Professional Learning and Outreach Initiatives at the Library of Congress, where she has worked since 2013.  She leads a talented team committed to informing, inspiring, and engaging the Library’s nationwide connectors—specifically educators, librarians, early researchers, and literacy champions—by developing educational programs and materials largely based on primary sources. She directs the Library’s Teaching with Primary Sources grant program, the Library’s Literacy Awards program, and the Affiliated Centers for the Book. Before coming to the Library, she created and directed education and volunteer programs at the National Archives and Records Administration for 16 years.  Prior to that, she worked at the Smithsonian on a project to build museum-school partnerships, and before that, was a high school social studies teacher.  During the 2009-10 school year, she served as a Fulbright Roving Scholar of American Studies in Norway.  She has conducted hundreds of presentations and has written more than one hundred articles promoting teaching with primary sources and information literacy.

Featured Guest Speakers

Dr. Stevie Johnson, aka Dr. View is the Assistant Professor of Creative Practice in Popular Music at The Ohio State University. DJ, producer, educator and community organizer, Dr. View is the sonic spirit of Black Wall Street embodied. The Tulsa-based producer and DJ is a southern, soulful, sampled-based beat maker and songwriter who utilizes sound to educate and liberate community through music and stories. Dr. View received his PhD in Higher Education Administration from the University of Oklahoma in 2019. His dissertation, entitled Curriculum of the Mind: A BlackCrit, Narrative Inquiry Hip Hop Album on Anti-Blackness and Freedom for Black Male Collegians at historically white institutions, received the 2019 Bobby Wright Dissertation of the Year Award for the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). This was the first time a hip hop dissertation or non-traditional dissertation ever received the award. Dr. View is the founder and executive producer of Fire in Little Africa, a multimedia hip hop project that consisted of four components: a 21-track hip hop album which was signed to Motown Records, an award-winning documentary, podcast and curriculum inspired by Black Wall Street, and the 100-year acknowledgment of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The project, featuring 60 artists from the state of Oklahoma, was released in May 2021 and accumulated over 7 million streams across all digital streaming platforms. In addition, Dr. View is the 2023 Nasir Jones Hip Hop Fellow at Harvard University, which is named after iconic hip hop legend and artist, Nas.

Hayden Haynes is an antler carving artist working deeply in cultural arts revitalization and teaching. A member of the Seneca Nation and Deer Clan, Hayden is a self-taught artist. His current art practice involves working across the mediums of antler, found objects, mixed media, and digital photography. Born in Claremore, OK, Hayden grew up on the Seneca-Cattaraugus Territory in Western New York. It is from here where he draws inspiration related to land, history, and culture for his artwork, which gives his pieces strong personal and emotional components. Whether his art touches on the Native experience, identity, or resiliency, Hayden’s work is always created through a self-perspective framed Native lens sharing his experiences, knowledge, and observations of living among his community. He has been supported through acquisitions, exhibitions, and grants by various institutions, including Cornell University, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Brooklyn Museum, New-York Historical Society Museum & Library, New York Folklore Society, The Center for Craft, and the New York State Council on the Arts, among others.

In addition to his life as an artist he serves his Seneca community as the director of the Seneca Nation Onöhsagwë: de’ Cultural Center (SNOCC), which houses the Seneca Nation of Indians’ Seneca-Iroquois National Museum (SINM), and Archives. Hayden is dedicated to amplifying the voices of the Senecas, enhancing cultural revitalization with lasting impacts for the future, and serving his people. His number one aim is to build community in all that he does. Hayden currently lives and works in Seneca-Allegany Territory.

Also, you may add this dynamic keynote to your schedule as a part of your participation in this workshop.

Bettina  L. Love

Love, Joy, Creativity & the Brain: The Heart of Culturally Responsive Education

Friday, October 17, 7-9PM, separate registration required at ttps://forms.gle/NawLhsTnhFRq5Dn78

Georgia State University, Student Center East, Sponsored by Department of History, Georgia State University

In this inspiring keynote, Dr. Love explores the transformative power of love in education—within the classroom and beyond. Rooted in the belief that love and joy are the foundations of meaningful learning and human connection, she blends compelling storytelling, evidence-based research, and practical strategies to show how emotionally grounded teaching can radically reshape educational spaces.

Drawing from the groundbreaking neuroscience of Zaretta Hammond and the liberatory teachings of bell hooks, Dr. Love centers love not as sentimentality, but as an ethic—one rooted in care, accountability, and justice. She highlights how culturally responsive teaching, when combined with joy and emotional attunement, aligns both with how the brain learns best and how communities heal and thrive.

Creativity is presented as a vital force—a tool to honor cultural diversity, affirm identities, and spark curiosity—inviting students into deeper engagement and a stronger sense of belonging. This keynote offers educators an inspiring and actionable vision for designing classrooms where every child feels seen, valued, and empowered to thrive. It is a call to reimagine education as a space of love, creativity, and collective liberation.

Workshop Faculty and Facilitators:

Local Learning is a National Arts Service Organization that will bring their national faculty and local experts together to support this training opportunity.

Dr. Lisa Rathje is Executive Director of Local Learning. She directs teacher and artist training institutes and advocates for the inclusion of culture in diverse learning spaces. She consults nationally, including currently a 5-year consultancy for the REACH program of the University of South Florida funded by the U.S. Department of Education to strengthen arts and culture programming in the nation’s educational system. With Paddy Bowman, she is co-editor and founder of the Journal of Folklore and Education, an international, freely accessed, multimedia juried journal.

Library of Congress, American Folklife Center documents and shares the many expressions of human experience to inspire, revitalize, and perpetuate living cultural traditions. Designated by the U.S. Congress as the national center for folklife documentation and research, the Center meets its mission by stewarding archival collections, creating public programs, and exchanging knowledge and expertise.

Monica Mohindra is Director of the Veterans History Project. Since 2010, Monica has served as Head of VHP’s Program Coordination & Communication section and has helped shape collaborations with many other organizations, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Vietnam War Commemoration, the Military Women’s Memorial, U.S. House of Representatives Wounded Warrior Fellowship Program, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, the National Endowment for the Humanities, PBS/WETA, Ken Burns/Florentine Films, Craft in America, and the Oral History Association.

Dr. Guha Shankar is Folklife Specialist in the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, and a Fellow of the American Folklore Society. He is the Library’s liaison to Local Learning’s TPS consortium in which role he conducts research to locate and provide access to AFC and Library collections for curriculum development by consortium partners. He is the current co-Chair of OHA’s Task Force on Ethics and the Law, serves as project coordinator of Ancestral Voices – a collaborative curatorial initiative with indigenous communities, and co-directs the national Civil Rights History Project (in collaboration with NMAAHC) at the Library. Dr. Shankar also provides skills-based training in field research methods and archival preservation, including project planning, interviewing, photography, and archival best practices. He has extensive experience in media production, publishes in a range of traditional and digital media outlets, delivers public lectures and conducts technical workshops for a variety of audiences.

New York Folklore collaborates with communities in New York to identify and to understand the artistic and cultural needs of diverse populations in the state. Working collaboratively with communities, New York Folklore strives to bring regenerative practices to bear to support the maintenance, cultivation, and nurturing of the diverse cultural heritages found in New York State.

Dr. Ellen McHale has served as the CEO of New York Folklore, since 1999.  Her role includes being the managing editor of “Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore,” working with the New York Folklore Board of Directors, communicating with funders and potential donors and funders, and serving as spokesperson for the organization.  At New York Folklore, she oversees a statewide network of folk cultural specialists, community experts, and artists.  Partnering with Local Learning, New York Folklore maintains and supports a growing network of teaching folk artists.

Oklahoma Oral History Research Program is a research division of the Oklahoma State University Library with the focus of broadening archival inclusion of individual or communal memory and experiences representing Oklahoma and OSU history and culture through ethical oral history practice.

Sarah Milligan is a Professor and Head of the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program (OOHRP) at the Oklahoma State University Library, where she holds the Hyle Family Endowed Professorship and oversees the production, access, and preservation of the 2,000+ interviews in the OOHRP collection. She has worked extensively in oral history outreach, including providing training for new interview production as well as technical assistance to oral history collection holders throughout the country. Milligan has expertise in archival preservation and access and is a founding member of the Digital Public Library of America OKHub working group, and the inaugural President for the Oklahoma Archivists Association. She was elected to First Vice President of the Oral History Association in 2023.

Dr. Autumn Brown earned her Ph.D. in Social Foundations of Education from Oklahoma State University where she is an Assistant Professor in the Edmon Low Library with the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program. Her dissertation was an educational biography of teacher activist Clara Luper (1923-2011) and Luper’s work with Oklahoma City’s NAACP Youth Council leading one of our nation’s first sit-in movements.

Vermont Folklife is a nationally-known education and cultural research nonprofit that uses ethnography—the study of cultural experience through interviewing, participation and observation—to strengthen the understanding of the cultural and social fabric of Vermont’s diverse communities.

Mary Wesley is Director of Education and Media. She has a background in Anthropology and completed post-graduate training at the SALT Institute for Documentary Studies in audio production and multimedia storytelling. She supports Vermont Folklife’s public learning opportunities centered around ethnographic learning and media production and also helps coordinate the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. Mary is also the founding producer and host of VT Untapped, VT Folklife’s own podcast that explores the state through the voices of its own residents.

Dr. Andy Kolovos is Associate Director and Archivist. He earned a BA in Literature from Bennington College, and holds a Ph.D. in Folklore and Ethnomusicology and an MLS, both from Indiana University. His professional interests include graphic ethnography/ethnographic cartooning, audio field recording, audio preservation, and theory and practice in folklore and folklife archives. He is co-coordinator of the National Folklore Archives Initiative project of the American Folklore Society.

Content created and featured in partnership with the TPS program does not indicate an endorsement by the Library of Congress.

* Local Learning does not offer PLUs for certificate renewal with the Georgia Professional Standards Commission. According to GaPSC rule 505-2-.36, the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC) only accepts PLUs from conference attendance under certain guidelines. What might be of benefit to you is having a certificate of attendance, which Local Learning is willing to provide after your attendance is verified and if you indicate that you will be requesting this certificate in their registration. The responsibility for determining credit eligibility is with the teacher. Those who need to accumulate 10 hours of PD for credit may opt in through their registration to add on a lecture by Dr. Bettina Love on Friday night and to complete a written component (based upon PL Goals) that will be submitted to Local Learning.  

The post Teaching with Folk Sources appeared first on Local Learning.

Artists and Teachers at the Long Island CCC.

The wonderful irony of working “locally” as a national organization is that we often travel to collaborate with organizations far from our familiar and local contexts. This summer, we had the pleasure of working with outstanding artists and cultural workers during our Culture, Community, and the Classroom workshops in Madison, WI (August 11-12) and Westbury, NY (August 18-19). It was my first time in either location, and Lisa’s first time on (not “in,” we learned) Long Island, where folks stand “on line,” rather than “in line.” Traveling with the fresh eyes of a visitor helps to make the “invisible visible,” as Lisa Rathje, Local Learning’s ED likes to say. I noted the prevalence of birch trees and roadside oases in Wisconsin while Lisa noted the distinctive garden aesthetics of Long Island neighborhoods. These simple observations proved to be springboards into deeper cultural inquiry about the places we were visiting, and the places and cultures from which we had come. Practicing the critical thinking technique “See, Think, Wonder,” that we share with educators and artists, we observed, inventoried our knowledge and assumptions, and developed some questions that we could then explore further with the community members we worked with over the course of our visit. It would take many more visits to Long Island and Madison to know them half as well as any local, but I know we have many more thoughtful questions about these places than we did when we first arrived!

Asking the right questions was a theme of our Long Island workshop, where we worked with Los Herederos, a Queens-based media arts non-profit organization dedicated to inheriting culture in the digital age, to think about ways teachers and teaching artists can use interviewing to inspire students to deeper questioning around culture and cultural traditions. Through a masterful teaching demonstration and collaborative interview session with Colombian traditional musician Martin Vejarano, workshop participants considered how to use an individual’s “personal archive” of stories and material culture to fuel an engaging and enlightening interview.

Yet, even when you have the right questions it’s important to know who to ask and who listen to. Our time with artist facilitator Karen Ann Hoffman, renowned Haudenosaunee Raised Beadwork artist of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, encouraged us to think of artwork not as material culture, but as cultural ambassadors with voices of their own. What does handmade artwork have to tell us? What happens when we pose questions to, and then listen to the response from “material culture”?

As we head into a new school year, I’m carrying these lessons with me and offer them here as inspiration. What are the ways you are inviting questioning, dialogue, and cultural inquiry into your classrooms? We’d love to hear from you and continue learning!

Onward,

Mira Johnson

Director of Learning Networks and Training

Find the latest news bulletin with all the updates here: https://icont.ac/517bG

The post Fall 2025 News appeared first on Local Learning.

“Before this workshop I thought my communities lacked/were deficient, but now I think opportunities are all around us, we just have to connect and take action and make things hidden more visible and to be aware of our surrounding culture.” –2024 Teacher Evaluation

 

“It was inspiring to learn more about taking a collaborative approach (rather than a purely instructive or lecture-based one) in the classroom. I feel like it makes me better able to connect with more and different kinds of students.” –2024 Teacher Evaluation

Registration Open!

Musician and square dance caller, Elise Kelly, shares her love of Eastern Square dancing and its connection to her family and community history. She worked with teachers Sydney Wiseman and Guy Macaluso on a CCC school residency in Western NY in 2023.

Join us January 23-24, 2026 for an inspiring, interactive Professional Development Institute, presented in partnership with GLOW Traditions, and hosted by the Genesee Valley BOCES.

Register Here

Culture, Community, and the Classroom is available FREE to all teachers in New York, although registration is limited.

Funded, in part, by Rochester Area Community Foundation, this two-day workshop offers educators tools to build culturally responsive lesson plans that actively engage learners and their cultural communities. Teachers will learn alongside specialized folk and traditional teaching artists and earn 12 CTLE hours, acquiring ideas for lessons that foster inquiry and belonging within their classrooms.

Participating teachers will have an opportunity to opt-in for hosting a guest artist in their classrooms for no cost to them and their school! This opportunity is first-come first-served, so register early!

The Culture, Community, and the Classroom workshop series explores culturally responsive, engaged learning through local traditional arts and knowledge.

• Access a toolkit of activities and resources that will provide a fresh, innovative start to your school year.
• Engage the diverse communities of your students through lessons that center cultural awareness and knowledge building through inquiry.
• Experience the study and practice of material culture in both museum and community contexts. 
• …and Remember why you fell in love with teaching in the first place!

Institute Dates: January 23-24, 2026
Time: 9:00 am-3:00 pm
Location: Genesee Valley BOCES, 80 Munson Street, Le Roy, NY 14482

Access CCC lesson plans written by teachers who have participated in this professional development opportunity!

The post Culture, Community, and the Classroom in Western NY appeared first on Local Learning.

Mosaic artist Luigi Gobbo, who immigrated from Italy in 1965, loves to share his art and Italian traditions. Through Local Learning’s project Culture, Community, and the Classroom, Luigi and partner teacher Ms. Crossgrove worked with her students to complete this mural in 2021.

“Before this workshop, I thought this would be an interesting workshop to help me connect some ideas in class. But now I know this is one of the best PDs I’ve been to and I cannot wait to use the materials in my classes. I learned so much not only for teaching but for my own knowledge as well.” –2024 Teacher Evaluation

Registration CLOSED

Join us August 11-12, 2025 for an inspiring, interactive Professional Development Institute, hosted by the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures and Local Learning.

Register Here

 

Due to generous sponsors, qualified teachers* from Wisconsin who register and attend Culture, Community, and the Classroom will receive a $250 honoraria. Participating teachers will also have an opportunity to opt-in for hosting a guest artist in their classrooms for no cost to them and their school! This opportunity is first-come first-served and limited, so register early! 

This year’s institute will take place in the Center for Design and Material Culture, where we’ll experience culturally responsive, engaged learning through the power of objects. Harnessing the potential of a museum’s curated collections for building student inquiry and reflection around complex topics of representation and identity, participants will have an opportunity to explore museums as texts. Participants will gain tools to activate learning goals across subject areas, and access multiple pathways into the stories of people and communities.

We’re especially honored to feature Karen Ann Hoffman, renowned Haudenosaunee Raised Beadwork artist of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, as one of our artist facilitators. Her work and perspective will enrich your understanding of Indigenous knowledge systems and the role of expressive culture in community life. As her National Heritage Fellowship biography states: Karen Ann Hoffman beads “peace, beauty, and meaning.” She will support learning to listen to the voice of material culture.

National Heritage Fellow Karen Ann Hoffman shares her beadwork at NAEA, Minneapolis, 2024.

The Culture, Community, and the Classroom workshop series explores culturally responsive, engaged learning through local traditional arts and knowledge.

• Access a toolkit of activities and resources that will provide a fresh, innovative start to your school year.
• Engage the diverse communities of your students through lessons that center cultural awareness and knowledge building through inquiry.
• Experience the study and practice of material culture in both museum and community contexts. 
• …and Remember why you fell in love with teaching in the first place!

Institute Dates: August 11-12, 2025 
Time: 9:00 am-3:00 pm
Location: Center for Design and Material Culture, Dorothy O’Brien Lab, 1300 Linden Dr, Madison, WI 53706

Access CCC lesson plans written by teachers who have participated in this professional development opportunity!

*Teacher Honoraria cannot be combined with receiving credits. Teachers will be notified if they qualify after registering.

CCC workshop: Teachers, Museum Educators, and Artists learning together

---

Previous workshop: The Role of Culture in Student Health and Wellbeing

When: Tuesdays (April 22, April 29, May 6, and May 13) from 3:30–5:30pm online.
Where: Zoom online
Audience: Elementary Educators and Support Staff

This workshop series (three meetings with open office hours on the final day for reflection or additional mentorship) offers educators an asset-based toolkit to explore cultural identity including models for their students to explore culture authentically. Participants will leave with ideas for lessons and activities that inspire inquiry and foster a culture of belonging and acceptance. All participants will design a culturally responsive action plan which considers the role of culture in their schools. This plan will identify specific assignments or activities that can strengthen student well-being through positive cultural connections.

Topics:

Session 1: Role of Culture in the Classroom

Session 2: Culture and Student Health and Wellbeing: Addressing Cultural Sensitivity

Session 3: Strengthening Student Culture in the Classroom

 

Outcomes:

Session 1: Mapping of culture of classroom and the role of one’s own cultural identities 

Session 2: Inquiry-based assignment/activity engaging students’ cultural identities, encouraging acceptance and belonging, and identifying potential curricular connections

Session 3: Culturally responsive action plan, including 1-2 specific assignments or activities to strengthen student cultural wellbeing in the classroom through positive cultural connections. Identify curricular connections

---

 

“Before this workshop I thought my communities lacked/were deficient, but now I think opportunities are all around us, we just have to connect and take action and make things hidden more visible and to be aware of our surrounding culture.” –2024 Teacher Evaluation

 

“It was inspiring to learn more about taking a collaborative approach (rather than a purely instructive or lecture-based one) in the classroom. I feel like it makes me better able to connect with more and different kinds of students.” –2024 Teacher Evaluation

The post Culture, Community, and the Classroom in Wisconsin appeared first on Local Learning.

“Mrs. Clara Luper, Youth Council adviser for the Oklahoma City chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, give instructions to a group of persons before they went out today to test the compliance by restaurants of the new federal civil rights law and also a new Oklahoma City public accommodations ordinance.” Image source: Oklahoma Historical Society.

Registration closed

The Local Learning Teaching with Primary Sources Consortium Team and the Restorative Justice Institute of Oklahoma invite you June 3-4 for an inspiring, interactive Professional Development Institute with invited experts and practitioners from restorative justice, education, oral history, and the arts.

• Learn new tools, resources, and restorative practices for teaching history today aligned to Oklahoma standards for Social Studies and History.
• Learn how to deliver standards-connected civics content that includes national and Oklahoma civil rights history.
• Meet invited speakers from the Clara Luper Institute who engage the current impacts of this Oklahoma teacher and hero.
• Tour Greenwood sites with local experts.
• …And remember why you fell in love with teaching in the first place!

Guest facilitators include Library of Congress staff who will be on site to facilitate a deep dive into primary sources meaningful to Oklahoma. 

Location: OSU Tulsa campus, North Hall 140, the BOK Room

Institute Dates: June 3-4 2025 | 9:00-3:00

$25 includes all supplies and tour costs. Scholarships available. 

About the Institute and the Faculty:

Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) is the Library of Congress’ premier educational program, focused on helping educators enhance students’ critical thinking, analysis skills, and content knowledge using the Library’s collections of millions of digitized primary sources. The Local Learning project team offers teaching tools and materials that engage the digitally available archival holdings of the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress alongside local and regional collections, bringing them into conversation with each other to create a fuller, more complex narrative of American communities, history, and people.

Local Learning is a National Arts Service Organization that will bring their national faculty and local experts together to support this training opportunity. 

Dr. Lisa Rathje is Executive Director of Local Learning. She directs teacher and artist training institutes and advocates for the inclusion of culture in diverse learning spaces. She consults nationally, including currently a 5-year consultancy for the REACH program of the University of South Florida funded by the U.S. Department of Education to strengthen arts and culture programming in the nation’s educational system. With Paddy Bowman, she is co-editor and founder of the Journal of Folklore and Education, an international, freely accessed, multimedia juried journal.

The Oklahoma State University Writing Project, a National Writing Project site, is dedicated to supporting both the teaching of writing and helping teachers see themselves as writers. We work with districts, schools and educators from Pre-K to college in sustained professional development centered around writing, literacy and the art of teaching.

Dr. Shanedra Nowell is an Associate Professor of Social Studies Education at Oklahoma State University. She taught middle and high school social studies and journalism courses before moving into higher education. Her research interests and publications include work focused on social studies education, Holocaust education, media literacy education, and content area writing.

The Restorative Justice Institute of Oklahoma seeks to empower Oklahomans to live restoratively by aligning their values, behaviors, and systems through healing, training, and circles. We train restorative leaders to transform unjust systems by first transforming themselves and support restorative educators to create learning environments that pivot away from a culture of punishment.

Xavier Graves is Executive Director of RJIOK.

Traci Gardner is an educator and social justice advocate with over two decades of experience in teaching, administration, and restorative practices. Currently serving as the Nurturer of Restorative Futures at the Restorative Justice Institute of Oklahoma, she collaborates with educators, conducts training, and advocates for youth-focused initiatives.

Library of Congress, American Folklife Center documents and shares the many expressions of human experience to inspire, revitalize, and perpetuate living cultural traditions. Designated by the U.S. Congress as the national center for folklife documentation and research, the Center meets its mission by stewarding archival collections, creating public programs, and exchanging knowledge and expertise.

Dr. Guha Shankar is Folklife Specialist in the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. He serves as project coordinator of Ancestral Voices, a collaborative curatorial initiative with indigenous communities and co-directs the national Civil Rights History Project.

Guest Speakers and Facilitators:

Joyce Henderson was a Dunjee High School student in the mid-1960s. She served as the song leader on Saturday mornings at Calvary Baptist Church when the city’s civil rights giants gathered to plan marches and protests across Oklahoma City. Her early work with the NAACP was helped by her relationship with one of her high school teachers, Clara Luper, who led thirteen children into Katz Drug store in Oklahoma for the nation’s first lunch counter sit-in demonstration. She also chaperoned Joyce and a large group of black students who attended the 1963 March on Washington where they heard Martin Luther King Jr., deliver his “I Have a Dream” speech. Clara became Joyce’s teacher, mentor, and personal guidance counselor. Joyce is featured in the “Children of the Civil Rights” Documentary Film along with others who participated in the sit-in movement in Oklahoma City.

Kode Ransom, a native of North Tulsa, is a historian, keynote speaker, and community leader deeply passionate about Black history and cultural preservation. Born into a single-parent home after the tragic loss of his father, Kode transformed his anger and curiosity into a lifelong pursuit of knowledge. Known as Greenwood’s Griot, he channels his talents in storytelling, music, and public speaking to share the rich history of Black Wall Street and Black innovation. Kode leads walking tours of the historic Greenwood District, also known as Black Wall Street, and delivers dynamic presentations on Black history, resilience, and community building. He incorporates creative storytelling and engaging visuals to connect the past with actionable insights for today.

Organizational Partner and Thought Leaders for this workshop:

Oklahoma Oral History Research Program is a research division of the Oklahoma State University Library with the focus of broadening archival inclusion of individual or communal memory and experiences representing Oklahoma and OSU history and culture through ethical oral history practice.

Dr. Autumn Brown earned her Ph.D. in Social Foundations of Education from Oklahoma State University where she is an Assistant Professor in the Edmon Low Library with the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program. Her dissertation was an educational biography of teacher activist Clara Luper (1923-2011) and Luper’s work with Oklahoma City’s NAACP Youth Council leading one of our nation’s first sit-in movements.

Image shows a tour for educators in Tulsa in 2024 with Kode Ransom.

Content created and featured in partnership with the TPS program does not indicate an endorsement by the Library of Congress.

The post Teaching with Folk Sources-Tulsa 2025 appeared first on Local Learning.

Sound Recordings as Primary Sources:
Local Learning and Vermont Folklife

A FREE, one-day professional learning workshop for educators about teaching with audio recordings from folklife collections and using oral history interviewing in the classroom. 

• Wednesday, June 18, 2025

• 10:00 AM  4:00 PM

• St. Johnsbury School, 257 Western Avenue, Saint Johnsbury, VT, 05819

When you think about primary sources, what are some of the first things that come to mind? Historical documents? Old photographs? Diaries?  How about…sound recordings? Join Vermont Folklife and Local Learning: The National Network for Folk Arts in Education for a one-day professional learning workshop in St. Johnsbury, VT to learn about the value of understanding sound recordings as primary sources.

The post Sound Recordings as Primary Sources Vermont Workshop appeared first on Local Learning.