Examples from the Albuquerque AFS meeting demonstrate that folklife in education is alive and well. The importance of teaching through hands-on activities that teachers can use with their students came through in every session. Folklore graduate students report that these sessions and models help them as they enter teaching.

The Folklore and Education Section and the National Network for Folk Arts in Education helped Carol Spellman of the Oregon Folklife Program bring three Latino teens to the AFS meeting in Albuquerque. The boys' communities also helped raise money for them to travel with Carol to present their videos, produced as part of the pilot project done with Oregon 4-H, "Portraits of Oregon: Youth Exploring Culture and Community." This Oregon team was among the presenters for a Friday night session on youth documentation, which also featured the Voices of Youth radio and photography projects of the Western Folklife Center and Fresno Arts Council, and a University of Central Florida service learning project on African American and Afro Caribbean foodways in Orlando.

Adan Merecias, Carol Spellman, Alcides Cerrud, Paddy Bowman, and Miguel Cholula celebrate the teen videographers’ presentations during two AFS sessions. The young men attended panels, went to museums, explored Albuquerque, talked with folklorists and graduate students, and screened their documentaries of Mexican American barbeque, Las Posadas, and baile folklorico. Their favorite experience? “Presenting!” they said.

After going to art exhibits, academic papers and keynotes, and exploring the city, the boys declared their favorite part of the trip to be "Presenting!" Having young people at an academic meeting inspired everyone who encountered them. Big thanks to Carol, Alicides Cerrud, Miguel Cholula, and Adan Merecias. See Carol's article about the program for more information.

Also presenting at the 10th annual Saturday morning workshop, "Bearing Fruit," was Nancy Widdicombe of the Montana Heritage Project. Nancy began the morning by describing the ALERT process MHP teachers and students use to study community (Ask, Listen, Explore, Reflect, Transform). She showed beautiful slides by her high school students from Harlowton, MT, documenting three Hutterite colonies in the Upper Musselshell Valley. Read Nancy's article in the Field Notes section of this newsletter for more information.

Although her students live near the colonies, they did not know much about Hutterites. In addition to bringing young people together and breaking stereotypes on both sides, by going to different communities, her students heard thee different perspectives and learned that each colony differs.

Find info on using ALERT at http://www.edheritage.org and look for a cover story about the students' work in the online Fall 2003 Heritage Education.

Finally, Duane Hollow Horn Bear, a Lakota language, history, and culture educator at Sinte Gleska University in South Dakota, talked to us of historical grief and seven generations of education history among his family and tribal members. He compared Native ways of teaching and learning ("Don't move on until you understand") with the public school system that has evolved since the Progressive Era. He traced Western education from Aristotle to No Child Left Behind and described the effects that loss of traditional language, culture, and education have had on Native Americans. He concluded, "When we honor our children with ritual, they know where they belong."

Duane came to the conference as an AFS Community Scholar and to honor the memory of Bea Roeder, who died suddenly in June 2003 after a short illness. Bea was an AFS Education Section convener, and we had planned the workshop together. During AFS we took time to remember her many kindnesses.

The Network and Education Section are planning the eleventh annual Saturday morning education workshop for the meeting in Salt Lake City. Carol Spellman and I will need volunteers as time grows nigh. This is a wonderful opportunity to check out new projects, interactive teaching models, and new resources (we’ll have a resource table so bring your “stuff”). Again, we hope to have students and teachers as presenters.