Teacher Training in Folk Arts, Folklife, and Oral History for Summer 2007

 
   
The National Network for Folk Arts in Education, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, advocates the inclusion of folk and traditional arts and culture in the nation’s education. Find Summer 2007 training opportunities for K-12 educators in folk arts, folklife, and oral history below. Many are open to educators nationwide; others are for local participants. Contact Network Coordinator Paddy Bowman, paddybowman@verizon.net, with additional listings.  
   

California
June 8-10, 12th Annual LEGACY Oral History Program, San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum, led by Jeff Friedman and Basya Petnick. This workshop provides the training necessary for participants to launch their own oral history projects. While drawing on references and examples in the performing arts, the workshop will be equally appropriate for those involved in anthropology, institutional history, social history, family history, personal history, master’s or doctoral studies, or other projects. Contact Legacy@sfpalm.org, 415/255-4800, x*823, www.sfpalm.org/programs/legacy.htm.


District of Columbia
June 27-July 1 and July 4-8, Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, National Mall, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Pending funding, education opportunities will focus on The Roots of Virginia's Culture program, marking the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. Other festival programs include Northern Ireland and the Mekong River. See www.folklife.si.edu/festival/2007 for the full festival schedule and look for teaching tools at Smithsonian/Folkways Global Sound, www.smithsonianglobalsound.org. Contact BelanusB@si.edu.

Library of Congress Institutes provide educators in grades 4-12 across the nation the opportunity to engage in intensive study and exploration of a specific topic using the staff expertise and facilities of the Library of Congress, including the American Folklife Center. Participants may only attend one session and must have experience using the Internet for research. There is no charge for the institute or materials, but participants are responsible for transportation and lodging. Contact summerinstitute@loc.gov. Application deadline is March 15, http://memory.loc.gov/learn/educators/summer_institute/07. The four sessions are as follows: July 11-13 and August 8-10: Integrating Primary Sources into the Teaching Process; July 25-27: Primary Sources and Literature: A Backdrop for Learning; July 17-20: Advanced Session: Using Library Resources to Create Lessons. The Advanced Session is for those who have attended previous summer institutes or were American Memory fellows.

Florida
June 4-8, Florida Folklife: Ethnographic Approaches to Folk Culture, sponsored by the Florida Humanities Council and Florida Center for Teachers, directed by Tina Bucuvalas and Kristin Congdon. Learn how a folklorist does ethnographic research. Practice your skills by visiting Iranians in Clearwater, southeast Asians and Latin Americans in St. Petersburg, Greeks in Tarpon Springs, and African Americans in Bealsville and Tampa. Learn about folk music and dance, foodways, occupational folklore, folk beliefs, storytelling, and religion. Understand culture from an insider perspective by eating ethnic foods, visiting temples, churches, produce stands, market places and places of business. Contact FCT@flahum.org, 727/873-2009, www.flahum.org/sections/fct/summer_seminars.html.

June 11-16, Meet the Indians: Florida's Seminole and Miccosukee People, Clewiston, sponsored by the Florida Humanities Council and Florida Center for Teachers, led by Patsy West and Seminole and Miccosukee scholars. This seminar is part of a nationwide effort to create resources for American educators to teach about American Indians funded by the Minnesota Humanities Commission in cooperation with the Ford Foundation, the Florida Humanities Council, and the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Contact FCT@flahum.org, 727/873-2009, www.flahum.org/sections/fct/summer_seminars.html.

Kentucky
July 16-18, Design Your Own Professional Development, Faubush, led by John Benjamin and Judy Sizemore. Workshops focus on of integration of arts into the Kentucky curriculum—cross-disciplinarily and cross-culturally. Representatives from the Kentucky Folklife Program will demonstrate techniques for bringing traditional arts and artists into the classroom. Contact john.benjamin@ky.gov, 502/564-3757, x483, www.artscouncil.ky.gov.


July 24, Kentucky History Education Conference, Center for Kentucky History, Frankfort, led by Vicky Middleswarth. Hour-long sessions will address integrating literacy and history and teaching with social studies portfolios. The Kentucky Folklife Program will lead a session on presenting traditions within a culture, specifically relating to emerging immigrant communities. Contact Vicky.Middleswarth@ky.gov, 502/564-1792, x4425, www.history.ky.gov.


September 21-22, Kentucky Folklife Festival Teacher Professional Development, Center for Kentucky History and historic downtown Frankfort, led by Judy Sizemore and Sarah Milligan. The 2007 Kentucky Folklife Festival features training to deepen teachers’ understanding of living traditions in their communities and the state through an intensive two-day training split between classroom curriculum building and hands-on experience with traditional artists at the festival. Contact Sarah.milligan@ky.gov, 502/564-1792, x 4434, www.history.ky.gov.


Dates TBA, Appalachian Media Institute, Appalshop, Whitesburg. This annual opportunity for young people to learn documentation media culminates in community screenings. Other workshops available for educators. Contact ami@appalshop.org, 606/633-0108, www.appalshop.org/ami/.

Massachusetts
July 9-13, 17-18, Explorations in Puerto Rican Culture, presented by Springfield Public Schools and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, directed by Vera Baker, managed by David Marshall, and funded by the US Department of Education Model Development and Dissemination Program. Recognizing that Puerto Rican students sometimes disengage from an educational process that ignores their heritage, this institute, part of a three-year project, will immerse teachers in Puerto Rican art, music, dance, literature, language, and foodways. Daily Spanish lessons will help teachers learn classroom-related phrases and artistic terms. A resident curriculum specialist will help shape lesson plans. Live performances and fieldtrips to community sites will introduce participants to local artistic and community leaders. Contact David Marshall, David.Marshall@state.ma.us.

Mississippi
June 27-29, 3rd Annual Education Summit on Teaching Civil Rights History, McComb. Sponsored by the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, this event brings together civil rights leaders, educators, and historians to promote civil rights education in schools. Contact Susan Glisson, glisson@olemiss.edu, 662/915-6734, www.olemiss.edu/winterinstitute.

July 15-19, Mississippi Whole Schools Institute, an annual gathering for over 200 teachers sponsored by the Mississippi Arts Commission, at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, directed by Judi Holifield. Contact Judi Holifield, jholifield@arts.state.ms.us, 601/359-6040, www.mswholeschools.org.

Nebraska
June 12-15, Worlds Real and Imagined, 2007 Prairie Visions Institute, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha. This year’s theme is narrative art, focusing on storytelling and held in conjunction with the exhibit “Surviving the Storm” from the New Orleans Museum of Art. Contact Shari Hofschire, shofschire@mail.unomaha.edu, 402/554-2402, www.unomaha.edu/~fineart/art/prairievisions2007.htm.

New Hampshire
July 10-31, Celebrating Heritage at Festivals: Creating and Curating a Community Festival, Concord, directed by Millie Rahn. This course is part of Plymouth State University's graduate heritage studies program, which includes many K-12 teachers. The Lowell Folk Festival will be a required fieldtrip and other festivals in New England and elsewhere will be source material. Contact club47@aol.com, www.plymouth.edu.

North Carolina
June 25-29, Literacy Through Photography Institute, Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, Durham, led by Wendy Ewald with Denise Friesen and Katie Hyde. Literacy Through Photography (LTP) participants receive hands-on instruction as they carry out assignments based on core themes: self-portrait, community, and dreams. Workshop participants will learn the methods that LTP uses to teach creative writing and photography. Sessions focus on learning technical skills, viewing photographs, completing writing and photography exercises, and developing curricula. Contact kahyde@duke.edu, cds.aas.duke.edu.

Audio and Video Documentary Institutes occur throughout the summer at the Duke Center for Documentary Studies, Durham. Classes are open to all. Learn through hands-on immersion in audio and video recording, digital mixing, ethics, and production from faculty who are accomplished documentarians. Contact Dawn Dreyer, dkdreyer@duke.edu, 919/660-3680, http://cds.aas.duke.edu.

July 12-23, Crafting Freedom: Thomas Day and Elizabeth Keckly, Black Artisans and Entrepreneurs in the Making of America, Durham, directed by Laurel Sneed. The Apprend Foundation in association with the Thomas Day Education Project is offering a 12-day institute sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities for 30 K-12 educators nationwide. This intensive hands-on opportunity to study African American history and culture through primary sources and historical sites relates to two 19th century artisans. Thomas Day was a celebrated free Black cabinetmaker who had the largest furniture shop in North Carolina in 1850. Elizabeth Keckly was a dressmaker, confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln, and author of an important slave narrative and best seller, Behind the Scenes: or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House. Contact Emily Paynter, tdek06@aol.com, 919/405-2326 or 877/438-1599, www.thomasday.net.

July 16-21, 9th Annual Cherokee History and Culture Institute, Museum of the Cherokee Indian and Western Carolina University, Cherokee, directed by Barbara Duncan and Cherokee artists and presenters. This institute combines classroom learning with experiences in the Cherokee community to provide accurate information about the Cherokee (and other American Indians), resources, and connections with Cherokee people. Readings are from a variety of disciplines: archaeology, anthropology, history, folklore, and cultural geography. Includes interviews, field trips, and experiences on the Qualla Boundary. Contact Barbara Duncan, bduncan@cherokeemuseum.org, 828/497-3481, www.cherokeemuseum.org/html/education_courses.html.

July 23-August 3, Cherokee Language Immersion Class, Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Cherokee, directed by Bo Taylor and Cherokee elders. This course, offered twice this summer, teaches conversational Cherokee language and will immerse participants in Cherokee language through classroom activities, interaction with elders, and field trips. Open to those 16 and older. Contact Bo Taylor, botaylor@cherokeemuseum.org, 828/497-3481, www.cherokeemuseum.org/html/education_courses.html.

Ohio
June 5-7, Ohio Oral History Institute, Kenyon College, Gambier, directed by Frank Dunkle. The Ohio Humanities Council offers this annual opportunity to learn all stages of oral history through hands-on activities. Sessions include videotaping interviews and fundraising. Contact Frank Dunkle, frankd@ohiohumanities.org, 800/293-9774, www.ohiohumanities.org.

June 18-July 10, Eating Across the Curriculum:Advanced Methods, Bowling Green State University, directed by Lucy Long. This class for K-12 educators explores food as a topic around which teaching methods can be developed and critiqued. Participants will read scholarship in pedagogy and foodways and use that scholarship to explore possible applications within their own teaching areas and age groups. Contact Lucy Long, lucyl@bgnet.bgsu.edu, 419/372-7862.

Pennsylvania
July 3-August 8, Writing and Culture, Place Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, taught by Miriam Camitta. This course looks at writing as several variable, multiple, diverse, and changing practices contingent upon specific cultural and social contexts. We want to understand what writing means to the individual, to his or her community, and to larger social entities. The approach and readings draw on the theory and methods of anthropology, folklore, sociolinguistics, and the new literacy studies. Contact Penny Creedon, 610/898-8434, or mpcamitta@aol.com.

South Carolina
July 15-28, 3rd Annual Penn Center Gullah Studies Institute: Blueprint for Freedom, St. Helena Island, sponsored by the Penn Center, South Carolina State University, and the Wilson Library folklife archive at the University of North Carolina. This program for K-12 educators and other interested individuals combines the study of Gullah history, music, language, art, and culture with hands-on workshops with local artists. Since its founding in 1862 as the first academic center for newly freed African Americans, the Penn Center has played a major role in sustaining culture and supporting education and community self-reliance throughout the Low Country. Contact info@penncenter.com, 843/838-2432, www.penncenter.com.

Tennessee
May 30-June 1, Folk Arts, Oral History, and Narrative Stage Workshop, Jubilee Community Arts, Knoxville, led by Gregory Hansen. This workshop series for teachers of grades 4-12 focuses on folklore, folk arts, oral history, and narrative stage workshops. Day 1 is a required introduction, which teachers must complete before enrolling in the oral history or narrative stage workshops. The second day will focus on basic necessities for conducting folklife and oral history interviews. Training will encourage the exploration of teachers’ and students’ communities and the development of listening skills, note taking, researching, and oral and written language arts skills. On the final day participants will learn to interview traditional artists who may visit their classroom. Workshops are free to East Tennessee educators. Contact info@jubileearts.org, 865/522-5851, www.jubileearts.org.

Utah
Spring Term, By the Sweat of Their Brow: Changing Agrarian Culture in Utah Valley, Brigham Young University, Provo. This honors class examines historical changes and the contemporary nature of agrarian life in the Utah Valley in collaboration with area residents. This is a night class held May through mid-June. This topic is also the two-year-long research focus of BYU's Utah Heritage Project in partnership with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress to provide students and teachers training in place-based research methods. Contact Kristi Young, kristi_bell@byu.edu 801/422-6041, http://sc.lib.byu.edu/events/sweatofbrow.

Vermont
Place as the Context, Service Learning as the Strategy, Sustainability as the Goal is a series of unique opportunities for professional development this summer. Each institute, described below, represents an opportunity to make deep connections between curriculum and community. Events are in partnership with Shelburne Farms, the Sustainable Schools Project, Community Works, and the Vermont Folklife Center. Each is distinct in content, while sharing purpose, conceptual unity, and a nationally recognized faculty team. All events are appropriate for K-16 teachers, administrators, and community-based educators. Graduate credit is available for each event. See www.TheInstitutes.org.

TBA June, Principles and Best Practices of Place-Based Education, Shelburne Farms. This session provides a practical framework for creating and using place-based curriculum. Contact Pat Straughan, pstraughan@shelburnefarms.org, 802/985-8686, x 43, www.shelburnefarms.org/educationprograms/professional.shtm.


July 9-13, Discovering Community: Students, Digital Media, and Place-Based Learning, Vermont Technical College, Randolph Center, led by Gregory Sharrow. This institute offers educators the opportunity to explore the power of field research as a means to facilitate student engagement with their home communities. Over the course of an intensive, week-long program, participants will work with cultural researchers, documentary media specialists, artists, and fellow educators in a learning environment that models an ethnographic approach to community inquiry. The institute brings together place as the context, sustainability as the goal, and service learning as the strategy. Contact Gregory Sharrow, gsharrow@vermontfolklifecenter.org, 802/388-4964, www.discoveringcommunity.org.


July 19-20, Education for Sustainability Institute, Shelburne Farms. This session focuses on curriculum development, community partnerships, campus ecology, and collaboration. Contact Jennifer Cirillo, jcirillo@shelburnefarms.org, 802/985-8686, www.sustainableschoolsproject.org.


July 24-28, Community Works Institute on Service Learning, Shelburne Farms. This premier national event has helped educators from more than 30 states and abroad work together to put service learning best practices into action within their own programs. Contact Joe Brooks, jbrooks@vermontcommunityworks.org, 802/655-5918, www.vermontcommunityworks.org.

Virginia
June 3-July 13, Roots: African Dimensions of the Early History and Cultures of the Americas, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Charlottesville, an NEH-funded institute led by Joe Miller. Contact jcm7a@virginia.edu, 434/924-6395, www.virginiafoundation.org/roots/.

June 12, Oral History and Museum Education Workshop, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Charlottesville, directed by the Legacy Museum of African American History in Lynchburg. Funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services, this training will support a new network of African American museums in central Virginia. Contact cdraper@virginia.edu.

Washington
May 25-28, Northwest Folklife Festival, Seattle, includes dance and music workshops useful to educators and hands-on activities for young people. Residencies and workshops also occur throughout the school year. Contact education@nwfolklife.org, 206/684-7281, www.nwfolklife.org.

West Virginia
July 29-August 3 (Part 1) and August 5-12 (Part 2), Oral History and Appalachian Heritage: Listening for a Change, Augusta Heritage Center, Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, led by Michael and Carrie Kline. This institute is designed as two weeks so participants may sign up for separately or as one two-week course. The focus is learning to document life stories and community experience through the art of deep listening. Part 1 includes forays into the lives of subsistence farmers of the eastern Alleghenies, while Part 2 looks at the stories of families living in the shadow of mountaintop removal with an overnight fieldtrip to West Virginia’s southern coalfields. We will explore artistic renderings of recorded testimonials through music, theatre, and other art forms. Students have free access to all evening events on campus during their stay, such as concerts, dances, craft showcases and the widely acclaimed Augusta Heritage Center. For information, contact kline@folktalk.org, 304/636-5444, www.folktalk.org. To register, contact augusta@augustaheritage.com, 800/624-3157 x1209, www.augustaheritage.com.

Wisconsin
June 18-July 15, Folklore 530: Foodways, University of Wisconsin, Madison, directed by Janet Gilmore. This four-week course meets Monday-Thursday from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., and requires a full-time commitment to the class and related ethnographic. Examine the many expressive dimensions of food in folk culture, from the artistic, social, and spiritual to the biological, nutritional, political, and economic. Observe and document foodways in contemporary settings. Share discoveries and food with the class. This summer we focus on the act of cooking and cooking "landscapes." K-12 teachers are welcome. Contact jgilmore@wisc.edu, 608/265-8270.

June 21-June 29, Here at Home: A Wisconsin Cultural Tour for K-12 Teachers, a project of Wisconsin Teachers of Local Culture sponsored by the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures, UW-Madison, and the Wisconsin Arts Board, led by Debbie Kmetz, Ruth Olson, and Anne Pryor. Join UW faculty, K-12 teachers from throughout the state, and UW undergraduates on a special nine-day multidisciplinary tour exploring the local cultures of Wisconsin. This tour is premised on the idea that resources and content for teaching exist all around us--in the local environment and landscapes, in family stories, in local music and artistic expressions, in community history and contemporary social issues. The tour will offer teachers a chance to experience directly the diverse cultures of Wisconsin through on-site guided tours, interaction with local residents, and community-based presentations. The itinerary is especially designed for the needs of teachers and will include "inside the community" experiences not usually available to tourists or independent travelers. Contact Debbie Kmetz, dkmetz@wisc.edu, 608/262-8180, http://csumc.wisc.edu/WTLC/Home.htm.

July 11-12, Central Wisconsin's Local Culture: Connecting with Communities, Portage, sponsored by Wisconsin Teachers of Local Culture, led by Anne Pryor and Ruth Olson. What is local culture? What is the local culture of the eight counties that make up CESA 5? Who are the cultural groups that contribute to this area's unique identity? This two-day, one-credit workshop will examine the physical and social factors that comprise the local culture of central Wisconsin. The first day will be classroom based as we review the settlement history of the region, current immigration patterns, learn about cultural study techniques such as interviewing and community-based fieldwork, and develop ways to "see" local culture instead of just passing through it. The second day will be in the field, visiting community members, talking with them, and observing "culture in place." By becoming better acquainted with the cultural make-up of the CESA 5 region and experiencing cross-cultural interactions as facilitated by folklorists, attendees will be better able to use their own students' cultures as valuable pedagogical resources. Specific cultures of focus will include Native American (especially Ho-Chunk), Hmong, and Mexican. Contact Anne Pryor, anne.pryor@arts.state.wi.us, 608/266-8106.