Education Beyond The Classroom: Lessons for Students and Educators

Education Beyond The Classroom: Lessons for Students and Educators

Educators are some of the most innovative people who effectively invent creative ways to help children become lifelong learners. In today’s global and ever changing technological society, educators are always faced with the challenge of helping children bridge the gap between the era of the Underground Railroad and contemporary times. At the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, we offer creative Educator Institutes and Workshops that can assist educators with teaching and learning outside of the classroom.

Our education team is preparing institutes and workshops for 2014 that range in topics from Female Heroes of the Civil War to Freedom Summer to the Rwandan Genocide. On February 5, 2014 the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center will host a National Youth Summit where participating students will be encouraged to think of themselves as makers of history and asked to consider their ability to be active and engaged citizens. Civil rights activists and Freedom School internship participants will participate in a panel discussion about the 1964 youth-led effort to end the political disenfranchisement of African Americans in the Deep South, and discuss the role of young people in shaping America's past and future. A live video link between the National Youth Summit panel and regional Town Hall sites will enable young people from across the country to participate in the Summit via webcast, allowing them to submit questions for the panel through webchat email, Facebook, and Twitter.

Join us on February 27 for a collaborative workshop as we explore the history of the Rwandan genocide and American's response, or lack thereof, before hearing the eyewitness testimony of Carl Wilkens. This worshop is featured as part of a collaborative session with the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education. Teachers will delve into this history with fellow educators across the greater Cincinnati area and receive hands-on resources to bring back into their classrooms.

On March 14, educators will have the opportunity to receive a toolbox of ideas and a packet of materials about Lucy Higgs Nichols facilitated by the Carnegie Center for Art & History (New Albany, Indiana). The purpose of the workshop is for educators to learn the stories of courageous women from the era of the Civil War to the Civil Rights movements while focusing on the story of Lucy Higgs Nichols, an African American Civil War nurse in an all white regiment. The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is not only a museum, but an institution of teaching and learning outside of the classroom for educators and students. For more information about any of the programs listed, please visit events and programming.                                      - Kieli Ferguson, Educational Initiatives Manager