Educator Open House: We Can Be Heroes

Join the National Liberty Museum for an Educator Open House focused on encouraging inclusivity, diversity, and expression in the classroom. Meet with local education organizations, hear from experts during mini workshop sessions, and explore the museum’s newest exhibition Deconstructing Bowie: Freedom in Eccentricity. This event is free and open to teachers, administrators, school faculty, and educators of all kinds. Proof of Vaccination required.

Thank you to our Black History Month sponsor:

Heroes from Comics to Reality | 4:45PM 

field trip program demonstration and hands-on art activity 

Join NLM Educators for a mini demonstration of one of our field trip programs. In Heroes from Comics to Reality, students explore the characteristics of a hero, identify real-life heroes throughout history and today, and create their own superheroes to address the issues that matter to them. To celebrate Black History Month, this demonstration and activity will focus on famous and lesser-known Black superheroes from comics and real-life Black heroes featured in the National Liberty Museum. 

Acceptance, Awareness, Agency, & Affirmation with The Bryson Institute of The Attic Youth Center | 5:30PM 

discussion and mini training session 

Through the sharing of best practices, resources, and conversation, this training will empower educators to create an inclusive environment in their classrooms, acknowledging the intersectionality of their students’ identities. Attendees will learn how to equip their students with the knowledge and skills to be more accepting of different identities, to be aware of how to treat their peers, to have agency in defending who they are, and to affirm the identities of themselves and their peers. The session will be led by Madelyn Morrison, Director of The Bryson Institute of The Attic Youth Center, which offers dynamic, interactive, and educational trainings around best practices for working with LGBTQ individuals. 

Folk Arts and Education: Power in Partnerships with Philadelphia Folklore Project | 6:15PM 

curriculum discussion and Liberian folk art demonstration 

Led by the Philadelphia Folklore Project (PFP) and affiliated artists, this presentation discusses how incorporating folk arts into lesson plans can create more involved, dynamic, and memorable activities for students, leading to better critical engagement. Folk arts-driven curricula create teaching and learning opportunities that allow both adults and children to draw on community cultural knowledge as resources for facing challenging issues and furnish educators with ability to meet the needs of diverse populations. PFP is a nationally recognized folk arts organization, founded in 1987 to support vital and diverse living cultural heritages in urban communities by assisting artists who use folk art in service of social change. Folk arts and education partnerships is one of the key means in which they accomplish this, as evidenced by their co-founding of the Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School (FACTS) in 2005. 

Self-Guided Tours of the NLM’s Signature Galleries and Featured Exhibitions | ongoing 

Get exclusive access to all of our exhibit galleries and explore Strength & Fragility: The Story of the NLM, Heroes from Around the World, the inspiring Flame of Liberty by Dale Chihuly, and our featured exhibitions Craftivism: Activism Through Craft and Deconstructing Bowie: Freedom in Eccentricity. 

Meet & Greet with NLM Education Staff | ongoing 

Learn about the museum’s school program offerings, including virtual and on-site field trips for elementary through high school students and our long-standing, year-long Young Heroes Outreach Program for students in grades 4-8. 

Philadelphia Music History Games & Activities | ongoing 

Try your hand at arranging David Bowie’s most memorable moments in a timeline, use your reasoning skills in a Philadelphia-centric game of High/Low, and do your best to arrange some top albums from the city’s history. Play these games and get some inspiration on game-ifying your classroom content!