Summer 2012 Training

Click here for a list of summer training opportunities in folk arts, folklife, and oral history. Many are open to educators nationwide, others are for local participants. Note: Some have upcoming application deadlines.

Welcome to Local Learning

We prepare young people, their teachers, and their families to discover, research, and draw on traditional culture and local knowledge to enrich education and create stronger communities. Local Learning advocates for the full inclusion of folk and traditional arts and artists in the nation's education.

Through the Schoolhouse Door: Folklore, Community, Curriculum, Paddy Bowman and Lynne Hamer, eds., 2011, order from Utah State University Press.

This collection offers experiences from exemplary school programs and analysis of an expert group of folklorists and educators dedicated not only to getting students out the door and into their communities to learn about the folk culture all around them but also to honoring the culture teachers and students bring in to the classroom. Digital edition now available.

Local Learning Lesson

Universal yet unique to each community, family, and individual, folk arts and folklore provide inherently interdisciplinary opportunities to investigate local learning in deeply meaningful ways that connect generations, regions of the nation and the world, and diverse ways of knowing.

Use the Seasonal Round as an introduction to folk arts and folklore for any age group.