Register Now for the AFS Fellows Webinar: Ideas, Trends, and Current Complexities in Folklore in Education

The AFS Fellows in collaboration with Local Learning will present a webinar on Friday, February 6, 2026 from 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. ET examining current ideas, trends, and methods in folklore and education. Spanning K-12 classrooms, museums, libraries, and other education settings, the methodologies of folklore in education bring critical thinking and key folklore skills to bear on complex challenges in contemporary culture and society.

Spanning K-12 classrooms, museums, libraries, and other education settings, the methodologies of folklore in education bring critical thinking and key folklore skills to bear on complex challenges in contemporary culture and society. Webinar participants will interact with the panel to consider the transmission of culture through informal and formal learning and themes of world making and connecting, social justice, pedagogy and co-creation, student well-being, and identity. The AFS Fellows invite you to engage and think with them during this critical time of education wars that affect all educational settings and all educators.

The AFS Fellows invite you to engage and think with them during this critical time of education wars that affect all educational settings and all educators.

Lead Facilitators 

Paddy Bowman, Founding Director of Local Learning, Editor of the Journal of Folklore and Education, AFS Fellow
Lisa Rathje, Executive Director of Local Learning, Editor of the Journal of Folklore and Education

Breakout Room 1: Teaching the Whole Student: Curriculum That Meets the Moment

Linda Deafenbaugh, Folk Arts Education Specialist, Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures School (Retired)
Rosemary Hathaway, Professor Emerita of English, West Virginia University

Breakout Room 2: Building a Case: Trends and Needs in Folklore Education Research

Amanda Dargan, Director of Education, City Lore (Retired)
Dennie Palmer Wolf, Principal Researcher, WolfBrown

Breakout Room 3: Our Futures: Education, Equity, and Contributing to Just World Building

Marit Dewhurst, Director of Art Education and Professor of Art and Museum Education, City College of New York
Selina Morales, Vice Chair, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Advisory Council

Recorded materials from this event will be made available on the AFS Fellows webinar recording page along with previous content.

Email Paddy Bowman at pbbowman@gmail.com for questions about the webinar. Email cpatterson@afsnet.org to let us know how we can provide accommodations to support your full participation.