Folk Arts Education helps students feel proud of who they are, learn about other cultures, and hear directly from people who keep these traditions alive. A Folk Arts Education approach is used in many subjects and helps students build important skills like observing, asking questions, thinking deeply, understanding others, and studying cultures. By learning about their own traditions and those of others, students become more curious, thoughtful, and ready to make a difference in their communities.
Folk Arts Education teaches students how to interact with others who are different from themselves. It helps students understand the important relationship of tradition and innovation in societal change as well as in their own lives.
How is Folk Arts Education tied to the Mission of the School?
FACTS mission is to provide students in grades K-8 with “an exemplary education that utilizes traditional arts and cultures found within their own and neighboring communities as the catalyst for critical inquiry and community engagement.” The integration of Folk Arts Education at FACTS allows students and staff to deepen and explore notions of self-identity, better understand cultural differences, and enhance cultural awareness. A commitment to folk and traditional arts shapes what we teach and learn – and it shapes how we study and engage those around us. Folk arts represent collective action and shared values and they serve as vehicles to bridge children to elders, school to community, and school community members to each other.
Folk Arts Education directs attention to the culture of the classroom, to the culture of the school, to the cultural knowledge all students and teachers bring with them into the school, and to the culture of community. It examines the importance of small cultural units called “folk groups” as a primary site where culture is taught, learned, and enacted.
Skills Being Developed Through Folk Arts Education
Teaching students basic folklife concepts and skills helps them develop their ability to encounter the cultural world throughout their lives. Throughout a student’s time at FACTS they will have numerous Folk Arts Education experiences which all build on one another. Students learn to collect data about culture through doing, observing, and interviewing, to analyze the data to make meaning. They learn to investigate, identify themes, support arguments, and construct new knowledge as they tell the stories of the experiences of those whose voices are rarely heard (including their own). Students are encouraged to share what they have learned.
Through Folk Arts Education, students learn skills such as: Curiosity, perspective shifting, mental flexibility, working with ambiguity, openness, problem solving, inductive reasoning/hypothesis construction, empathy, self and social advocacy/action, confidence in engaging with others across differences
Contact Information
Claire Denny
Folk Arts Education Specialist
Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School
1023 Callowhill Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123
(267)-236-1047
