Discover innovative ways to introduce students to the complexities of immigration throughout U.S. history. Walk the city streets, eat your way to cultural understanding, and investigate where the past meets the present as you gain content knowledge and strategies to enrich your classroom. All participants receive curricular materials.

Professional development workshops can include tours of 97 Orchard Street and of our gateway Lower East Side neighborhood. Each workshop is paired with a session exploring ways to incorporate primary sources, multiple perspectives, and narrative in the curriculum, as well as methods to use history to explore contemporary issues. As is true of all the Museum's educational programs, these workshops were developed in keeping with the goals of national and New York State learning standards.

The Museum offers full- and half-day professional development workshops for K-12 teachers. Individuals can register for full-day workshops held throughout the year. The Museum also offers workshops for private groups. Dates and times are flexible. A minimum of 10 educators and a maximum of 30 educators are allowed per workshop. For rates and availability, please contact our group services manager, Harrison Rivers, at hrivers@tenement.org.

The Tenement Museum's professional development workshops for teachers are made possible, in part, through a generous grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Hearst Foundation.

Architecture
Learn how to "read" the built environment. Teachers investigate 97 Orchard Street and the Lower East Side neighborhood to uncover its layers of history. Find out how the streets got their names and the mysteries that wallpaper holds during this hands-on architectural study. Discover tools to utilize buildings as educational resources that reveal a community’s history and values.

Cultural Adaptation
What does it mean to be American? Participate in living history and "meet" Victoria Confino, a 14- year-old girl who lived in 97 Orchard Street and negotiated her cultural heritage in a foreign land. Explore the ways that immigrants preserve and adapt their traditions, as well as how they transform American culture and what it means to be American.

Discrimination
Explore the connections between immigration, discrimination, and popular culture. Teachers examine the stories of families that encountered ethnic and racial prejudice and consider the history and impact of discrimination on individuals, communities, and the United States. Music and political cartoons highlight the role that popular culture plays in advancing and negating stereotypes.

Industrialization
Learn about industrialization and its impact on immigrant communities. Teachers examine the jobs immigrants often do and consider how the Industrial Revolution impacted employment opportunities and empowered workers to take some control over their livelihood. Investigate the role of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and explore multiple perspectives of this tragedy through primary sources.