Smithsonian Opens Its Doors to America’s Teachers

Haven’t you always wanted to wander through a museum after closing time? On Friday, September 19, from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m., thousands of teachers around the Washington, D.C., area will get this opportunity at the eleventh annual Smithsonian Teachers’ Night.

This year’s event celebrates the centennial of the Wright brothers’ historic flight at Kitty Hawk and is being held at the National Air and Space Museum. At the event, teachers will pick up free educational resources for their classrooms, watch an IMAX® film and planetarium show, preview The Wright Brothers & the Invention of the Aerial Age exhibition, and enjoy light refreshments as they mingle with their colleagues and meet museum educators. Admission is free and all attendees can register in advance or at the door. Online registration is available at www.TeachersNight.org.

For the second year in a row the Smithsonian is also taking this event to a national audience. Simultaneous Smithsonian Teachers’ Night celebrations will occur at the Challenger Space Center of Arizona in Peoria, Arizona, and The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas.

“Smithsonian Teachers’ Night is a wonderful opportunity for educators nationwide to learn about the Smithsonian and celebrate the power of museums to enhance learning,” says Stephanie Norby, executive director of the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies. “Teachers are one of our country’s greatest resources, and each year we host this event to show how museums can help teach our nation’s students.”

Last year, 2,000 teachers from 23 states attended the event. This year, thousands of educators across the nation are expected to participate, along with the U.S. Department of Education and education organizations including the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the National Writing Project and The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program.

“On this eleventh anniversary, we’re reaching more teachers and more students than ever before, nationally as well as locally,” says Norby. “Smithsonian Teachers’ Night is building community ties, providing services to thousands of educators and their students, and showing teachers how museums can make a difference in learning.”

Smithsonian Teachers’ Night is hosted by the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, the central education office of the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum and research complex.

For more information about Smithsonian Teachers’ Night and to register for the event, log onto www.teachersnight.org or e-mail TeachersNight@si.edu.

The display will remain on view in the central section of the “American Treasures” exhibition, Southwest Gallery of the Thomas Jefferson Building, through April 24, 2004. Hours for the exhibition are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Saturday.

Name:- E-mail: City: State: Comments:

Education Update, Inc., P.O. Box 1588, New York, NY 10159.
Tel: (212) 477-5600. Fax: (212) 477-5893. Email: ednews1@aol.com.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express consent of the publisher. © 2003.