Why Distance Learning?

Seth Fleischauer (00:00.917)
Hello everyone and welcome to why distance learning the podcast for educators who are engaged with live virtual learning experiences, whether they be content providers who produce and facilitate or educators who want to compliment their curriculum and learn more about the medium. We interview content providers, industry professionals, field experts and educators who love and use live virtual learning. And today we have a very special episode because we have three guests, not one, not two, but three, Julie Silver, Jocelyn Co and Ange Rydell.

I I said all those right. Did I say all those right? I'm getting claps from Allison. Hooray. That might be the earliest in an episode we've gotten claps from Allison. They always come eventually. Welcome ladies. Thank you so much for being here today. I'll start by letting Tammy introduce you all. And then what we're going to do is we're going to talk about this very special event that you guys came together to

Allyson (00:41.646)
Just love them all.

Jocelyn Kho (00:43.154)
you

Seth Fleischauer (00:59.991)
that you will be producing here very soon on Constitution Day, but we'll tell the story of that after Tammy introduces you.

Tami Moehring (01:09.487)
I am happy to sue, I'm gonna quick do everyone's bio and then we'll jump in. So Julie Silverbrook is the Vice President of Civic Education at the National Constitution Center. Before serving in her current role, she served as Senior Director of Partnerships and Constitutional Scholar in Residence at iCivics, and before that, as an Executive Director of the Constitutional Sources Project. She holds a JD from William and Mary Law School.

And Raidel is an award -winning educational specialist and public historian with a body of innovative work that has been featured in the Journal of American History and recognized by the Archivists of the United States. She's director of outreach and curriculum at the Lenore Annenberg Institute for Civics at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. And that's a lot right there in one sentence at the end.

Allyson (02:06.296)
Yay!

Tami Moehring (02:07.833)
Jessalyn Coe is the student programs coordinator at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. She manages all aspects of school related programs that include in gallery, virtual, in outreaches at the museum. She is also involved with the writing and designing interdisciplinary educational resources and materials. And she actively participates in cross museum educational projects with other Smithsonian entities. Thank you all for being with us today.

Seth Fleischauer (02:39.615)
Yes. Thank you so much for being with us and Julie, my apologies on, dropping the second part of your name. that that's, that's what I get for looking at the window here in Riverside instead of at my notes in the document. lot of people on the call. everybody's names got squished. now I'm outing myself for no reason. thank you. Thank you again for being here, and I would love to hear the story.

Jocelyn Kho (02:46.036)
Thank

Julie Silverbrook (02:56.779)
I didn't even notice it, so you're good.

Ang Reidell (02:59.55)
Hehehehe

Seth Fleischauer (03:07.512)
of how you guys came together. These are three different but related organizations you guys are joining together to put on a program. How did that happen?

Ang Reidell (03:17.41)
So there were a lot of connections involved that even can go back to my connection with CILC and some of their staff members. But I'll shorten the story and say that I've been in my new position at the Lenore Annenberg Institute for Civics for about a year and a half now. And prior to that, I worked for the National Archives for 14 years. And part of that was running National History Day in Philadelphia.

Allyson (03:28.856)
You

Ang Reidell (03:46.834)
in which I partnered with the National Constitution Center. They're the site of National History Day, Philadelphia, one of them. So I'd already had a strong working relationship with the staff at the National Constitution Center. And when I came into my current position, we put out new films every year, short historical documentaries related to constitutional topics or

important constitutionally related court cases. And a couple of years ago, we put out a film called Juneteenth, Exploring Freedom Stories. And that is available both on our YouTube channel and on our website, is annenbergclassroom .org.

And so this video is really fantastic. It's a look at both the history of Juneteenth, but also how it came to be made into our newest federal holiday. And Ms. Opal Lee, who sometimes is called the grandmother of Juneteenth, was one of the commentators on the film. And if you've never heard of Opal Lee, you need to, because she is such a dynamic person.

And she had been working for years in Texas to get Juneteenth declared a national holiday. Because of course it is especially celebrated in Texas. And there's a whole historical story behind that that the film lays out. So I had already worked with Ms. Opal. I should mention she's 96 or 97 now and still going strong on all the things she does to

Allyson (05:36.547)
Yay!

Ang Reidell (05:40.076)
help people achieve freedom, whether that's freedom to do something, like in her work with Juneteenth celebrations, or freedom from something. For example, she runs a community garden, so freedom from hunger. So I had worked with her and I knew she was fabulous. She'd been on two programs of ours already. And I thought, well, this is a little bit of an unusual take for Constitution Day to be looking at Juneteenth.

because people might think, well, Juneteenth, you only talk about that in June. But the ideas of freedom that are involved in that are important all the time. And because they changed with the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution after the Civil War, I thought this would be a great way. So I reached out to Jocelyn. I had learned recently that the Portrait Gallery got a new

portrait and that was of Ms. Opal when I was down in DC recently on made sure to go see it. So I reached out to the portrait gallery and said, would you like to do a program with this? And serendipitously, the Constitution Center had reached out to Jocelyn as well to see if they wanted to do a different type of program. And we said, let's do it all together because collaboration is the name of the game.

And that just gives teachers and students the chance to hear the perspectives and learn about the resources of three different amazing organizations.

Seth Fleischauer (07:15.853)
wow. You know, I not to relate this to me, but it reminds me of how we came together for the podcast, right? Like we had the same idea at the same time and then we were like, let's do this. my gosh. Cool. my gosh, this, this sounds like such a special program. you know, to be able, my understanding is that in this program, these students are actually going to have access to Ms. Opal Lee. Is that right? Like they'll, they'll be able to talk to her. She's on the program.

Allyson (07:18.424)
So exciting!

Yeah.

Ang Reidell (07:45.014)
Well, they will be able to communicate with her. It's a webinar. the students will be, but we don't want that either. We don't want hundreds of students trying to chime in, you know, come off mute and things like that. So there's two ways that students can ask questions of Ms. Opal and one is ahead of time. As teachers register their classes for the programs, they can send in questions from the students already. And then during the program, students can use the Q and A.

Seth Fleischauer (07:47.275)
Got it, got it, got it.

Ang Reidell (08:13.898)
which I will then read as many as possible out so Ms. Opal is able to answer the students' questions. So yes, they will be able to interact with her during the webinar.

Allyson (08:19.387)
is able to answer the students' questions. So yes, they were able to interact.

Seth Fleischauer (08:26.111)
Got it. And so you, have this film that you produced, that is going to be, you're going to be showing clips of this. You're also the moderator. of it sounds like it, if you're going to be the one, you know, looking at the chats that are coming through and doing that. Right. So then moving on to Jocelyn, it sounds like your role is to present this piece that you have in your collection. what, what are you bringing to this program? What, what is, what is your part of it?

Allyson (08:28.711)
film that you produced. It is going to be, you're going to be showing clips of this. You're also the moderator of thing, sounds like, and if you're going to be the one looking at the chats that are coming through and doing that, right? So then moving on to Jocelyn, it sounds like your role is to present this piece that you have in

Ang Reidell (08:39.648)
Right.

Jocelyn Kho (08:54.684)
get to bring the really amazing portrait to the session. So the National Portrait Gallery acquired this beautiful portrait of Opal Lee by Cedric Huckabee and we're gonna take a look at it, we're gonna explore it, we're gonna have students interact with it, and we're also gonna have Miss Opal Lee answer some questions, see.

how the process was. Apparently, they knew each other, the artist and Oboli. And so we've got a window into the portrait, into the story, and students are gonna be able to see that.

Seth Fleischauer (09:42.953)
And I think this is a question that's for you and Allison. like, and I ask this in like, as someone who provides distance learning opportunities that often interact with live three dimensional things, what you're talking about is interacting with a two dimensional static piece of art. How do you make that come alive in this medium?

Allyson (09:56.153)
that often interact with live three -dimensional things. you're talking about is interacting with a two -dimensional static piece of art. How do you make that come alive in this media?

Jocelyn Kho (10:07.902)
That's a great question. And actually it is really cool with virtual programs in that we can zoom in in certain areas where you can't really do in person. And while this particular portrait we won't be able to do, but there are other portraits where we can literally turn to the back of the portrait and take a look at it. And so there's really things that

you can't do in person with some of the artwork that you can do virtually.

Seth Fleischauer (10:44.957)
And, sorry.

Allyson (10:45.363)
I would 100 % agree. I don't know if you can hear me correctly because my device just changed. So if I feel a little underwater, I'm just trying to get closer to my microphone. But I always find that the most exciting part of distance learning is the idea that you can get closer to a painting or an object than you ever can when you're actually in person. One of my favorite things is working with a

something called Art Store many, many years ago where you could zoom so closely and be able to see where the impressionists would be able to miss the part of the canvas because they were just painting in plein air. So it's just so beautiful and exciting to be able to have that opportunity to help people see and talk about what they see.

Seth Fleischauer (11:36.701)
And then putting all of this together, Julie, you are running like a slate of programs this day for national constitution day as part of the national constitution center. As and was saying, this is something that might not be like the typical approach when you are talking about the constitution. I wonder if that resonates with you and like what, is the typical approach that you take when you're organizing a slate of events?

on the Constitution on Constitution Day. And how does this program stick out? And how is it? How is it special?

Jocelyn Kho (12:11.386)
.

Julie Silverbrook (12:12.698)
Yeah, so Constitution Day marks the anniversary of the signing of the U .S. Constitution on September 17th, 1787, across Independence Mall from the National Constitution Center is where that happened at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. And we run a range of in -person, live streamed and fully virtual programs that get delivered not only to people in the Philadelphia area, but people across the nation and even across the globe.

And a piece of what we always do is some kind of civic story, which is actually a distance learning program that we run year round. But we always offer at least one, and in this case, this year, several types of civic stories. And these are programs that are really focused on the stories of real people who have made an impact in American history.

Allyson (12:47.18)
Civic Story, which is actually a distance learning program that we run year round.

Julie Silverbrook (13:09.353)
And Opal Lee is just a wonderful example of someone who has done that and just incredibly rare to have someone like her who's still around and available to actually speak to young people, especially about the work she's done related to the Juneteenth celebration, which is of course now a federally recognized holiday. And so for us having the opportunity to spotlight this

Jocelyn Kho (13:19.102)
Thank

Julie Silverbrook (13:37.241)
as a civic story on probably our most highly visible day, because everybody comes to the National Constitution Center on Constitution Day. Just a really amazing way to spotlight her story and our partnership with the Annenberg Public Policy Center and the National Portrait Gallery. So we're really excited to have this as part of a really exciting day of Constitution Day celebrations that

Allyson (13:48.911)
amazing way to spotlight your story and partnership with

Allyson (14:06.874)
that range from a naturalization ceremony to a reading of the preamble.

Julie Silverbrook (14:06.975)
range from a naturalization ceremony to a reading of the preamble, which takes place in front of the National Constitution Center, weather permitting. And we'll have a Supreme Court justice speaking twice during the day. It's just really exciting to have this program as a part of a really awesome day of learning.

Allyson (14:17.536)
and I'll

Seth Fleischauer (14:31.371)
Which justice?

Julie Silverbrook (14:33.387)
He's honorary co -chair, so Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Allyson (14:35.133)
So, I'm associated with this message.

Seth Fleischauer (14:39.045)
we, we live in an era where a, a, one of the presidential candidates, and I'll just leave them unnamed has like floated the idea that the constitution isn't super important. that like, that they, that there's consideration of, of like whether how much it relates, how much, relevant it is to modern life. what do you see as your role at the constitution center of teaching about the constitution and why it's so important for young people to learn about it?

Jocelyn Kho (14:49.822)
.

Julie Silverbrook (15:09.315)
Sure. I mean, it's the foundation of our system of government. It defines who we are as a people. And so, you know, it famously starts with the words, we the people. There's a famous story, which may or may not be apocryphal, that at the end of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin is asked what type of government they created at the convention. And he says, a republic, if you can keep it.

And so the work of if you can keep it is something that we pass down through posterity and it is a responsibility that each of us has to maintain our constitutional democracy. And I think in moments where it feels like maybe institutions are being stress -tested or our values are being stress -tested or democracy maybe feels more fragile than we otherwise might have thought. And there are lots of people who report feeling this.

in 2024 in this sort political moment that we're living through, that the foundational work of understanding who you are as a citizen, what role you play and what your relationship is to others and to the institutions of government is essential, right? And so to Franklin's point, to keep the Republic, this is something that the Edinburgh Public Policy Center runs a coalition called the Civics Renewal Network.

And we say, it's a republic if you can teach it because to keep it, have to understand it. And to understand it, you have to learn it. And to learn it, it has to be taught to you. And that is why constitutional education is really at the heart of everything we do at the National Constitution Center.

Seth Fleischauer (16:39.687)
You

Ang Reidell (16:52.738)
All right. And I just do want to mention, follow up on Julie's point about the civics renewal network, because that is part of what I facilitate and the National Constitution Center is one of 43 partners we have right now. So again, I talked before about collaboration and how important it is for any sort of change to happen, any sort of, you know, any sort of great work to be done, you have to collaborate in order to do that. And so

Allyson (16:52.95)
and what's so exciting.

Ang Reidell (17:20.107)
We're always looking to partner with folks like the Constitution Center or our other partners who are all committed to, in a non -partisan way, enhancing civic education in the United States.

Jocelyn Kho (17:29.401)
Thank

Allyson (17:35.24)
and it's so exciting too, because to bring it back to the start of our conversation, National History Day's theme this year is rights and responsibilities. So thinking about educators that might be going on this track of history that are looking for this opportunity for young minds to be able to

form opinions, express their, you know, have this conversation. It's really exciting to think about that being a theme too that teachers can hang on to with this being the start of the year. Sorry, getting close again, Lucas, as close as I can to the microphone. Now this one shut off.

Julie Silverbrook (18:13.411)
And I want to say I love that Constitution Day is in September because it does tend to align with the start of a new academic year. And I think centering civics, citizenship, responsibility at the start of an academic year is a really great way to remind folks that civics really was sort of embedded in our understanding of

Jocelyn Kho (18:14.27)
Thank

Julie Silverbrook (18:39.993)
education, particularly public education at the outset of founding of our nation. And we have sometimes kind of moved off of that priority, but I feel like having Constitution Day just fortuitously in September at the kickoff of the academic year is a really good way to remind people, hey, that is really important. And while we obviously hope you join us for our Constitution Day programming, there's 364 other days of the year that we hope will join us for learning about the Constitution and civics.

Seth Fleischauer (19:03.369)
You

Seth Fleischauer (19:09.191)
I want to go back to something Ange said about teaching civics in a way that feels nonpartisan or that is nonpartisan. I'm wondering what that looks like. And I imagine it looks differently to different people, right? Like you can come with the intention of it looking nonpartisan, of being nonpartisan, but you might get accused of it being partisan for whatever reason. I imagine that's a tricky line to navigate.

Can you speak at all to that effort to keep it nonpartisan?

Ang Reidell (19:44.628)
Is your question for me, Seth, or for Julie?

Seth Fleischauer (19:46.379)
It was could be for either but since you were the one who said it Why don't we jump in and then see if other people have stuff to add?

Ang Reidell (19:55.584)
Sure. So I think one of the things that's essential when you're talking about civic education is the concept of civil dialogue. Many of our civics renewal network partners teach this skill that it is OK to disagree and debate about the issues without getting personal.

Allyson (20:07.611)
and the four partners teach this skill.

Ang Reidell (20:21.408)
that there is a technique for it. It's not necessarily one of those things. So many important things in our lives aren't, we're not born with that, right? Like, so I always talk to kids about the importance of knowing how to read a primary source document so they understand how we learn from history. No one is born with that capacity, no one, you know, beyond the actual reading thing. so to learn a skill,

Jocelyn Kho (20:33.392)
Thank

Allyson (20:46.269)
So to learn a skill that helps you become a better participant.

Ang Reidell (20:49.494)
that helps you become a better participant in your community, in your state, in your country, the idea that we disagree. It's part of a democracy to have different opinions and to be able to talk through them and come to some sort of consensus or compromise. So.

there might be some people who say like, well, we shouldn't talk about anything that could be controversial. But what we need to do is be teaching those skills so that students can be doing that. And as adults, we can remember that we need to do that too. So that would be my first comment. Julie, what you got?

Julie Silverbrook (21:37.409)
Yeah, I think it's really important for those of us who do create materials that go into classrooms or we do education for the general public that we're really thoughtful and intentional about bringing in perspectives and individuals from across the ideological spectrum. And I would not paper over the fact that there are sometimes differences of opinion.

Allyson (21:50.299)
intentional about bringing in perspectives and individuals from across the ideological world.

Allyson (22:00.295)
There are some types of differences of opinion. We do this in a tool called the interactive constitution. We brought together the leading scholars from across the ideological spectrum to talk about areas where they agree on their interpretation of the constitution and then where they disagree and where they disagree. They do so to Andrew's point in a really respectful and thoughtful way. You should expect a

Julie Silverbrook (22:02.745)
We do this with a tool called the interactive constitution. We've brought together the leading scholars from across the ideological spectrum to talk about areas where they agree on their interpretation of the constitution and then where they disagree and where they disagree, they do so to Andrew's point in a really respectful and thoughtful way. You should expect...

disagreement in a country of this size that the people who wrote the Constitution certainly anticipated it. And so, you know, there's a way to feel very strongly about your point of view without being disrespectful. And we do, to Angie's point, like many other organizations in the civics renewal network, focus on civil dialogue. We also model it in everything that we do. We have a very popular podcast.

Jocelyn Kho (22:37.604)
Thank

Allyson (22:49.413)
is just quite like any other.

Julie Silverbrook (22:59.283)
and town hall programs where we bring together, again, people from across the ideological spectrum who feel very, very strongly about whatever constitutional issue they're talking about. And they model how to do this in real time, how to have a civil conversation. Even when sometimes like you're a player, you have skin in the game, right? In terms of the outcome, but you can still have a conversation that is respectful and looks for points of commonality.

Jocelyn Kho (23:07.487)
.

Allyson (23:13.275)
and they model how to do this in real time, how to have a simple conversation. Even when sometimes you're a player, you have skin in the game, right?

Julie Silverbrook (23:28.833)
And I think that that's really, that's really, really important. So basically I think what passes the test of non -partisanship is you're not putting your thumb on the scale. You're presenting primary sources as much as possible. You're allowing for your audiences to engage with a range of perspectives without preferencing one perspective over another. And I do think you have to make clear

Allyson (23:47.331)
is to engage with a range of perspectives without referencing one perspective.

Julie Silverbrook (23:57.867)
that there isn't always a single unifying interpretation of not just the Constitution, but of history, right? There isn't always a single interpretation. There's a very robust market of books that have been written about all sorts of eras of world history. And the reason why that exists is because there is interpretation that's involved. And when there's interpretation that's involved, there's nuance, there's difference. And you don't have to paper over that.

Allyson (24:05.864)
of history, right? There isn't always a single interpretation. There's a very robust market of books that have been written about all sorts of theories of world history. And the reason why that exists is because there is interpretation that's involved. There's interpretation that's involved. There's nuance. There's difference.

Julie Silverbrook (24:26.497)
you can engage with it in a really thoughtful way that invites those conversations rather than tamping them down or saying that one viewpoint is wrong and another is right.

Ang Reidell (24:40.032)
I'm curious so often when we say primary sources, I'm sorry, Allison, when we say primary sources, we think of written documents. But of course, Jocelyn is coming to us from a place that she has primary sources as well. They're just visual. It's portraits. So do you have a perspective on this as well, Jocelyn? Like, how do you handle the idea about multiple perspectives and how you can work with students about that?

Allyson (24:40.487)
I think that's,

Jocelyn Kho (25:09.729)
Yes, thank you, Ange. And the National Portrait Gallery, essentially its mission is to tell the story of the United States. And every story has, you know, main characters, characters that come and go, and that holds true with portraits.

We have our programs where we explore visualizing democracy as well as voices of social justice are a couple examples where we look at portraits of founding fathers to more contemporary portraits of individuals who have been involved in civic engagement. So again, it's that,

exposure and showing students, individuals who have different perspectives but yet have influenced and shaped the country that we have today.

Allyson (26:14.779)
And I think that that's so powerful is the idea that conversation brings education, that the conversation you're gonna have with your educator, your peers, your community, it brings so much opportunity for individuals to learn. And that's what's so exciting to think about that primary source too, whether it's that written document, whether it's that artwork.

or even if it's the conversation during an experience. And I wonder for all of you, you all have robust and different types of experiences with distance learning. And have you found that distance learning has allowed more voices to come into the conversation to help bring that education to students? I know Ms. Opal is one example, but I wonder if you have other experiences of that as well.

Julie Silverbrook (27:11.213)
I think it's, yeah, well, I think the expansion of offering programs that can be delivered virtually to people across the country, first of all, it just allows for us to reach a much larger audience than we can ever sort of accommodate in a discrete physical location. And at the same time, it's actually lowered the barriers to entry for lots of diverse voices.

Allyson (27:11.303)
Hopefully you could hear all of that.

Ang Reidell (27:13.25)
Yeah.

Julie Silverbrook (27:38.637)
to be able to participate. So we're no longer kind of geographically bound or bound by a particular travel budget that bring people together for events. We can reach anyone globally to participate in our program. So it really does allow for us to get to bring some really amazing speakers to a bigger audience and do it in a way that's easier.

for the speakers themselves to participate. And so I think, you know, one good thing that came out of the pandemic is that everyone got this technology basically in a really short period of time, which allows for us to really reach many more people in terms of delivery and also invite more people into the conversation because even someone who is as mature as Opal Lee has access to a Zoom account.

Allyson (28:15.759)
everyone got this technology.

Jocelyn Kho (28:20.803)
Thank you.

Julie Silverbrook (28:33.401)
and can talk to young people because of that. And so it is an amazing technological innovation. so when you think about actually how quickly we caught up from 2019 to 2024 in terms of the proliferation of this technology, and now it's everywhere and we can't imagine our lives without it, the fact that in 2019 we were still using something called Skype, which now nobody knows anything about.

Seth Fleischauer (28:33.916)
Hehehe

Allyson (28:59.443)
Never be Skype in this situation.

Ang Reidell (29:00.651)
Okay.

Yeah.

Julie Silverbrook (29:03.713)
It's new virtual stuff. I mean, leaps and bounds over the course of like four years. So I think it's been just like a really great flattener for bringing more people into the fold and reaching more individuals with these conversations.

Jocelyn Kho (29:03.773)
He

Jocelyn Kho (29:19.966)
I do want to add in addition to REACH is that we have the ability to really show portraits that aren't on view. The Portrait Gallery owns 26 ,000 portraits. And the fact that, you you can't see all of those, but virtually you can see more than you can in person. So that's been a wonderful part of virtual programs.

Allyson (29:50.739)
Yes, it's like the idea of what three, what is it? 3 % of the collection is often what's on display at the institution. would, I always am like, can we please go see all of the warehouse and the basements and where everything's kept? Because there's so many wonderful pieces to learn from.

Jocelyn Kho (30:06.121)
Great.

Jocelyn Kho (30:09.765)
Exactly.

Seth Fleischauer (30:12.689)
I, point, that I wanted to talk about here was, was the collaboration in general, right? So you guys are coming together, three different people creating a virtual program. How did you navigate the space that you guys have the time that you have to make sure that each voice was represented to make sure that each of you were bringing all that you could into this program. Can you guys give us a glimpse into your process of collaboration?

Ang Reidell (30:38.978)
think it started with the resources that we could bring to teachers, right? So we have short films, you know, so if we did a clip of that, the program is 45 minutes long, which is not a lot of time when you have a lot of content in it, but it's also a good amount of time for teachers and especially, I don't know if we've mentioned this, but this program is geared toward fourth through sixth graders.

So not that older students couldn't participate, but in terms of what age grade level we're thinking about, that's what we're doing. So 45 minutes, that also allows the teacher to do our program and at noon or at one, do something else. So kind of tailoring it to what we had to offer to the teachers in the classes. So we have the films.

Jocelyn Kho (31:26.35)
So I will.

Ang Reidell (31:35.112)
And of course, the portrait gallery has the portrait and the National Constitution Center has all sorts of different things related to the Constitution. So I think we started it with resources and then we went from there because we could have kind of a chronological story too, you know, so that the National Constitution Center could talk about.

how slavery and freedom was discussed at the Constitutional Convention. And then we could show a clip of the film and how the ideas about citizenship and freedom changed with what we call the Reconstruction Amendments after the Civil War. And then of course we have this beautiful portrait that is created about someone who was so involved in all of this. So there was multiple.

resources and multiple ways that we all could kind of bring something to the table.

Julie Silverbrook (32:35.565)
I think different resource types, right? And especially when you're talking about younger learners, it's really important to have a variety of media to try to engage learners in that age range. So I think that was also really exciting piece of this collaboration.

Seth Fleischauer (32:57.177)
well, seems like an incredible opportunity for a fourth through sixth, sixth graders or beyond that age range. surely this must cost so much money to put it together or, like how, how, much, how much is it for, for a teacher to do this?

Allyson (33:00.188)
for fourth through sixth graders or beyond that age range. Surely this must cost so much money to put it together or like...

Ang Reidell (33:13.866)
It's free.

Julie Silverbrook (33:13.891)
free.

Allyson (33:15.433)
Yay!

Seth Fleischauer (33:15.925)
Absolutely free. Wow.

Ang Reidell (33:18.016)
Absolutely free, yes. All three of our organizations are very committed to there being high quality program that is free for teachers because, know, Julie was talking before about how you expand your, you know, the people you can reach and by making it free, then you don't have a barrier for teachers, schools who wouldn't be able to afford it. So,

Jocelyn Kho (33:18.29)
No cost.

Ang Reidell (33:45.3)
It is completely free for people to participate. Now you do have to register because we have to know who all is coming, but it is free.

Allyson (33:49.864)
Okay.

Seth Fleischauer (33:55.635)
And so how do they do that? How do they register?

Allyson (33:55.877)
And how exactly.

Ang Reidell (34:00.308)
So there are two ways they can register. The most important for this conversation, I think, is on the CILC website. The National Portrait Gallery is a member of CILC. So you can go right to the website and Allison will be able to tell me exactly where that is. Is that under events, Allison?

Allyson (34:18.163)
Yes, it's going to be under the events calendar. We'll have the link right to the live experience that you can sign up and register for. We're also going to be having it all over our social media in the next coming days and weeks. So look for it there and everything will be linked right here in the show notes for the episode as well.

Ang Reidell (34:40.458)
Yes, great. And then you can also, all three of us are going to be promoting it and that will include the link. So all the promotions each institution is doing individually will all have that link. So trying to connect with as many teachers as possible.

Seth Fleischauer (34:58.973)
Excellent. this is Tuesday, September 17th. That is constitution day. is that what, what time is the event?

Ang Reidell (35:07.06)
It's at noon Eastern time.

Seth Fleischauer (35:09.227)
noon Eastern time. So school time for all time zones, at least in the lower 48. and, is it, is it possible for people to get a recording of it afterwards?

Ang Reidell (35:13.495)
Mm

Ang Reidell (35:23.33)
would think so. I guess we haven't talked about that. But I would think the National Constitution Center often records their programs. And I think that this would be one that especially people might not like to see. If not the whole thing, because if there are teachers who don't have an extra 45 minutes to spare later on, we can maybe get some clips together so that students are able to see three to five minutes of it.

Allyson (35:26.693)
I'm fine. I'm thinking about it.

Ang Reidell (35:49.534)
and kind of get a sense of it if the teacher doesn't have all that time to take up a full class period.

Julie Silverbrook (35:56.659)
So we record things, whether or not it's released will be something that we'll have to discuss with Ms. Lee and her team. But assuming they are comfortable with us sharing it, we will definitely make sure that it's shared and people can use either the full recording or clips, whatever works for their classrooms. That's another great thing about recorded distance learning programs is you can use as much or as little of it as makes sense for your learning environment.

Allyson (36:18.663)
learning programs.

Seth Fleischauer (36:26.947)
That's a great point. know, we, we, we typically ask the question at the end of the podcast, why distance learning, but we kind of already answered it through, through the, the, this conversation here today. Allison.

Allyson (36:27.038)
Yes, async and sync.

Allyson (36:38.103)
but Seth, I have an idea instead of instead of asking why distance learning since you've answered it all so well in this wonderful conversation. I wonder if all three organizations could tell us a little bit about their virtual offerings so we can also include their links in the into the episode and we can learn about what we can do outside of Constitution Day, whether it's with that async material or those live virtual experiences that they offer.

Seth Fleischauer (37:08.287)
And we'll start with Julie.

Julie Silverbrook (37:10.681)
I was gonna say, let's start with Jocelyn, cause she's a CEO. Remember, and I've talked a lot, so have Jocelyn go first, then I'll go after.

Seth Fleischauer (37:12.462)
Seth Fleischauer (37:16.459)
You

Jocelyn Kho (37:19.806)
Okay, thanks. Yes, the portrait gallery as a content provider, offer, there are 10 themed virtual programs and they are available for grades pre -K through 12th grade. And the themes range from being a portrait detective to the art of portraiture to exploring identities. So there's a whole lot out there.

that can be picked and chosen from with teachers and classes.

Julie Silverbrook (37:57.91)
And do you want to go next?

Ang Reidell (37:59.17)
sure. So our material is good for asynchronous learners because we don't have any like traditional distance learning programs where you have a live person there. We do programs like this in which we are live, but we have more than 60 films that are available on our website of the short documentaries. And then each of those would have

It has lesson plans that go with them. And I'm just going to give like the short plug here because we put out a request each time we have a new film, we put out a request for proposals from teachers for that film. And we offer a pretty good size stipend for teachers whose lesson plans are submitted.

Right, so like I love curriculum writers, don't get me wrong. I really, when I started in my position, I really wanted to get that money that we would spend on a curriculum, on a curriculum writer into the hands of teachers who were in the classroom. So we've had that twice now since I've started, we've had two films being released, we're about to release our third on this constitution day. And it gives teachers, so teachers who are listening to this,

Allyson (39:18.273)
Hey!

Ang Reidell (39:25.218)
sign up for our newsletter, the civics renewal network newsletter, and you would receive the announcement as well to get the opportunity to not only write a lesson, but then we feature you in online programs. And that is another paid opportunity. So this is a great way for teachers to kind of get their voices raised. And it's so meaningful for other teachers because who do teachers want to hear from most?

other teachers who are in the same situation. I would say definitely check out our website. And like I said, if you want to have the opportunity to be able to send in a lesson plan proposal for one of our films, I'd welcome that as well.

Allyson (39:54.931)
Teachers!

Allyson (40:13.841)
Yay!

Julie Silverbrook (40:15.041)
We offer a range of distance learning programs, both delivered synchronously, live and asynchronously. And so I'll just do them really fast because I know we are running out of time here. So one is Civic Stories, which the Opa Lee program is part of that series. So it's for our younger learners. And it is really focused on looking at people who have impacted civic change.

and is very focused on individuals, biographies and storytelling. We do scholar exchanges where we actually bring judges, lawyers and scholars live into a real classroom where those scholars teach young people about a constitutional or historical topic, hugely popular, very high demand for those programs so much so that I'm looking for more resources to be able to offer them more often to live classrooms.

And we also do live from the museum and virtual tours where you actually get to have a virtual museum experience, whether that's actually touring one of our existing exhibits or getting to experience something like we do Freedom Rising at the National Constitution Center, being able to bring that experience virtually to wherever you are. We also do programming for outside of the K through 12 space for adults.

Allyson (41:21.497)
to have a virtual museum experience, whether that's actually touring one of our existing exhibits or getting to experience something like YouTube Freedom Rising and the National Constitution Center, being able to bring that experience virtually to wherever you are. We also do programming for outside of the K -12 space for adult learners. so our

Julie Silverbrook (41:41.753)
learners and so our town hall program, which is an evening program primarily geared to adults, but certainly with appeal to students as well. Our CEO often talks to high profile scholars, government officials, judges, all of those sorts of Those are things that are done live and they're always live streamed even if it's at the NCC and sometimes it's totally

virtual, which is another artifact of the pandemic. So we're delivering a lot of stuff virtually across America. So yes, the NCC is headquartered appropriately in Philadelphia where it is, but we bring the Constitution across America and in fact, across the globe all 365 days of the year.

Allyson (42:18.323)
So yes, the KMCC is headquartered appropriately in Philadelphia where it is, but we bring the Constitution.

Allyson (42:31.569)
Yay!

Seth Fleischauer (42:31.947)
Awesome. Sounds like some amazing programs. We will be sure to link to all of them in our show notes. thank you so much again, each of you for coming on the program here today. we are really excited for the event coming up here very soon. this episode will be out before then. So if you're hearing it, go there, sign up for this wonderful and free event. thank you as always to our editor, Jimmy Haber, Jimmy Haberling and Lucas Salazar.

Allyson (42:46.647)
Do it!

Ang Reidell (42:53.378)
Thank you.

Seth Fleischauer (43:00.299)
And if you want to support the podcast, please rate it, leave us a review, tell a friend. And if you want to know the answer to the question, why distance learning, check out the people we highlight on this podcast. These are the people who are leveraging this amazing technology to truly transform the learning experience. Why distance learning? Because it's accessible and it's awesome. See you next time.

Allyson (43:20.369)
Bye!

Julie Silverbrook (43:21.795)
Thanks everybody.

Ang Reidell (43:23.036)
Thank you.

Jocelyn Kho (43:23.09)
Thank you.

Allyson (43:23.897)
you