1. To provide a nuanced interpretation of history from a variety of perspectives, including perspectives that have been underrepresented in traditional historiography.
2. To use individual stories to help visitors explore their own personal connection to the social, economic, and political issues which impact the lives of immigrants and migrants.
3. To highlight the important role immigrants and migrants have played - and continue to play- in shaping our society, exploring specific examples of how they, both individually and collectively, have transformed the communities in which they live and our nation as a whole.
4. To promote meaningful dialogue about and critical engagement with the enduring issues that have impacted the lives of immigrant and migrant communities, and to provide a forum for visitors to consider the role they can play in shaping those issues today.
5. To help people from diverse backgrounds make connections with and learn from one another.

Our educational approach is based on a theory of learning that holds that all people have prior knowledge (based on research and/or personal experience), beliefs, and opinions that shape their learning experience. The role of the educator is to build on and in some instances challenge the knowledge, beliefs, and opinions that people bring with them. We use an "inquiry-based" teaching approach and believe that the goal of the learning process should not focus on seeking the right answer, because often there is none, but rather exploring important questions and issues and, when possible, seeking resolutions.

Educators at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum have a unique role because the guided tours are not lectures, as they are at many other museums; the tours are interactive, participatory learning experiences. The educator leads a tour by sharing his/her knowledge, but also by asking visitors a series of carefully crafted open-ended questions designed to elicit dialogue and opinions about the key economic, political, and social issues raised.

For additional information about this educational approach, resources on inquiry-based learning, and/or to view a power point presentation on best practices for asking open-ended questions, please contact the Education Associate for Educator Management.

• Getting By: Immigrants Weathering Hard Times
  Visit the apartments of the German-Jewish Gumpertz family in the 1870s and the Sicilian-Catholic Baldizzi family in the 1930s, and learn about the networks of support that were available to them during hard times. Discuss the development of social welfare in the United States, and compare the options that people had in the past to those that are available today.
  
  
• Piecing it Together: Immigrants in the Garment Industry
  Celebrate the 1897 birth of Max Levine in the apartment/garment shop run by his parents, Jennie and Harris from Poland. Then pay a shiva (bereavement) call to the Rogarshevsky family, mourning the loss of Abraham, who worked as a presser in a garment factory until succumbing to tuberculosis in 1918. Hear other immigrants as well - from Europe, Asia, Latin America and elsewhere - recall their lives in the garment industry from the 1930s to the present.
  
  
• Confino Family Program
  This "living history" apartment takes visitors back to 1916 to meet Victoria Confino, a fourteen year-old Sephardic-Jewish immigrant. Played by a costumed interpreter, Victoria guides visitors as though they were new arrivals seeking information about life on the Lower East Side while discussing such issues as assimilation, cultural identity and the role of community.
  
  
• Lower East Side Stories: Neighborhood Walking Tour
  The Lower East Side Community Preservation Project, composed of neighborhood residents and people who work on the Lower East Side, has collaborated with the Museum to create a neighborhood walking tour that tells the stories of the many different people who call this neighborhood home. This 90-minute tour visits the sites neighborhood residents have identified as important and discusses them in both historical and contemporary context.
  
  
• "Kitchen Conversations" Post-Tour Dialogue
  Following certain designated tours, visitors can participate in a free dialogue in which they discuss the questions the tour sparked for them and discuss what the past can teach us about immigrant experiences and issues today. Educators must apply separately to be Kitchen Conversations facilitators. The policies and protocols that facilitators must follow are not included in this document, but are detailed in a separate document, which facilitators receive upon being hired. For additional information about Kitchen Conversations, please contact the Education Associate for Contemporary Immigrant Perspectives.

Group Programs
All the public programs above are also available for private groups. For groups of students grades K-12, the programs are modified so that they are age-appropriate and include activities that examine how the enduring issues raised on the tours are playing out in the present. In addition, the Museum also offers other programs for groups, including:

• Shared Journeys Program
  A workshop series for ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes. Each workshop includes a tour of a restored apartment and a discussion about the connections between immigrant experiences past and present. The program provides a unique context for English language learning, helps students place their own immigration experience within a broader historical and political framework, and promotes critical engagement with civic issues.
  
  
• High School Shared Journeys Program
  A series of four 90-minute workshops for high school English Language Learners. Workshop topics are: Learning about Discrimination; Organizing for Social Change; Our Immigrant Histories; and Tenement Inspectors.
  
  
• Touch Tour
  The Getting By or Piecing it Together tour is modified to incorporate verbal description, handling objects, and a multi-sensory approach for visitors with visual impairments.
  
  
• Teacher Training Workshops
  These interactive workshops for teachers address pressing issues and promote standards-based instruction, demonstrating ways to integrate the use of artifacts, primary source documents, and personal narrative into curricula.
  
  
• Off-Site Programs
  The Museum offers the Getting By, Piecing it Together, and Confino tours, in addition to other educational programs, as off-site programs. These off-sites may include power point presentations, handling objects, music, video presentations, and facilitated discussions.

• Windows of 97
  The changing public art installations in the four storefront windows of 97 Orchard Street seek to "educate, collaborate with and integrate new immigrant groups into the Museum." This program seeks to showcase contemporary immigrant artists from diverse backgrounds and cultures; involve recent immigrants in Museum programming; and engage visitors in examining issues related to contemporary immigration. The windows are accessible at all hours and can easily be viewed from the street. For every windows installation, there is an opening reception that is free and open to the public as well as a public educational program related to the themes of the installation.

The following is a list of the Museum's "Access Programs" for people with disabilities: Programs/Services for Visitors who are Blind or have Low Vision

• Getting By and Piecing it Together Touch Tours are available for groups of five or more by appointment (call 212-431-0233, x241).
• All Confino Programs are hands-on.
• Large print materials are available for Getting By, Piecing it Together, and the Confino Program.

Programs/Services for Visitors who are Deaf or have Hearing Impairments

• A public American Sign Language (ASL) interpreted tour is offered on the first Sunday of every month. Each month a different tour is interpreted. Reservations are strongly suggested. Visitors interested in the ASL tour should call 212-431-0714 for the TTY/Voice service, or email signlanguage@tenement.org.
• Sign language interpretation is available for groups of ten or more by request. Interested visitors should call 212-431-0233, x241.
• The Museum provides Assistive Listening Devices for visitors who have hearing impairments. They are located behind the counter of the Visitors Center.
• Captioned videos are shown for all programs.

  Programs/Services for Visitors who have Mobility Impairments

• Visitors who cannot tour 97 Orchard Street may instead choose to take the Neighborhood Walking Tour or arrange an educator-led power point presentation, available by appointment.
• A virtual tour can be found at www.tenement.org, and a pictorial tour is available at the admissions desk at in the Visitors Center.
• Groups can schedule off-site programs by calling 212-431-0233, x 241.