CTLE Professional Development Workshops for Educators

The New York State Museum is an approved provider of Continuing Teacher and Leader Education (CTLE). Through NYSM Workshops, participants gain access to real-world applications, authentic research, and thoughtful lessons that accelerate an understanding of the natural sciences. Since 2001, our PhD-level researches have provided excellent educational opportunities for teachers.

Teacher workshops at the Museum:

Are aligned with New York State Learning Standards;
Are led by leading science and history research professionals;
Encourage hands-on and inquiry-based training opportunities;
Assist teachers in renewing educational material with current content; and
Provide CTLE Professional Development Credits.

Annual Workshop Descriptions

Anthropology Teacher Workshop

This workshop is a professional-development opportunity for science teachers, especially those who teach biology and environmental science to middle and high school students. Participants will gain valuable insight into the forefront of scientific research happening right here in New York State.
DH Cadwell Earth Science Workshop

Join State Museum geologists at the DH Cadwell Earth Science Workshop and learn more about Earth Science and New York's unique geology. Real world applications of current research address the New York State Learning Standards. Varied presentations, discussions, exercises and field trips will be led by staff geologists. Topics include sedimentary and glacial geology, paleontology, mineralogy, metamorphic and igneous petrology, geological influences on ecology, and more.
Evolution and Ecology Workshop

This workshop is designed for high school and middle school science teachers and addresses New York State Learning Standards. Teachers will learn about current evolutionary theory, recent discoveries, and resources and ideas for effective classroom exercises.

Upcoming Workshops

Online CTLE Credit

Educators can earn CTLE credit by watching any of the following webinars and completing the surveys linked below each video. Please allow up to two weeks to receive confirmation of completion.

Lee Family in front of Tuck High, c. 1947

Three New York Chinatown Stories at Tuck High

CTLE Credit (1.5 hours)

The Tuck High Company store, sold to the New York State Museum in 1980, embodies tens of thousands of stories about what Chinatown was truly about. Jack Tchen, cross-cultural historian and co-founder of the Museum of Chinese in America, shares three stories interweaving the lives of a tea merchant, a “laundryman,” and the Irish “Mayor of Chinatown” in this Museum presentation.

Exploring African American Contexts in New York Archaeology

CTLE Credit (1.5 hours)

Although information about the lives of enslaved people in New York is too often missing from the written record, archaeology can provide important insight into the daily life, values, and traditions of enslaved people. Recent investigations show there are ways of “seeing” enslaved African Americans in diverse households, even when they did not live in separate quarters from their enslavers.

In partnership with the New York Archaeology Council and the New York State Museum, visiting archaeologists present new research based on their work within plural households and communities in New York.

The Lives of Enslaved People through the Objects They Left Behind

CTLE Credit (1.5 hours)

Join Dr. Michael Lucas as he explores how artifacts excavated at the 18th-century John Bogart House site in Albany provide insight into enslaved individuals and how they claimed some power and control over their own lives through the manipulation of material objects.

Dr. Scott Manning Stevens Presents: Paths Forward: Native America and Museums

CTLE Credit (1.5 hours)

Rethink the complicated issues around Native American nations, their histories, and their relationships with museums with Dr. Scott Manning Stevens. Professor Stevens considers the many challenges for museums in overcoming the legacy of misappropriation and misrepresentation of Indigenous cultures.

Panel Discussion: The Continuing Revolution for All New Yorkers

CTLE Credit (1 hour)

Not all New Yorkers experienced the freedoms promised by the American Revolution. Join panelists Paul and Mary Liz Stewart of the Underground Railroad Education Center (UREC), New York State Museum Chief Curator Dr. Jennifer Lemak, and Senior Historian of Social History Ashley Hopkins-Benton as they discuss the ongoing work needed to bring equal rights to all communities. Recorded October 22, 2023. Huxley Theater, New York State Museum

Dr. Christopher Minty Presents: Unfriendly to Liberty: Loyalist Networks and the Coming of the American Revolution in New York

CTLE Credit (1 hour)

Discover the complicated history of New Yorkers who remained loyal to Britain during the American Revolution with author Dr. Christopher Minty. Dr. Minty will explore the local politics, factions, institutions, and behaviors that governed Loyalist’s political activities in the buildup to the American Revolution. Minty analyzes these factors to show how New York Loyalists came together to form an organized, politically motivated, and diverse political group.

Jack Kelly Presents: God Save Benedict Arnold: The True Story of America’s Most Hated Man

CTLE Credit (1 hour)

Explore the history behind Benedict Arnold’s treason and the events leading up to the capture of Major John André with historian Jack Kelly. Kelly goes beyond Benedict Arnold’s most famous act, treason, to explore his psychology and character, arguing that Arnold was essential to the patriots’ victories before he was a traitor.

“Kitty” Putnam and “Minnie” Knapp - Agency and Identity

Agency & Identity: Cherry Hill’s Would-Be Sisters

CTLE Credit (1 hour)
Through the clothing, photographs, possessions, and accounts left behind by two Gilded Age women, Historic Cherry Hill’s director of education, Shawna Reilly, explores the lives of Kitty Putnam and Minnie Knapp in terms of their plights, identities, relative vulnerabilities, opportunities, and the choices they made within their prescribed social roles. Each came to Cherry Hill after her mother’s death to be raised by Van Rensselaer descendant Harriet Maria Elmendorf. Both wards, but not quite sisters, Kitty was herself a Van Rensselaer descendant while Minnie was likely descended from an enslaved woman named Dinah Jackson. Each called Harriet Maria “Ma,” but Minnie was raised as a servant, while Kitty would one day become the mistress of Cherry Hill.
(Recording of December 1, 2022, presentation at the NYSM.)

Way Beyond Seneca Falls: Women’s Suffrage, an Unfinished Revolution, and the Power of Place in NY

CTLE Credit (1 hour)
This presentation highlights the importance of grassroots action by women and men, both Black and white, in New York State’s historic movement for woman suffrage. It challenges us to consider whether community-based organizing remains a powerful tool in the unfinished revolution for voting rights today.

"Treaty Rights Footstool" by Karen Ann Hoffman

A Conversation with Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Beadwork Artist Karen Ann Hoffman

CTLE Credit (1 hour)
Virtually meet artist Karen Ann Hoffman (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin) and learn about her artwork in the NYSM Contemporary Native Art collection, including a new acquisition, “Bernard, the Buzzard Bag.” Join NYSM Curator of Ethnology Dr. Gwen Saul for a lively conversation on Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beadwork and how Karen Ann uses beadwork artistry to address issues of sovereignty and human rights, as well as honoring and illustrating Haudenosaunee stories and philosophies.

Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument

CTLE Credit (1 hour)
Learn about the groundbreaking monument, Women’s Rights Pioneers, the first statue of real women in Central Park, NYC. Made possible through the work of Monumental Women, the monument depicts three historic women’s rights leaders—Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Sojourner Truth—all hailing from New York State. Learn about breaking the bronze ceiling in Central Park from Monumental Women president Pam Elam and discover the Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument's process of creation from the monument's sculptor, Meredith Bergmann.

360 Gallery Tour: Votes for Women

CTLE Credit (1 hour)

Learn about the history of the suffrage movement in New York State through artifacts on display and highlighted women who led this equal rights movement. Viewers can navigate throughout the space using their touchscreen or mouse.

360 Gallery Tour: A Spirit of Sacrifice: New York State in the First World War

CTLE Credit (1 hour)

Join Senior Historian and Curator Aaron Noble for a tour of the New York State Museum’s World War I Centennial exhibition, “A Spirit of Sacrifice: New York State in the First World War.”

New Netherland Research and Collections in the Office of Cultural Education

CTLE Credit (.75 hours)

Join Dr. Charles Gehring, Director of the New Netherland Research Center, Dr. Michael Lucas, State Museum Historic Archaeologist, and Dr. Jennifer Lemak, State Museum Chief Curator of History, as they discuss their research and highlight important documents and artifacts in their respective collections.

You Are What You Eat: How Chemistry Informs About Ancient Ecosystems

CTLE Credit (.75 hours)

Dr. Robert S. Feranec, Curator of Pleistocene vertebrate paleontology, will discuss how he uses different chemicals in fossilized teeth and bones to understand how and where ancient animals lived, and how that may have changed over time.

Thomas Powell Farmstead: A Virtual Tour of an African American Heritage Site

CTLE Credit (.5 hour)
This presentation by Dr. Mike Lucas, divided into five segments, provides an overview of the Thomas Powell Homestead site located in Colonie, New York. Dr. Lucas describes the history, layout, and archaeology of the Powell family farmstead through an on-site tour.

Highlights from the NYSM History Collection: Focus on African American-related Collections

CTLE Credit (.5 hours)

Join Chief Curator of History Dr. Jennifer Lemak to learn about some of the artifacts in the Museum’s collection that relate to African American history.

Video Presentation: The Jessup Family: A Free African American Household in Early NY, 1790–1830

CTLE Credit (.5 hours)

In this video presentation, NYSM archaeologist Michael Lucas discusses artifacts recovered from excavations of the late 18th-century Jessup house in Brookhaven, NY, and what they can tell us about the choices made by the Jessup family as they confronted economic inequality and racism in New York.

Every Prison Is Attica: A Short Documentary Film by David Kuhn

CTLE Credit (.5 hours)

This online screening of Every Prison Is Attica, a short documentary film directed and produced by David Kuhn, is followed by a question-and-answer session led by New York State Museum Senior Historian Aaron Noble, curator of the Museum’s exhibit, Open Wounds: The 50-Year Legacy of the Attica Prison Uprising.

Field Trip to the NYSM Entomology Collection

CTLE Credit (.5 hours)

Join New York State Entomologist, Dr. Timothy McCabe, as he reveals more incredible insects and fun facts on a tour of the NYSM Entomology collection.

A New York Minute in History Podcast

CTLE Credit (.5 hours)

A New York Minute In History is a production of the New York State Museum, WAMC, and Archivist Media, with support from The William G. Pomeroy Foundation. The podcast is produced by Jesse King and Jim Levulis of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. CTLE is offered for a select number of podcast episodes as listed below:

Listen: New York’s Anti-Rent Wars
Complete: Online CTLE Form for Anti-Rent Wars
Listen: Radio Cloak and Dagger
Complete: Online CTLE Form for Radio Cloak and Dagger
Listen: Aaron Mossell and the Struggle to Integrate Lockport’s Schools
Complete: Online CTLE Form for Aaron Mossell, School Integration
Listen: Ithaca’s Tuskegee Airman
Complete: Online CTLE Form for Tuskegee Airman
Listen: Discovering the Nation’s “Founding Fossils”
Complete: Online CTLE Form for Founding Fossils
Listen: The Persistence of Dr. Mary Walker
Complete: Online CTLE Form for Dr. Mary Walker

Education

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