Empowering Educators: Highlights from the 2025 Educators-in-Residence Program

Last month, our team welcomed 25 educators from 11 states and Puerto Rico to The Henry Ford for the Educators-in-Residence program. These fantastic educators were chosen from a pool of over 160 applicants and teach students of all ages; their subjects ranging from STEM, the arts, Spanish, special education, horticulture, history, English, and career and technical education.

The 2025 Educators-in-Residence cohort with Learning & Engagement staff. Image Courtesy of The Henry Ford's Senior Photographer, Jillian Ferraiuolo.

While on-site, the group learned about inHub and our Model i learning framework, went on behind-the-scenes tours across our venues, learned about upcoming exhibitions, and participated in hands-on workshops facilitated by our Learning & Engagement staff. Each educator went on their own innovation journey as they uncovered a problem in their classroom or learning setting and designed a plan to address it in the upcoming school year. With the support of The Henry Ford’s resources, Learning & Engagement staff members, and each other, they developed new strategies to engage learners, built classroom values, wrote new lesson plans and more. Many of the residents took inspiration from our collections and stories and plan to use the Model i framework to help teachers and students build their innovative mindsets.

In a post-event survey, one educator wrote, “The biggest takeaway from this program is the incredible culture of innovation and collaboration among the staff. I also gained access to a versatile model [Model i] that will strengthen any efforts to increase the interest and motivation of students to invent and innovate.” These kind words are a testament to the dedication and passion our staff puts into this program to empower educators with the skills they need to impact the next generation.

We will virtually meet with the cohort in the fall and winter to hear about the residents’ progress and what support they might need to carry out their plans. We look forward to learning how they are bringing The Henry Ford’s resources into their classrooms. Special thank you to all the educators who joined us last month for this immersive experience, and to staff members for lending their time and expertise to make this program possible.

Learn more about the Educators-in-Residence program here.

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