Swatantar Mann was an educator, scholar, storyteller, and inspiration to classroom and museum educators. An inspiration to those who knew her in the classroom and museums.
At Schools Within Schools (SWS), she worked as both a classroom assistant and as an assistant working across grades to support school project. While at SWS, Swatantar supported the documentation of many of the students’ projects. She not only led this endeavor with some classrooms, but she mentored teachers on the best ways to document students’ work. Using her time at the Smithsonian as a reference point, she enhanced the schools’ staff understanding of student learning through her powerful storytelling, highlighting the child’s voice and showcasing their work with photography.
Swatantar taught many, many students at SWS the art of weaving, and students often carried small finger-woven bags they had learned to create from Swatantar. Engaging with students about her Indian culture, Ms. Swatantar loved to learn alongside students as they dug deep into her own and other cultures that she knew or was learning about. For several years she donated to SWS’s “FoodPrints” an Indian meal that they would prepare with families.
Swatantar was a scholar with higher degrees in museum work from India as well as a Masters degree in Museum Education from the George Washington University. She had a keen interest in the folklife of people from around the world and took a special interest in documenting and researching traditional material culture from India, including weaving, kite making, food ways, and dance. Swatantar shared her passion for culture with the children and families at the schools where she worked and at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, where she worked each summer for many years.
Swatantar was a loving, calming presence in the classroom who demonstrated a rare ability to listen to and observe children with respect and admiration for their developing thought process and inquiry. First, at the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center (SEEC) and afterward at Schools Within Schools (SWS), she was the type of collaborative co-teacher that colleagues consider a mentor and families remember with fondness. She led story time programs at the National Air and Space Museum on special family days for many years where she shared stories of kite making and flying traditions in India that were brought to life with examples of colorful kites and images that documented the process of adding glass to string, building paper kites, and flying them from the rooftops of the city in India. Her storytelling style was at once scholarly and personal and she always tailored the telling to the young children and families that were in attendance.
Prior to her work at the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center and Schools Within Schools, Swatantar served as an international scholar from India with the Smithsonian
Office of Elementary and Secondary Eduction assisting with the collaborative efforts of the Smithsonian Institution and the District of Columbia Public Schools to establish the District’s museum magnet schools – Brent Elementary School and Stuart-Hobson Middle School. The collaboration became a national model for establishing museum/school partnerships.
Swatantar’s gentle laugh, curiosity to learn, and friendship will be missed.
Swatantar Mann was an educator, scholar, storyteller, and inspiration to classroom and museum educators. An inspiration to those who knew her in the classroom and museums. At Schools Within Schools (SWS), she worked as both a classroom assistant and as an assistant working across grades to support school project. While at SWS, Swatantar supported theContinue Reading
