Creativity in the Classroom: Mission In Progress

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Special thanks to our Smithsonian Affiliations summer interns Lisa Hung (University of California, Irvine) and Neema Amadala (University of Calgary) for participating in the Smithsonian’s EdLab Teacher workshops in order to share their experiences with us. This is the second of four guest posts in their “Teaching in a 21st Century Classroom” series.   

Creativity in the Classroom: Mission In Progress
By Neema Amadala

We may have been running into the museum on Tuesday but do students? What does a typical field trip to the museum look like? Perhaps there are students clustered in groups around a painting listening to the docent tell them about the artifact attentively but can’t seem to bridge the gap between the artifact and themselves.  Or maybe they’re running around room to room disengaged and bored or possibly, upon hearing the word museum, felt sick that day. Why is it that a field trip to the museum doesn’t seem as engaging as a trip to the science center? 

On Tuesday, June 19, mission control was headquartered in the Smithsonian American Art Museum. To unleash our creativity the group started with writing six word stories; it’s remarkable what can be said in six words. In this case, we studied Frank Romero’s Death of Rubén Salazar and let our words tell a story. This was only the beginning of the immersion into art.   

Examining the power behind what six words can say. Photo courtesy Smithsonian EdLab.

Tuesday’s mission was to take a piece of artwork and create a story with two alternative endings, to tell a tale in which the ending reflected the complexity and ambiguity of conflict and resolution. Given that this mission is broad, if you were to assign this to a group of high school students, you could witness their creativity and excitement skyrocket. This would become evident as you observe them analyzing the painting, building a moral behind their story and capturing the complexity of the piece in a short story. This is what happened in my team of educators. We immersed ourselves in the painting and abandoned all fear of technology (and had fun doing it!) to create a comic we aptly named Benton’s Midwestern Fable.  

Finding the words to interpret the story of Achelous and Hercules. Photo courtesy Smithsonian EdLab.

What educators may forget is that students have grown up with this technology. Many have no fear of jumping into a new tool if it means they get a chance to play and learn. Therefore why are lesson plans made with only the teacher’s evaluation goals in mind? Why not create plans that will engage students and be enjoyable to evaluate?  

The first page of our creation, Benton’s Midwestern Fable, based on Thomas Hart Benton’s painting, Achelous and Hercules.

 Stay tuned for Part 3 in our EdLab series! And for more information, contact the EdLab team at npm.mobilelearning@si.edu .

Teaching in a 21st-Century Classroom: Mission Impossible?

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Special thanks to our Smithsonian Affiliations summer interns Lisa Hung (University of California, Irvine) and Neema Amadala (University of Calgary) for participating in the Smithsonian’s EdLab Teacher workshops in order to share their experiences with us. This is the first of four guest posts in their “Teaching in a 21st Century Classroom” series.   

Teaching in a 21st-Century Classroom: Mission Impossible?
By: Lisa Hung

Head tilted, eyes down, arms under the desk, occasionally glancing to see if anyone else can tell what she’s up to. Sweat drips down her brow as she struggles to fix the series of ‘autocorrects’ that can’t help but get her chuckling – the sound of the footsteps draw near and her heart is racing, she looks up in the nick of time and exhales in relief. As the teacher walks away, she picks right back up where she left off. We’ve seen it before, kids on their phones getting pulled away from the classroom. Technology in the hands of a student in a formal classroom environment has become a stigma, something that many feel are taking the students away from their learning. But why turn the other way when you can face the issue, why allow technology to take away from learning when we can use it to enhance it?

Smithsonian’s EdLab Teaching in the 21st Century workshop is aimed to allow educators to explore and launch new media practices for their classrooms providing a safe environment for the educators to come together and work in teams to develop tools and skills that can be applied in their classrooms. On Monday, I was able to partake in this experience. Kim Skerritt and Jeff Meade led the workshops and assigned a warm up by having us write what we thought a 21st-century classroom looked like. Going around you could see words like “classroom without walls”, “interactive”, and “technologic”.  Upon discussion, many of the participants raised some good points and we ultimately asked – are our kids running into school with the same excitement they have running out?

Educators sharing what they felt a 21st-century classroom looks like. Photo courtesy Smithsonian EdLab.

The mission for the week was to ask how you can solve real conflict, whether that’s in or beyond the classroom. Today’s particular mission was to use objects to inspire activism, so we were split into groups and asked to explore the Smithsonian Castle and search for that piece of artwork and apply it to our weekly theme of “conflict”. Each group member took on a role, and altogether partook in a mission to interview, research and put together a final product. In the Smithsonian Castle, there are cases that represent the 19 different Smithsonian museums and each group chose a different one to represent their cause. For example, the group I was in chose Seed Catalogues in order to represent the issue of eating healthy non-processed foods.  At the end of the day, we were able to immerse ourselves in an environment in which all the participants were able to connect with each other and we left the classroom enthusiastically knowing that we will be running in the same way on Tuesday.

Interested in more information about EdLab? Contact the EdLab team at npm.mobilelearning@si.edu

At the Smithsonian Castle finding an object to inspire activism. Photo courtesy Smithsonian EdLab.

Announcing the I. Michael Heyman Smithsonian Across America Affiliations Fund

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Secretary I. Michael Heyman rode the carousel at the Los Angeles Convention Center, first stop of the “America’s Smithsonian” national tour celebrating the Smithsonian’s 150th anniversary in 1996.

I. Michael Heyman, 10th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution (1994-1999), passed away November 19, 2011.  In honor of his tenure and accomplishments friends, family, and Smithsonian officials gathered on June 14, 2012 in a special ceremony at the National Museum of American History.  Heyman was widely praised for launching a number of initiatives, Smithsonian Affiliations among them, that extended the reach of the Smithsonian well beyond the National Mall.  Smithsonian Affiliations director Harold A. Closter offered the following words of tribute, and announced the establishment of the I. Michael Heyman Smithsonian Across America Affiliations Fund:

This tribute to Mike Heyman is also the concluding program in our 16th Annual Smithsonian Affiliations National Conference – a legacy of Mike’s about which others have already spoken so eloquently.  Here with us in this auditorium are representatives of the 172 Smithsonian-affiliated museums and educational organizations, our invaluable partners in fulfilling Mike’s vision for a Smithsonian across America.  These museums reflect the breadth and diversity of the American people:  from Plymouth, Massachusetts to Honolulu, Hawaii, from Birmingham, Alabama to Bellingham, Washington, and everywhere in between.

The Saturn V Rocket at the US Space and Rocket Center (Huntsville, AL)

If you were to visit one of these Affiliate museums today, you would see national treasures from all of the Smithsonian museums, including:

  •  The cornet that Louis Armstrong learned to play in an orphanage in New Orleans, now on view at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix.
  •  An original fragment from the Star Spangled Banner at the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh.
  •  Apollo 13, the space capsule made famous for its nail-biting return from a trip around the moon,  currently on display at the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas.
  • And the largest object in the Smithsonian’s collection – the 363 ft. long working model of the Saturn V rocket that made the Apollo space program possible – viewed with awe by visitors at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

These are just a few of the more than 8,000 Smithsonian objects that have traveled to every corner of this country all for one simple reason:  to make it easier for people to see the heritage of their country in their own communities. 

This was the vision that Mike Heyman so passionately believed in and this is why we are so pleased to announce the establishment of the I. Michael Heyman Smithsonian Across America Affiliations Fund.

A cornet associated with Louis Armstrong at the Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix, AZ)

Through this fund we will honor the legacy of Secretary Heyman by extending the reach of the Smithsonian even further through the loan of artifacts, traveling exhibits, educational programs, and shared digital experiences. 

There are so many ways we can connect the Smithsonian to the American people:  to stimulate curiosity, to inspire lifelong learning, and to promote a deeper appreciation of our country’s history and the many people who have strived and sacrificed to ensure our freedom and prosperity. 

Mike Heyman saw both sides of the Smithsonian coin.  On one side, about 30 million people visit the Smithsonian each year, a measure in which we take great pride.  But on the other side, nearly 300 million Americans are unable to come to the Smithsonian annually, and some of them might only come once in a lifetime. 

These are also the people that Mike Heyman wanted to reach, the people we will reach through the I. Michael Heyman Smithsonian Across America Affiliations Fund.  And this is how we will perpetuate the memory and the name of the individual who did so much to transform the Smithsonian at a pivotal moment in its history. 

We are grateful for your interest and support, and will look forward to working with all of you to establish this tribute to our dear friend and colleague. 

Those interested in contributing or learning more about this opportunity to honor the life and accomplishments of I. Michael Heyman are invited to contact the Smithsonian at: 

A fragment of the Star Spangled Banner at the Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, PA)

I. Michael Heyman Smithsonian Across America Affiliations Fund
c/o Smithsonian Affiliations
MRC 942, PO Box 37012
Washington, DC 20013-7012

Phone:  202.633.5300
Email:    affiliations.si.edu

 

Building Funding Partnerships Together – Smithsonian and Affiliates

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Photo courtesy the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO).

While we work together to bring collections, educational programming and a variety of resources to museums and communities across the country, we plan to offer Affiliates additional benefits by expanding  our partnership activities and identifying  support for our shared goals –  both Smithsonian and Affiliate goals. Through joint fundraising, the Smithsonian as a national organization can open doors to new funding opportunities and develop support for collaborative initiatives not easily accessible to regional museums and organizations.

Over the past year, Smithsonian Affiliations has taken a first step in scaling up partnerships and benefits by including Affiliates in Smithsonian funded grant programs. Affiliates have begun to play an integral role in Smithsonian projects and are providing a national voice in Smithsonian initiatives. Moving beyond these internal funding sources, we will be developing a model of fundraising that includes Affiliates and units from across the Smithsonian to engage donors, national corporations, government funding sources, and foundations with the goal of providing support for Affiliate projects.

NEH grants allowed five Affiliates to engage students and teachers both in person and via the webcast during the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Humanities collaboration “National Youth Summit: The 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides.”

In the conference session in June, the Smithsonian’s Development Director for Education and Access, Michael Dunagan, and the Director of the Office of Sponsored Projects, Scott Robinson, will discuss how the Smithsonian and Affiliates can build partnerships and collaborate to increase funding opportunities for joint initiatives.  The session will explore how we can work together more closely across the Affiliate network. We look forward to hearing from Affiliates, to create an ongoing dialogue to build this increased support, and to understand your priorities, as well as the needs of your audiences and communities.

We look forward to seeing you at our session, Fundraising as a Team Sport– We are the Team, on Wednesday, June 13, 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. View the complete 2012 Affiliations National Conference agenda here.

coming up in affiliateland in june 2012

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CALIFORNIA
The San Diego Museum of Man will be hosting a reception for the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies during the International Society for Technology in Education in San Diego, 6.25.

MICHIGAN
The Michigan State University Museum will be represented in the Community and Culture Program of the 2012 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington D.C., 6.27-7.8.

Following a week of training in June in Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian Latino Young Ambassadors will be interning for a month at the following Affiliate host sites:  California Science Center, Museum of Latin American Art, Chabot Space and Science Center, Miami Science Museum, Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History, International Museum of Art and Science, and The Museum of Flight, 6.24-8.3.

kudos affiliates! june 2012

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As summer heats up, so too do Affiliate accomplishments!

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced that the Lowell Festival Foundation along with Lowell National Historical Park (Lowell, Massachusetts) is one of 788 not-for-profit national, regional, state, and local organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. The Lowell Festival Foundation is recommended for a $30,000 grant to support the 2012 Lowell Folk Festival. 

The Michigan State University Museum (East Lansing, Michigan) has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Michigan Traditional Arts Program. Totaling $80,000, the NEA grant will assist with documentation of traditional artists and folk arts events and develop social media tools to connect folk artists, audiences and other cultural workers. The Michigan Traditional Arts Program provides support for the Michigan Heritage Awards and Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, which research, document and share traditional arts and expressive culture of Michigan.

Inasmuch Foundation announced the distribution of $11.3 million in grants to 37 organizations in Oklahoma, including $500,000 to Science Museum Oklahoma (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) for the new Children’s Hall, 20,000 square feet of friendly streets, buildings and “outdoor” spaces containing interactive exhibits in which families can engage in a playful and child-friendly world of science play. Stafford Air and Space Museum (Weatherford, Oklahoma) received $50,000 for the restoration and outdoor display of two historic aircraft; and a busing and admissions assistance program for Oklahoma school children and senior citizens.

Conner Prairie Interactive History Park (Fishers, Indiana) received $5,000 from The Kroger Co. to support its K-12 education programs.

The Museum of Arts & Sciences (Daytona Beach, Florida) announced in cooperation with the City of Daytona Beach and the Volusia County Council, the Museum has been chosen as the site for a new structure – an expansion housing the collection of more than 2,600 Florida oil and watercolor paintings of Cici and Hyatt Brown as part of a $13 million gift from Cici and Hyatt Brown.

Dr. Annette B. Fromm of the Frost Museum (Miami, Florida) has been approved for candidacy for the Fulbright Specialists Roster, creating an opportunity to engage in short-term collaborative projects at host institutions in over 100 countries.

The Frank H. McClung Museum (Knoxville, Tennessee) received re-accreditation from AAM.