Philippa Rappoport
Lead, Education and Engagement
Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology
Smithsonian Staff
I work in education and engagement, teacher professional development, and outreach at the Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology (OET), and have a particular interest in developing and producing trainings, programs, teaching techniques, and platforms that foster deep learning and contribute knowledge to improve practices in museum and preK-16 education and engagement. At OET over the last decade+, I created digital assets for schools, families, and new immigrant English Language learners to complement teacher professional development and pan-Smithsonian programming, including Learning Lab teaching collections, YouTube videos with tradition bearers, a handmade family stories book-making website, and online heritage tours.
Philippa Rappoport's collections
A "Family Lessons" Storybook Activity for the Classroom or Home, with examples of student work
<p>This collection includes instructions and ideas for a classroom activity designed to get children and their families talking and creating together. It is suitable for K-5 classrooms, as an art, English, or social studies-based activity. Included here are examples of student work (images and video of students reading their books), as well as images from classroom displays.</p>
<p>In this activity, a 1st grade teacher from a bilingual school in Washington, D.C., used what we called the "Connections" handmade storybook design to have her students share important family lessons. She described how she did the activity: "I loved the book project and found that it was a way to get parents involved in making a book with their child at home. I pre-made the books since I thought the instructions were a little tricky. The instructions were to discuss and write about a Life Lesson that their families taught them. Our students created bilingual Spanish/English books. The format was perfect for this because it could be English on one side and Spanish on the other. Students enjoyed hanging their books up outside of the class for others to read and then sharing them with the class. It really helped them to understand what important life lessons families teach them and it helped to bring students' home knowledge into the classroom. We connected the books to our Life Lessons unit and plan to do the same thing this year."</p>
<p>This project is based on a handmade book design that can be found, along with several others, in another collection: Fun for the Whole Family: Making "Family Memory" Storybooks: <a href="http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/1tozk88HXhnFBU6d">http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/1tozk88HXhnFBU6d</a>.</p>
<p><em>#FamilyLit #FamilyLiteracy </em></p>
Philippa Rappoport
10
Digital Storytelling for Classroom Engagement (Companion Collection for a Smithsonian National Education Summit Presentation)
<p>Digital Storytelling is a creative and participatory method that enables learners to reflect on a specific subject and produce a first-person narrative in the form of a 2-3-minute video. Digital Storytelling empowers students to share their own perspectives and reflections on America’s 250th anniversary, making the learning experience more personal and meaningful. In this companion collection to a Smithsonian National Education Summit 2025 presentation, you will find resources and activities to help you use digital museum objects for digital storytelling in your own learning environments. These activities can help to amplify student voices, and increase classroom engagement and active learning across disciplines. </p>
<p>This collection has been produced by Antonia Liguori of Teesside University (UK) and Philippa Rappoport of the Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology. We would like to acknowledge the work of professors Sara Ducey, Matthew Decker, and Jamie Gillan, who have championed amongst Montgomery College faculty the use of Digital Storytelling with museum objects, and some of whose materials are cited in this collection. (See also <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/story-work-to-increase-engagement-and-empathy-companion-collection-for-a-smithsonian-national-education-summit-workshop/HrYIwCKtm3dXhlUR" target="_blank">"Story Work to Increase Engagement and Empathy (Companion Collection for a Smithsonian National Education Summit Workshop."</a>) We would also like to acknowledge Joe Lambert and colleagues from StoryCenter for introducing us to the process and a network of colleagues around the world.</p>
<p></p>
<p>#DigitalStorytelling</p>
Philippa Rappoport
44
Story Work to Increase Engagement and Empathy (Companion Collection for a Smithsonian National Education Summit Workshop)
<p>Interested in designing rewarding assignments for students that incorporate museum digital content, while developing written communication skills, collaboration, and technology literacy? This collection supports a workshop that introduces participants to Digital Storytelling--a high-impact pedagogy embraced by artists, activists, and educators worldwide--with the support of content from the Smithsonian’s free online Learning Lab platform. Participants analyze examples and create their own digital stories to inform applications for their classrooms. Examples shown come from college classrooms, but digital storytelling is broadly applicable across disciplines and grade levels.</p>
<p>Included here are materials intended to help users produce digital storytelling projects in their own classrooms. Click on the paperclip on the agenda tile (first row, third tile) to see the pre-workshop assignment that participants were asked to complete before attending the in-person workshop.</p>
<p>The workshop and collection have been produced by Matthew Decker and Sara Ducey of Montgomery College, Antonia Liguori of Teesside University (UK), and Philippa Rappoport of the Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology.</p>
<p></p>
<p>#DigitalStorytelling, #MCTeach</p>
Philippa Rappoport
45
Personal Responses to Covid-19: A Digital Storytelling Workshop Using the Smithsonian Learning Lab (for DC Public School educators)
<p>This Learning Lab collection was made to complement the presentation, "Personal Responses to Covid-19: A Digital Storytelling Workshop Using the Smithsonian Learning Lab," in support of the <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/dcps">"Living Through History" Global Competency DCPS Cornerstone</a>. The workshop also serves as an introduction to an opportunity for follow-on training and classroom activities to connect with classrooms across the globe and showcase students' digital stories about climate change, biodiversity, and sustainability at the <a href="http://sdg.iisd.org/events/2020-un-climate-change-conference-unfccc-cop-26/">UN Climate Change conference in Fall 2021</a>. (For more information, please write to learning@si.edu or saedstorytelling@lboro.ac.uk.)</p>
<p>During the workshop, co-facilitators <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/24977">Dr. Antonia Liguori</a> (Loughborough University, UK) and <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/212">Dr. Philippa Rappoport</a> (Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology) will demonstrate a variety of techniques to incorporate personal experiences in the exploration and use of museum resources. They will share how the Smithsonian Learning Lab and Digital Storytelling (DS) can be used together to access digital resources, build learning experiences, and cultivate collaboration and community over distance.
</p>
<p>We will explore artwork from an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, <em><a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/IgLygJNprGf3JA%20and%20https:/npg.si.edu/exhibition/eye-i-self-portraits-1900-today">Eye to I: Self-Portraiture as an Exploration of Identity</a></em>), which compels viewers to consider how self-portraits reflect an artist’s identity through what is revealed and concealed. We will look specifically at the <em>Eye to Eye </em>artworks from the context of social distancing and unrest in the time of Covid-19 as a prompt to make personal connections.
</p>
<p>After an introduction to the Smithsonian Learning Lab and previous experiences with Digital Storytelling within that environment, participants will be engaged in discussions about how Digital Storytelling can be used to support classroom work on the <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/dcps">"Living Through History" Global Competency DCPS Cornerstone</a>. In particular, digital storytelling as a co-created and participatory approach in the classroom can foster students' capacity and disposition to understand and act on issues of global significance. <br></p>
<ul></ul>
<p>You will find in this collection:
</p>
<ul><li>a short icebreaker activity using exhibition images to start shifting from a cognitive appreciation of art to a personal connection to museum objects;
</li><li>some examples of annotated objects that demonstrate the functionality of the Learning Lab;
</li><li>some examples of digital stories made by students and also other educators during previous Digital Storytelling workshops;
</li><li>a description of the Digital Storytelling process;
</li><li>workshop participants' reflections;
</li><li>supplemental resources. </li></ul>
<p></p>
<p>#DigitalStorytelling</p>
Philippa Rappoport
40
Personal Responses to Covid-19: A Digital Storytelling Workshop Using the Smithsonian Learning Lab
<p>This Learning Lab collection was made to complement the presentation, "Personal Responses to Covid-19: A Digital Storytelling Workshop Using the Smithsonian Learning Lab," for graduate students in Dr. Davide Tanasi's course, "Virtual Museums," at the University of South Florida.</p>
<p>During the workshop, co-facilitators <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/24977">Dr. Antonia Liguori</a> (Loughborough University, UK) and <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/212">Dr. Philippa Rappoport</a> (Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology will demonstrate a variety of techniques to incorporate personal experiences in the exploration and use of museum resources. They will share how the Smithsonian Learning Lab and Digital Storytelling (DS) can be used together to access digital resources, build learning experiences, and cultivate collaboration and community over distance.
</p>
<p>We will explore artwork from an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, <em><a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/IgLygJNprGf3JA%20and%20https:/npg.si.edu/exhibition/eye-i-self-portraits-1900-today">Eye to I: Self-Portraiture as an Exploration of Identity</a></em>), which compels viewers to consider how self-portraits reflect an artist’s identity through what is revealed and concealed. We will look specifically at the <em>Eye to Eye </em>artworks from the context of social distancing and unrest in the time of Covid-19 as a prompt to make personal connections.
<br></p>
<ul></ul>
<p>You will find in this collection:
</p>
<ul><li>a short icebreaker activity using exhibition images to start shifting from a cognitive appreciation of art to a personal connection to museum objects;
</li><li>some examples of annotated objects that demonstrate the functionality of the Learning Lab;
</li><li>some examples of digital stories made by students and also other educators during previous Digital Storytelling workshops;
</li><li>a description of the Digital Storytelling process;
</li><li>workshop participants' reflections;
</li><li>supplemental resources. </li></ul>
<p>#DigitalStorytelling</p>
Philippa Rappoport
39
Digital Storytelling with Museum Objects in the Smithsonian Learning Lab (RDMF Conference Workshop)
<p>This Learning Lab collection was made to complement the presentation, "Digital Storytelling with Museum Objects in the Smithsonian Learning Lab," at the <a href="https://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/research-data-management-forum-rdmf/rdmf20-rdm-and-data-sharingopenness-arts-virtual-forum">RDMF20: RDM and Data Sharing/Openness in the Arts conference</a> on 3 June, 2020. The conference is hosted by the University of Edinburgh's Digital Curation Centre, a world-leading centre of expertise in digital information curation with a focus on building capacity, capability and skills for research data management.
</p>
<p>During the workshop, co-facilitated by <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/24977">Dr. Antonia Liguori</a> (Loughborough University, UK) and <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/212">Dr. Philippa Rappoport</a> (Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology), participants will be introduced to both the Learning Lab and Digital Storytelling (DS) as platforms to explore museum objects in relation to data sharing and openness in the arts. This session will demonstrate a variety of techniques to incorporate personal experiences in the exploration and use of museum resources, and will share how the Smithsonian Learning Lab can be used to access digital resources, build learning experiences, and cultivate collaboration and community over distance.
</p>
<p>We will explore artwork from an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, <em><a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/IgLygJNprGf3JA%20and%20https:/npg.si.edu/exhibition/eye-i-self-portraits-1900-today">Eye to I: Self-Portraiture as an Exploration of Identity</a></em>), which compels viewers to consider how self-portraits reflect an artist’s identity through what is revealed and concealed. We will look specifically at the <em>Eye to Eye </em>artworks from the context of social distancing and unrest in the time of Covid-19 as a prompt to make personal connections.
</p>
<p>After an introduction to the Smithsonian Learning Lab and previous experiences with Digital Storytelling within that environment, participants will be engaged in discussions about:
</p>
<ul><li>how Digital Storytelling can supplement and inform ontologies and metadata to extract meanings from museums' digital collections and therefore activate data to inform curatorial practice in museums;
</li><li>how Digital Storytelling can enhance the educational values of museums’ objects and stimulate multiple contexts of understanding and co-creation;
</li><li>how digital technology, applied not necessarily in museum spaces, can connect local communities to the museum, and in particular how Digital Storytelling could facilitate this discourse by engaging hard to reach audiences.
</li></ul>
<p>You will find in this collection:
</p>
<ul><li>a short icebreaker activity using exhibition images to start shifting from a cognitive appreciation of art to a personal connection to museum objects;
</li><li>some examples of annotated objects that demonstrate the functionality of the Learning Lab;
</li><li>some examples of digital stories made by other educators during previous Digital Storytelling workshops 'embedded' in the Learning Lab;
</li><li>a description of the Digital Storytelling process;
</li><li>workshop participants' reflections;
</li><li>supplemental resources.
</li></ul>
<p><br></p>
<p>#DigitalStorytelling</p>
Philippa Rappoport
36
Digital Storytelling with Museum Objects in the Smithsonian Learning Lab
<p>This Learning Lab collection was made to complement the presentation, "Digital Storytelling with Museum Objects in the Smithsonian Learning Lab." During the workshop, co-facilitators <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/24977">Dr. Antonia Liguori</a> (Loughborough University, UK) and <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/212">Dr. Philippa Rappoport</a> (Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology) will demonstrate a variety of techniques to incorporate personal experiences in the exploration and use of museum resources. They will share how the Smithsonian Learning Lab and Digital Storytelling (DS) can be used together to access digital resources, build learning experiences, and cultivate collaboration and community over distance.</p>
<p>We will explore artwork from an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, <em><a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/IgLygJNprGf3JA%20and%20https:/npg.si.edu/exhibition/eye-i-self-portraits-1900-today">Eye to I: Self-Portraiture as an Exploration of Identity</a></em>), which compels viewers to consider how self-portraits reflect an artist’s identity through what is revealed and concealed. </p>
<p>After an introduction to the Smithsonian Learning Lab and previous experiences with Digital Storytelling within that environment, participants will be engaged in discussions about how Digital Storytelling can be used to support museum educators. In particular, digital storytelling as a co-created and participatory approach can foster workshop participants' capacity and disposition to understand and act on issues of global significance. <br></p>
<ul></ul>
<p>You will find in this collection:
</p>
<ul><li>a short icebreaker activity using exhibition images to start shifting from a cognitive appreciation of art to a personal connection to museum objects;
</li><li>some examples of annotated objects that demonstrate the functionality of the Learning Lab;
</li><li>some examples of digital stories made by students and also other educators during previous Digital Storytelling workshops;
</li><li>a description of the Digital Storytelling process;
</li><li>workshop participants' reflections;
</li><li>supplemental resources. </li></ul>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>#DigitalStorytelling</p>
Philippa Rappoport
38
Digital Storytelling as a Tool for Participatory Research and Audience Engagement
<p>This Learning Lab collection was made to complement the presentation "Digital Storytelling as a Tool for Participatory Research and Audience Engagement." During the workshop, co-facilitators <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/24977">Dr. Antonia Liguori</a> (Loughborough University, UK) and <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/212">Dr. Philippa Rappoport</a> (Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology) will demonstrate a variety of techniques to incorporate personal experiences in the exploration and use of museum resources. They will share how the Smithsonian Learning Lab and Digital Storytelling (DS) can be used together to access digital resources, build learning experiences, and cultivate collaboration and community over distance.</p>
<p>We will explore artwork from an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, <em><a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/IgLygJNprGf3JA%20and%20https:/npg.si.edu/exhibition/eye-i-self-portraits-1900-today">Eye to I: Self-Portraiture as an Exploration of Identity</a></em>), which compels viewers to consider how self-portraits reflect an artist’s identity through what is revealed and concealed. </p>
<p><br>#DigitalStorytelling</p>
Philippa Rappoport
42
DCPS Arts Innovation Leadership Institute: Incorporating Arts and Technology in the Classroom with the Smithsonian Learning Lab
<p>This Learning Lab collection complements an introductory Learning Lab training for DCPS educators in the Arts Innovation Leadership Institute (AILI). We will explore artwork and resources from the Smithsonian digital collections, including the National Portrait Gallery's exhibition, <em><a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/IgLygJNprGf3JA%20and%20https:/npg.si.edu/exhibition/eye-i-self-portraits-1900-today">Eye to I: Self-Portraiture as an Exploration of Identity</a></em>, as a way to consider the functionality of the Learning Lab and help AILI educators understand how they can use the Learning Lab to enhance their students' learning and classroom experience. </p>
<p></p>
<p>#DigitalStorytelling</p>
Philippa Rappoport
34
Identity, Narrative, Transformation, and Change: A Learning Resource in support of "Critical Conversations" (a DC Public Schools course)
<p>This collection includes activities to enable critical conversations in the classroom in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. The collection supports the "Identity and Narrative" first section and the "Transformation and Change" fourth section of the District of Columbia Public Schools course, "Critical Conversations," and can also be used in a variety of courses, including Ethnic and Area Studies, Social Studies, English/Composition, Media and Technology, and History. It addresses the following content standards: </p>
<ul><li>Understand the importance of one’s identity as it relates to their place in history and influence in transforming today’s society.</li><li>Examine and identify master narratives and counter-narratives relating to individual and other affinity groups.</li><li>Evaluate the complexities and factors that influence and dictate identity formation.</li><li>Identify and analyze their social, ethnic, racial, and cultural identities and examine societal perceptions and behaviors related to their own identities.</li><li>Identify and analyze the issues and root causes that currently affect the DC community. </li><li>Create solutions that combat injustices within the DC community. </li><li>Understand how critical consciousness can lead to action.</li></ul>
<p>The collection is split into seven sections of activities and resources that build on each other but can also be used modularly. It includes a range of suggested activities aimed to develop in students visual literacy skills, empathy, confidence, and self-expression, and introduces users to the five-step Digital Storytelling process: briefing and story-circle (here these are the "close-looking" and "considering representation" activities); writing; recording; editing; and sharing. The final suggested activity asks students to reflect on their own lives and how they can be agents for change in their own communities. These suggested activities are detailed on the left side panel of each section heading tile. They should open up directly so that you see the descriptions, but if not, click on the paper clips to open them.</p>
<p>The materials and methodology for this collection reflect my work in heritage education and community engagement at the Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology (OET) and as a college instructor in Russian culture and folklore, as well as work specifically in Digital Storytelling, which I have been practicing since having had the pleasure and good fortune of being introduced to it by <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/24977" target="_blank">Dr. Antonia Liguori </a>(Loughborough University, UK) when she was a Smithsonian Fellow at OET in 2018. Dr. Liguori's research project, "Storying the Cultural Heritage: Digital Storytelling as a tool to enhance the 4Cs in formal and informal learning," explored the use of Digital Storytelling in combination with the digital resources of the Smithsonian Learning Lab. (You can read more about that project <a href="https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/conference_contribution/Digital_storytelling_in_cultural_and_heritage_education_Reflecting_on_storytelling_practices_applied_with_the_Smithsonian_Learning_Lab_to_enhance_21st-century_learning/9319391" target="_blank">here</a>, and click on "Conference Proceedings, pages 63-75.) Also reflected here is work from two multi-year, ongoing, inspiring program partnerships: in Family Literacy Engagement with Micheline Lavalle of the Fairfax County Public School Family Literacy Program and Beth Evans of the National Portrait Galery, and in Educator Professional Development and Digital Storytelling with Professors Sara Ducey, Jamie Gillan, and Matthew Decker of Montgomery College.</p>
<p>Digital storytelling is very special. I hope you can experience the magic of it in your classroom. Please do share your experiences on the Padlet at the end of the collection.</p>
<p>#EthnicStudies #MexicanAmericanStudies #DigitalStorytelling</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><br></p>
Philippa Rappoport
46
Periodical Cicadas: In Homage to Brood X
<p>Life in Spring 2021 along the Eastern strip of the United States, stretching from New York to Tennessee, has been infused, overpowered, inundated with the creeping, buzzing, molting, crunching, and altogether inescapable presence of Brood X cicadas. They come above ground every seventeen years and have arrived this year in deafening numbers to woo, mate, and lay and hatch their eggs. The newly-hatched nymphs fall from their host trees and burrow into the ground to begin the next subterranean cycle, uniting sky and earth, and continuing the life cycle. This process aerates the soil and prunes trees, while the cicadas' bodies feed a wide variety of animals and serve as an important source of nitrogen for growing trees. Entomologist Eric Day of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University extension said of their arrival, "This is a real treat. This is an unusual biological phenomenon. Periodical cicadas only occur in the eastern United States; they don't occur anywhere else in the world. It's just going to be an amazingly big, big show."</p>
<p>This collection pays homage to these fascinating creatures, reminding us of the mysteries and wonders of life, both above and below "the surface." </p>
<p>Keywords and hashtags: DST2021, digital storytelling, Just Future, DST2021 #digitalstorytelling <br><br></p>
Philippa Rappoport
32
“I Didn’t Believe I Could Be Brave”: How the Smithsonian Uses Stories to Amplify Voices and Build Community
<p>The Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest <strong><a href="https://www.si.edu/museums">museum</a></strong>, <strong><a href="https://www.si.edu/educators">education</a></strong>, and <strong><a href="https://www.si.edu/ResearchCenters">research</a></strong> complex, is 175 old this year. The Institution was founded in 1846 with funds from the Englishman James Smithson (1765–1829), a chemist and mineralogist who left his estate to establish in the United States an institution dedicated to “the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” Today, the museum includes nineteen museums and study centers and the National Zoo, with two more museums created by Congressional legislation just this past year.<br></p>
<p>The Smithsonian Institution is committed to telling a full and inclusive history of America, and to catalyzing important conversations on issues affecting our nation and the world. This includes well-known and lesser-known stories. It includes curatorial voices, voices reflected in the collections, and visitor voices. As Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III said in introducing the Institution's new <em><a href="https://www.si.edu/raceandoursharedfuture">Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past </a></em><a href="https://www.si.edu/raceandoursharedfuture">initiative</a>, “At a moment when our country is in crisis, we the Smithsonian have a responsibility to help our nation move forward. To transform our understanding of race and racism. To amplify the voices of the communities we serve. To bring people together across different backgrounds, races, experiences, and beliefs. To create a space for all Americans to recognize how much they have in common: shared history, shared heritage, shared hopes for the future.”<br></p>
<p>This collection was created to offer an introduction to the many ways the Smithsonian Institution uses stories to increase and diffuse knowledge, amplify voices, and build community, to share at the <a href="https://storytellingacademy.education/dst2021-conference-announcement-24-hour-online-marathon-in-june/" target="_blank">Digital Storytelling Conference 2021</a> in June 2021. This collection includes just a sampling of the amazing work, research, education, and engagement happening across the Institution. Please reach out to us at <a href="mailto:learning@si.edu">learning@si.edu</a> if you would like help or guidance using the Learning Lab or incorporating museum digital content into your storytelling or educational engagement. </p>
<p>#digitalstorytelling </p>
Philippa Rappoport
38
2024 Smithsonian-Montgomery College Faculty Fellowship Program - National Museum of African American History and Culture
<p>This collection serves as an introduction to the six and final session of the 2024 Smithsonian-Montgomery College Faculty Fellowship Program. This year's theme is “Teaching and Learning with the Smithsonian: Creating Classroom Conversations that Foster a Hopeful Future to Meet the Challenges of a Rapidly Changing World.”<br><br>Auntaneshia Staveloz, Senior Manager in the Office of Strategic Partnerships, and Kelly Elaine Navies, Museum Specialist in Oral History, will discuss signature programs of the museum's engagement, collection, digitization, and outreach strategy. Resources included in this collection have been recommended by the presenter for participants to explore before the seminar itself.</p>
<p>#MCteach</p>
Philippa Rappoport
17
Engaging Families through Art and Technology Programs: "Discovering US/Descubriéndose"
<p>This collection contains assets and resources designed to help teachers (art, English, social studies, and media technology), museum educators, and community-based informal learning educators recreate our very successful Discovering Us/<em>Descubriéndose</em> program as is, or design their own, based on the specific needs of their classroom or learning community.
</p>
<p>Discovering Us/<em>Descubriéndose</em> was a Spanish-language workshop for students and families in the Fairfax County Public School's Family and School Partnerships <em>Luther Jackson Middle School Parent Leadership Program</em>. Pairs of immigrant mothers and their middle school-aged children worked together to create portraits and multimedia production pieces that communicate their family history and their future hopes and dreams.</p>
<p>Included here are examples of student work (videos and portraits), and classroom images of the creative process. The videos were created in iMovie, but there are a variety of other free movie-making apps available. <br></p>
<p>This program was produced by the National Portrait Gallery, the Fairfax County Public Schools Family Literacy Program, and the Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology.</p>
<p>#FamilyLit #FamilyLiteracy #FCPSFamilyLiteracy #NPGTeach #LatinoHAC<br></p>
Philippa Rappoport
24
Engaging Families through Art and Technology Programs: "Illuminating the Self"
<p>This collection details an art and community engagement project that the Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology did with educators from the National Portrait Gallery and the Fairfax County Family Literacy Program. It includes assets and resources designed to help teachers, museum educators, and community-based informal learning educators recreate the program as is, or design their own, based on the specific needs of their classroom or learning community. </p>
<p>"Illuminating the Self / Illuminándose" was a five-day bilingual program in which pairs of immigrant mothers and their middle school-aged children worked together to learn about portraiture from the 2016 exhibition of the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition winning portraits. First we talked about portraiture in general, and then focused the discussion on light and shadow. Next, students took photographic portraits of each other and chose one to recreate. We projected the photographs in black and white onto a wall, and had the students trace the outlines of their photographs on their blank drawing paper. They they worked with charcoals to fill in their portraits and refine their drawings. Participants also visited the Outwin exhibition. Finally, their portraits were displayed at the National Portrait Gallery's Hispanic Heritage Month Family Day.</p>
<p>Program surveys indicated improved literacy, technology, and communication skills to share heritage, traditions, and talents; increased sense of empowerment and self-esteem, strengthened parent-child relationships and community bonds, and creation of a core of mentors. One mother reported that before the program she would never have entered an art museum because she wouldn't have known what to do, but that now she would not be able to pass by without stopping in. As well, several family participants have returned to the Smithsonian asking to volunteer at future Smithsonian events.</p>
<p>The collection was created by Beth Evans (National Portrait Gallery), Micheline Lavalle (Fairfax County Public Schools Family Literacy Program), and Philippa Rappoport (Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology). </p>
<p>This program received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.</p>
<p>#LatinoHAC #FamilyLit #FamilyLiteracy #FCPSFamilyLiteracy #NPGTeach</p>
Philippa Rappoport
38
Making a "Things That Make Me Me!" Family Storybook
<p>This collection includes an easy-to-do book project designed to get families talking, creating, and celebrating together our unique and shared qualities. It can be used as a home project, in the classroom (English, art, social studies), or in an informal learning setting. Together with guidance from the "Talking about Race" materials from the National Museum of African American History and Culture, this book project can also be used as a prompt to talk about race with young learners. </p>
<p>The book is made from a single, large sheet of paper. Click on the demo and accompanying downloadable instructions to get started!</p>
<p>The book design is one of many available in another collection: Fun for the Whole Family: Making "Family Memory" Storybooks: <a href="http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/1tozk88HXhnFBU6d">http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/1tozk88HXhnFBU6d</a>.</p>
<p>#FamilyLit #FamilyLiteracy</p>
<p>tags: race, art, arts, crafts, crafting, how-to</p>
Philippa Rappoport
6
Art and Technology Projects for Museums and Classrooms: From "Today I Am Here" to "Discovering US/Descubriéndose"
<p>This collection contains assets and resources designed to help teachers (art, English, ESOL, social studies, and media technology), museum educators, and community-based informal learning educators recreate their own "Today I Am Here" project, based on the specific needs of their classroom or learning community. </p>
<p>"Today I Am Here" is a project in which students make a handmade book from one piece of paper, that tells the story of how they got to where they are today. This project is wonderful in a classroom to show the breadth and diversity of the class, and to encourage cross-cultural understanding. </p>
<p>Inside you will find instructions and images for the various components of the project, as well as samples of student work.
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<p>The "Today I Am Here" book design is one of many available in another collection: Fun for the Whole Family: Making "Family Memory" Storybooks: <a href="http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/1tozk88HXhnFBU6d">http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/1tozk88HXhnFBU6d</a>.</p>
<p><em>#FamilyLit #FamilyLiteracy #FCPSFamilyLiteracy #NPGTeach</em> #LatinoHAC<br></p>
Philippa Rappoport
15
Making a "Kitchen Memories" Family Recipe and Storybook
<p>This collection includes an easy-to-do book project designed to get families talking, creating, and enjoying food together. It can be used as a home project, in the classroom (English, art, social studies), or in an informal learning setting, and can be combined with a family interviewing video project. </p>
<p>The book is made from a single, large sheet of paper. Click on the demo and accompanying downloadable instructions to get started!</p>
<p>The book design is one of many available in another collection: Fun for the Whole Family: Making "Family Memory" Storybooks: <a href="http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/1tozk88HXhnFBU6d">http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/1tozk88HXhnFBU6d</a>.</p>
<p><em>#FamilyLit #FamilyLiteracy </em></p>
<p>tags: art, crafts, crafting, how-to<br></p>
Philippa Rappoport
7
Making "Family Memory" Storybooks: Fun for the Whole Family
<p>This collection includes a series of easy-to-do book projects designed to get families talking and creating together. Any of them can be used in the classroom (English, art, social studies), as a home project, or in an informal learning setting. All books are made from a single sheet of paper.</p>
<p>Titles are ordered generally from most complex to least complex for topic, and include:<br>"Our Home" Nature Walk Album<br>Today I Am Here<br>Connections<br>My Hero<br>Music Memories<br>Kitchen Memories<br>Special Person<br>Family Treasure<br>Things That Make Me <em>Me!</em><br>I Am A Star<br>My Clubhouse<br>Family Flag<br>My Name</p>
<p>At the bottom, you'll also find an interview with the creator of these design templates, book artist Sushmita Mazumdar, and a video of her reading one of her own books.<br></p>
<p>Click on any of these demos and accompanying downloadable instructions to make your own "family memory" storybook!<br></p>
<p><em>#FamilyLit #FamilyLiteracy </em></p>
<p>tags: art, crafts, crafting, how-to<br></p>
Philippa Rappoport
47
A Classroom or Family Project: "Today I Am Here," with examples of student work
<p>This collection contains assets and resources designed to help teachers (art, English, ESOL, social studies, and media technology), museum educators, and community-based informal learning educators recreate their own "Today I Am Here" project, based on the specific needs of their classroom or learning community. </p>
<p>The "Today I Am Here" book is a wonderful classroom activity, made from one sheet of paper, in which students can share their family stories. The design of the book works well for a K-5 classroom display, and helps to show the breadth and diversity of the class and to encourage cross-cultural understanding. The project also works extremely well with ESOL students of any age, although the teacher will need to be prepared for possible difficult issues to surface. </p>
<p>Included here are instructions to make the book, examples of student work (images and video of students reading), as well as images from classroom displays.<br></p>
<p>The book design is one of many available in another collection: Fun for the Whole Family: Making "Family Memory" Storybooks: <a href="http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/1tozk88HXhnFBU6d">http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/1tozk88HXhnFBU6d</a>.<br></p>
<p><em>#FamilyLit #FamilyLiteracy #FCPSFamilyLiteracy </em></p>
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Philippa Rappoport
10
"Becoming Dolores": A School/Museum Program to Engage Families through Art and Technology
<p>This collection details a photography and community engagement project produced in partnership by the Fairfax County Public Schools Family Literacy Program, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology. It includes assets and resources designed to help teachers (art, English, social studies, and media technology), museum educators, and community-based informal learning educators recreate the program as is, or design their own, based on the specific needs of their classroom or learning community. </p>
<p>For our project, pairs of native Spanish-speaking immigrant moms and their middle school children did a five-day (15 hours in total) training session at their school and at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. They learned about Dolores Huerta, portraiture, and photojournalism through the exhibition "One Life: Dolores Huerta." Participants took portraits of themselves, critiqued each other's work, and created photo exhibitions about their communities and important issues, that were displayed at the Hispanic Heritage Month Family Day at the National Portrait Gallery.</p>
<p>Dolores Huerta, the "co-architect" of the American Farm Workers Movement and mother to eleven children, proved to be a huge inspiration to the participants. Before the workshop, 33 percent of the parents and none of the children saw themselves as able to make change in their community; after the workshop, 100 percent of parents and children reported seeing themselves as able to make change in their community. In addition, 100 percent of the mothers and 80 percent of the children reported that they believed they had increased their artistic skills.</p>
<p><em>#FamilyLit #FamilyLiteracy #FCPSFamilyLiteracy #NPGTeach</em> #LatinoHAC #EthnicStudies </p>
<p>This collection supports Units 2 (What is the History - Civil Rights Movements) and 3 (Critical Geography and Current Issues) of the Austin ISD Ethnic Studies Part A course, and Unit 3 (Local History and Current Issues) of the Austin ISD Ethnic Studies Part B course. "What would you advocate for to beneficially change your community? How can you advocate to create change within your community?" "How do you understand the concept of community advocacy? What is needed for an individual to cultivate personal change?"</p>
<p><em>This Smithsonian Learning Lab collection received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center. </em></p>
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Philippa Rappoport
15
Art, Creative Writing, and Public Speaking: A Portraiture Workshop for the ELL Classroom
<p>Art, Creative Writing, and Public Speaking: A Portraiture Workshop for the ELL Classroom</p>
<p><em>Our Lives as Art</em></p>
<p>This collection includes instructions and documentation of a replicable art-based program for English Language Learners (ELLs). The information included can be adapted for high school students and speakers of any language, including native English speakers. Activities were designed to foster in participants important skills such as visual literacy, public speaking, creative writing, art appreciation, collaborative learning, and advocacy, and also to develop empathy, confidence, and self-esteem. </p>
<p>The collection was created by Beth Evans (National Portrait Gallery), Micheline Lavalle (Fairfax County Public Schools Family Literacy Program), and Philippa Rappoport (Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology). </p>
<p>Keywords: ESL, ESOL, portraits, migration, immigration, stories, identity, monologues<br></p>
<p>#NPGteach #FamilyLiteracy #FamilyLit #FCPSFamilyLiteracy</p>
Philippa Rappoport
51
2024 Smithsonian-Montgomery College Faculty Fellowship Program - National Museum of American History
<p>This collection serves as an introduction to the second session of the 2024 Smithsonian-Montgomery College Faculty Fellowship Program. This year's theme is “Teaching and Learning with the Smithsonian: Creating Classroom Conversations that Foster a Hopeful Future to Meet the Challenges of a Rapidly Changing World.” </p>
<p>Educator Orlando Serrano will present and discuss the museum's exhibition, <em>Many Voices, One Nation, </em>and <em>Becoming US </em>educational content. Curator Theo Gonzalves will present and discuss the exhibition, <em>Entertainment Nation.</em> </p>
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<p>#MCTeach</p>
Philippa Rappoport
21
2024 Smithsonian-Montgomery College Faculty Fellowship Program - National Portrait Gallery
<p>This collection serves as an introduction to the fifth session of the 2024 Smithsonian-Montgomery College Faculty Fellowship Program. This year's theme is “Teaching and Learning with the Smithsonian: Creating Classroom Conversations that Foster a Hopeful Future to Meet the Challenges of a Rapidly Changing World.”<br><br>Briana Zavadil White, Head of Education and Public Programs at the National Portrait Gallery, will introduce strategies to engage students in reading portraiture, looking at the <em>Recent Acquisitions </em>and<em> 20th Century Americans </em>galleries. Resources included in this collection have been recommended by the presenter for participants to explore before the seminar itself.<br></p>
<p>#MCteach</p>
Philippa Rappoport
9
