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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

 

Carnival Celebrations: Masks (Lesson Plans, Activities, and Background Information)

<p>This collection comes from a set of lessons plans to introduce students to the culture of Puerto Rico by looking at customs and objects - specifically masks - connected to the annual celebration of Carnival. The lessons are split into four levels, covering grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. They were originally adapted from a set of activities that appeared in <em>Our Story in History: A Puerto Rican Carnival</em>, a website produced by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History - also shown in a link inside the collection, along with instructions for students to make their own masks. The lessons include objects from the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in New York, the George Gustav Heye Center, and the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History. </p> <p><br /></p>
Philippa Rappoport
6
 

Student Activity: An Exploration of Immigration/Migration Experiences

<p>With this collection, students can explore people's stories of moving to a new country or culture (both forced and voluntarily), and then walk, fly, or sail "a mile in their shoes" to imagine some of the challenges they encountered in moving to their new home.</p> <p>Then, they can write up their own family stories, using a variety of resources including a "Today I Am Here" homemade book, or PBS Learning Media's resources, "Digging at the Roots of Your Family Tree."</p> <p>#EthnicStudies <br></p> <p>This collection supports Unit 1: Precious Knowledge - Exploring notions of identity and community, Personal history / identity / membership / agency, of the Austin ISD Ethnic Studies Part A course.</p> <p><em>This Smithsonian Learning Lab collection received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center. </em></p>
Philippa Rappoport
11
 

Classroom Activity Using Images of Immigration and Identity from the National Portrait Gallery, the New York Times, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum

<p>Students can use the "What makes you say that?" and the "3 Ys" thinking routines to explore two modern portraits about identity and immigration from the National Portrait Gallery. The first thinking strategy asks students to look at a work of art for several minutes before answering two questions: "What's going on?" and "What do you see that makes you say that?" (See <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/resources/view/1056334/search">https://learninglab.si.edu/res...</a> for more information.)</p> <p>To further and deepen the discussion, I've included a link to a September 2016 New York Times Op-Doc entitled "4.1 Miles," about a coast guard captain on a small Greek island who is suddenly charged with saving thousands of refugees from drowning at sea. (If it doesn't show up easily, you can view the original video on Times Video at https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000004674545/41-miles.html.) I've also included two sculptures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, an interview with Lisa Sasaki, head of the Smithsonian's Asian Pacific American Center, and resources from the University of Minnesota  Libraries Publishing's Immigration Syllabus - Americans / Immigrants, Weeks 1-4.</p> <p>You may wish to use the "3 Y's" thinking routine here as well, which asks students to consider the following questions:<br /></p> <p>1. Why might this [topic, question] matter to me?</p> <p>2. Why might it matter to people around me [family, friends, city, nation]?</p> <p>3. Why might it matter to the world?<br /></p> <p>(See <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/resources/view/1321155/search">https://learninglab.si.edu/res...</a> for more information.)</p> <p>#APA2018, #LatinoHAC, #EthnicStudies </p> <p>This collection supports Unit 1: Precious Knowledge - Exploring notions of identity and community, of the Austin ISD Ethnic Studies Part A course.</p> <p><em>This Smithsonian Learning Lab collection received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center. </em></p> <p><br /></p>
Philippa Rappoport
14
 

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 / Illuminándonos" 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>This program received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.</p> <p>#LatinoHAC</p>
Philippa Rappoport
38
 

Student Activity: Looking at the Holocaust through Art

<p>This student activity explores the Holocaust through art - three sculptures and one photograph of an artwork, with additional references to give historical context . Using two of Harvard's Project Zero Thinking Routines, students take a deeper dive into the material through guided looking and by considering the significance of the Holocaust personally, to the country and to the world.</p>
Philippa Rappoport
10
 

Irish Music

<p>This collection includes a wide range of Irish contemporary and traditional music in the Smithsonian collections, with two lesson plans for grades 3-5 from the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.</p><p>#SmithsonianMusic<br /></p>
Philippa Rappoport
15
 

"American Democracy: The Great Leap of Faith"

<p>This collection serves as a preview for the third seminar session of the 2018 Smithsonian-Montgomery College Faculty Fellowship Program. This year's theme is “We the People: America’s Grand and Radical Experiment with Democracy.”<br /></p> <p>National Museum of American History curator Harry Rubenstein will take Fellows on a tour of the National Museum of American History’s new exhibition <i>American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith</i>. He'll conclude with a special presentation of objects from the Political History collections.<br /></p> <p>#MCteach<br /></p>
Philippa Rappoport
5
 

The Social Power of Music

<p>This collection serves as a preview for the fourth of six seminar sessions in the 2018 Smithsonian-Montgomery College Faculty Fellowship Program. This year's theme is “We the People: America’s Grand and Radical Experiment with Democracy.” </p> <p>James Deutsch and Atesh Sonneborn of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (CFCH) will explore with Fellows the social relevance of music, and how music conveys meaning in our lives. They will also take Fellows on a guided tour of the CFCH collections.</p> <p>#MCteach</p>
Philippa Rappoport
9
 

Using Technology to Explore Our Nation’s Difficult Past

<p>This collection serves as a preview for the fifth of six seminar sessions in the 2018 Smithsonian-Montgomery College Faculty Fellowship Program. This year's theme is “We the People: America’s Grand and Radical Experiment with Democracy.”</p> <p>Kinshasha Holman Conwill, Rex Ellis, Helsynia Brown, Adam Martin, and Jessica Johnson will engage participants in an exploration of the National Museum of African American History and Culture's efforts to use technology to make the museum a participatory environment. A fuller description and presenter bios are included inside the collection.</p> <p>#MCteach</p>
Philippa Rappoport
9
 

Down These Mean Streets: Community and Place in Urban Photography

<p>Photographs are the entry point to help students think critically about the nature of community in America's urban environments of the 1960s and 1970s.  The exhibition introduced here, after which this collection is titled, features Latino artists who "turn a critical eye toward neighborhoods that exist on the margins of major cities like New York and Los Angeles." Smithsonian American Art Museum Curator E. Carmen Ramos has said that the exhibition was meant to explore the artists' complex vision of life in the urban environment, juxtaposing both a sense of unwelcoming urban neglect with a strong sense of community.  </p> <p>Included here are photographs from the exhibition, a bilingual video with the curator, the "Step In - Step Out - Step Back" Thinking Routine from Harvard's Project Zero Global Thinking Strategies, some links to Smithsonian American Art Museum supporting exhibition materials, including the exhibition webpage, a blog post, a link to Piri Thomas's book after which the exhibition was titled, and footage from a poetry reading at the museum. </p> <p>Teachers and students can use these photographs in a variety of ways - to explore the work of individual artists, to compare the works of different artists, and to look as a whole at the exhibition and extract deeper meaning about "the urban crisis" of America's urban environments in the 1960s and 1970s.</p> <p>Keywords: El Barrio, New York City, Urban Crisis</p><p>#LatinoHAC<br /></p>
Philippa Rappoport
57
 

From One Artist to Another: "Rudolfo Anaya" by Gaspar Enríquez

<p>Students use a Global Thinking Routine to explore both a portrait and a work of literature that together offer a  rich view of the Chicano experience in the American southwest in the middle of the 20th century. </p> <p>This teaching collection features Gaspar Enríquez's portrait of Rudolfo Anaya. It is the first commissioned portrait by the National Portrait Gallery of a Latino sitter by a Latino artist. Both artists address the Chicano experience and confluence of cultures in the American southwest.</p> <p>Included here are the portrait, a bilingual video with National Portrait Gallery curator Taína Caragol, the "Step In - Step Out - Step Back" Thinking Routine from Harvard's Project Zero Global Thinking Strategies, two other works by Gaspar Enríquez, and some links to National Portrait Gallery supporting materials. </p> <p>Teachers and students can pair the portrait and read Rudolfo Anaya's coming of age novel "Bless Me Ultima," first published in 1972 and reflecting Chicano culture in rural New Mexico in the 1940s, to gain a deeper understanding of the Chicano experience in the American southwest.</p> <p>#LatinoHAC #EthnicStudies<br /></p>
Philippa Rappoport
11
 

Using Global Thinking Strategies with Latino Content

<p>Teachers looking to foster in their students a broader understanding and appreciation of today’s complex world can use these Learning Lab collections that pair Harvard’s Project Zero Global Thinking Routines with new bilingual Latino-content videos of National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum curators discussing works in the collection. <br /></p> <p>Each Learning Lab teaching collection includes additional supporting materials to add dimension, expand the activity, and deepen students' learning. <br /></p> <p>These four videos were created with federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.<br /></p><p>#LatinoHAC<br /></p>
Philippa Rappoport
5