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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

 

Learning Lab Teaching Collection for Frost Art Museum Workshop using Luis Cruz Azaceta's "Shifting States: Iraq"

<p>This teaching collection is designed to be used in the Frost Art Museum's "Exploring Latinx Artists from the Frost Art Museum Collection" workshop on November 6, 2018, to guide participants in a looking activity and to demonstrate the range of tools available in the Learning Lab. </p><p>It is adapted from a teaching collection on the same theme (Luis Cruz Azaceta's "Shifting States: Iraq" <a href="http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/mBWHa8fHUy9vJsE5">http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll...</a>) , which aims to help students think critically and globally using two Thinking Routines to explore the painting. The work is a metaphorical representation of the unrest taking place in Iraq, and more broadly, an exploration of the human condition during times of crisis.</p> <p>Included here are an image of the work from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, an explanatory video with curator E. Carmen Ramos, a contextual video featuring the artist himself, three suggested Thinking Routines - "Colors, Shapes, Lines," "The 3 Y's," and "Headlines" - from Harvard's Project Zero Artful Thinking and Global Thinking materials, three other works by Azaceta in the Smithsonian collections, and an array of prompts and Learning Lab tools.</p> <p>For use in Social Studies, Spanish, English, American History, Art History classes</p> <p><em>This program received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center</em>.<br /></p> <p><br /></p> <p>#LatinoHAC</p>
Philippa Rappoport
15
 

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
 

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
 

Digital Museum Resources for the High School Ethnic Studies Classroom (City of Austin Parks & Recreation)

<p>This collection includes digital museum resources and replicable activities that will serve as a springboard for discussion during the <strong><em>Exploration of Ethnic Studies</em></strong><strong> workshop at the  City of Austin Parks &amp; Recreation Department on October 29-30, 2019. </strong>The collection models how digital museum resources can be leveraged to support critical thinking and deeper learning for high school Ethnic Studies curricula. The collection can be copied and adapted for use in your own classroom. </p> <p>This collection was co-created with <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/8" target="_blank">Ashley Naranjo</a>.  This program received Federal support from the Latino and Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pools, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.</p> <p>#EthnicStudies</p> <p><br /></p>
Philippa Rappoport
52
 

Domingo Ulloa's "Braceros": and "Bittersweet Harvest": Using Art and Historical Documentation to Deepen Understanding

<p>This teaching collection helps students to look closely and think critically by examining <em></em>Domigo Ulloa's painting, <em>Braceros, </em>and historical documentation related to the bracero program, a series of short-term labor contracts from 1942-1964 in which an estimated two million Mexican men came to the US to work on farms and roads. The collection prompts students to consider the program from a variety of perspectives, including individual, collective, social, economic, and political.  </p> <p>Included here are the painting, a bilingual video with Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) curator E. Carmen Ramos, four suggested Thinking Routines - "See, Think, Wonder," "Step In, Step Out, Step Back," "The 3 Y's," and "Think, Feel, Care" - from Harvard's Project Zero Artful Thinking and Global Thinking materials, supporting digital content from the National Museum of American History, and a blogpost from SAAM of two DC student's written responses to the prompt, "What Domingo Ulloa's <em>Braceros </em>Means to Me." </p> <p>For use in Social Studies, Spanish, English, and American History classes</p> <p>#LatinoHAC #EthnicStudies</p> <p>This collection supports Unit 1: Intersectionality of Economics, Politics, and Policy, of the Austin ISD Ethnic Studies Part B 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
10
 

Inquiry-Based Learning at Its Best Using Digital Museum Resources: A Presentation for NCSS2020 Conference "Advancing Social Justice"

<p>This collection includes digital museum resources and replicable activities that will serve as a springboard for discussion during the NCSS 2020 Online Conference, <strong><em>Advancing Social Justice </em></strong><strong>on December 5, 2020. </strong>The collection models how digital museum resources can be leveraged to support critical thinking and deeper learning, using promising transferable practices developed in a school/museum pilot program on Ethnic Studies.</p> <p>This power session supports educators in accessing and developing instructional materials relevant to middle/junior high grades 6-12 social studies and Ethnic Studies courses. Participants will explore the Smithsonian Learning Lab and find a wide range of multimedia resources from different times and places. They will have an opportunity to sample and consider several applicable Harvard Project Zero visual thinking and global thinking strategies that can help students access and understand primary sources, deepen their critical thinking skills, and learn to trust and articulate their ideas. Participants will leave with enough information to independently use the Smithsonian Learning Lab and implement new classroom ideas.<br><br>Participants will: <br>•       Try out inquiry-based looking strategies using digital museum resources that are suitable for middle and high school social studies and Ethnic Studies courses but applicable across curricula.<br>•    Learn the basics of Smithsonian Learning Lab, a Webby Award-winning platform for users to create and share digital resources with students and a growing national network of educators.<br>•    Explore instructional materials created by educators for Ethnic Studies courses that include digital museum resources and inquiry-based strategies, and are available on the Smithsonian Learning Lab.<br></p> <p>The collection can be copied and adapted for use in your own classroom. </p><p>To browse published Learning Lab content created from the <em>Supporting the Innovative Teaching of High School Level Ethnic Studies Courses in Texas</em> project, see <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/search/?f%5B_types%5D%5B%5D=ll_collection&st=%23EthnicStudies&s=&page=1">https://learninglab.si.edu/search/?f%5B_types%5D%5B%5D=ll_collection&st=%23EthnicStudies&s=&page=1</a>.  Click on each individual tile to explore its associated collection.<br></p> <p>This collection was co-created with <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/8" target="_blank">Ashley Naranjo</a>.  This program received Federal support from the Latino and Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pools, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.</p> <p>#EthnicStudies<br></p> <p></p> <p></p>
Philippa Rappoport
47
 

A Fusion of Culture and Identity: Joe Bataan’s Latin Boogaloo Music

<p>This teaching collection asks students to look closely and think critically about society and culture by examining a portrait of Joe Bataan, analyzing his lyrics, and considering the cultural forces that shaped him and his legacy.  Joe Bataan, a musician who was born to Filipino and African American parents, raised in Spanish Harlem, and identified with Puerto Rican culture, became one of the founders of Latin Boogaloo music in New York City. What started out as a local music by young folks has become a global phenomenon.</p><p>Included here are </p> <ul><li>the portrait from the National Portrait Gallery (NPG)</li><li>selected lyrics from the song, "Young, Gifted, & Brown"</li><li>three suggested Thinking Routines - "See, Think, Wonder," "What Makes You Say That?," and "The 3 Ys" - from Harvard's Project Zero Artful and Global Thinking materials</li><li>a bilingual video with Smithsonian National Museum of American History curator Theo Gonzalves</li><li>a podcast, "Bataan's Boogaloo," with NPG director Kim Sajet and Smithsonian Latino Center director Edouardo Diaz</li><li>a discussion/writing prompt</li></ul> <p>For use in Social Studies, Spanish, English, and American History classes<br></p> <p>#LatinoHAC #EthnicStudies<br></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
9
 

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
 

Crucial Conversations in American History: "Many Voices, One Nation" and "Becoming US"

<p>This collection serves as a preview for the second of six seminar sessions in the 2020 Smithsonian-Montgomery College Faculty Fellowship Program. This year's theme is “Humans and the Footprints We Leave: Climate Change and other Critical Challenges.” </p><p>National Museum of American History colleagues Orlando Serrano and Steve Velasquez will discuss the making of the exhibition, "Many Voices, One Nation," and its accompanying educational website, "Becoming US." Together the exhibition and educational website aim to explore not only how the many voices of people in America have shaped our nation, but also to guide high school teachers and students in learning immigration and migration history in a more accurate and inclusive way.<br></p> <p>Resources included in this collection have been chosen by the presenters for participants to explore before the seminar itself.<br><br></p> <p>#MCteach</p>
Philippa Rappoport
15
 

Interpreting Content from the Smithsonian Transcription Center: Oral Interviews from the Faris and Yamma Naff Arab American Collection

<p>This collection is a topical collection guiding students to a fascinating trove of content from the Faris and Yamma Naff Arab American Collection at the National Museum of American History, with discussion questions from Project Zero's Global Thinking routine, "Step In, Step Out, Step Back," to help them explore the content. Also included is additional content from the Smithsonian Transcription Center that students can explore and volunteer to transcribe. By volunteering with the Transcription Center , students would help transcribe these stories of early Arab-America immigration, and contribute to our collective knowledge of Arab American History.</p> <p>The Faris and Yamma Naff Arab American documents the immigration and assimilation of mostly Christian Syrian-Lebanese who came to America at the turn of the twentieth century. The immigrants were predominately-small land-owning peasants and artisans from the village of Syria and Lebanon. It was in these Syrian communities created by Arab immigrants that Dr. Naff sought interviews, photographs and personal papers.<br></p>
Philippa Rappoport
6
 

Serving Community in the 21st Century: Presentations from the National Museum of African American History and Culture

<p>This collection serves as a preview for the fifth of six seminar sessions in the 2021 Smithsonian-Montgomery College Faculty Fellowship Program. This year's theme is “Facing the Complex, Multiple Challenges of the 21st Century."<br><br>Five colleagues from the National Museum of African American History and Culture - Kinshasha Holman Conwill, Candra Flanagan, Anna Hindley, Kelly Elaine Navies, and Esther Washington - will discuss signature programs of the museum's engagement, education, and outreach strategy. </p> <p>Resources included in this collection have been recommended by the presenters for participants to explore before the seminar session itself. A fuller description and presenter bios are included inside the collection.<br></p> <p>Special thanks to Candra Flanagan for the beautiful slides, and to Danielle Lancaster for keeping us all on track!</p> <p>#MCteach</p>
Philippa Rappoport
15
 

Learning Lab Training Collection on the Theme: “Humans and the Footprints We Leave: Climate Change and Other Critical Challenges"

<p>This collection is designed to help educators bridge the classroom experience to a museum visit. It is intended to demonstrate various ways to use the Learning Lab and its tools, while offering specific, replicable, pre-engagement activities that can simply be copied to a new collection and used to help students engage with museum resources. </p> <p>Included here: </p> <ul><li>Section 1: a set of flashcards, a template document so that teachers can create and print their own specific sets, and strategies for their use in their classrooms. </li><li>Section 2: a variety of student activities and resources to explore artist Luis Cruz Azaceta's "Shifting States: Iraq," a metaphorical representation of the unrest taking place in Iraq, and more broadly, an exploration of the human condition during times of crisis.  This section includes an image of the work from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, an explanatory video with curator E. Carmen Ramos, two  Thinking Routines - "See, Think, Wonder" and "The 3 Y's" - from Harvard's Project Zero Visible Thinking and Global Thinking materials, and  an array of prompts and Learning Lab tools to help students think critically and globally.  </li><li>Section 3: a short assignment to get participants started using the Learning Lab.</li><li>Section 4: spacer tile template to serve as chapter headings in longer collections.</li></ul><p>This collection is adapted from a teaching collection on the same theme (Luis Cruz Azaceta's "Shifting States: Iraq" ( <a href="http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/mBWHa8fHUy9vJsE5" style="background-color:rgb(63,63,63);">http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll...</a>), that includes extension activities. It was created for the 2019 cohort of the Smithsonian-Montgomery College Faculty Fellowship Program on the theme, "The Search for American Identity: Building a Nation Together," and then adapted for the 2020 program on the theme, “Humans and the Footprints We Leave: Climate Change and Other Critical Challenges". </p> <p>Keywords: #MCteach</p> <p><br /></p>
Philippa Rappoport
44