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
Native American Beading: Examples, Artist Interview, Demonstration and Printable Instructions for Hands-on Activity
<p>This collection looks at examples of bead work among Native American women, in particular Kiowa artist Teri Greeves, and helps students to consider these works as both expressions of the individual artist and expressions of a cultural tradition.</p>
<p>The collection includes work samples and resources, an interview with Ms. Greeves, demonstration video of how to make a Daisy Chain bracelet, and printable instructions.</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
Facing the Complex, Multiple Challenges of the 21st Century: Smithsonian-Montgomery College Faculty Fellowship 2021 Opening Panel Resources
<p>This collection serves as an introduction to the opening panel of the 2021 Smithsonian-Montgomery College Faculty Fellowship Program. This year's theme is “Facing the Complex, Multiple Challenges of the 21st Century." Four Smithsonian staff members will present at the session, including Ashley Peery and Kerri Dean of the National Museum of Natural History, Ellen Lupton of the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, and Katrina Lohan of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's "Earth Optimism" initiative. Their bios, presentation descriptions, and other resources are included inside.<br><br>As you explore these resources, jot down any questions you have for the presenters. It is sure to be a fascinating and fruitful seminar series!<br><br>#MCteach</p>
Philippa Rappoport
35
Humans and the Footprints We Leave: Smithsonian-Montgomery College Faculty Fellowship 2020 Opening Panel Resources
<p>This collection serves as an introduction to the opening panel of 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." Three Smithsonian staff members will present at the session, including Igor Krupnik (Curator of Arctic and Northern Ethnology collections and Head of the Ethnology Division at the National Museum of Natural History), Alison Cawood (Citizen Science Coordinator at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center), and Ashley Peery (Educator for the exhibition "Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World, " at the National Museum of Natural History). Their bios, presentation descriptions, and other resources are included inside.<br><br>As you explore these resources, be sure to jot down any questions you have for the presenters. It is sure to be a fascinating and fruitful seminar series!<br><br>#MCteach</p>
Philippa Rappoport
25
Introductory Activity to Generate Discussion about Mexican American Studies and Digital Museum Resources (#EthnicStudiesY2)
<p>This collection is a standalone flashcard or online activity designed to generate discussion for Mexican American Studies classrooms and workshops. The collection includes:</p>
<ul><li>images to spark discussion</li><li>questions to guide you in considering and selecting objects</li><li>a word document template that educators can use to edit (or create from scratch) and print flashcards with images and descriptions on opposite sides of each flashcard.</li><li>the Learning Lab Getting Started Guide</li></ul>
<p>This collection was co-created with Maritza De La Trinidad, Laura Esparza, Gilbert Flores, Francisco Guajardo, Liz Lopez, Chris Milk, Aurelio Montemayor, <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/9">Tess Porter</a>, <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/212">Philippa Rappoport</a>, Veronica Rodriguez, Liliana Saldaña, and Elizabeth Salinas, and serves as a preview of the Learning Lab platform and springboard for discussion during the <em><strong>MAS Digital Archives: Integrating digital cultural resources in your curriculum </strong></em>workshop, held online with the University of Texas at San Antonio's Institute of Texan Cultures and Mexican American Studies Program, the Intercultural Development Research Association, and the Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology, as well as the <em>Exploration of Ethnic Studies</em> workshop, held online with City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, <em>Academia Cuautli,</em> Texas State University, the Museum of South Texas History (MOSTHistory), and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley's (UTRGV) <em>Historias Americanas </em>program during academic year 2020-2021.<em> </em>The collection can be copied and adapted for use in your own classroom. </p>
<p>This program received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.<br></p>
<p>#MexicanAmericanStudies #EthnicStudies #HistoriasAmericanas</p>
<p>Keywords: TEKS</p>
<p></p>
Philippa Rappoport
43
Preview Activity for Learning Lab Training Collection on the Theme: “Facing the Complex, Multiple Challenges of the 21st Century"
<p>This collection is designed to help educators bridge the classroom experience to a museum visit. It is intended as a preview activity to our upcoming workshop demonstrating 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 is 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, and some questions to guide users in exploring the objects.</p>
<p>In the following activity, explore the objects in this collection and choose one that you would want to work with in your classroom. Be prepared to introduce yourself at the workshop by sharing the object you selected, why you selected it, and how you might use it in your classroom.<br></p><ul></ul>
<p>Keywords: #MCteach</p>
<p><br></p>
Philippa Rappoport
41
Classroom Activity with "¡Pleibol!”: Close Looking to Explore One Family’s Story of Latino Baseball
<p>This teaching collection helps students to look closely and think critically by using three Thinking Routines to explore the cultural relevance of one family's baseball-related objects from an exhibition at the National Museum of American History, "¡Pleibol!: In the Barrios and the Big Leagues." The exhibition seeks to document the history of Latino culture through the lens of baseball, and explores baseball not only as a pastime close to the hearts of many people in many communities, but also for Latinos as a place to advocate for rights and social justice. <br></p>
<p>Included here are the objects themselves, a bilingual video with curator Margaret Salazar-Porzio, three suggested Thinking Routines - "See, Think, Wonder," "The 3 Y's," and "Picture Writing" - from Harvard's Project Zero Artful Thinking and Global Thinking materials, and supporting digital content about the exhibition. At the close of the activity, students are guided to examine a personal object of their choice and tease out the story it tells.</p>
<p>For an extensive teaching collection created by the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Services as a companion resource for the traveling exhibition, "¡Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues / En los barrios y las grandes ligas," see <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/pleibol-in-the-barrios-and-the-big-leagues-pleibol-en-los-barrios-y-las-grandes-ligas/bohbJm2MXuqjdHmY">https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/pleibol-in-the-barrios-and-the-big-leagues-pleibol-en-los-barrios-y-las-grandes-ligas/bohbJm2MXuqjdHmY</a>.</p>
<p>For use in Social Studies, Spanish, English, and American History classes</p>
<p>#LatinoHAC #EthnicStudies</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><br></p>
Philippa Rappoport
15
Intangible Heritage through Material Culture: The Journey of an Ecuadorian Boat Seat
<p>This teaching collection helps students to look closely and think critically by exploring an Ecuadorian boat seat, the first object donated to the National Museum of African History and Culture, and how this tangible object represents the survival and transmission of intangible cultural heritage in the African diaspora. The seat belonged to Débora Nazareno, a descendant of enslaved Africans in Ecuador, and is engraved with Anansi, a popular spider figure in West African folklore. The boat seat was gifted to the museum by her grandson, Juan Garcia Salazar, a renowned Esmeraldan historian. </p>
<p>Included here are the objects itself, a bilingual video with curator Ariana Curtis, two suggested Thinking Routines - "See, Think, Wonder" and "Unveiling Stories" - from Harvard's Project Zero Thinking and Global Thinking materials, and supporting digital content about the museum display, Maroon communities, Anansi, the oral tradition.</p>
<p>For use in Social Studies, Spanish, English, and American History classes<br /></p>
<p>#LatinoHAC </p>
Philippa Rappoport
21
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<br><br></p>
Philippa Rappoport
32
Toward a More Inclusive America through the Arts: Statues of Liberty and other National Symbols
<p>This collection asks students to explore the importance of national symbols to our cultural, political, and collective identity. By examining symbols that are meant to reflect our highest ideals as a nation - the Statue of Liberty, the American flag, the Star Spangled Banner, the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and other cultural artifacts - and their many interpretations, students will consider difficult questions facing us today: Who is included? Who decides? Why and how do people use national symbols as a way to protest? How have our notions and ideals of liberty changed over time?</p>
<p>Included here are </p>
<ul><li>images of the artifacts and supporting objects</li><li>three suggested Thinking Routines - "See, Think, Wonder," "Think, Feel, Care," and "The 3 Ys" - from Harvard's Project Zero Artful and Global Thinking materials<br></li><li>supporting interpretive videos, podcasts, and articles</li><li>a discussion/writing prompt</li></ul>
<p>For use in Social Studies, Spanish, English, Social Studies, Ethnic Studies, and American History classes<br></p>
<p>#EthnicStudies #LatinoHAC </p>
<p></p>
Philippa Rappoport
35
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>
Philippa Rappoport
36
"Becoming Dolores": A School/Museum Program to Engage Families through Art and Technology
<p>This collection details a photography 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 (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 total) training session at their school and at the Smithsonian 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>#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>
Philippa Rappoport
15
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
Exploring Digital Storytelling within the Learning Lab: Personal Responses to Covid-19
<p>This Learning Lab collection was made to complement the presentation, "Exploring Digital Storytelling within the Learning Lab: Personal Responses to Covid-19," for <a href="https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vsu.ru%2Fenglish%2F&data=04%7C01%7Crappoph%40si.edu%7Cac8bd60cd8604dfa674308d8bd2b78ae%7C989b5e2a14e44efe93b78cdd5fc5d11c%7C0%7C0%7C637467341725810423%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=5dcdEkeScZ3%2FaX%2F2U5YLeMej%2F%2B9b9akCQFhzYSw%2BV5k%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://www.vsu.ru/english/" shash="lMDtMdMW/eKRFcDwiIcYf/QEzB2Q4BoZDnhsm+EjmLdHFlCh1Fk97gNkn04c3bWtn9uUxvQlQ5y4wULP2F1GPYOqtUn584nH64Bhd8QiND6c5RyWhGlNplgWV4XMURWywXsV63QKtogzBT18zlfrd+pLko5xcUn9Ui5IFD+BH7Q=" title="Original URL: https://www.vsu.ru/english/ brClick to follow link.">Voronezh State University</a> faculty and students, and supported by the <a href="https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.britishcouncil.ru%2F&data=04%7C01%7Crappoph%40si.edu%7Cac8bd60cd8604dfa674308d8bd2b78ae%7C989b5e2a14e44efe93b78cdd5fc5d11c%7C0%7C0%7C637467341725800426%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=ZqPzqPd5xh79B%2FcFa1QsJjQDux6jRz9uTrjD6coeUJc%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="http://www.britishcouncil.ru/" shash="G/O3+23lyl/KRoOIOyvJjUFEiQI8+IC31k+9BSAa27MXMln5+fgYWt6jtTGRy4fp6LhqurA4w2Z/hCL0c+WpRGG9MDFMls0nB0SJ5O9/OwmzWDwvGqsszfXJc0ZT2N1vSVKyzHp/j2fnCNcrIaq2/q25Q37YihV8Y96YtngICcQ=">Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy in Moscow</a>. <br></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 the Smithsonian digital collections, including 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>some examples of annotated objects that demonstrate the functionality of the Learning Lab;<br></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>a short story circle activity using exhibition images to explore shifting from a cognitive appreciation of art to a personal connection to museum objects;</li><li>workshop participants' reflections;
</li><li>supplemental resources. </li></ul>
<p>#DigitalStorytelling</p>
Philippa Rappoport
40
Inclusive Memory Project: Digital Storytelling as a Teaching Strategy in the Smithsonian Learning Lab
<p>This Learning Lab collection was made to complement the presentation "Digital Storytelling as a Teaching Strategy in the Smithsonian Learning Lab," as part of the series, <em>The Inclusive Memory Project in the Post Covid Era</em>", hosted by the Centro di Didattica Museale at the Università degli Studi Roma Tre. <br></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>You will find in this collection:<br></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
46
Engaging Families through Art and Technology Programs: "Discovering US/Descubriéndonos"
<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>Descubriéndonos</em> program as is, or design their own, based on the specific needs of their classroom or learning community.
</p>
<p>Discovering Us/<em>Descubriéndonos</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>#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 / 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
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>
Philippa Rappoport
40
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</p>
Philippa Rappoport
51
“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></p>
Philippa Rappoport
38
From Deer to Dance: How-to Demonstrations and Informational Videos
<p>This collection comes from a family festival at the National Museum of the American Indian that explored uses of leather in Native communities - literally from the hunting and tanning of deer and their hides, to their use in ritual and everyday life. The collection includes demonstrations of deer-hide tanning, moccasin making, bead working, instructions to make a leather pouch and a daisy chain bracelet, and an interview and performance by Lawrence Baker and the White Oak Singers.</p>
Philippa Rappoport
9
How to Make a Ti Leaf Lei: Demonstration video, children's stories, dances, and contextual images
<p>Lei making is an important part of Hawaiian culture. These twisted strands are worn on important occasions and given as gifts of welcome. In this collection you'll find a demonstration video by Mokihana Scalph, as well as performances of children's stories, dance performances, and images of leis and ti leaves, to give context to the performances.</p>
Philippa Rappoport
9
Asian Pacific American Arts and Crafts: Festival Highlights
<p>This collections comes from an Asian Pacific American Heritage Month family festival at the National Museum of Natural History. Included in the collection are interviews and demonstrations about dance with Dana Tai Soon Burgess, Japanese "kimekomi" doll making with Akiko Keene and Anne Cox, Thai fruit and vegetable carving with Phuangthong Malikul, Rangoli Indian design with Nisha Rajam and Anjana Mohanty, Korean calligraphy by Mookjae, and Chinese paper folding by Alice Li. </p>
Philippa Rappoport
10
Community Engagement and Heritage Best Practices Lecture Series
<p>The videos shown here are from a series, hosted by the Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology and the Smithsonian Heritage Months Steering Committee, that features colleagues from around the country doing innovative work in the fields of community outreach and heritage. Featured here are colleagues from the Tenement Museum in New York City presenting, "Widening the Conversation: Involving Communities in Interpretive Planning," Martha Norkunas presenting "Listening Across Differences," and Faye McMahon and Benjamin Virgilio presenting, "Not Just Child's Play: Emerging Tradition and the Lost Boys of Sudan."</p>
Philippa Rappoport
5
