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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 Introduction and Training for DC Embassy Adoption Program Teachers: Exploring Luis Cruz Azaceta's "Shifting States: Iraq"

<p>This student activity explores Luis Cruz Azaceta's "Shifting States: Iraq" using Project Zero Thinking Routines to help students think critically and globally.  The work is a metaphorical representation of political unrest 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, several  Thinking Routines from Harvard's Project Zero Visible Thinking and Global Thinking materials, an array of prompts and Learning Lab tools and support, as well as a sample training assignment. <br><br></p>
Philippa Rappoport
19
 

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
 

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 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
82
 

Looking Past Words: An Exploration of Language, Systems, and Power through Three Case Studies

<p>This teaching collection explores the role of language and power in American and European history through three case studies: the Holocaust, Japanese American incarceration, and Northern Plains treaties. Paired with discussion questions from Project Zero's Global Thinking routines, "Think, Feel, Care" and "The 3 Y's," the collection aims to develop in students a sense of how individuals interact within a particular system, and the significance of these systems and interactions from personal, local, and global contexts.<br></p> <p>#EthnicStudies</p>
Philippa Rappoport
12
 

Luis Cruz Azaceta's "Shifting States: Iraq"

<p>This teaching collection helps students to think critically and globally by using two Thinking Routines to explore the painting, "Shifting States: Iraq," by Cuban American artist Luis Cruz Azaceta. 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 the work itself from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, a video with curator E. Carmen Ramos, another video from Articulateshow.org, three suggested Thinking Routines - ""See, Think Wonder," Colors, Shapes, Lines" and "The 3 Y's" - from Harvard's Project Zero Artful Thinking and Global Thinking materials, and three other works by Azaceta in the Smithsonian collections.</p> <p>For use in Social Studies, Spanish, English, American History, Art History classes</p> <p>#LatinoHAC</p>
Philippa Rappoport
12
 

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>tags: art, crafts, crafting, how-to<br /></p>
Philippa Rappoport
7
 

Metadata and Tagging Activity

<p>This activity, designed as a group exercise, asks participants to assume the role of a college student researching American women's work in the early 20th century, as an entry point to consider what is useful when tagging, searching, and creating digital resources. The collection includes the images that participants considered, followed in each case by a PDF of their responses. For the activity instructions, see the second tile of the collection.</p> <p>This activity was conducted at the inaugural meeting of the Smithsonian Digital Resources Steering Committee, a group convened to share knowledge and explore best practices, issues, and strategies that arise in using and creating digital cultural museum resources.  </p> <p>Kayo Denda, Librarian for Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Rutgers University and Visiting Fellow at the Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology, created the activity reproduced here.  As a Fellow, Ms. Denda is exploring how libraries, museums, and archives develop metadata for content on women in American history.  <br></p> <p>#DCRSC</p> <p><br></p> <p><br></p>
Philippa Rappoport
17
 

Michael Cumming's "Haitian Mermaid #2"

<h4><br></h4> <p>This collection prompts students to explore "Haitian Mermaid #2," an artwork by Michael Cummings using the Project Zero Thinking Routine "See, Think, Wonder." After careful observation, students consider two additional images of the mermaid Lasirn by unknown artists, using the Project Zero Artful Thinking Routine "See, Wonder, Compare." The collection can be used to practice and strengthen students' comfort looking at objects and making observations. </p> <p>Also included is an article from the National Museum of National History that includes some background on the mermaid Lasirn in Haiti. According to the article, "the mermaid Lasirn is one of three powerful female water spirits, sometimes considered sisters, who are honored in shrines. One sister is cool, calm and seductive. The other is hot, passionate, angry, and strong. Lasirn's personality is a blend of these opposites. Together, they validate a wide range of temperaments for women." In addition, as in many pictures of Lasirn, a Vodou banner in the exhibition shows her with a mirror and comb, as well as another common mermaid symbol, a trumpet. Lasirn wears modern, imported clothing, such as the cowboy hat... Flags or banners with pictures of spirits are an important part of Vodou ceremonies in Haiti. They are hung in temples or carried in processions to salute the spirits. A single banner may have more than 10,000 sequins."</p> <p>Keywords: Caribbean</p>
Philippa Rappoport
6
 

Migrations in American History: The Making of "Many Voices, One Nation"

This collection serves as a preview for the fourth of six seminar sessions in the 2019 Smithsonian-Montgomery College Faculty Fellowship Program. This year's theme is “The Search for an American Identity: Building a Nation Together.”<br /><br /> National Museum of American History colleagues Steve Velasquez and Lauren Safranek 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 /><br /> Resources included in this collection have been chosen by the presenters for participants to explore before the seminar itself.<br /><br /> #MCteach
Philippa Rappoport
7
 

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
 

Native American Ledger Art: Informational Video and Classroom Activity

<p>In this collection, Educator Ramsey Weeks (Assiniboine, Lenape, and Hidatsa), from the National Museum of the American Indian, talks about Native American Ledger Art, and shares ideas for family and classroom "winter count" activities. The activities are suitable for English, art, history, and social studies classrooms.</p> <p>The collection also includes information and resources about Winter Counts from the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Anthropological Archives, the Smithsonian Institution Archives, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Libraries, and the Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology</p>
Philippa Rappoport
11
 

Nicholasa Mohr and New York's Puerto Rican Migration

<p>This topical collection explores Antonio Martorell's portrait of prolific Latina author Nicholasa Mohr, and is displayed with a range of resources that offer a view, through art, portraiture, and literature, into the lives of Puerto Rican migrants to the continental United States in the early to mid-twentieth century. The images and resources can be used as discussion or writing prompts in a variety of courses, including history, culture, literature, and language.</p> <p>The portrait itself,  one of a series of 45-minute portraits that Martorell made of his artist friends, captures Mohr's spirit, much in the way that Mohr's writing brings to life the people, sounds, and activities of New York's Puerto Rican migrants in the twentieth century. The collection also includes a bilingual video with National Portrait Gallery curator Taína Caragol, as well as the first page and a review of "Nilda," one of Mohr's most well-known novels, about a Puerto Rican girl coming of age in New York during World War II. This book was selected as an "Outstanding Book of the Year" by the New York Times, and a "Best Book of 1973" by the American Library Association.</p> <p>The collection includes images and a bilingual podcast by Martorell speaking about a different work in the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection, "La Playa Negra" ("Tar Beach"), which is the term used by Puerto Rican migrants for the rooftops of tenement buildings. As the label describes, in this painting, "a fashionable woman wears a fur-collared coat and sits in front of a New York City skyline. Her hardworking double on the left sits behind a sewing machine. In his "Playa Negra" ("Tar Beach") series, Martorell juxtaposed migrants' prosperous self-image with a glimpse of their tiring labor."</p> <p>The collection also includes a series of photographs from the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, by Hiram Maristany, a resident and photographer of the El Barrio neighborhood. Maristany grew up with eight siblings on East 111th Street. In addition, the collection includes links from PBS Learning Media on Puerto Rican history and migration.</p> <p>#LatinoHAC #BecauseOfHerStory #EthnicStudies </p> <p>This collection supports Unit 2: Culture and Resistance, Expressions of culture and values, of the Austin ISD Ethnic Studies Part B course. "How do expressions of culture reflect assimilation and resistance to assimilation? How do distinct expressions of culture reflect specific values for various ethnic groups?" </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
24