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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

 

Culture and Aesthetics Meet Physics: Why Soviet and American Spacesuits Look Different

<p>This collection serves as a preview for the fifth 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.”</p> <p>National Air and Space Museum curator Cathleen Lewis will discuss objects from the Space Race gallery, in particular how spacesuits from the USSR and the United States indicate differing cultural and aesthetic answers to similar engineering challenges. </p> <p>Resources included in this collection have been recommended by the presenter for participants to explore before the seminar itself.<br /></p> <p>#MCteach<br /></p>
Philippa Rappoport
16
 

Cuban Balseros: Using Art and Artifact to Explore an American Immigration Story

<p>This teaching collection helps students think critically and globally about migration,  using two objects from 1992: a screenprint, "Fragile Crossing," by Cuban American artist Luis Cruz Azaceta, and a small Cuban raft that was intercepted off the coast of Florida.</p> <p>Using Project Zero Visible Thinking and Global Thinking Routines, students will consider the personal, local and global contexts in which these objects were created, the larger story they tell, and why they matter. </p> <p>Included here are the screenprint from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, a video with Grant Czubinski (Anacostia Community Museum) and Ranald Woodaman (Smithsonian Latino Center), two suggested Thinking Routines - "See, Think, Wonder" and "The 3 Y's" - from Harvard's Project Zero Artful Thinking and Global Thinking materials, an article on Cuban <em>balseros</em> by Natalie Catasus, and a Learning Lab collection about the work of Luis Cruz Azaceta. <br /></p> <p>For use in Social Studies, Ethnic Studies, Spanish, English, American History, Art History classes<br /></p> <p>#LatinoHAC #EthnicStudies</p> <p><br /></p> <p><br /><br /></p>
Philippa Rappoport
6
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

Central American Traditions Festival: Demonstrations, Interviews, and How-To Videos

<p>This collection comes from a Hispanic Heritage Month family festival celebrating Central American traditions, and in support of an exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian, "Ceramica de los ancestros: Central America's Past Revealed." Held at the National Museum of American History, the festival featured a sampling of music and dance performances, food demonstrations, and hands-on activities. The museum's terrace featured fair tables that included demonstrations of foods such as papusas and tamales, traditional weaving from Guatemala using a back strap loom, and musical and dance performances, including El Salvadoran chanchona by Los Hermanos Lovo, garifuna by the New York-based group Bodoma, and Latin punk rock by DC-based Machetes. Inside, activities included designing a family "bandera" (flag), making a clay cacao pot, making "alfombras" or carpets, which are temporary artworks made with sawdust based on a 400-year-old Guatemalan tradition, a lecture on Central American ceramics with Alex Benitez, archeologist and George Mason University professor, and engaging in conversations about immigration based on objects in the museum's teaching collections.</p>
Philippa Rappoport
14
 

"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
 

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Family Day: Performances, Demonstrations, Interviews

<p>This collection comes from an Asian Pacific American Heritage Month family day at the Kogod Courtyard of the National Portrait Gallery. Included here are music and dance performances by the Chinese Youth Club Lion Dancers, Dhroopad, Mokihana Scalph, Sushmita Mazumdar, MHC's Fil-Am Heritage Dance Ensemble, and an interview with the 2014 Asian Pacific Islander American Spoken Word and Poetry Summit artists.</p>
Philippa Rappoport
6
 

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
 

Are Parasites Always Bad? (Smithsonian Environmental Research Center)

<p>This collection complements Unit 4 of the EdX course, <em><a href="https://www.edx.org/course/teaching-with-the-smithsonian-addressing-21st-century-challenges-in-the-community-college-classroom">Teaching with the Smithsonian: Addressing 21st-Century Challenges in the College Classroom</a></em><em>. </em>It includes resources to support the session presentation by Katrina Lohan of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. </p> <p></p> <p>#MCTeach #EdXTeach</p>
Philippa Rappoport
19
 

Analyzing Primary Sources to Teach the Japanese American WWII Experience | Cultivating Learning

<p><span dir="auto">This collection serves as a digital companion to a <em>Cultivating Learning</em> professional development session with Lynn Yamasaki, Director of Education at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in Los Angeles, exploring the unjust, forced removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast during World War II. Session participants practice techniques to examine primary source materials from JANM’s collection including government-issued documents, artwork, and personal histories to introduce this topic to students. This session focuses on close looking and critical thinking to consider the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans and how it is that such a massive violation of rights happened within our democracy. Participants gain classroom-ready resources to share with students, as well as transferable strategies to use with primary source documents. </span></p> <p><em>Cultivating Learning</em> is an interactive webinar series focusing on techniques to use digital museum resources for learning. Check out <em>Cultivating Learning</em> and other Smithsonian Learning Lab webinars: <a spellcheck="false" href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbVlZcllscmVnWTFZQktxQ2tMWnJocldqVWtyUXxBQ3Jtc0tuR24tYUJHR2VpRFlrck9ieV9KZXQ3N3VHV0pBSzFLZzJVMVM3RVdaZGwzOG5DWGZrYU5TdWRucXpiNVRhS1dhUHNTQmN3dWJLZTgycjVWUHRReWJOZGRoX0FaVklsd2E4RTVnZWlMWlc3N0FDRjBWWQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Flearninglab.si.edu%2Fhelp&v=AFrSG98ihoI" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" dir="auto">https://learninglab.si.edu/help</a></p>
Philippa Rappoport
20
 

American Indian Responses to Environmental Challenges

<p>This collection serves as a preview for the third 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.” <br></p> <p>National Museum of American Indian colleagues Edwin Schupman, Christopher Turner, and Mandy Van Heuvelen will explore how the National Museum of the American Indian's educational resources, exhibitions, and interpretive programs address the issue of climate change. <br>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
10