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Ashley Naranjo

Education and Outreach Strategist
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Staff

Ashley Naranjo, M.Ed. is a museum educator, specializing in the use of digital resources for teaching and learning. She currently manages distance learning initiatives and education partnerships for the Smithsonian. Portfolio highlights have included: the Smithsonian Quests digital badging program, Smithsonian Online Education Conferences, Smithsonian Learning Lab nationwide teacher professional development, Teachers of the Year programming at the Smithsonian, “Explore with Smithsonian Experts” video series, and Smithsonian print publication guides.

Before coming to the Smithsonian, she has had experiences in education in both formal and informal learning spaces: as an ESOL instructor for adults, a middle school teacher in the humanities and a summer programs administrator. She holds a B.A. in Human Development (Developmental Psychology) from the Lynch School of Education at Boston College, where she was a research assistant and independent study student in the Laboratory of Thinking, Learning & Cognition in the Arts. She completed a M.Ed. in Learning Design and Technology from the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California, with a thesis entitled, “Using Digital Museum Resources in the Classroom”. She is a 2019 graduate of the Getty Leadership Institute’s NextGen of Museum Leaders program.

Ashley Naranjo's collections

 

Liberty Bonds of World War I (WW1)

<p>This collection presents three different <em>liberty bonds</em> primary sources dating from 1918: a postcard, sheet music/song, and a celebrity aviator's brochure. With these resources students will explore <em>L</em><em>iberty Bonds<span></span></em>, also called war bonds or liberty loans, which were essentially loans from the American people to the U.S. government to fund the Allies' involvement in World War I. Many public campaigns presented purchasing bonds as the patriotic way to support the war from the home front. Carefully chosen words and imagery conveyed this message and persuaded Americans to act quickly, through both subtle and direct messaging. </p> <p><u>Essential questions:</u> What role did Liberty Bonds play in financing the U.S. WWI effort? How did persuasive language techniques and visuals lead many Americans to see Liberty Bonds as part of their patriotic duty on the home front? </p> <p><u>Keywords:<span></span></u> primary source, secondary source, soldiers, World War I, Great War, Ruth Law, "What are you going to do to help the boys?", army, military, Uncle Sam, WWI, persuasion, advertising</p> <p>This collection was created in conjunction with the National Postal Museum's "My Fellow Soldiers: Letters from World War I" teacher workshop (July 19, 2017). It focuses on one of the many postcards from <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/my-fellow-soldiers-postcards-from-world-war-i/HPrCVWkR1wqjpK3k#r" target="_blank" style="background-color:rgb(63,63,63);">this topical collection</a> to demonstrate its use in the secondary classroom. #NPMTeacherPrograms<br /></p><p><em>#historicalthinking</em></p><p><br /></p>
Ashley Naranjo
6
 

Letters from the Japanese American Incarceration

<p>Teaching guide based on letters from young people in an Arizona incarceration camp to a librarian, Miss Breed, in their hometown of San Diego. Students piece together a story by comparing these primary-source documents—documents that help to show that history is never a single story. Students should consider what life was like for these Japanese American youth as American citizens, whose families were unfoundedly considered a national security threat and lost many of their freedoms during the incarceration era.</p> <p>Further context for Executive Order 9066 is available in the National Museum of American History's exhibition, "<em><a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/righting-wrong-japanese-americans-and-world-war-ii" target="_blank">Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II</a>". </em>Additional historic photographs, documents, newspapers, letters and other primary source materials on this topic can be found via Densho Digital Repository, <a href="http://ddr.densho.org/">http://ddr.densho.org</a>. </p> <p>Keywords: forced removal, incarceration camp, internment camp, Asian American, Japanese American Internment, 1940s, World War 2 </p> <p>#APA2018</p><p><em>#historicalthinking</em></p><p><br /></p>
Ashley Naranjo
13
 

Learning to Look: Letter from Artist Yasuo Kuniyoshi, after the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor

<p>This collection includes student activities and learning to look questions, as well as additional teacher resources for extending the lesson. Students will use the primary sources to understand the changing perspectives and perceptions of Japanese Americans in the World War II era.</p> <p>Keywords: Japanese Incarceration, George Biddle, Franklin D. Roosevelt, WW2, WWII, analysis, written response, essay, text, Max Yavno, Pearl Harbor, Works Progress Administration (WPA)</p> <p>#APA2018 #EthnicStudies</p> <p><em>#historicalthinking</em></p> <p><br /></p>
Ashley Naranjo
12
 

Larry Itliong: Breaking Barriers in the Labor Movement

<p>Larry Itliong (October 25, 1913- February 8, 1977) was a Filipino American labor organizer. Itliong immigrated to the United States in 1929 at the age of fifteen. He worked throughout the country as a farm laborer and in the salmon canneries of Alaska. In response to oppressive treatment of Filipino farmworkers, Itliong organized labor strikes. He contacted Cesar Chavez and asked Mexican farmworkers to join the strike with Filipino farmworkers. He believed that all workers had to stand together in their fight for justice. The National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) voted unanimously and Mexican farmworkers joined Filipino farmworkers in the Great Delano Grape Strike. A year later, AWOC and NFWA merged to become the United Farm Workers (UFW). The Delano Grape Strike lasted for five years. As director of the UFW, Chavez took the limelight, but co-founder and former assistant director Larry Itliong has been cast in the historical shadows.</p> <p>The media and sources in this collection can be used alongside the <em>National History Day SEARCH Historical Context Graphic Organizer</em> and the <em>Ethnic Studies Praxis Story Plot </em>from the Journey for Justice Teachers' Guide. Both resources help students think critically about Larry Itliong's life, accomplishments and activism and help provide context for the labor movement more broadly.</p> <p>#NHD #NHD2020 #EthnicStudies *This collection was created to support Unit 2: What is the history?, <em>Civil Rights Movements </em>of the Austin ISD Ethnic Studies Part A course.</p> <p><em>This Smithsonian Learning Lab collection received Federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. </em><br /></p>
Ashley Naranjo
11
 

Jazz Resources for Preschool Students

<p>Resources to support two year olds learning about jazz music and musicians. Includes portraits of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis. Students connect the musician to their instrument, identify the parts of a trumpet and listen to Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" to identify specific instruments in the song. Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center's blog includes an interview with the teacher who originally created and implemented the lesson. Included here are supporting resources of the elements mentioned in her interview.</p><p>#SmithsonianMusic<br /></p>
Ashley Naranjo
13
 

Isamu Noguchi

<p>This topical collection includes a portrait of Isamu Noguchi, a 20th-century Japanese American artist and architect and a National Portrait Gallery "Portrait Spotlight" with background information and suggested questions for the classroom. Additional resources include blog posts from the Smithsonian American Art Museum about his work and a small sample of Noguchi's sculptures from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. </p> <p>Teachers and students may use this collection as a springboard for classroom discussions about Noguchi and his artworks and for further research. </p> <p>Keywords: Asian American, sculptor, landscape artist, public works, <em>Okame</em>, <em>Grey Sun</em>, <em>Lunar Landscape</em>, <em>Composition</em>, <em>Cronos</em>, <em>Akari</em>, <em>Mother and Child</em></p><p><em>This Smithsonian Learning Lab collection received Federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. </em> </p> <p> #APA2018</p>
Ashley Naranjo
19
 

Image Analysis: "Girl at Gee's Bend, Alabama" by Arthur Rothstein

<p>Developing an inquiry-based strategy to support students can allow them to investigate objects and images as historians do. In this example, students try to reveal the story behind the image. They raise questions for their own further research. Because the image has only a title, the photographer's name, the "sitter"'s name, the place and the date, students have to rely on their own analysis of evidence in the image, rather than someone else's interpretation. When they read the expert's analysis, they will have already considered many of the elements that the expert highlights and can compare their interpretations. </p><p>"Girl at Gee's Bend, Alabama" is a provocative photograph that can be used in discussions ranging from history of the South during the Great Depression, to social justice. </p>
Ashley Naranjo
3
 

Identifying Bird Beak Types through Robert Ridgway's Drawings

<p>Birds' beaks tell a lot about them, especially where they find their food and how they eat it. This collection includes a bird curator’s drawings that clearly show the different kinds of beaks, which evolved because they are good for breaking seeds, catching insects or filtering out shrimp or algae.</p> <p>Keywords: scientific illustration, sketches</p>
Ashley Naranjo
18
 

Iconic Pittsburgh Images, Paired with Project Zero Routines

<p>Includes iconic people, places, and things associated with Pittsburgh. </p> <p>Prior to the workshop series, select one resource from this collection and conduct an adapted <strong>See-Wonder-Connect</strong> routine (What do you see in the resource that's worth noticing? What do you wonder about? What connections do you make to it?). You may consider sharing with a partner, using the <strong>Think-Pair-Share</strong> routine. Finally, <strong>Imagine if...</strong> you were using one of these resources in your own practice, what would you have students do with it? </p> <p>This collection was created for the <em>Smithsonian Learning Lab</em> workshops in Pittsburgh and the surrounding school districts. Funded by the Grable Foundation and in partnership with the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, the Quaker Valley School district and the Washington International School. <br /></p> <p>#<a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/search?st=pzpgh&amp;st_op=and&amp;item_type=collections">PZPGH</a></p>
Ashley Naranjo
45
 

Highlights Collection: Mystery Learning Resources

<p>This is a Smithsonian Learning Lab topical collection, which contains images, text, and other multimedia resources that may complement the Tween Tribune feature, <em><a href="https://www.tweentribune.com/article/teen/without-edgar-allan-poe-we-wouldnt-have-sherlock-holmes/" target="_blank">Without Edgar Allan Poe, We Wouldn’t Have Sherlock Holmes</a>.</em> Use these resources to introduce or augment your study of this topic.</p> <p><a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/create"></a></p>
Ashley Naranjo
36
 

Highlights Collection: Astronomy Learning Resources

<p>This is a Smithsonian Learning Lab topical collection, which contains images, text, and other multimedia resources that may complement the Tween Tribune feature, <em><a href="https://www.tweentribune.com/article/teen/barns-are-painted-red-because-physics-dying-stars/">Barns are painted red because of the physics of dying stars</a></em>. Use these resources to introduce or augment your study of this topic. If you want to personalize this collection by changing or adding content, click the Sign Up link above to create a free account.  If you are already logged in, click the copy button to initiate your own version. Learn more <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/create" target="_blank">here</a>. <br /></p><p><br /></p>
Ashley Naranjo
30
 

Go-go: The Heartbeat of Washington, D.C.

<p>This thematic collection includes videos of performances, oral histories and short articles to support opportunities for listening, evaluating and connecting to Go-go music. These resources could be integrated into lessons and activities, supporting a deeper understanding of historical and social context for a genre of music originating in Washington, D.C.</p> <p></p> <p>Keywords: DCPS, Chuck Brown, oral history, performance, concert, music, #DontMuteDC, Gogo, Go go</p>
Ashley Naranjo
8