Open Forum

 View Only

  • 1.  Special students tour

    Posted 09-19-2016 01:05 AM

    I have to conduct a tour at the African American Museum of Iowa for intellectually challenged high school students. The museum traces Africans coming to the United States, experience of escaping slaves coming into Iowa, the underground railroad in Iowa, African American as early immigrants into Iowa, serving in the Civil War, Civil Rights struggles and triumphs in Iowa, contributions in arts and sciences, etc. So I how should I construct a 45 min. tour for these students? The tour will be September 29. Thanks, Diana

     

    AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, Baltimore, May 16-19, 2024, click to learn more


  • 2.  RE: Special students tour

    Posted 09-20-2016 08:02 AM

    Are there ways you can engage the students senses? What can they touch? Taste? Smell? Listen to? Are there things you can do with them to help physicalize their experience? Creating opportunity for kinesthetic engagement? 

    ------------------------------
    Amber Parham
    Museum Educator/Performer
    Denver Museum of Nature & Science
    Denver CO

    Original Message
    AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, Baltimore, May 16-19, 2024, click to learn more


  • 3.  RE: Special students tour

    Posted 09-21-2016 08:26 AM
    The best practice is to work with the teacher and provide them with visual clues and a plan for the visit.  Make sure that you volunteers or docents also see the material provided to the teacher.  I strongly recommend the resources on the Museum Access Consortium's web site on prepared visits and image maps.  Your PR or graphics office already has images of the site and artifacts that you can use.  


    --
    Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, Ph. D.
    Judy R. and Alfred A. Rosenberg Curator of Exhibitions
    Shelby Cullom Davis Museum, The New York Public Library for the Performing
    Arts
    40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023
    212-870-1830; barbaracohenstratyner@nypl.org


    Come see Magical Designs for Mozart's Magic Flute through August, http://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/magical-designs-mozarts-magic-flute?hspace=344293. If you missed them, check out the Shakespeare exhibitions on-line:  Shakespeare's Star Turn in America and Artists for LPA Share Shakespeare here: http://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/shakespeares-star-turn-america.

    James Baldwin - You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. [Early Essays]




    Original Message
    AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, Baltimore, May 16-19, 2024, click to learn more


  • 4.  RE: Special students tour

    Posted 09-20-2016 09:26 AM

    Diane, The short answer, as many people will tell you, is to get advice from someone who teaches special needs high school students. Ahora. Maintenant. Now. Work with them to shape your tour. Ditch your assumptions about length, format, content, outcomes, well everything.. Then build an experience that will make the teachers and chaperones say: Let's do that again! As a former mayor of Baltimore used to say: Do it now! Best of luck and enjoy the experience. Dean 

    ------------------------------
    Dean Krimmel, Creative Museum Services
    Exhibition & Interpretive Planning
    Baltimore MD

    Original Message
    AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, Baltimore, May 16-19, 2024, click to learn more


  • 5.  RE: Special students tour

    Posted 09-20-2016 01:36 PM

    I would advise you asking their teacher. Find out the learning goals for the trip and then work to make the experience as engaging as possible while meeting those learning goals. I wouldn't overthink it. Keep it as simple as possible, but do not feel the need to impart tons of information. I've had several tours for special needs populations and every time I am surprised by how many high level concepts the students can understand. I like to ask lots of questions and if the students go on long stories, let them. 

    ------------------------------
    Demetri Broxton
    Director of Education
    Museum of the African Diaspora
    San Francisco CA

    Original Message
    AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, Baltimore, May 16-19, 2024, click to learn more


  • 6.  RE: Special students tour

    Posted 09-21-2016 11:04 AM

    I totally agree with a hands-on, multi-sensory approach.  I would choose 1 or 2 topics and create a learning environment where the students can experience that topic.  Perhaps help the students simulate the underground railroad by placing some of the 'signs' and talking about what each one meant to the people traveling on the railroad, looking for the signs.  Underground Railroad Symbols: Secret Codes ***

    American-historama remove preview
    Underground Railroad Symbols: Secret Codes ***
    Find a summary, definition and facts about the Underground Railroad Symbols and secret codes for kids. Underground Railroad Symbols with picture of quilt symbols. Information about the Underground Railroad Symbols for kids, children, homework and schools.
    View this on American-historama >

    Of course, you know your topics and the space you have available better than I, but you get the point.

    I think it is better to delve into and experience one or two topics rather than try to cover everything in your museum superficially.

    If they get a lot out of what you present, perhaps that can come back for other topics that you cover.

    They will get a lot more out of your exhibit(s) if they understand them better.

    Good luck! and have fun.  Special kids are just that and often help you look at topics and your presentations in a different way.

    ------------------------------
    Judy Costello
    Education Manager
    Shiloh Museum of Ozark History
    Springdale AR

    Original Message
    AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, Baltimore, May 16-19, 2024, click to learn more


  • 7.  RE: Special students tour

    Posted 09-22-2016 09:37 AM

    Yes to hands-on, multi-sensory (depending on what your teacher-advisor suggests), but let's not perpetuate the Underground Railroad quilt code myth. I know from my sister, who teaches first graders, that it's still in lesson plans. Here's why it should go away in favor of lessons grounded in scholarship: https://historymyths.wordpress.com/tag/quilt-code/. The truth is stranger, cooler and more compelling than fiction. My two cents...

    ------------------------------
    Dean Krimmel, Creative Museum Services
    Exhibition & Interpretive Planning
    Baltimore MD
    deankrimmel@qm2.org; 410-746-8350

    Original Message
    AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, Baltimore, May 16-19, 2024, click to learn more