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Research, Writing, and Art: P.S. 312′s Fourth Graders Curate a History of Bergen Beach

Written by Samantha Gibson on March 19th, 2012

Along with Educator Emily Gallagher, BHS Educator Alex Tronolone is working closely with a team of “young curators” at P.S. 312 to uncover the history of their Bergen Beach neighborhood this spring. The work the students create will ultimately go into three professionally-designed museum panels to be displayed at the school. BHS’s after-school program “Young Curators” is made possible by a Cultural After-School Adventures (CASA) grant from City Council Member Lewis Fidler. I’m happy to introduce today’s guest blogger, Alex, and his insights on getting students engaged with history.

CASA Educator Alex Tronolone

Since the beginning of January I’ve been working with 16 incredible fourth graders in Bergen Beach to study their neighborhood and school. When we began the project I don’t think the students were quite clear about what we would be doing. They knew there was something with history, and that it was a “special” after-school program, but they couldn’t picture the end result – a museum exhibit in our school? However, the students’ visit to Brooklyn Historical Society helped bring their project to life since they got to see the actual archival materials firsthand.

On our first class meeting following the trip, we gathered in a circle on their library’s carpet to discuss our findings. We then split into groups of researchers, writers, and artists to begin making progress on the production of our panels. Beginning with this class session, the students took complete ownership of both their roles and their collective project. For example, the researchers transcribed a 17th century bill of sale for the land around Bergen Beach! The researchers also highlighted important information in historic newspaper articles we had looked at as a class and sent them over to the writers to craft the text for our exhibit panels. The writers recorded facts and ideas they had learned about and noted questions where more research had to be done and sent them over to the researchers to find answers. The artists went through our historic photos of Bergen Beach and looked through our research for descriptions to help them imagine the past. They also came up with two art project proposals that they presented to the entire class to debate and vote on.

Students from P.S. 312 examine documents on display at BHS.

The class now has its own momentum that comes from the genuine enthusiasm these young curators have for this project. My students are so engaged they’ve been spending their lunch periods going to the library to do additional research for the project and every week some students ask to take home work to do.

As a former classroom teacher, I am especially enjoying working with public school students in this student-driven learning environment. When I taught special education in a NYC public middle school, my job as a teacher was really impacted by the external pressures of large class size and test prep. We spent entire months preparing for test after test, data notebooks, and, if you were really unlucky, a ‘quality review’. Invariably these tests consisted primarily of multiple choice questions – the lowest common denominator of knowledge and assessment. Needless to say, discipline had to be iron. My students would refer to themselves as numbers; corresponding to their state test scores. I dare you not to feel ill when you hear an eleven-year old with special education services describe their academic achievement as, “I’m a one”, or, “I’m a two.”

In contrast, my work with the young curators gets to be participatory, grounded in real historical research, and driven by the students themselves. It’s exciting to think that my CASA students are legitimately enthusiastic about our project. The skills they learn working collaboratively to produce their exhibit will be skills they can use for the rest of their lives. They’re learning to run their groups democratically (you should see them organize themselves!) and to make decisions about what work needs to be done and who will do it. They will have ownership over the knowledge they gain through historical research that can’t be replicated by studying a textbook or preparing for a test. The excitement about historical and archival research…well, maybe that will wane, but for now, their energy and passion has a momentum that makes it easy and a joy to teach.

The P.S. 312 “Young Curators” team.

Posted in Education | No Responses »
Tags: Bergen Beach, Brooklyn Past & Present, CASA, Education, Museum Education, neighborhoods

“Young Curators” at P.S. 276 Dig Into Canarsie’s History

Written by Samantha Gibson on February 27th, 2012

This spring, students from P.S. 276 are working with Educator Emily Gallagher to uncover the history of their neighborhood, Canarsie, through BHS’s after-school program “Young Curators.” This program is made possible by a Cultural After-School Adventures (CASA) grant from City Council Member Lewis Fidler. I’m very pleased to introduce our guest blogger, Emily, and her experience working with her great team of “young curators.”

BHS Educator and today's guest blogger, Emily Gallagher

As a Brooklyn Historical Society educator, I’m honored to work with third and fifth graders at P.S. 276 in Canarsie as part of the “Young Curators” after-school program. Each week, we delve into a new aspect of Canarsie’s history and, eventually, we’ll tell the story of Canarsie’s past in our own voice as part of a museum quality installation at P.S. 276. As a museum educator, I’ve often felt exhilarated after exposing young people to the multiple perspectives of history but, through ”Young Curators,” I’m getting an extra thrill — the thrill of watching very smart, capable children become even more emboldened and impassioned about where they live, who they are, and how they fit into the narrative of our community.

I applied for this position because I was especially inspired by on the program’s focus on local history. So few of us, as children or adults, have a real connection to the amazing events and experiences that happened in our own buildings and on our own blocks. I really feel that a more tangible connection to that specific past helps build a better neighbor and a better citizen. Caring about our neighborhoods’ histories and how they fit into Brooklyn and even broader communities beyond Brooklyn is a direct pipeline to caring about our neighborhoods in the present and in the future.

P.S. 276 "Young Curators" check out a historic atlas of their neighborhood.

During our first “Young Curators” class, I asked the students what came to mind when they thought about their neighborhood of Canarsie in the past. We quickly realized that even though they spend every day immersed in their community, they were much more familiar with New York City and United States history as a whole. We had a difficult time pin-pointing the important spots in their neighborhood, or important people in their neighborhood’s past. Using resources from Brooklyn Historical Society’s library, we were able to dig in directly. The students have already examined maps, photographs, and documents in order to uncover their neighborhood’s past.

Flash forward a month into our investigation, and my students are asking very pointed questions. Instead of referring to “the Native Americans,” they speak with authority about the Canarsee Indians for whom the neighborhood is named. Instead of guessing that the Dutch lived here, they can tell you exactly what the Wyckoff family would be eating in Nieuw Amersfoort, and one student even tears up when thinking about what happened to the oyster beds that used to pepper Jamaica Bay along the waterfront of Canarsie.

The "Young Curators" team during their visit to BHS.

Walking down Flatlands Avenue no longer means dodging cars and looking for the bus stop, but it instead means imagining a different time and a different kind of Brooklyn– and hopefully helps these children, who no doubt have an important role to play in Brooklyn’s future, feel more excited about the role they’ll make for themselves in it.

Posted in Education | 2 Responses »
Tags: Brooklyn Past & Present, Canarsie, CASA, Education, neighborhoods

Museums and the Common Core: What’s Your Role?

Written by Todd Florio on October 31st, 2011

Last Tuesday, Brooklyn Historical Society hosted the New York Museum Educators Roundtable (NYCMER) in an event dubbed “Museums and the Common Core: What’s Your Role?” The event was open to NYCMER members and the public and the audience wound up being museum educators from across New York and beyond. Common Core refers to the new Common Core Learning Standards which are being rolled out by the State of New York and the NYCDOE.

BHS President Deborah Schwartz welcomes NYCMER and friends.

The night began with an introduction by our fearless leader, Deborah Schwartz who came to BHS after having been the Deputy Director for Education at The Museum of Modern Art and Vice Director for Education and Program Development at Brooklyn Museum. Deborah’s leadership at BHS always ensures that education is part of the institutional thinking process at every juncture.

NYCMER Common Core Panel

After Deborah’s intro a panel of people who’ve had hands-on experience working in the implementation of the Common Core gave short “elevator speeches” or explanations about their roles. Moderator Dr. Rhonda Bondie shared a powerpoint presentation which is available here. Jody Madell also shared a powerpoint which is here.

This student response to a Van Gogh painting was popular with the crowd. The slide accompanied a lecture by Karen Rosner of the NYCDOE Office of Arts and Special Projects, which is a component of the Office of School Programs and Partnerships

One way NYCMER looked to connect this event to the national dialogue about the Common Core (which has been adopted by all but two states) was to live tweet the event. You don’t have to be signed up for twitter to see that the hashtag “#CommonCore” is replete with links to rich resources for educators.

NYCMER Intern Rebecca Mir Live Tweeting the Event from the Back Row

Throughout the night, Rhonda had us break into pairs or small groups to work through some of the tough concepts around the implementation of the Common Core. What follows are some of the ideas that were shared out by those groups.

Museum visits would build the seven attributes of college and career readiness.
Museums are a great resource for “stuff” that can be the basis for inquiry education
Museum educators can adopt a shared responsibility for students’ literacy with classroom teachers across grade levels and subject areas.
Museums can allow students the opportunities to make a claim about history, art, science, etc., find evidence to back it up, and share their reasoning.
Museums can be part of in-depth, project-based learning that draws on the classroom experience, independent conclusions, and the museum visit experience.

In support of teachers adopting Common Core, museums provide social spaces and broader settings for all learners, especially independent, inquiry-driven investigation.
Museums can support common core by encouraging critical thinking through inquiry-based learning, providing pre and post visit curriculum materials that build skills to support common core and encourage classroom support for on-site museum programs, and create interdisciplinary programs drawing on and incorporating multiple subject areas.

The Common Core is a great way to instigate better use of museum environments and encourage museum and school educators to take advantage of the content rich resources that support development of observation, questioning, research, synthesis and analysis, presentations skills, and multiple perspectives and help build deep understanding.
Inquiry-based learning leads to deeper and more complex understanding, critical thinking, and observational skills.
Common Core is about understanding versus just knowing.
Museum educators can help make the connections between our museum collections and the classroom.

Through professional development activities, museums can introduce curriculum materials and test them on teachers to help ensure that teachers understand how to use them.
Literacy is everyone’s responsibility; museums can help students construct meaning rather than absorb information.
Museums can collaborate with teachers, inquiry teams, and school communities to be a part of (and contributor to) common core’s implementation.
Museums provide a forum to apply the Common Core Standards in multiple literacies.

Different Perspectives from the Panelists Helped Contextualize the Common Core - (L to R) Karen Rosner (NYCDOE); James Short (AMNH); Jodi Madell (Lyons Community School); Cynthia Harris-Frederick (NYCDOE)

Finally, BHS Education Assistant Samantha Gibson took a stab at combining all of these great ideas into one “elevator speech” about museums educators role(s) in helping ensure that the implementation of the Common Core is a success:

As museum educators, our role in the implementation of the Common Core Standards is to adopt a shared responsibility for students’ literacy and education with classroom teachers across grade levels and subject areas. Museum visits and museum-based classroom activities can be a vital part of in-depth, project-based learning that draws on the classroom curriculum, students’ independent conclusions, and the museum visit experience.

Museums can also support common core by continually encouraging critical thinking skills through inquiry-based learning, developing pre- and post-visit curriculum materials that build skills to support Common Core and encourage classroom support for museum tours and programs. Finally, museum educators can continue to help make connections between our museum collections and the classroom to promote optimal use of these resources by students and teachers.

Special thanks to Rhonda Bondie and all of the panelists who generously volunteered their time to advance the field. Extra special thanks to BHS Education Intern Alex Kenyon who ran AV throughout the evening all of the great NYCMER board members who helped put the event together.

Posted in Education, Events | No Responses »
Tags: CCLS, CCSS, Common Core, Education, Museum Education, NYCMER

Students and Faculty in the Archives

Written by Robin M. Katz on March 7th, 2011

Connecting to Universities

The Brooklyn Historical Society has officially kicked off our Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA) project. The BHS has long been committed to introducing students of all ages and backgrounds to our remarkable facilities and collections.

SAFA is a three-year, US Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE) grant that will create a replicable pedagogical model for collaboration between museums like BHS and institutions of higher learning.

In the first year, we will be working with local partners from New York City College of Technology; Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus; and St. Francis College. First-year undergraduate researchers will have the chance to conduct archival research in the Othmer Library and to create physical and digital exhibits with BHS.

Over 20 enthusiastic faculty collaborators representing a wide range of disciplines came to the February 25th SAFA planning meeting with ideas and energy to spare. Deborah Mutnick, Professor of English and Director of the Writing Program at LIU Brooklyn, reported, “We all walked away feeling very energized and excited about the project.“

BHS Welcomes SAFA Staff

To help support this exciting new venture, BHS has hired two new staff members:

Robin M. Katz, Outreach and Public Services Archivist, was previously the Outreach Librarian for the University of Vermont Libraries’ Center for Digital Initiatives. At UVM, Robin helped a wide range of constituents collaboratively produce unique digital research collections. She has also worked to connect people to primary sources at Kent State University’s Special Collection and Archives Department, Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Ingalls Library, and the Cleveland Institute of Art’s Gund Library. She expects that SAFA will demonstrate the many benefits of incorporating primary source research in undergraduate education, and she hopes the project will inspire similar collaborations nationwide.

Julie Golia, Public Historian at BHS, is a scholar of American history, with interests in the history of women and gender, race, popular culture, and media. Julie received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2010, where she served as a teaching fellow and wrote a dissertation examining the cultural and economic history of advice columns in early twentieth-century newspapers. As a public historian, Julie has helped produce documentaries including the 2003 film “Tupperware!” She has researched and curated exhibits at the New York Historical Society and the Columbia Rare Book and Manuscript Library. And she gives vibrant and informative walking tours in neighborhoods across Brooklyn and Manhattan. She hopes that SAFA will continue to break down boundaries between academic and public history, and reveal the intellectual joys of using the BHS collections to a new generation of students.

Looking Forward

Robin, Julie, and the SAFA faculty will spend the next several months immersed in the BHS collections. A good deal of research, planning, and collaborating will occur during the upcoming SAFA Summer Institute at BHS. The result will be archives-based approaches for courses in History, Photography, English, Architecture, and many other disciplines.

We are looking forward to sharing our discoveries and ideas with the BHS blog. Check back soon for more updates on our work!

Posted in Education, Library & Archives | No Responses »
Tags: colleges, courses, Education, faculty, FIPSE, outreach, SAFA, students, Students and Faculty in the Archives, universities

Oral History in the Classroom at PS 27 in Red Hook

Written by Todd Florio on April 27th, 2009

PS 27 in Red Hook (since 1890!)

Sady and I took a trip down to nearby Red Hook to teach 4th graders at PS 27 about oral history. We played clips from BHS collections and discussed them with the kids, who were learning about Weeksville, Bed-Stuy and the African American experience in Brooklyn.

The kids were quite excited when we told them that the workshop would end with them conducting interviews that would be saved in the BHS collections for perpetuity (We didn’t use the word perpetuity with the 4th graders.). Look for those kids’ interviews (which were great and suprisingly sophisticated) on our podcast. We’ll put them up once we get the parents to sign off on it and have a chance to edit out some of the (long, thoughtful) pauses.

Sady, Excited to be at DeFonte's in Red Hook

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our wonderful lunch at one of Red Hook & Brooklyn’s most famous sandwich joints—DeFonte’s! I was so excited to be there that I got two sandwiches. The first one was a peppers and eggs with cheese and ketchup on a hoagie roll. Delicious, but perhaps a bit of a carb overload. The second (which I saved most of for dinner) was Soprasata, Provelone, and Capicola ham with onions and olives—DELICIOUS! The place is a Brooklyn classic and has been there for years (since 1922!). If you’ve never been down there, GO NOW, and take a bite out of Red Hook history.

Posted in Education, Oral History | 3 Responses »
Tags: BHS, DeFonte's, Education, Oral History, PS 27, Red Hook

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