Working both in the classroom and as a museum educator has given me the opportunity to see curricula come to life from multiple perspectives. This page features two projects. The first is a curriculum I designed as a museum education coordinator for a partnering Memphis high school. The second is a curriculum I co-designed as an elementary teacher partnering with a local art museum.
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K12 Curricula
PROJECT ONE
National Civil Rights Museum
Partnering with Martin Luther King, Jr. College Preparatory Academy
Title: Education Coordinator
June 2014-April 2015
Overview:
As lead curriculum designer, I worked with the museum's education department and the school's teachers to implement an eight week study of the American Civil Rights Movement.
This project incorporated input from the school's superintendent, instructional coach, and teachers as well as the museum's Director of Education, collections staff, tour guides, and interns. I was the project lead which included: researching and writing content, creating PowerPoints, handouts, lesson plans, and discussion questions for teachers, purchasing materials and keeping track of the project budget, delegating research tasks to interns and tour guides, communicating and coordinating with the school to (1) train the teachers on the curriculum, (2) organize a field trip, and (3) implement a day of community service. I created evaluation tools to measure student growth and project success and was featured on a local radio station for a thirty minute interview discussing the project.
The audience was the sophomore class at MLK College Prep. The lessons were designed to be used during a thirty minute homeroom block once per week. Teachers chose how best to present the material to their class from a variety of options I built into the lesson packets.
Our goals were:
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To align with the missions of Martin Luther King, Jr. College Preparatory Academy and the National Civil Rights Museum.
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To provide a framework of lessons on the history of the civil rights movement as it is interpreted in NCRM exhibitions
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To include character education based on the principles of DRIVE (Discipline, Responsibility, Integrity, Vision, and Effort) within the lessons
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To challenge students to be informed and active citizens in promoting civil and human rights.
To tie into the history of the local Frayser neighborhood, I designed lessons and activities to tell the story of the Civil Rights Movement through the theme Economic Justice.
At the end of the partnership, I submitted a report to the museum's president to include a timeline and summary, the budget report, and results of the evaluation. I also presented this project at the national conference for the Association of African American Museums.
View the presentation PowerPoint here.
PROJECT TWO
Treadwell Elementary School
Partnering with Dixon Gallery and Gardens
Title: Art Teacher
January 2017-April 2017
Overview:
The Memphis Advantage is an initiative of Shelby County Schools to partner museums with classrooms to provide students with rich learning opportunities. My school was selected to partner with the Dixon Gallery and Gardens and administration chose me as lead teacher of the project. The Dixon's School Programs Coordinator and I worked together to create and implement the curriculum for Treadwell's fifth grade class.
Our goals were:
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Engage students with contemporary art through the Dixon's temporary exhibition State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now
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Initiate discussion on materials and messages of contemporary art
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Create a collaborative work of art to represent our school at the Dixon
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Work in small groups to create a work of art addressing an issue at our school
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Present the artwork through class critique and public exhibition
The School Programs Coordinator met with my students during our regular class time to brainstorm materials and meanings with prints from the exhibition. All fifth grade students went to the museum to see the works in person and create a part of the collaborative sculpture. For this artwork, each student created two "feathers" to represent our school mascot, the eagle. The feathers were joined together into a sculpture which can be displayed indoors or in the school's learning garden. In the classroom, we held brainstorming sessions and created works of art using a variety of materials to address issues at our school. Students had to present their projects to the class and competed with one another for points on craftsmanship, creativity, and clarity of topic.
At the end of the partnership, we had a small reception at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens. We later exhibited the collaborative piece at our school's art show.
Students put the finishing touches on the collaborative project during the reception at the Dixon.
In the artroom, students share their artwork about an issue at our school.