Final Report on School and Teacher Programs
A visit to the Museum can change the way you look at life.
Education at the Museum of Jewish Heritage For a student visitor, a trip to the Museum can affect the way the student perceives history and his or her role in it. Many of the artifacts that students see in the Museum are familiar objects similar to ones they have in their own homes. Through dialogue, Gallery Educators help students find their places in history. To see students captured by an artifact, to watch their faces as they absorb the story of the Holocaust or to hear them pose a question is evidence of their engagement with the Museum’s content. It is our hope that a student who visits the Museum leaves with a better understanding of the diversity of Jews and Jewish life, a better understanding of the history of the Holocaust, and a heightened consciousness of the danger of stereotypes and prejudice. Although students spend only a short time at the Museum, it is our belief that the conversations they have while they are here can create a lasting impact. The topics that students explore during their visits are varied — from immigration, to Nazi racism, to Jewish culture — and each of these has the power to change the way in which a student views the world, if discussed with seriousness and within context. We hope students will continue the conversation begun at the Museum with their peers and families. The Museum’s 2013-2014 school year was characterized by ongoing dedication to serving students and teachers with exceptional educational programs, reaching new constituents through partnerships and innovative media, and doing preparatory work to strengthen relationships with particular communities in the coming year. Thank you for your ongoing support. I look forward to our work together in the coming year. To learn more about the Education Department and our programs, please contact me. Elizabeth Edelstein, Director of Education eedelstein@mjhnyc.org 646.437.4274
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By the Numbers During the 2013-2014 school year:
47,030 students
217
hours
Public Schools
70% student visitors from public schools
professional development provided to teachers
toured the Museum
990 in 5,000+ teachers23 students on buses funded by generous donors
countries
used Coming of Age online curriculum
50
schools across the Northeast Lipper Internship Partners
Middle and High School Students
81%
student visitors from middle and high school
11
former interns now Museum staff
57%
student visitors from NYC
Programs Tours Serving as a vital resource for teachers, the Museum taught 47,000 students the history they are required to learn in order to meet local and national educational standards. Small groups of students in guided, dialogue-based tours engaged with the Museum’s content. Close examination of the artifacts sparked a desire to discover their stories, enlivening history education for students.
Gallery Educators led
3,920 tours
“It is one thing to read about the Holocaust but actually seeing the artifacts and trying to at least feel what these people must have gone through … it changes your view of history. These people had feelings and they were humans, too, not just words in a book.” — Monette St. Hilaire, 9th grade, Brooklyn College High School Academy
for small groups of 12 students through the galleries this year.
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Yemei Iyyun Challenging students to address difficult issues raised by the Shoah through intellectually meaningful and age-appropriate study, the Museum offered 17 day-long programs of study for students in Jewish schools this year. Designed in partnership with classroom teachers for each school, yemei iyyun helped students understand the significance of the Holocaust for Jewish “I really learned from this day of study. identity and for world history through gallery It gave me strength to know how much hope these people had. I also think that study, lecture and discussion, examination of I will apply these ethics to my life.” texts, and Holocaust survivor testimony. — 12th grader, Yeshiva University High School for Girls
1,500 students participated in yemei iyyun this year.
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Interfaith Living Museum Creating opportunities for friendship and understanding between Jews and Muslims through the Interfaith Living Museum, we brought together fifth graders from two Jewish and two Islamic day schools over the course of a semester to study family artifacts from their respective religions and heritages and develop a mini-museum. This year we worked with the same four schools we have worked with for the past three years (Islamic Leadership School in the Bronx, Solomon Schechter School of Manhattan, Al Ihsan Academy in Queens, and Kinneret Day School in Riverdale). Research about improving relationships between groups in conflict, carried out by Juliana Schroeder, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology and business, and Jane L. Risen, an associate professor of behavioral science, both at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, and reported in the New York Times on August 22, 2014, demonstrated that young people “who were able to form just one close relationship with someone from the other group were the ones who developed the most positive attitudes toward the other group.” We believe this supports the underlying mission of the Interfaith Living Museum, a program we have offered every year since 2006.
90
jewish and muslim students
“I thought the other kids would be different somehow, but besides dressing a little differently, they were just like us. I learned that you can make friends with anyone and that you don’t judge people by religion. The best part of all was when we expressed our culture to each other.” — IFLM Student
got to know each other through the Interfaith Living Museum this year.
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Internships Lipper Internship Reaching beyond the Museum’s immediate geographic area, the Lipper Internship taught college students to present a three-part classroom lesson and Museum tour program to public middle and high school students across the Northeast. The Lipper Internship served 7,000 students this year; students who would otherwise not have had the opportunity or the means to visit the Museum in New York City. The Lipper Internship also provided a growth opportunity for the Interns, many of whom go on to pursue academic or professional interests related to their experiences teaching about Jewish heritage and the Holocaust.
Students at first-time Lipper schools reported increased levels of engagement and higher academic expectations on NYC DOE student surveys.
“Many of my students told me that this was the most important experience of their high school career. Many of them have never been to a museum before. I cannot thank you enough, as we could never have visited the Museum of Jewish Heritage without the Lipper Internship program.” — History teacher Robin Sweezy, Hope High School, RI
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High School Apprenticeship Program Recognizing the importance of peer learning, the High School Apprenticeship Program prepared 15 NYC public school students of diverse backgrounds to lead tours about Jewish heritage for young summer day camp visitors. The program also fostered college and careerreadiness by engaging the Apprentices in a semester-long program of study, followed by fulltime paid employment in the summer. As the Apprentices rotated throughout the Museum’s departments, they invigorated the daily routine of the Museum offices with a spirit of inquiry and the excitement of discovery resulting from the close mentoring relationships between staff and Apprentices.
High School Apprentices received
235 hours
“My favorite thing is hearing what kids learned from a tour at the end of it. Hearing that they want to come back and learn more is the greatest gift for any gallery educator or tour guide.” — High School Apprentice Shafin Zaman, Brooklyn Technical High School
of career-readiness preparation at the Museum.
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Professional Development Supporting teachers in their responsibility to provide high levels of student learning, the Museum offered professional development opportunities throughout the year. By tailoring programs to meet teachers’ needs, we ensured that students received quality education about Jewish history. Professional development workshops and courses provided historical content and pedagogical methodology for teachers of all grades from public, Jewish, Catholic, and independent schools.
1,120 teachers
attended professional development workshops and courses this year.
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“This course provided me with what I sought — a clearer, deeper, broader, and more thorough understanding of how this calamitous set of events happened. The course has left an indelible impression on me and will guide my instruction to my students. I will use the Museum’s many online resources and bring my students to the Museum.” — Ronald Williams, NYC DOE high school teacher
Gallery Educators Helping visitors make connections between what they see in the galleries and their own lives, Gallery Educators, the Museum’s volunteer docents, led tours this year for 47,030 students and 2,820 adults. This year we welcomed 24 new Gallery Educators to our roster of active volunteers. The vast majority of the dedicated and passionate corps of about 250 Gallery Educators has volunteered with the Museum for several years. We offered five in-service seminars to ensure that the Gallery Educators are provided with current research and, in this way, present the highest quality tours for visitors.
100%
of teachers
who brought their students for tours reported that Gallery Educators advanced their students’ understanding of the history of the Holocaust.
“The tour made me think about what I could do in the world today, including standing up for what I believe in.” — Carly Udicious, 8th Grade, St. Thomas More School
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Speakers Bureau Fulfilling our mission to serve as a “Living Memorial,” we arranged for nearly 150 opportunities for students and adults to hear from Holocaust survivors across the tri-state region this year, in intimate classroom-sized groups or auditoriums of hundreds. Responding to the urgency to create as many opportunities as possible, we introduced a monthly program called the Sunday Speaker Series. This series began in March and takes place on the first Sunday of each month for walk-up visitors. Our talks feature Holocaust survivors and WWII veterans. Speakers usually address 10 – 40 enthralled Museum visitors at these events. Providing a meaningful day of commemoration on April 28, Yom HaShoah, we were fortunate to welcome nine artifact donors, who spoke with more than 400 students and other visitors in the galleries about their artifacts and their experiences.
7,770
students & 970 adults
heard testimony from members of our Speakers Bureau this year.
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“She is a remarkable, dynamic woman. To hear her account of survival brings the reality of cruelty and hatred to life, as well as the qualities of strength and resilience. I learned so much history from her and look at life differently now. I was moved and enlightened by her presence and words.” — D. Pignata, Staten Island
Online Our Coming of Age During the Holocaust, Coming of Age Now website attracted more than 100 teachers to register and thousands of other users by featuring compelling stories and videos of 13 survivors who share their experiences about life before, during, and after the Holocaust. These stories are integrated with artifacts and primary sources for investigation, writing, history, and geography activities, timelines, and maps as well as moderated online student discussions. Visit www.comingofagenow.org to learn more. The Living Museum® teaches fifth and sixth grade students in Jewish schools how they can connect to Jewish history and their family heritage through the study and presentation of their family’s artifacts. The website, www.living-museum.org, now features 68 Living Museum school exhibitions, 10 of which were added this year. Bringing the Museum into the homes of homebound senior citizens, we partnered with Selfhelp Community Services to offer five live internet workshops with Museum staff. Using innovative software, the Virtual Senior Center allowed for face-to-face conversation — and they were lively conversations! — centered around themes of immigration, rescue and refuge, highlights of the Museum’s collection, Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, Judaism, and Jewish life.
80 homebound senior citizens
got to know the Museum by registering for five Virtual Senior Center workshops offered by Museum staff through Selfhelp Community Services.
“Your class, which showed exactly all the various and brave ways Jewish rebellion and resistance were waged in Europe, helped me to understand the topic and feel proud.” — Virtual Senior Center class participant
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Looking Ahead An act that is done to prepare for a mitzvah is called a hechsher mitzvah. Some people maintain that the preparation for the mitzvah is so important that it is almost considered a mitzvah itself. This concept of a hechsher mitzvah is helpful in describing a significant portion of our work in 2013-2014. In addition to our engagement in new programs this year — our Sunday Speaker Series and the Virtual Senior Center — we worked on initiatives that will debut during the next school year. This year our version of hechsher mitzvah included continuing work on the development of a special project of the NYC DOE Office of School Programs and Partnerships. This project is the creation of a mobile teaching application resource, focused on immigration. The “App” will be made available for free to the public. The goal of the project is to create a one-stop place for teachers to access a wide range of texts, images, and instructional resources that focus on immigration, circa 1850-1920. By linking primary and secondary sources, instructional strategies, suggested teaching activities, and performance tasks in a single digital application, the App will promote historical thinking analysis and rich disciplinary literacy practices. Work on the App is ongoing and the NYC DOE anticipates making it available in the coming school year. Another program for which the concept of hechsher mitzvah seems fitting, is our work during 2013 – 2014 to prepare tours of the Museum in American Sign Language (ASL). Tours led by Deaf museum educators will allow the ASL community to fully experience what the Museum has to offer. This year we sought and obtained funding, contracted with a consultant, recruited Deaf museum educators, developed study materials, and began tour practice. Tours and programs for the ASL community will begin in October 2014. We look forward to reporting on these programs in next year’s report. Building on our extensive experience deepening visitors’ understanding of Jewish history, our objective for the coming year is to widen the community that takes full advantage of the Museum’s offerings. In addition to the initiatives described above, we will strengthen our service to Charedi and non-Charedi Jewish schools. This school year, on the advice of Charedi school educators, we will develop supplementary material for our work with in the galleries with Charedi student groups. Concurrently, to support other day and congregational schools, we will implement outreach efforts to increase diversity of representation at the Museum’s professional development workshops by teachers from non-Charedi schools.
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Grateful Acknowledgements School and Teacher Programs at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust were made possible through the generous support of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany: Rabbi Israel Miller fund for Shoah Research, Documentation and Education; the EGL Charitable Foundation; Fanya Gottesfeld Heller; the David Himelberg Foundation in memory of David and Rose Himelberg; Patti Askwith Kenner; Heda Lieberman Memorial Fund for Education; Metzger-Price Fund; the Museum Community Fund; The Pinkerton Foundation; The Leo Rosner Foundation; Sol Rosenkranz and Family Fund; The Slomo and Cindy Silvian Foundation, Inc., USA; the Sue Wilder Charitable Fund at Our Fund, Inc.; and the Zoffer Family Endowment.
Photography: All photographs by Melanie Einzig except for those on pages 5 and 15, taken by Elizabeth Edelstein, and page 11, taken by Bonnie Unger.
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