PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION ON THE ROAD

“[Francis] Parker believed that “children learned most effectively and enjoyably when they were able to explore the objects and situations in their immediate environments [...] He emphasized conducting field trips to community resources, such as parks, zoos, museums and art galleries.”.

“Experiences that take place outside of the confines of the classroom walls have a range of benefits [...] When we do this, we encounter the world as a whole and are forced to engage multiple modalities, no matter which pair of disciplinary “lenses” we intended to wear.”

With most pandemic-era restrictions lifted, faculty and students could once more draw on the myriad resources – cultural, historical, scientific – in our region. This school year, travel and exploration were again consistent, inherent components of student life.

[ List of trips: bit.ly/burketrips ]

Among the most seasoned travelers were 11th and 12th graders in Maureen’s Advanced Art History course, who dedicated 1-2 classes each month to a gallery venture.

In October, students visited the Contemporary Art Museum of Arlington for a private viewing of Lex Marie’s “Let them kids be kids,” focused on the Black childhood. A mixed media artist, Marie talked about her process, answered questions, and brought students into her studio.

In March, students delved into the museum formation process. At the National Museum of the American Indian, they observed educational material, architectural plans, and curatorial notes, which informed their Indigenous Americas project: creating their own museum to house an unique Indigenous American collection of art and architecture.

Other trips included a study of linear perspective (a technique revived by Brunelleschi in the early 1400) at the National Gallery’s Italian Renaissance wing and modern art in the East Wing, including works by Alma Thomas and Cy Twombly.

CASE IN POINT: HISTORY BEYOND DC

For the first time since 2019, the 8th grade traveled to Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma, Alabama, for a four-day immersion in the Civil Rights Movement in the American South. Not only does the trip give full life to the US History curriculum, students also develop connections to current social issues and build community with their peers and teachers.

On the first day, students and teachers visited 16th St. Baptist Church, Kelly Ingram Park, and Bethel Baptist Church, before meeting with Civil Rights speakers Dr. Martha Bouyer and Dr. Carolyn McKinstry, who survived the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing in 1963.

The next day, students walked to and over Edmund Pettus Bridge (the site of Bloody Sunday in 1965 and a key point on the Selma to Montgomery Marches), then visited the National Voting Rights Museum and Montgomery Interpretive Center at Alabama State. The third day included the Rosa Parks Museum and Library, Civil Rights Memorial at Southern Poverty Law Center, the Alabama State Capitol, and Freedom Rides Museum.

Before returning home to DC, the group delved into The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration at Equal Justice Initiative, “situated on a site in Montgomery where Black people were forced to labor in bondage.” Sasha F. ‘27 voiced a reflective refrain heard from many students, that it was “the best museum I’ve ever been to.”3

Explore: https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/museum