I was in Manhattan recently to see my daughter, Aimee-Rose Willett, perform in a chamber opera called the Yellow Star, the inspiring story of ordinary Danish fishermen who risked their lives to save Jewish friends and family from the escalating terror of the Nazis. Together they braved dangerous crossings to Sweden in small fishing boats seeking safety and asylum. Nearly 8000 people were saved from the ravages of the Holocaust by this act of humanity. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry is a poignant middle-grade novel that relates this stunning story of great personal risk.
The Yellow Star was moving and beautifully told by the composer, Bradley Detrick, sharing a story from a family member and survivor. It is the 75th anniversary of this monumental rescue effort and still timely as evidenced by the fact that when the cast performed the opera at a Jewish Community Center the weekend of the attack at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, they did so under enhanced security. Why do we fail to learn the lessons of history? This entire experience speaks to us as a society about historical literacy, and a sense of urgency and commitment to teaching our students to be thoughtful, responsible and activist citizens of the world.
On this same trip to Manhattan, I visited the Tenement Museum, a thoughtfully conceived experiential learning opportunity, capturing the lives and stories of those who lived at 97 Orchard Street from the mid-1800's until the building closed in 1935. Using public records, census documents and photos donated by family members the tours are developed to immerse the visitor/student in the lives of the inhabitants of the building and the larger community.
With structural safety as a consideration, the foundation and bearing walls have been re-built and re-inforced but little has been changed in the interior allowing you to travel through time looking at the layers of wallpaper, flooring, original windows and more. We learned about an Irish immigrant family, the father working as a waiter, touching a bit on the influence of Tammany Hall and the experience of Irish Catholics in a neighborhood that saw them as outsiders. Has anyone read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith? Many other stories are told on the tours about Sweatshop Workers, Under One Roof, Hard Times and more giving one many reasons for a return visit to this brilliantly conceived and inspiring educational experience. Museums like The Tenement Museum are as much about education as preservation.
As I took in this exciting and ingenious immersion experience I began to think about experiential engagement, material culture, and project-based learning. I have always been a fan of museums for teaching and learning, especially those that foster interaction with the stories and artifacts. Wheeler has a project now that engages students with their family story through a keepsake similar to the Tenement Museum's endeavor called "Your Story, Our Story: objects that tell personal stories of American immigration and migration." Part of the current seventh-grade curriculum, the Folklore Fair, has fostered an opportunity for students to share a family experience through the historical context of a treasured object.
We have a rich material culture with museum opportunities here in Providence. In previous school years, the 7th graders spent a day at the John Brown House and The Rhode Island Historical Society on an engaging walking tour examining the city's connection to Slavery and the Slave Trade organized by Becca Hunsicker, the seventh-grade History teacher. Some students, as part of their French class with Madam Greenberg, visit the Museum of Work and Culture to understand the 19th French Canadian migration to New England.
These are all the components of an exciting experiential learning initiative that could be molded into an opportunity for inquiry and project-based learning building on historical literacy and laying the groundwork for future excursions into the city in eighth grade and the CitySide immersion project. Could this idea be the bridge leading our students from the important stories of the past into the neighborhoods of the 21st century? While we have a responsibility to engage students in the cultural and social constructs of today, helping them to become advocates for understanding and change, so too must we help them engage with the important stories of the people who built these neighborhoods. Providence has many stories to tell. How exciting would it be to have our students propose a Tenement Museum for this city that would bring understanding and appreciation for the lived experience of those who came before?
On this same trip to Manhattan, I visited the Tenement Museum, a thoughtfully conceived experiential learning opportunity, capturing the lives and stories of those who lived at 97 Orchard Street from the mid-1800's until the building closed in 1935. Using public records, census documents and photos donated by family members the tours are developed to immerse the visitor/student in the lives of the inhabitants of the building and the larger community.
With structural safety as a consideration, the foundation and bearing walls have been re-built and re-inforced but little has been changed in the interior allowing you to travel through time looking at the layers of wallpaper, flooring, original windows and more. We learned about an Irish immigrant family, the father working as a waiter, touching a bit on the influence of Tammany Hall and the experience of Irish Catholics in a neighborhood that saw them as outsiders. Has anyone read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith? Many other stories are told on the tours about Sweatshop Workers, Under One Roof, Hard Times and more giving one many reasons for a return visit to this brilliantly conceived and inspiring educational experience. Museums like The Tenement Museum are as much about education as preservation.
As I took in this exciting and ingenious immersion experience I began to think about experiential engagement, material culture, and project-based learning. I have always been a fan of museums for teaching and learning, especially those that foster interaction with the stories and artifacts. Wheeler has a project now that engages students with their family story through a keepsake similar to the Tenement Museum's endeavor called "Your Story, Our Story: objects that tell personal stories of American immigration and migration." Part of the current seventh-grade curriculum, the Folklore Fair, has fostered an opportunity for students to share a family experience through the historical context of a treasured object.
We have a rich material culture with museum opportunities here in Providence. In previous school years, the 7th graders spent a day at the John Brown House and The Rhode Island Historical Society on an engaging walking tour examining the city's connection to Slavery and the Slave Trade organized by Becca Hunsicker, the seventh-grade History teacher. Some students, as part of their French class with Madam Greenberg, visit the Museum of Work and Culture to understand the 19th French Canadian migration to New England.
These are all the components of an exciting experiential learning initiative that could be molded into an opportunity for inquiry and project-based learning building on historical literacy and laying the groundwork for future excursions into the city in eighth grade and the CitySide immersion project. Could this idea be the bridge leading our students from the important stories of the past into the neighborhoods of the 21st century? While we have a responsibility to engage students in the cultural and social constructs of today, helping them to become advocates for understanding and change, so too must we help them engage with the important stories of the people who built these neighborhoods. Providence has many stories to tell. How exciting would it be to have our students propose a Tenement Museum for this city that would bring understanding and appreciation for the lived experience of those who came before?