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"Tip of the Week: Online museums"

Enjoy free admission to museums across the country courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine

This interactive online museum is a great resource for history teachers.

This is the front page of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. This website is a lot more than just the site for an art museum. Inside, you can find information about current exhibits, collections, upcoming events, teacher resources, and much more. Over the next few months there are also some special events for high school teachers, including one on October 16th titled "Teaching History through Art." I think it is easy, in most high schools, to forget the importance of art in our society and how it can give a glimpse of our cultural history.

How might teachers use this site?

Art can define elements of our history. I would probably be better able to answer this question if I could attend the seminar on October 16th. Taking a look at a few of the featured exhibitions on the main page of the site, we can already make some history connections. Consider the current Norman Rockwell exhibition. Rockwell provides excellent visualizations of idealized, traditional American society in a broad period, roughly 1913 to shortly before his death in 1978. Rockwell paintings could be used in any kind of lesson plan dealing with either of the World Wars, the Boy Scouts, or the rise of middle-class America in the 1950s. Another lead exhibit on the page is titled The Pond, by an artist whose name currently escapes me. Taking a look at the photos of a pond somewhere in Maryland in the 1980s, the pictures tell a story of forgotten parts of the American wild that are surrounded by urbanization and industry.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY, NY, has scans of a large amount of their collection online. This can be really useful to help students visualize a period of history and make connections between the history they are learning and the people, places, and events involved.

Specific ideas about how the material might be used?

Say what you will about Harry Truman, but his library website has a vast cache of social studies links and resources, organized by topic. Some of the items go beyond social studies and into the realm of homework help and other teaching strategies. You may need to a dig a little bit to find exactly what you are looking for, but you can probably somehow get to it from here.

The National Postal Museum provides several curriculum guides for teachers to use to teach about the history of the postal service, stamps, letter writing, and other historical events relating to the history of communication.

This exhibit from the Smithsonian Museum of American History looks at the American Presidents from how they got elected, life in the White House, and how they communicated with the public. There are primary source artifacts that can be seen for each president.

While not located in the DC area, the Tenement Museum in New York City has a great website. You can dowload primary sources and other great resources. Navigating from this page is helpful.

This is the official website of the Tenement Museum in NYC. I LOVE this museum, and if you have yet to have seen it, I highly recommend visiting the next time you are in the city. I have added this page mostly because of the "virtual tour" you can take of one of their tenements, which could be used as a resource for teachers who cannot take students there in person. They also have a number of primary document lesson plans available for different age ranges. Their exhibits are revealing of the lives led by immigrants in late 19th and early 20th century New York City.

The Harlem Success Academny takes its students on field trips that aim to help students do better on standardized tests by taking them on fields trips to introduce them to subject matter that will be on the test, such as a farm.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is significantly more than just a museum and it is arguably the most thorough site on the Holocaust as well as other acts of genocide. Just reviewing the website and all that it offers can take several hours. Through the education filter, teachers can find complete information on how to teach the Holocaust or other acts of genocide. For example, the site offers online lessons, teacher workshops, essential topics, teaching resources, lesson plans, activities, and a list of common student questions. USHMM site suggests 5 guidelines for teaching the Holocaust, which include defining genocide, investigating the context and dynamics that led to genocide, understanding parallels to other genocides and analyzing American and world responses. A function that I find very useful and interesting is the "Mapping Initiative" filter where one can learn how to use Google Earth to view a Darfur Layer file. This file provides comparisons of before and after views of villages impacted by the ongoing events in Darfur. There is also a section of photographs, videos, and testimonies. In addition the USHMM maintains an archive consisting of wide variety of documents including photographs and films. Lastly, if field trips are a possibility, admission is free and there is a special children's exhibit called Remember the Children: Daniel's Story.

The National Portrait Gallery is one of the Smithsonian Museums in the DC area. The great thing about NPG is that it has resources available online for teachers. There are a variety of school programs and teacher programs but the best offerings are the online exhibitions. It is like having the gallery right there in your classroom. Some of those exhibits include George Washington: A national Treasure, Presidents in Waiting, and A Brush with History. The online exhibits are usable in the classroom directly from a computer or lap top. For example, the George Washington online exhibit begins with a famous portrait accompanied by an audio explanation of the portrait and the symbolic and historical items found within the portrait. Using the portrait as a starting point provides students with a visual association of that person and the historical events surrounding that person. There is also a link to biographical information about Washington and his role in our country's history. The Teacher's Guide associated with the George Washington exhibit includes lesson plans, activities and other teaching ideas; all printable and useable in class. NPG also offers two publications both of which are available on line. "The Patriot Papers," designed for students, features various historical events in an interesting and engaging fashion. For example, there is a "Special Edition on Slavery" featuring information on slavery and the key players involved. One of the articles in this publication is "A Chat with Harried: 1869" and also includes her portrait. The second publication, NPG in your Classroom, provides information to teachers on how to integrate NPG into classroom lessons. There are many more valuable tools on this site such as a "Reading Portraiture Guide for Educators." Check out the site….it is awesome!!!

This website is a great reference page for finding resources based on historical periods.

Smithsonian's History Explorer provides a multitute of resources for teachers including lessons, activities, interactive activities, examples of artifacts, and professional development opportunities for educators. One can easily search for desired resources by selecting the grade level, type of resource desired, and the time period. A variety of American History related subjects are displayed and from that list, one can select the desired resource.