Museum Planning Guide by Mayra Almaraz

"Participate Curriculum"

2025-06-24 18:14:52 UTC

Plan for the trip to be within the first unit because you can take advantage of the identity, and community exploration. That way there is a genuine connection with the early work in the year and you have the energy to actually plan a trip. You can also explore power and what that means for individuals and community, which is also at the beginning of the partipate curriculum.

Differentiated Document Analysis Worksheets from the National Archives

crdibiase — 2025-06-24 18:15:06 UTC

These document analysis worksheets (available for upper and lower grades and in English and Spanish) scaffold the cognitive work of observing, analyzing, and interpreting documents. During a visit to the National Museum of Mexican Art, the teacher can distribute clipboards and worksheets to students and assign partnered analysis of pieces from specific galleries in the museum.

How to make connections

2025-06-24 18:15:16 UTC

Establishing and implementing a framework as to how students can connect to the themes and ideas presented in the museums, even if they are not directly reflected in the exhibits

“Social-Emotional”/historical vocabulary

2025-06-24 18:15:32 UTC

Front loading vocabulary/terms students will hear during the visit will help them better understand tour guides or the context of the exhibits. Additionally, it will be useful for during visit or after visit activities like asking relevant questions or writing/sharing reflections. This is especially useful for EL students.

For Mexican Museum:

Identity
Culture
Chicano
Indigenous
Assimilation
Migration
Resilience
Nahuatl
Incarceration
Community
Artivism

**Examen the changing map of “Meso-America” to modern Mexico.

Scavenger Hunt

2025-06-24 18:17:16 UTC

Students receive a list of things to look out for so they stay engaged and learn. This can connect directly to the essential question or central theme - maybe help them generate ideas on how to answer/engage with it.

Frontloafing

jschurgin — 2025-06-24 18:17:29 UTC

Before the visit, students should be given a brief introduction to mexican-american history and some important themes to consider before the visit. In addition, using a low-stakes research project to get students exploring on their own will help create connections between the museum and their learning experience, and help them gather questions for the guide

mayraCLC — 2025-06-24 18:17:33 UTC

NMMA: I am thinking that perhaps for Unit 1: Identity, students can write or curate their own "Origin Story." They can look at superheroes' origin stories, creation stories from various cultures, and then they can visit the museum. They can see how the museum carefully curated the "Nuestras Historias" exhibit, and they can use this to help them create their own "Origin Story Exhibit."

Exploration on immigration on American identity

homanaidan — 2025-06-24 18:18:00 UTC

Within a civics class, students will explore the ideas of immigration in the United States Students will focus on salad bowl vs melting pot and why the terminology has changed in American jargon. Before the museum trip, students could explore their own identities and how their family history fits within American history -- possibly doing a family research project?

Historical Context

2025-06-24 18:18:10 UTC

Doing research and specific lessons in order to contextualize the importance of the exhibit/museum/visit as well as the specific people and identities expressed or not expressed. Be intentional leading up to the visit about how this visit will add onto their research and knowledge

Pre-Teaching Unit Concepts

2025-06-24 18:18:47 UTC

Introduce concepts:

Nation State

Cultural diffusion

Migration

Colonization

Resistance

Identity

Organization

Labor

Social hierarchies

Immigrant Experiences

Borders / nationalism

Introduce Mexican Culture as a "melting pot" culture.

How long did it take to develop that culture? What are the ingredients that went into it, at what time? What was the "recipe" that led to the creation of what we now know as Mexican culture?

Reflect

2025-06-24 18:18:54 UTC

What is missing? Whose perspective is seen/not seen? What are some questions you still have? Where do you think you can find the answers?

Reflection

jschurgin — 2025-06-24 18:19:16 UTC

Through journaling and/ or a circle chat, students will have the opportunity to summarize their experiences and feelings about their visit to the museum. They can share new information they learned, connections they made, and other highlights of the trip in an informal assessment of the day.

Have students select one artifact from the museum that most resonates with them.

mayraCLC — 2025-06-24 18:19:28 UTC

Complimenting the Visit

2025-06-24 18:19:50 UTC

Looking at primary sources that compliment/add to the themes/ideas from the museum to allow students to gain deeper understanding

Pre-Reflection?

2025-06-24 18:19:54 UTC

CPS' planning tool suggests teachers take time to reflect on "your students and your own Identity, Relationships, and Communities to better prepare for the experience." I wonder if asking students to reflect on these key concepts well before a visit could help structure the learning experiences during the visit. For example, a teacher might choose an exhibit, piece, or installation to model viewing/engaging based off what student responses to a reflection prompt suggests will best capture their interest or leverage their existing community or relationship connections. I keep thinking of when Gilberto said that Chicago's broader history helped produce a "very specific kind of Mexican community" and how the NMMA pieces reflected that in different ways. I like the way he introduced each room in the gallery around a specific piece and I think reviewing students' reflections might help choose which pieces would be most productive for them to engage with before they begin their own exploration.

The Recipe

2025-06-24 18:20:58 UTC

Study on the construction of identity and culture through cultural diffusion, migration, colonization, religion, social and political structures, through the lens of the "melting pot".

study of pre-colonial Mexico->Colonial Period -> Mexicanization -> Revolution -> Annexation-> Migration ->Diaspora -> resistance to assimilation, incarceration and labor

Students will create a "recipe" (timeline") and "ingredients" (cultural factors) using a pre-made work sheet. They will collect the major historical moments, political movements, colonial impacts, and various cultures and events that contributed over time.

Demonstrating learning through creative art

crdibiase — 2025-06-24 18:22:34 UTC

A field trip to the National Mexican Museum of Art provides students with tons of examples of how people across time and space can express their ideas, emotions, and perspectives through creative arts. Throughout a course, Social Studies teachers can engage students by providing meaningful choices about how students will demonstrate their learning (such as through creating art, including sketches, drawings, paintings, fiber arts, murals, and so on). Thus, a field trip can serve as a source of exemplars, inspiration, and understanding they probably won't find in a textbook.

Understanding Mexican immigration as an example of this immigrant identity

homanaidan — 2025-06-24 18:22:46 UTC

During the visit, students can take pictures and take notes to use on a final project that answers the question 'how has immigration contributed to the 'American identity?'

ALSO maybe what could be so cool would be to look at intergroup solidarity to achieve goals (all Latin American country immigrants coming together for farm worker solidarity perhaps) but I have no idea how to fit that in. Could be an interesting take on class solidarity?

Guided tour

jschurgin — 2025-06-24 18:23:06 UTC

For students, a guided tour is crucial. I cannot understate the many benefits of having a knowledgable guide to help students focus in the most important parts of a museum. In addition, I would encourage students to bring a sketchbook or notebook to jot down ideas or draw things that inspired them at the museum.

Collecting Experiences

2025-06-24 18:23:24 UTC

Due to the way that CPS framed Participate, there are a lot of opportunities for kids to practice speaking and engaging with their peers. You can have kids collect photos of their favorite pieces in order to get them to present to their peers.

Questions about:

Name of the piece, and artist

what stood out to them?

How did they feel?

What aspect of their identity connects to the piece?

As an extension, kids can also explore other pieces from an artist and collect more information about the artist to teach others.

Thank You Letter to Staff

mayraCLC — 2025-06-24 18:24:15 UTC

Students can write thank you letters or emails about what they enjoyed from the museum visit.

Further contextualize and utilize the visit

2025-06-24 18:24:45 UTC

Further contextualize and utilize the visit by asking them to recall something specific, an artifact or person or exhibit, do further research on that topic, and present their findings to the class. Especially helpful for something like the Hull House which went through many unfortunate reductions in information.

Assessment

2025-06-24 18:25:04 UTC

Using their notes from the museum visit, students will reflect, synthesize and share their information into a "recipe" type post, explaining the Mexican "melting pot"

They will open with a reflection on their time at the Museum, and provide an introduction to Mexican culture and the Mexican Diaspora. Then they will use their notes to write the recipe, explaining major movements in the timeline, most impactful factors, important historical figures, major events, various cultures, geography, etc. that go into the Mexican identity.

Possible extension activity- What is the "recipe" for your culture? Can you explain it or encapsulate it in a way that could be explained to others? What are the major ingredients?

Online Museum Exploration

mayraCLC — 2025-06-24 18:25:34 UTC

Students can check out the museums' websites to learn more about the museum, their mission statement, and other pertinent information.

Family history/Mexican Immigration project

homanaidan — 2025-06-24 18:26:36 UTC

Using their notes and their family history, students could draw upon varied facets of the immigration experience to answer the question how immigration has contributed to the American identity. The intention behind this is to demonstrate that all citizens are immigrants and all immigrants have unique perspectives to offer that enhances the U.S.

avoiding packets, if possible

2025-06-24 18:27:25 UTC

Encourage students to track their learning through drawings, notes, voice memos, etc., answering what they observe, what they gravitate to, what captures their interest and why, why is it important for this to be documented, what groups of people/identities are related, etc.. Almost reminiscent of annotations

alternative art activity

2025-06-24 18:28:00 UTC

I really like the idea of asking students to complete an "alternative art activity" after a visit. I think the NMMA's Puntada del alma exhibit had some incredible examples of artwork created in conversation with the museum's permanent collection. What we we asked students to engage in a similar kind of artistic dialogue, where they created something inspired by or in relation to one of the pieces they viewed? I think this kind of open ended activity might work well because you could give students different options: they might expand on themes of identity, or make political art about an issue in their present community in response to a model from a prior moment of struggle, or something else entirely, there are many "models" for response you could create to guide them.

Taking Informed Action

2025-06-24 18:29:00 UTC

One option could be having kids explore other pieces from an artist in the museum and collect more information about the artist to teach others and to learn about their fight through art.
In my Special education classes I've seen that a lot of my students love art and because of this I love the idea presented in CPS' Field Trip Guide. That idea would be to : Engage in a class graffiti or alternative art activity on the chosen inquiry question(s). As students engage in this group visual activity, ask them to share and discuss as a group:

Identity Art Gallery

crdibiase — 2025-06-24 18:30:16 UTC

Toward the end of a unit on Identity, students can complete a summative assessment in which they research their personal, family, and community histories, create a piece of art that represents their identities, and compose an explanatory plaque which details both the artist's background and the piece's meaning. Students then display their art around the classroom, creating an art gallery themed around the identities of learners in this course.

Find artifacts in the museum that connects or reminds them of one of the unit themes

2025-06-24 18:32:36 UTC

If allowed have students take pictures of the art that reminds them of some of the themes connected to the unit. Give them a checklist to keep track of which themes they have made connections and a note catcher section to write down their initial thoughts

Identity
Culture
Community
“Citizen”
Etc.

Pre-teaching

2025-06-24 18:35:30 UTC

I think that when we introduce the context of something like the Hull House before visiting, it could be helpful to expand upon certain aspects of the history that are less well covered in the exhibitions/tour. For example, the relationship between recent African American migrants and the settlement house movement. This could help spark questions about the content that we then experience in-person.