Hi Class!
I’m not sure about you all, but I have so many thoughts about our trip to the Valentine Museum yesterday! I absolutely loved how the museum was set up by themes rather than a timeline. This made me feel like I was able to fully explore all the different depths of history rather than memorize a timeline of past historical events.
At the end of class, I shared about how one of the artifacts that stood out to me was the rolling pin that was used during the Civil War to break into stores and steal food. This was due to inflation, which made it difficult for people to afford food at higher prices. I was struck by the thought of hundreds of people breaking into stores, using everyday items to smash windows and steal food for survival. I wondered about how a simple object like that was such a huge part of history, and I would not have known about it if we wouldn’t have gone to the museum. I want to know more about the artifacts that intrigued you most! What were they, and is there one thing in the museum you wish you could have gotten to observe more?
I also started to think about how I would incorporate something like this experience into my own teaching and why it is important for students to have their own experience with historical exhibits like the ones we saw together. I would love to take my students on a field trip to a museum in order for them to experience history from a different perspective. When students are given the opportunity to leave the classroom, they are excited about a new “adventure” and will be more engaged in what they are observing. Students will also have an opportunity to become more familiar with physical, primary sources that allow for a different type of learning. I can definitely relate to this because I feel more connected through experiences and visuals than I do through reading textbooks. That being said, I plan on trying to incorporate at least one field trip devoted to history into my school year.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/liven-up-museum-field-trip-stacey-goodman
Above is a website that lists different strategies to get students actively involved while at a museum. Some of the strategies are too old for elementary school ages, however, many of them are adaptable to use in grades K-5 with guidance from chaperones, teachers, and adults working in the museums. I was intrigued by the idea of having groups of students go on a guided scavenger hunt throughout a museum. This would allow students to think of the trip in a more adventurous way while still learning about important historical events. They most likely won’t even realize they are learning! What strategies do you see yourself using if you were to take your class on a field trip to a museum?
I look forward to reading your responses!
-Alexa
Hi Alexa!
Thank you for your thoughtful post, and for completing additional research to help explain your ideas!
I too enjoyed our visit to the museum. Our trip helped me understand how important it is for students to get out of the classroom every once in a while and explore. I still remember going on field trips in elementary school and thinking those were the best days of the year. There were multiple artifacts and objects that caught my eye in the museum, but one stood out to me that I shared in class with you all as well: the banner that says HEAR OUR VOICE. Women from the women’s suffrage movement wore this banner to advocate for their voices to be heard in order to gain the right to vote. This is extremely powerful as it depicts how strong and motivated women were to be awarded equal votes as men. As for teaching students, this banner can be used as a way to educate them on the importance of primary sources as they tell significant stories and convey a powerful message.
The article you linked was very helpful as it gave me a variety of strategies to use when taking my students to various museums. I’m hesitant to use a history textbook during instruction since I always got bored and uninterested reading textbooks as a young student. However, I’m looking forward to developing my student’s social studies knowledge by instructing them to actually visualize certain primary sources and artifacts in person at museums. If I were to take my class on a field trip to a museum, I see myself using the performative reflection strategy. I want my students to be engaged at the museum, not just going through the motions and simply looking at artifacts. I like the idea of having students do a reflection assignment as it ensures they comprehended the importance of the art in the museum.
Hi Alexa!
I also really enjoyed our trip to the Valentine’s Museum. I think that the idea of using big guiding questions and themes can be a great way for younger students to better understand the museum. I also think this is a way to keep students’ attention by keeping them interested in new items all throughout the field trip.
The article provided some great ideas. I really enjoyed the idea of the student becoming the curator. Students being able to explore the museum in a way that is interesting to them allows the students to gain so much more from the experience. After the field trip, many students can become excited about the topic in which they saw, which is a great way to get the students engaged in the project that can follow the topics shown at the museum.
I think a great way to engage younger students could be to have them draw what they see in a journal on the trip. All they would need is a pencil and their journal which could be made by the students. They can draw their favorite portions, what they saw as most interesting, or items that confused them. This allows students to be able to document what they saw and can share it with the class after the trip.
Hi Alexa!
Thank you so much for your post!
I thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the Valentine Museum as well! I too found it incredibly interesting that they decided to separate the museum into big ideas/questions instead of a timeline. I had never seen that before. The artifact that I wish I had more time to explore was the historical house that we toured towards the end. It is easy to conduct textbook readings and Google searches of what life would have looked like in the 1800s, however, there is nothing quite like being offered the opportunity to study it in person. I loved how they were able to set up the rooms as they most likely would have looked at the time and provided examples of the clothes that would have been worn. I wish there had not been construction going on upstairs so that we could have gotten to see more!
I feel as though it is extremely important to include a historical field trip if provided the chance. It was great to change things up, walk around, and converse with our peers while simultaneously learning about history! I agree that the scavenger hunt is also a great idea to get students feeling more excited about field trip! I know that I definitely would have loved it when I was a student. I think one thing to look out for is making sure the students take their time at each exhibit and not just rush through each step. That way they can truly take in their surroundings.
The artifact that most drew my interest at the Valentine Museum was the series of three gourds painted with scenes from the Pamunkey people’s past (one depicting a moment in the peopling of the Americas via Beringia, one depicting the Pamunkey creation myth, and one depicting the poisoning of Opechancanough by the English during the contact period). I am glad that present day American Indian artists such as Ethan Brown continue to honor, make use of, and reinterpret Native mythology in order to explore and make sense of their current experiences, rather than discarding it; for such is the function of mythology in all eras. Particularly I liked seeing the archaeological and mythological geneses of the Indians presented side by side, given equal honor, for though they may seem to contradict each other on the surface, I think these two narratives express two interdependent truths about the place of the Pamunkey in the universe. Whereas archaeologists labor to discover the true history of human groups in relation to each other and the rest of the history of life on Earth, the creation myths of individual peoples, in which they are nearly always autochthonous and kin to the flora, fauna and landmarks of their homeland, express the truth of their relationship to the land and its nonhuman inhabitants.
With regard to museum field trips: I think it is very important to give students structured, interactive activities when taking them on museum visits. The article to which you linked recounted how the author’s students, when left to explore a museum freely, quickly finished with it or got bored and returned to the end-of-trip rendezvous spot, and this is consistent with my experience; although the idea of a museum trip sounds exciting, when I was a student I usually found field trips somewhat tiresome, and wished instead to be back in the classroom, where I would be presented with information directly and given a clear idea of what to do with it! If you just let students explore museums freely, the majority of them whose special interests are not represented in the museum’s collection will have little idea where to begin looking and little motivation to look closely, and will probably absorb almost nothing of what they see (and the minority of students who are highly interested in the museum’s subject matter may look very, very slowly and carefully and end up spending all their time in one corner of the gallery). So it is definitely necessary to give students a scavenger hunt of items to find, or a creative activity for which they must first gather relevant information from the museum’s collection, etc. I particularly liked the suggestion that students be required to think of descriptive adjectives (other than simply “good”/”bad”/”like”/”dislike”) about the items they view, which is a simple and subtle way of encouraging them to develop the capacity for deep analysis of art and artifacts.
Oops, I forgot to greet you. Hi Alexa! Thanks for your post and for sharing this link to some suggested museum activities! Though honestly, it seems unlikely enough that you’ll read this comment.
Hi Alexa, I could feel your excitement in your post and I felt the same about our field trip! I’m sorry to say this is the first time I’ve visited the museum even though I was born and raised right here in Richmond but it definitely won’t be my last. I plan to return to do a more detailed exploration and to prepare for a hopefully class trip in the future. I too, think field trips are great to give students the “IRL” experience of the history we teach in our classrooms. I remember several field trips during my school years – Jamestown, Smithsonian, Monticello and even the Phillip Morris manufacturing plant located in south Richmond. We were able to tour the facility and watch the processing of tobacco from leaves to product. Although most of the products are not good for our health, at that time, Phillip Morris was the largest tobacco company in the US. If I am traveling on I-95 and pass the facility, I still think about that field trip many years later and remember the heavy smell of tobacco that was in the air. It was good to hear everyone’s interesting artifacts which made me realize how much I still need to see, another reason for a return visit. Also, we could point out to the students, other historical sites around the museum. Such as the American Civil War Museum located up the street from the Valentine, it was used as the White House of the Confederacy for Jefferson Davis during the Civil War. Also, the Jackson Ward Historic District is nearby as well as Edgar Allen Poe Museum a little further down Broad Street. All in all, I loved having this experience and can’t wait to share it with my students in the future.
Hello Alexa! Thank you for your response.
I loved the themed element of the Valentine as well! The essential questions and teaching elements of the museum stick out from my other museum experiences. It was way better than memorizing a timeline!
As for your question, I was very intrigued by the display about the clinic that opened in 2022 for gender-affirming care and inclusive primary care! I was very intrigued by the modern moments of history that the Valentine included, and trans people are a population that are so often ignored and prosecuted for living as themselves. I think some of the first steps to fight back against this prosecution is talking about trans issues and the presence of LGBTQ+ folks in our everyday lives. Education defeats ignorance! I do wish I could talk a closer look at the museum pieces that had to do with women’s rights. I was very curious to see the racial makeup of the activists the museum included in their displays.
I really hope to bring my students on field trips! I feel like they’re so important to a child’s experience, especially since they spend most of their younger life learning in a classroom. We as teachers need to take them to learn outside of their schools as well! I really like the idea of a student taking an interest in a particular display and presenting it to their classmates! It allows them to analyze the display, consolidate information for their short presentation, and learn about other exhibits from their peers!
Thank you again for sharing!
Ashley
Hello Alexa!
I also really enjoyed getting to take a trip to the Valentine Museum. The scale of the museum itself was very impressive to me in that the museum was an entire block long. When we went into the home after viewing first part of the tour, I really enjoyed being able to almost peer through a window into the past. Seeing the different types of things which were put in homes in the 1800’s was very interesting, such as how the home did not have a kitchen or bathrooms. The way in which people lived back in these times was so much different than the way in which we live now. To answer your question the artifact I would say that stood out to me the most was the Ku Klux Klan white book. This book especially stood out to me not only because of the historical hatred inherent with this group but the artifact also had printed on the front that the Imperial Palace or headquarters of the KKK was in my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. A fun strategy I could see myself using on my own students is a scavenger hunt where I could ask students to really look deeper at certain pieces of art on display as opposed to others.
Hi Alexa!!
Thank you for your post!
I loved visiting the Valentine and learning more about the history of Richmond! I am so grateful that we had the opportunity to go, or else I am not sure that I would have even known that it existed. I would love to go back again to spend some more time looking through the items they have.
The way they organized the exhibits was unlike anything I had really seen before. I love how they organized it by theme, having a guiding question, and mixing together items from different years, instead of just having everything in chronological order. Organizing by themes really told the story of Richmond’s past, and I appreciated that.
I enjoyed getting to walk through the house, as it really gives you a look into the past. It would be great to take my future class here on a field trip, and let them step into the past and try to imagine a house without electricity, a toilet, and a kitchen inside of it like most of them would be used to.
One of my favorite pieces in the museum was the women’s suffrage sash. I am focusing my multi-genre project around women’s suffrage in Virginia, and it is a great piece to be able to include!
I find it extremely valuable to go on field trips, especially in elementary school. I know that personally, I learned so much more from being able to go explore, and visit places with history, instead of just reading out of my textbook. Museum’s are so much more engaging and enjoyable, especially for young kids. I hope that I can bring my students on many field trips, especially if I am teaching in Richmond, there is so much to explore here! It would be great to take advantage of all the history we have right here and incorporate that into my lessons by being able to visit.
Hey Alexa!
I appreciate your post, I can tell that you were excited to reflect on our experience and had gained a lot of ideas through this trip. I also loved our trip to the Valentine Museum, and I loved getting to explore more in-depth some artifacts that the museum thought was important to utilize to depict the history of Richmond.
I loved all of the discussions we held during our tour – it helped to get me to think about how I can better utilize primary sources and how I can engage students during a museum tour. I think that by organizing the museum into themes provides students with big ideas to think about and have one overarching question to resort back to think deeply about the artifacts and the reason they are on display. One of my favorite displays, as I had mentioned in class, were the gourds provided by the Pamunkey Indian Reservation. I think that this provides a great conversation for older students as to why some items on display may be hotly contested, since some communities have had a lot of precious artwork and belonging stolen from them. The gourds, however, provide a way to display a community’s history and art to the public in a way that does not take anything away from the community.
The article was also a good read; I felt that it led more towards upper elementary into middle and high school, but there are definitely ways to differentiate it down for lower elementary students. I like the idea of asking students to do a performative reflection; I think this provides a good way for students to think deeply about what they are looking at and to think about how it impacts them as they explore it. This is also great way to assess student learning but through a more artistic route that students are not often allowed to utilize, so they may have more fun with this project than others.
Hi Alexa,
I so appreciate you looking into suggestions for taking students to museums. Later in the semester, we planned to visit the VMFA, but that seems to have fallen through. We would have watched a video to prepare for this visit. I think there is much to be learned from it. This video can be found at the Teaching Channel. Note that you need to link through the UR library database to access it. (You will be prompted to login to access it.)
Applying Knowledge at a Museum (8:13) – https://learn-teachingchannel-com.newman.richmond.edu/video/how-students-get-most-from-museum-visit-getty
Changing gears for a moment, one of the things I love about the Valentine is its size and connection to the local community. I also find the way the museum is organized to be incredibly thoughtful and different. I like that it provides so many different glimpses into the daily life of Richmonders, past and present. Even though I’ve been many times before, this trip I was particularly struck by the portrait of James Armistead Lafayette. It raised so many questions for me! Where was his farm in New Kent County? Is his home still standing? What happened to his land and descendants after he died? Did they survive as free people once VA seceded? Images like the portrait can encourage these notice and wonder moments for our students.
Thank you for prompting us to think further about using museums for learning experiences.
Hi Alexa! Thank you for your prompts for our class discussion this week. I felt simultaneously energized and exhausted by our trip.
I grew up in Richmond and like Tera, this was the first time that I’ve ever been to the Valentine Museum, and I definitely plan on returning. There is SO MUCH packed into this museum that I feel like it’s a place where I could spend hours. Like I mentioned in class, I really liked how they organized the exhibits by “big ideas” which I think is really important because other museums typically (but not always) are already organized by theme in their entirety, like the Poe Museum, for example. The Valentine has a little bit of everything and it took me some time to process the things that I had the time to read about and see. The Woolworth’s lunch counter and stools are what I found most memorable because I was so bothered by the fact that the stools and counter looked so modern — and that’s because they are. I started making personal connections and realized that the VUU student sit-in happened sixteen years before I was born. That’s it. I feel like it’s really easy to believe these pivotal moments in history happened so long ago when, in reality, segregation in Richmond was not that long ago at all. And this realization makes me very uncomfortable and very angry.
Alexa, I really liked the article that you shared as well. One thing that stood out is that there is about a two-hour time window for holding students’ attention, and that made me realize how crucial it is to have spent time in the museum beforehand as a teacher, crafting our plans and mentally organizing our vision for the field trip. I think that having a graphic organizer of some sort to help guide learning and organize thoughts is another thing that I plan on incorporating as a teacher. I watched a couple of videos on the Smithsonian Learning Lab site about strategies for using graphic organizers during museum field trips (geared toward upper middle school) and about teaching history through objects (geared toward preschool/lower elementary) that I found helpful. Here are the links to those videos:
https://learninglab.si.edu/resources/view/996009
https://learninglab.si.edu/resources/view/1552960
Thank you again for your recap of our field trip and for sharing your excitement and interest with us through your questions!
Sue Anne
Hi Alexa,
Thank you for your thought-provoking post!
I also really enjoyed my time at the Valentine Museum. I do not think I had ever seen a museum organized like that before. I liked that the themes were broad and encompassed multiple time periods and different cultures.
Like many of our classmates, I thoroughly enjoyed the painted gourds that honored the history and culture of the Pamunkey tribe. Not only were the gourds visually pleasing, I liked that they told a story. It also showed the museum’s dedication to honoring the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). There are far too many museums, The British Museum comes to mind, that blatantly disrespect people’s culture or ignore their wishes for artifacts or remains to be returned to their respective countries or cultural groups. The Valentine was extremely cooperative in ensuring that human remains and objects of importance were returned to the appropriate tribes. It is so important to honor cultures rather than disrespect them, and I think the inclusion of Ethan Brown’s work was a beautiful way to do so.
The article that you linked was really helpful for thinking about the things that students can do while on museum trips. I thought that the performative reflection seemed engaging and offered students the unique opportunity to create their own art. Also, the idea of “performing” in front of the artwork was something I never would’ve considered.
Thanks again for giving us a chance to revisit our museum experience and consider how we would build fun experiences for our students!
Jordann
Hi Alexa!
Thank you for your thoughtful reply and the helpful link!
One of the objects that stood out to me was a wooden table in the back of the room. It immediately drew me in because it looked like any old table so I was curious as to why it was on display. It turned out that the table belonged to Henry Lyons and was a gift to the museum from Mr. John Lyons. What was most interesting about this seemingly ordinary table is that Joeseph C. Mayo (RVA’s major at the time of the Civil War) had a discussion with the citizen’s committee around this table to decide the terms of surrender. On that table, Mayo wrote the letter that surrendered Richmond to the Union army.
Like you, I was most fascinated by ordinary objects like the rolling pin, the pens, and the tables because unless you know the story behind them, you can never really understand the significance of the object.
For the article, I can see myself creating a scavenger hunt for the kids to explore the museum. Oftentimes with younger students, they can get bored with museum trips (I know I did as a kid), but having a list of things to find/look out for not only gets them engaged with the pieces, but it also provides the opportunity for class discussion afterward (“What did you find for question 3”. “Oh that’s interesting, I found ____”. “Where did you find that one?”).
Thank you for your insight!
Carstyn K
Hello Alexa,
It was great walking through the museum witnessing the artifacts through themes instead of a timeline, which removed the chore of remembering a timeline. It is amazing how you picked up on the rolling pin being used as a tool to break into stores to steal food. I enjoyed seeing the bus seat from the boycott, because we had just studied Rosa Parks the week prior to the trip to the museum which allowed me a visual of the bus seat and how small those seats were.
Our learning experience here at UoR is real life learning with hands-on experiences, giving us lots of information that can be used later in our careers. It would be easy to add a tour or use material from the museum in our lesson plans. Students would gain great knowledge from this experience, I agree this trip has given us tools for our classroom.
The tour to the museum was an excellent opportunity to view history first hand to get a better understanding of what type information is collected there. I agree with you concerning having K-5 students go on a scavenger hunt throughout the museum. This would be a learning experience that students will remember for years to come, and have them think of the trip to the museum as something more than just looking at history. A hands-on experience would provide a chance for students to discover more information than just having a tour guide walking through the museum. I agree with your statement that students would not know they were learning while going through the museum.
Thank you Alexa for your post,
Milton