Performance Counts, July 2015: Education at the JMM – A Year in Review
The beginning of summer marks the end of the school year- the time when the education department reviews its activities of the past year to see how our programs and resources have the impacted students, teachers and adult audiences. We wanted to take the opportunity to share some of our accomplishments with you.
Number of Students: We are pleased to report that we had a successful year serving close to 4600 area school students from Maryland public, independent, and parochial schools (including Jewish day and congregational schools). Our breakdown of school attendance is as follows:
Public Schools
| District | Students Served | Number of Schools |
| Baltimore City | 1855 | 16 |
| Baltimore County | 134 | 4 |
| Frederick County | 76 | 1 |
| Howard County | 23 | 1 |
| Montgomery County | 42 | 1 |
| Prince Georges County | 42 | 1 |
Independent and Parochial Schools and Others**
| District | Students Served | Number of Schools |
| Anne Arundel County | 47 | 1 |
| Baltimore City | 855 | 19 |
| Baltimore County | 37 | 2 |
| Carroll County | 5 | 1 |
| Frederick County | 31 | 1 |
| Harford County | 250 | 1* |
| Montgomery County | 15 | 1 |
*Outreach program at John Carroll High School where area high school students from more than a dozen schools participated in Lessons of the Shoah.
** We had visitors from Central High School –Philadelphia, PA and Stockton University- Galloway, NJ
Jewish Day and Congregational Schools
| District | Students Served | Number of Schools |
| Anne Arundel County | 44 | 1 |
| Baltimore City | 124 | 4 |
| Baltimore County | 561 | 5 |
| Harford County | 14 | 1 |
| Howard County | 124 | 5 |
| Montgomery County | 67 | 3 |
| Prince Georges County | 28 | 1 |
| Other*** | 82 | 4 |
*** Visitors were from Washington DC, Forest Hills, NY, and Diller Teens from Ashkelon, Israel
Educational Programs and Activities
T he JMM education department continues to provide high quality educational resources that align with Common Core goals and objectives that enhance the social studies curriculum. Education programs include field trips and tours of our historic synagogues and changing exhibitions, and outreach programs in the classroom such as our successful Immigrant’s Trunk living history program (students learn about immigration history through dramatic one-person plays based on the real lives of real life immigrants who settled in Baltimore in the early 20th century). Other programs include enrichment activities such as art projects and creative writing workshops. We also have History Kits and archival explorations on a number of topics available for school groups.
The Amazing Mendes Cohen Education Activities
Using puzzle pieces as the motivation and hook for students- the education department created two separate activities for both elementary/middle school and high school groups using puzzle pieces to engage students. Our younger visitors were given blank puzzles and explored their own identity using the puzzle pieces from the exhibition describing different attributes of Mendes Cohen. How was Mendes Cohen a family man? How are you part of a family? How was Mendes Cohen a patriotic American? How are you a patriotic American? Where did Mendes Cohen travel? Where have you travelled? How was Mendes Cohen a civic advocate? What are some ways that you demonstrate being a civic advocate? The students loved filling in their puzzle pieces and then putting the actual puzzles together and sharing with their friends and family.
The older students were also given an activity that involved looking at the puzzle pieces describing the attributes for Mendes Cohen. They were challenged to find the supporting evidence in the text panels of the exhibit to help them understand the many facets of Mendes Cohen. In addition to these activities, all of the students enjoyed the interactive activities in the exhibit- especially the powder magazine and the world map stringing activity.
Students loved racing against the clock to ensure that the powder magazine did not explode and learning about the names of countries and cities throughout Europe and the Middle East where Cohen travelled. Another exhibit highlight for students was the section of the exhibit where they learned about the story of Cohen creating a flag for his trip down the Nile, viewing the actual flag he created and then making their own flag to hoist up the mast. In addition, to these activities done in conjunction with the exhibit, the education staff put together a curriculum for teachers that includes lesson plans for elementary , middle and high school audiences.
Living History Performances:
Both school and adult groups scheduled living history performances both on-site at the Museum and at offsite venues throughout the year. These living history performances, portrayed by professional actors, tell the story of actual Jewish immigrants to Baltimore. Below is a breakdown of performances this year.
| Living History Character | Number of Performances | Audience |
| Ida Rehr | 18 | 790 |
| Bessie Bluefeld | 5 | 322 |
| Mendes Cohen | 16 | 836 |
| Saul Bernstein | 1 | 26 |
Professional Development for Teachers and Museum Professionals
Professional development for teachers continues to be an important component of our educational program. We served more teachers this past year than in FY 14 (503 in FY 15 as compared to 439 in FY 14) with workshops devoted to topics including immigration and American history, world religions, Holocaust, and working with primary sources. Our annual Summer Teachers Institute remains a popular professional development opportunity for teachers. Below is the breakdown of districts and those served.
| District | Number of Workshops | Audience |
| Baltimore City | 3 | 90 |
| Baltimore County | 1 | 40 |
| Harford County | 4 | 157 |
| Prince Georges County | 2 | 170 |
| Montgomery County | 1 | 45 |
In addition to these workshops, the JMM education staff attended and facilitated two workshops at the AASLH – American Association of State Local History Museums in St. Paul, MN and also the MSCSS – Middle States Council for Social Studies in Gettysburg, PA.
Kudos to our Volunteer Docents and Museum Educators:
The education department has been privileged to work with committed volunteer docents and museum educators throughout the year in an effort to facilitate our education programs. Kudos and thank you to volunteer docents Barbara Cohen, Harvey Karch, and Lois Fekete in working specifically with our school age audiences. Special thanks to the amazing museum educators who have also helped promote our education programs. … Virginia Steiner, Jessie Gordon, Arielle Kaden, Emma Glaser, Sean Schumacher, Carolyn Bevans, Kelly Suredam, Abby Krolik and Graham Humphrey.