The Museum of Teaching and Learning

The Museum of Teaching and Learning is searching for the mystery donor of these wonderful storybook dolls. Do you recognize them? MOTAL: Storybook Dolls Artifact Article 1... Author: Katie Rutz-Robbins These storybook dolls are made of fabric and represent beloved characters in nursery rhymes and fairy tales. The dolls are between four and five inches tall and from two to four inches wide, depending upon their costumes. They are used as tools to accompany and enhance the stories read to children and stimulate children’s imagination and communication through play. Mother Goose & Miss Muffet This character is a goose dressed as Mother Goose and holding a book of her nursery rhymes. Mother Goose nursery rhymes are of the most well known and beloved children’s poems and are often republished with new illustrations. The origins of Mother Goose are unclear, though some believe she was a widowed woman with the last name of Goose who lived in Boston and sang songs to her grandkids and the neighboring children. However, with French texts in the seventeenth century referring to a Mother Goose, the exact origins of the mysterious mother and her rhymes are uncertain. What we do know is that French author, Charles Perrault, published moral fairy tales and Mother Goose in the late seventeenth century, with the subtitle Contes de ma mère l'Oye or The Tales of Mother Goose. This publication also contained Perrault’s version of the stories of Cinderella, Puss and Boots, and Little Red Riding Hood, among many others. These renditions of the classic fairy tales were intended to communicate morals and cautions to readers and are the most similar to the fairy tales that we often hear today. One of Mother Goose’s popular rhymes is Miss Muffet: Little Miss Muffet. Sat on a tuffet, Eating her curds and whey; There came a big spider, And sat down beside her, And frightened Miss Muffet away. Miss Muffet is depicted in this storybook doll with her bowl of curds and whey a curdled milk dish similar to cottage cheese and the spider on her arm. The identity of the real Miss Muffet is debatable. The rhyme could be referring to the daughter of Dr. Thomas Muffet who was an entomologist in the late sixteenth century. As the story goes, Miss Muffet was eating her meal and was frightened when one of her father’s specimens the notable spider joined her. In this case, Little Miss Muffet would be a description of someone with arachnophobia (irrational fear of spiders). It is also possible that Miss Muffet and the spider represent Mary, Queen of Scots and minister John Knox who had differences during the Scottish Reformation in the sixteenth century. Funding for this article has been provided, in part, by California Humanities and the State of California through the California State Library (Grant Number CC20-3010). To read more articles go to www.motal.org

Happy Valentines Day! We hope your day is filled with love. The MOTAL Team

MORNING Featuring a Day in the Life of PING, A Student in China Part 2. Breakfast today consists of congee (rice porridge) an egg (boiled), an apple (whole), and a glass of milk (soy). Some days it might be a steamed bun filled with meat and a banana with milk, but it would never be cold, boxed cereal.... When Ping fills her backpack, it gets quite heavy (10 to 12 pounds), not because the individual books weigh much, but from SO MANY bookstexts and practice workbooks. Even though each paperback book is quite slim, much like a young child’s paperback picture book in the U.S., they all add up. Students in both China and the U.S. are reading more materials online in recent years, but when American students do have books, they tend to be several pounds each. In addition to her books, Ping carries the following items in her pink Minnie Mouse backpack: a fountain pen for perfect letters in calligraphy white correction tape, so exercises are mistake-free 2 pencils with no erasers 5 tools for math: a ruler, a compass, a protractor, and 2 set-squares a good art eraser (not the pink Pearl so common in the U.S.) a glue stick With her mother, she then must walk down many stairs from the 5th floor, for in China the apartment buildings have no elevator unless there are eight or more floors. Then Ping rides to school on the back of her mother’s electric bicycle. Where once the streets were crowded by bicycles only, cars and other motorized vehicles have taken over. When Ping gets to school, she talks with friends on the school yard. Because she worked many hours on her homework the night before, she does not have to join the classmates busy studying at the edge of the playground. The buzzer will soon signal the time to line up and join her forty-four classmates. They will spend the day together in the same classroom while a wide variety of specialized subject matter teachers engage them in fast-moving lessons, including language lessons in both Chinese and English that started in third grade, but some schools have their students start in first grade. Along with other fourth-grade students in China, Ping will have a busy day full of memorization. By the end of the school year, she will be expected to read 2,500 Chinese characters and write 2,000 characters. So much more can be learned by those fortunate individuals able to visit Two Roads, One Journey!

MORNING Featuring a Day in the Life of PING, A Student in China Dear Reader,...Continue reading

May this new year be filled with happiness, prosperity, and many precious moments with your loved ones. Happy Lunar New Year 2021!

The word trillion rolls off newscasters’ tongues frequently these days, but understanding the magnitude of that actual amount is a challenge for many people, young and old. In addition, as teachers in the U.S. can attest, reading and writing large numerals correctly is a difficult task for students to master. By reviewing some images and concepts, The Museum of Teaching and Learning hopes to help readers and their families deal more meaningfully with the day’s business and g...Continue reading

Ethical Behavior - This is all so relevant today in all professions! MOTAL Artifact - CODE OF ETHICS OF THE TEACHING PROFESSION This official document presents the State of California Code of Ethics for the Teaching Profession. The document in our collection was adopted by the California Commission for Teacher Preparation and Licensing in 1977. It was handed out with the teaching credentials as a reminder for teachers to guide their day-to-day interactions with other people b...Continue reading

Data-Driven - PREPARING FOR A DATA-DRIVEN WORLD By the time today's elementary students enter college, there will be a 30% increase in the number of statistics-related jobs. The need for better familiarity and understanding of numerical data will only increase. The U.S. Census Bureau is the leading source of statistical information about the nation’s people, places, and economy. In addition to providing snapshots of the nation’s population size and growth, the Census Bureau a...lso supplies detailed portraits of the changing characteristics of communities. Statistics in Schools (SIS) is a Census Bureau program that uses census statistics and resources to create activities and materials for students. Teachers and subject matter experts from across the country help develop and review each and every SIS activity to make sure it is valuable, engaging, relatable, and easy to use. These activities and materials boost students' statistical literacy, better prepare them for a data-driven world, and enhance their learning in many subjects. A complete inventory of Statistics in Schools programming can be found at: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/sis.html Parents, caregivers and teachers can also explore this page for at-home and distance learning activities. JUST FOR FUNHALLOWEEN STATISTICS - To view the statistics and full article go to: https://motal.dm.networkforgood.com/emails/data-driven Help us share stories in new places and reach more students, teachers, and community members of all ages in 2021 We would love your opinion on our article! Only three short questions! https://motal.dm.networkforgood.com/fo/motal-questionnaire Help us continue our programing with a MOTAL Membership or Donation! http://www.motal.org/ http://www.motal.org/ #museumofteachingandlearning #statisticsinschool #statistics #halloweenstatistics #DataDriven #DataDrivenWorld

Unforgettable - Make a Family Time Capsule How do you want your children or grandchildren to remember the unprecedented and tumultuous year known as 2020? You can trigger their memories or help them understand the turbulent times that preceded them by creating a time capsulea time-honored tradition. People have purposely or inadvertently buried remnants of their era for at least 5,000 years. Think King Tutor Pompeii. Artifacts from the past build a sense of what went on...Continue reading

A Bell to Remember! MOTAL'S HANDHELD SCHOOL BELL Our artifact collection includes a teacher’s handheld bell that is almost 90 years old. Our bell is 8 inches tall and 4 inches in diameter. It has a wooden handle, a brass body, and an iron clapper with a dense ball that strikes the body to make the bell ring. The clapper is also responsible for the crack in the bell, a condition many bells develop over time. Brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, is commonly used for making bells... of this rather small size. The curved body of the bell consists of the crown, shoulder, waist, and, at the bottom, the lip and mouth. A teacher typically rang a handheld bell to signal students to come inside or to begin and end class; it may be used for other purposes such as getting students’ attention for special announcements. The picture of an old school house shows a similar handheld school bell on the teacher's desk. Donation MOTAL’s bell was donated in 2006 by Robert and Sharon Loeschen. Sharon inherited the bell from her father, who taught in a one-room schoolhouse starting in 1931 while her mother taught at another one-room school at the same time. Then her father taught in a two-room school, also serving as its principal. He continued to be a principal in the 1950s, when the community built a large brick school for all eight grades. Sharon attended that school, and her mother was one of the teachers. A Short History The first bells are believed to be from the 3rd century BC and were made of pottery. These were found to be from the Neolithic period in China (before the use of metal). Around the 2nd century, metal bells were invented using the same metallurgy invented for use as finger cymbals. The process of making a metal bell is called founding. Bells were often used as a way to call attention to the public and to call people to religious ceremonies. In the west, bells were hung in church bell towers and in the public square. Many churches shared the space for the local school so the bell became a way to alert students to the start and end of the school day. Around 1700, two brothers named William and Robert Cor in England invented the handheld bell. These bells were also made as an instrument used in bell choirs. Learn More! If you would like to learn more about the handheld school bell, we recommend the following: "Does This Ring a Bell? School Bells of the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries" https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/-school-bells by Elizabeth Wells, Smithsonian (May 29, 2018) We need your help to share stories in new places and reach more students, teachers, and community members of all ages in 2021. You can make a difference today! Take our survey! https://motal.dm.networkforgood.com/fo/motal-questionnaire The Museum of Teaching and Learning needs you NOW more than ever! https://motal.networkforgood.com//70151-everyday-giving-pa www.motal.org #museumofteachingandlearning #artifacts #handheldschoolbell

Sex Educated - Sex Education: A Rocky Road Many readers will agree that one of the biggest impediments to young people’s educations about human sexuality and reproduction is embarrassment within students themselves, as well as in their parents and their teachers. Talk about sex often promotes feelings of discomfort. Having The Talk is difficult. Nevertheless, schools in the United States have supported many efforts to provide factual knowledge for children in order to e...Continue reading

October's Artifact of the Month! 1940s Spelling & Counting Board How it works Students learning to read and write practiced spelling basic words by sliding the letters around the ring and moving specific letters towards the center. The board allows students to manually and strategically move the blocks around to visualize the words and number problems in a more interactive format than paper and pencil. The front side of the wooden pieces serve as letters and the back side s...erve as numbers for counting and performing basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Through bright colors and graphics, the spelling and counting board encourages students to practice spelling and math in an interesting, interactive way in and out of the classroom. A Brief History MOTAL’s spelling and counting board is from the 1940s and was made in the USA. It consists of a round plastic board with wooden letters, widely used into the 1950s and 60s as an educational tool for the classroom. Spelling and counting boards have helped children practice since the late 1800s and whereas we have one example in our collections, The Smithsonian National Museum of American History has 43 examples from many other eras, both older and newer than ours. Their collection may be found by going to americanhistory.si.edu, visiting the Collections section, and in the search bar typing spelling and counting boards. Spelling activities help with word recognition skills but do not really provide opportunities to learn phonics. Reading instruction over time has oscillated between two different approaches. One is the sound method, associated with phonics and repetition to learn the way words are constructed. The second is the meaning method associated with whole word teaching or sight reading. Recent research leans toward phonics as a teaching method for learning to read and write by understanding the rules of the language, instead of simply memorization of thousands of words. Using phonics, students can learn to read and spell words they have never seen before on a sight words list, through full understanding of the fundamental building blocks of the English language. However, truly competent readers have well-developed comprehension that is helped by many experiences with science, social studies and the world around them, plus many experiences with a variety of writing genres. Prepared by Cecilia Castillo MOTAL Intern Learn More: https://www.thehenryford.org//digital-co/artifact/248030/ https://www.k12academics.com/r/history-reading-education-us https://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20P/historyofreading.html We need your help to share stories in new places and reach more students, teachers, and community members of all ages in 2021. You can make a difference today! Donate Now https://motal.networkforgood.com//70151-everyday-giving-pa http://www.motal.org/ #museumofteachingandlearning #artifacts #spellingboard #education

The Controversy - Columbus Day and/or Indigenous Peoples Day Christopher Columbus is known as the European navigator who attempted to reach the East Indies in order to find riches, especially gold, for the king and queen of Spain. And also for himself. He accidentally landed on a Caribbean island and believing he was in the Indies, named the native people he encountered "Indians," an appellation which has been applied to all indigenous people of North, Central and South Ameri...Continue reading

They/Them and YOU! Embracing Language Change If you had a traditional public education in the United States, your English classes emphasized correctness. You may have even diagrammed sentences to portray the relationships among the various words and sentence parts. One of the hardest tasks can be keeping pronouns straight because they depend on which noun(s) they represent and how they appear in sentences. Subjects and objects require different pronouns. Pronouns may also in...Continue reading

The Importance of Play for All Ages! Think about how great it felt to spin round and round in the front yard as a child, getting dizzy and falling over laughing! The nostalgia of play is usually remembered as fun, but did you know there are many benefits of play for both children and adults? Play is often seen as unproductive or perhaps even childish, but the value of play goes far beyond childhood. Dr. Stuart Brown advocates that the opposite of play is not work, it’s depre...ssion. Play has physical and mental benefits for humans of all ages. Play can be defined as engaging in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose. Engaging in these purposeless activities can have long lasting benefits. Benefits for children: ----Play supports brain development: When children play, their brain becomes more efficient in receiving and encoding information. ----Play builds social competence: As children play with others, they learn about cues, norms and build a diverse understanding of the world. ----Play creates a road to resilience: Through play, children are able to practice planning and problem solving, which are critical for the development of resilience. Benefits for adults: ----Play reduces stress: We can all use a little stress reduction! Play releases endorphins and provides the body with a boost of well-being. ----Play creates shared experiences and strengthens connections to other people: Play is vital to relationships. ----Play allows our mind to wander and daydream: The act of playing triggers up our imagination which increases cognitive function; it literally makes us smarter! And did you know that when adults, like parents and grandparents and other close family members, play with children, there are even more benefits? We already know that the adult gets to relive some long forgotten feelings of joy and freedom, see the world through a child’s lens, and reconnect to creativity, and that children build their development, but together there is a stronger bond being forged. In fact, research shows that playing together increases the quality of the relationship, and of course, while playing, there is decreased stress and increased mindfulness. All good things!! Prepared By BRICK Consulting Group https://www.brickconsultinggroup.org/ The Museum of Teaching and Learning needs your help to share stories in new places and reach more students, teachers, and community members of all ages in 2021. You can make a difference today! DONATE NOW https://motal.networkforgood.com//70151-everyday-giving-pa Visit Our Website: http://www.motal.org/ #education #themuseumofteachingandlearning #playreducesstress #childrenatplay

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE STEREOSCOPE Virtual reality has been with us for a long time. One of the earliest tools was the stereoscope. People could look through two eyepieces at two photos taken at slightly different angles to see a three-dimensional image for the first time. Adults and children were able to travel to interesting places from the comfort of their homes and classrooms. The earliest stereoscope has been attributed to Sir Charles Wheatstone as well as to David Brews...ter. Both worked in the early 1800s. Stereoscopes were also called stereo viewers. They quickly became the most popular forms of entertainment for middle- and upper-class families during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Oliver Wendell Holmes invented an updated, hand-held version of the stereoscope which then became the favorite for home and classroom use from 1881 to 1939. DONORS MOTAL proudly displays two different stereoscopes. The first stereoscope featured was donated by Harold Horn, who won it for his perfect attendance at Sunday School as a child. Harold explained that the teacher promised a trip around the world, and indeed the boxed set of stereograph cards shows sights from throughout the world. Harold donated his stereoscope set to MOTAL in 2006. The second photo shows the stereoscope donated by Greta Nagel, whose parents purchased the instrument and cards (in the boxes that look like books) early in their marriage in the 1930s and kept it as an entertaining learning device in their home. In the third photo a MOTAL intern demonstrates how to hold the stereoscope. Learn More! If you would like to learn more about the stereoscope, we recommend the following: https://www.nytimes.com//want-to-know-what-virtual-reality To view more of our Artifact Collection go to: http://www.motal.org/artifact-collection.html Help us educate people about education! DONATE NOW http://www.motal.org/ #artifacts #stereoscope #themuseumofteachingandlearning #virtuallearning

Go Clubbing! Find a Book Club Format That Suits YOU People who like to read are not necessarily people who like to join clubs, but book clubs are not all the same. They are a way for people to explore books, share their perspectives, and enjoy the company of others. However, the details can change radically from group to group. You might already be in a club, but just in case you would like to consider joining yet another group or changing to another format, keep reading. Sec...Continue reading

Honoring Our Constitution! Please join us at The Museum of Teaching and Learning as we LEARN to understand the implications of our beloved constitution. Suggestion: see https://constitutionday.com/ The Constitution of the United States of America was signed on September 17, 1787. In 1952, Congress passed a law to commemorate the formation and signing of the Constitution of the United States. Citizenship Day was established by Congress in 1940 to recognize all who, by coming... of age or by naturalization, have become citizens. The days were combined into one in 2004 and two new requirements were added: 1) The head of every federal agency must provide each employee with educational and training materials concerning the Constitution on September 17. 2) Each educational institution which receives Federal funds should hold a program for students every September 17. So, why bother? We already know about the Constitution, its Articles, its Bill of Rights, its Amendments. At least we believe we do, but when we sit down to read the Constitution and all its parts, we suddenly discover that it doesn’t really tell us how to govern. Harvard Professor Kim Wehle, in her terrific book "How to Read the Constitution and Why" says the Constitution is a relatively terse document that leaves much of its necessary terms and meaning unwritten. The Constitution is held up by conventions and norms that developed over centuries of American history. In her book, Professor Wehle introduces the concept of plain-language reading. This approach requires the reader to isolate phrases, then individual words, and then figure out as many interpretations of the words as possible. Once you have the various options on the table, you can start to prioritize the options and choose which is best. Throughout the book, Wehle uses this approach to examine and then discuss each Article and Amendment in the Constitution. There are many resources available for exploring the U.S. Constitution. Here is a very brief list of some MOTAL recommendations: Constitution of the United States https://en.wikipedia.org//Constitution_of_the_United_States Constitution Day and Citizenship Day https://www.loc.gov//commemorative-ob/constitution-day.php Celebrating Constitution Day https://www.archives.gov/news/topics/constitution-day Prepared by Cheryl Stewart, MOTAL Board Member Become a MOTAL Member! JOIN NOW http://www.motal.org/membership.html http://www.motal.org/ #ConstitutionDay #museumofteachingandlearning

A Special Museum! Learning about the Paul Gray Personal Computing Museum The Museum of Teaching and Learning‘s Doll Scholar, Allison Koehler, is an MA student in CGU’s Cultural Studies and Museum Studies program. We are pleased to share that she has now been named the second executive director of the Paul Gray PC Museum! Allison plans on developing the Public Programming and Education Departments for the museum, while continuing the cataloging and conservation work spearhead...ed by her predecessor. You can follow her work through the museums’s website https://research.cgu.edu/paul-gray-pc-museum/ The Paul Gray Personal Computing Museum is a small museum housed in the Academic Computing Building of Claremont Graduate University (CGU). In 1983, at the dawn of the personal computer revolution, Dr. Paul Gray came to CGU to establish the Center for Information Systems and Technology. A beloved CGU professor for 18 years, Dr. Gray also maintained a growing collection of personal computers, deeply interested in their evolving effect on people’s lives. Upon his retirement in 2001, Professor Gray donated his collection to CGU and founded the Paul Gray Personal Computer Museum. The Altair 8800 is one of the oldest artifacts in the museum's collection. The machine, named after a star in the original television series Star Trek, was created as a do-it-yourself computer kit for passionate hobbyists. The museum became what it is today through a 2017 CGU transdisciplinary course, Museums of Technology, Technology of Museums: Curating the Paul Gray PC Museum. Through the course, a Cultural Studies MA student developed the proposal for the museum’s current exhibitions, then realized her vision as founding Executive Director, also establishing the museum’s collections management policies. With its foundation and mission firmly rooted in a commitment to education and transdisciplinary partnerships, the PGPCM will continue to elect a Museum Studies student to serve as director. Check out the virtual guided tour linked through the Current Exhibitions page and keep an eye out for the upcoming virtual speaker series,Decoding the Past: Conversations with PC Innovators. Also, the museum plans to accept donations of significant computers for their collection. Visitors will be welcome as soon as the campus is able to open up safely during the pandemic. Hope you enjoyed reading about this companion museum in our own back yard! Let us hear any comments you might have! Submitted by Allison Koehler Become a MOTAL Member! JOIN NOW http://www.motal.org/membership.html http://www.motal.org/ #museumofteachingandlearning #Museums #Education #pccomputers

The Cursive Controversy - Is there a Case for Cursive Handwriting? Months ago, before the COVID-19 pandemic, a man whose speech was compromised went into a store to buy a new mobile phone. He wrote a note that described his situation and made his request. Alas, the note was in cursive handwriting and the young adult at the counter confessed that he could not read the writing. He had to rewrite the message in manuscript letters. This is just one small example of the diminishin...Continue reading