Books | AMERICA Author and Teaching Professional Dr. Rose About Dr. Rose Cherie Reissman
Dr. Rose Cherie Reissman is a literacy consultant for Ditmas Educational Complex in Brooklyn, where she developed the Writing Institute as a full-time teacher and began her Museum in School. She is President of the New York City Association of Teachers of English, which offers retired volunteer mentors to new teachers and provides Best practices classroom services including publishing, performance, and student leadership programs. Dr. Reissman is the co-author of Teaching with Author Websites K-8 published by Corwin Press, 2010.
Dr. Reissman believes that students need to have some idea of what a museum is, why people create museums and why many people enjoy going to museums — not only as part of school trips. For that reason, Dr. Reissman created the Museum in School program, which allows students to visit as many museums as they want to online. They can view museums related to their units, without leaving their classroom or spending money.
The Internet and the availability of free and low-cost desktop publishing software have enhanced literacy opportunities for students by giving them access to museums around the world whose exhibits they can replicate in the classroom. However, even without access to technology, educators can help middle-level students create a classroom museum that will enhance literacy skills for current and future classes.
Cherie Reissman Innovation in the Classroom - The Classroom as a Virtual Museum
“Students need to have some idea of what a museum is, why people create museums and why many people enjoy going to museums — not only as part of school trips.”
The classroom museum acts as a closing celebration with community outreach to create a memory-making student endeavor. Although the product of the museum project is a multimedia, visual arts-rich exhibition, there are spoken, written, published and interactive literacy opportunities (e.g., docent tours, informational brochures, maps, and readings of exhibit-related books). Beyond think-tank teaming, the museum project can be expanded through the use of the Internet, desktop publishing, Excel and Microsoft Publisher — the emerging basics of classroom technology.