Museum Visions: A Blog Space

Last December, while Santa was in the North Pole making his list and checking it twice, we were busy tinkering with a project of our own. 2015 would mark the publication of the 40th volume of the Journal of Museum Education (JME). It was an anniversary worth marking—but how? Last December, while Santa was in the North Pole making his … Read More

At MER, we love when an issue of the Journal of Museum Education (JME) lends its voice to a juicy conversation at the national level. And JME Vol. 40, No. 3, Common Goals, Common Core: Museums and Schools Work Together, did just that. The issue hit mailboxes in October, 2015. In November, 2015, Massachusetts opted to keep the Common Core … Read More

Deciding what to write about for this post that wouldn’t recycle much of what has already been said about the Common Core, I kept circling back to something my professor Roberta Altman told me in a graduate course at Bank Street College, circa 2001. She said something like, “Design a creative, lively lesson with all of your best teaching strategies … Read More

Part of the fun of taking on our JME40 blog project has been the necessity of diving deep into the Journal of Museum Education (JME) archives. These explorations have yielded insight into the early years of the journal and the field, the evolution of the topics and trends that have shaped our work, and the personalities that lent their time … Read More

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Winston Churchill Every August, as summer vacations wind down and autumn routines begin to wind up, the Museum Education Roundtable’s Board of Directors convenes for an annual retreat. As a national organization, this is the one time of year … Read More

Every once in a while, something happens to make me realize that change can happen. In this case, the change is both technological and pedagogical. Thinking back to 20 plus years ago, I remember talking to the tech team at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to see if we could create an online curriculum interface that allowed for … Read More

I recently enjoyed traveling to the great city of Denver, Colorado and participating in the Leading the Future of Museum Education: Challenges and Opportunities, a convening of an amazing group of museum leaders from across the country. This event, co-hosted by Bank Street College’s Leadership in Museum Education and the Education Professional Network (EdCom) of the American Alliance of Museums, … Read More

I still recall my first official meeting with publisher Mitch Allen at a Vietnamese restaurant in Washington, DC in December 2005. As I dribbled spring roll sauce on the white paper tablecloth, we discussed the ins and outs of the new partnership between Left Coast Press and MER. One piece of advice from Mitch particularly stuck with me: if you … Read More