EDPG 5
Application of Content: The competent, caring, professional educator connects concepts
and uses differing perspectives to engage learning in critical thinking, creativity, and
collaborative problem solving related to authentic local and global issues of social justice
and environmental concerns.
Rationale: The artifact that I chose is a paper that I have written. This paper was written about a
museum exhibit that I viewed. This assignment gave me an insight of how to teach children to
their specific needs. It gave me an alternative perspective on how to engage learning in critical
thinking, creativity, and collaborative problem solving related to authentic local and global issues
of social justice and environmental concerns.
Artifact:
Service Learning Project: A Trip to the Museum
Indianapolis Children’s Museum (www.childrensmuseum.org)
Visited: Thursday, December 13, 2012 Time: 9:00 AM-1:30 PM
Saturday, December 15, 2012 Time: 12:00 PM-4:00 PM
Exhibit: “The Power of Children: Making a Difference”
The first time I went to the Children’s museum, I wasn’t sure if I could find something that
would go with this Service Learning project. I went with my Kindergarten classes. As I was
there I started to go around to each exhibit and found the “The Power of the Children” exhibit. I
thought to myself this would be great.
The second time I went to the Children’s Museum I went with family. I knew I needed to spend
more time to really get involved into the exhibit.
For my service learning project I decided to visit a museum. At first I did not know which
museum to visit, but I knew my Kindergarten class was going to go so I wanted to tag along to
make sure I wasn’t missing anything. I went into the Children’s Museum thinking I would not
find anything to discuss or anything that would impact me. I knew that doing this type of project
I would come out a different person. I was right. I love history, and going to museums was such
a great way for me to give back and learn something new that I may have not known before.
I visited the Indianapolis Children’s Museum at two different instances. I saw a few
exhibits such as the “All Aboard!”, “Hot Wheels for Real”, “Treasures of the Earth” exhibits,
and many more. I enjoyed learning so much from each and every one of them. The one that I
enjoyed the most would have been, of course, “The Power of the Children” but also “Take Me
There: Egypt”. I loved learning about different types of medicine, clothing, and musical
instruments that are used in Egypt. They had all sorts of little hands on play areas for the children
to explore these different things that are not used in America.
The exhibit that caught my eye right away and I knew was something that would provide
me information that could be useful for me, my family, and my future career with children as a
teacher. “The Power of Children: Making a Difference” exhibit was fantastic. It consisted of
three children that most people know, but may not know a lot about. The three children included
Anne Frank, Ruby Bridges, and Ryan White. These three children all went through different
social justice issues, and they did not include just one.
Anne Frank’s part of the exhibit had a full room of where Anne Frank would have stayed
and hid from the people who were trying to capture her. Anne Frank was a victim of the
Holocaust. She was 13 years old when everything was happening. The Nazis tried to destroy her
and her family, and other who were Jewish or different than what Hitler considered normal.
Anne Frank hid for two years not being able to go outdoors and play with her friends. She was a
victim to the Nazis and to religious diversity. She was Jewish and the Nazis were not. I learned
from her story that people are of course different in many ways. This young brave girl was sent
to a concentration camp, separated from her family, and she couldn’t do anything about it. The
Nazis would separate the boys from the girls and women and the children. They were prejudice
and hateful. Everything about what happened to Anne Frank and others like her is disturbing and
awful. I took away from this exhibit to not take anything for granted. There is always prejudice
among religious groups, but this genocide was the worst of them all.
Ruby Bridges exhibit pointed out the social justice problem of racism. In 1960 Ruby
Bridges was only 6 years old when she was among the first black students to integrate the white
schools of New Orleans. Racism was a big part of her life at such a young age. She was called
names and it wasn’t even the children who were among the name callers. The parents of the
children in Ruby’s class all took their child out of the classroom to protest integration. I couldn’t
even imagine what this little girl went through, and just at the young age of six. This exhibit had
a classroom set up to be an example of what Ruby sat through in 1960. This little girl went
through violence, and it wasn’t even her fault. There isn’t much integration black students in my
classroom. I have one little girl of color and she has so many friends. I don’t even see her as
someone who is different than me. I know I wouldn’t want to have it any other way in my future
classroom as a teacher, but for Ruby she couldn’t even imagine what it would be like when she
was the only one is Mrs. Henry’s first grade classroom.
The last child that was in the exhibit was Ryan White. This was someone I hsd not really
heard of until this exhibit. In the 1980’s AIDS was a new disease that had people scared. Even
though this was something that had many details of how it is spread and how to get it, people still
were very cautious of it. Ryan White was a young boy who was diagnosed with AIDS. Ryan was
a teenager when he was diagnosed with AIDS through a medication he took for his hemophilia.
So not only did he have to live with hemophilia he had to deal with AIDS and the prejudice and
bullying that came with that. Ryan was 13 and in middle school. Ryan was assumed to be dead
since AIDS was supposedly a death sentence. His condition got better and he wanted to return to
school, but it was denied. The parents of children did not want him around their children. Just
like Ruby he had to deal with the parents as well as the children. Ryan was called names and he
and his parents had to deal with vandalism of their personal things. In the exhibit there was
locker that had writing on it. Other teenagers had written mean names on it and other things.
Through all Ryan went through after being abused for what was not his fault, he just believed it
was because they were scared. He wanted people to be better educated about AIDS. He took
what was a negative towards him to a positive toward people who needed to be informed about
AIDS.
I learned so much through these three exhibits. My future career is teaching and children
are involved. I believe I have a better understanding of children and what needs to be taken away
from these exhibits. My goal as a teacher is to provide each and every student a classroom that is
safe and understanding. After going through these exhibits I now know that every child is
different. They all are going through something that people just need to understand. Just like
Ryan, he knew they were just scared and they didn’t understand what was going on. I want each
child to understand that children are different and they may be going through something that
isn’t like you or me. That would mean that I, myself, need to be informed as much as possible,
and this exhibit is the start of knowledge for me as a teacher.
I have always been a compassionate person, but after learning about what these three
children went through I have even more compassion for children who are different than me. I
have always been taught that people are different, that we should never judge a book by its cover
and this holds true to my heart. After learning about these three children it rings even truer than it
did before. I have also learned that I may be going through something rough, but there is always
someone going through rougher.
In conclusion, this service learning project did not impact another person. It impacted me.
This project gave me a new and improved insight to children. Anne Frank, Ruby Bridges, and
Ryan White impacted my life in a new way. They not only impacted me, but also history. They
changed things for the better through the awful social justice issues they went through; racism,
religious diversity, and so many more. I am so glad that I was able to do this project and learn
what I did. I have more knowledge and a better understanding of how to run my own classroom
as a future teacher and how to run my life as a caring and compassionate person I want to be.
The Power of Children: Making a Difference
Anne Frank’s Room
Ruby’s desk compared to a white child’s desk.
Ryan’s skateboard with writing on it, from other hateful students