The Museum of International Folklore – Part II

In my post for 10/18/10, I described a visit to the Museum of International Folk Art www.internationalfolkart.org and suggested several learning activities inspired by the Girard Collection of Folk Art – a major permanent exhibition. Unlike most museum displays, the Girard Collection has no labels. Alexander Girard, the collector, designed the exhibition. He placed each of the 100,000 folk art pieces in a particular grouping or location within the exhibition space. Girard specifically directed that there be no identifying labels on the pieces.
It was Girard’s wish that each visitor to the exhibition connect with the pieces in a personal way and take away an individualized understanding of the total experience. Because there are so many diverse, thought-provoking pieces, it’s impossible to take in every detail in one visit – or even in ten visits! Each time one re-visits the Girard Collection, new insights and additional connections are formed.

Unlike the Girard Collection, Jewish education has lots of labels: Torah Study, Jewish History, Holidays, Israel Studies, Siddur Hebrew, Spoken Hebrew, Values and Ethics, Family
Education, Adult Education, Post B’nai Mitzvah Education, Early Childhood Education, Informal Education…and more.These labels represent our efforts, as educators, to engage students of varying ages and backgrounds in all facets of Jewish living and learning.

Still, let’s consider taking a cue from the Girard Collection. Let’s include in our programs, opportunities for students to relate and integrate the various labelled “pieces” of Jewish knowledge; to form personal connections to the topics we introduce; to discover themes and patterns in Sacred Texts and the cycle of celebrations; to express and act upon their evolving understanding of Judaism.

One more observation – While re-visiting a museum is a choice we occasionally make, re-visiting “The House of Study” and all that that phrase implies, is a Mitzvah which we are given a lifetime to fulfill.

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Ronni Sims

Ronni has been a Jewish educator since Moses was in preschool (almost!). She has had the pleasure of teaching all age groups in a variety of formal and informal settings, as well as directing a Jewish Teacher Resource Center. While teaching in a Jewish Day School, Ronni coached an award-winning Odyssey of the Mind creative problem solving team.Ronni was an active participant in the former Conference on Alternatives in Jewish Education (CAJE), where she held leadership positions including Network Chair and Conference Co-Chair of CAJE 29 at Hofstra University. She currently teaches Hebrew at the Congregation Albert Religious School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Talmud teaches: “The Torah cannot be learned unless it is learned among friends.” Ronni views blogging on JCast as such a learning opportunity.

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