Activity: Curating a Classroom Museum

Have students create an object gallery or classroom museum that includes images of or actual contemporary objects that reflect their idea of American culture. Each student should include one image or object and a list of characteristics that each object shows about American culture either in a historic period or in the twenty-first century.

1. Brainstorm your classroom’s theme.
   1. What is the time period your object gallery will represent?
   2. What does the group think is important/what do you value?
   3. What do you want to tell other people about American culture during this time?
   4. Who are the important people during this time period and how are they represented in your objects? (Who are the people not represented in your objects?)
   5. Which object do you think most demonstrates your theme and your time period?
   6. Do you want to include things other than objects in your exhibit? Sounds? Smells? How could you do that?
   7. If you had to explain your exhibit just using these objects, how would you do that? What story could you show?
2. Create your object gallery:
   1. You will need a large space in your room or hallway where each student can add their image or objects (this could be several bulletin boards or a large wall with butcher paper, etc.). You could also create the gallery using Google Slides or PowerPoint or create Word documents in a PDF.
   2. Give each student a set amount of space (for example a 12” square or a single slide) to include their objects or images.
   3. If you are using actual objects, consider limiting the object to something that can fit into a gallon-size resealable plastic bag (nothing valuable or precious!).
   4. Be sure to contract with students on appropriate types of items that they could include and any other rules or expectations around how the images and objects will be displayed. 
3. Write labels for each object. Check out our Activity: Write a Museum Label. Include the name of the object, the maker (if you know), the date it was made, and a brief description that explains the importance of the object.