Abbe Museum Receives $144,350 Grant
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The Abbe Museum has
been awarded a $144,350 grant from the Institute of Museum
and Library Services (IMLS). This three
year, federal grant is a Museums for America Award, which funds projects that
will help museums to better serve their communities. These projects can represent a wide spectrum
of activities including: exhibitions, community outreach programs, collections
management activities or behind-the-scenes projects.
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| Raney Bench leading a group through an Abbe Museum educational program. |
The Abbe’s IMLS grant will support a three-year community
outreach project called Training Maine’s Classroom
Teachers to Meet the Wabanaki Initiative.
The Maine law, L.D. 291, more commonly
known as the Wabanaki Initiative, is an unfunded mandate requiring Maine schools to incorporate teaching about the history
and culture of the Wabanaki --- the collective term for the tribes in Maine. Teachers have a need for training regarding
the Initiative, about the resources available, and sample lessons to use in the
classroom.
When first passed, the Abbe responded to the mandate by
partnering with the Maine Department of Education, the National Park Service
and Wabanaki governments and created a series of resources, including: a
traveling trunk of artifacts, lesson plans, an award-winning on-line curriculum
and two museum-based school programs.
Alongside curriculum development, the Abbe began hosting teacher
training workshops and facilitated direct interaction between educators and
Wabanaki scholars and cultural leaders, reaching over 100 teachers per
year. But with changes in state
education standards, more work is needed, and this grant will help to address
those needs.
“We are so excited about this opportunity, not only because
of what it means for the Abbe in terms of helping us meet our mission and
strategic goals, but because of the improved access teachers and students will
have to resources specific to the Wabanaki,” said the Abbe’s Curator of
Education, Raney Bench.
“This is a very
competitive federal grant,” she adds, “There were 470 applicants nation-wide
and the Abbe was one of the 152 projects that were chosen to receive the
award.”
“When L.D.291 became a law in 2001, Maine teachers started seeking resources to
help meet this mandate, and that’s where the Abbe came in,” said Bench. Now, 11 years later, the demand for resources
has only continued to grow, but the Abbe staff has not. The IMLS grant has allowed the Abbe to hire a
second Museum Educator for three years, freeing up Bench to work with teachers
and Wabanaki advisors to create and evaluate the new resources, and then conduct
the teacher trainings.
“George Neptune was just hired as our second Museum Educator,” announced Bench.
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| George Neptune| Photo by Anna Travers |
In addition to hiring a new educator, the grant will expand
the Abbe’s professional development program for Maine teachers by increasing the number of
free workshops, as it continues to partner with the Maine Department of
Education and tribal communities. Other project outputs will include: a
resource CD for teachers with lesson plans and samples of student work ,
activities, resource lists and other useful instructional tools and content; an
Outcomes Based Evaluation logic model; fully realized evaluation strategies
that include front-end, formative, and summative evaluation; and a highly
functioning Education Advisory Committee and Native Advisory Council.
“Thanks to this grant, we will offer 16 free workshops
throughout the State, reaching 800 classroom teachers,” said Bench. “One of our
goals as we reach out to all 16 counties is to connect teachers with resources and
Wabanaki artists and scholars in their own regions and give them the tools they
need to be more self-sustaining.” said Bench.
A complete listing of the 2012 projects funded through the
IMLS Museums for America
program can be found at http://www.imls.gov/news/press_releases.aspx.
The Institute
of Museum and Library
Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000
libraries and 17,500 museums. Through
grant making, policy development, and research, IMLS helps communities and
individuals thrive through broad public access to knowledge, cultural heritage,
and lifelong learning.
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| Excerpt from the Wabanaki Curriculum. |
