NYC Educator Program: Tibetan Buddhism, 2006

Participating educators meeting at the Rubin Museum to discuss their experiences learning about and practicing different forms of meditation

In preparation for this summer's field studies in the Indian Himalayas, teachers have been gathering every other Friday for two hours at the Rubin Museum to participate in a series of workshops designed to introduce them to Himalayan culture. Continue reading for details on the teacher training curricula...

NYC Educators Workshop Curriculum

Learning objectives: Participants will be guided to connect the work in the museum collection to their own lives and to the themes of Teaching, Beauty, Peacefulness, Wrathfulness, Meditation, and Enlightenment. Informed by gallery and studio activities, mindful observation of art work, and travel experiences, teachers will create interdisciplinary lesson plans for integration into their classroom instruction at their host institutions.

I April 7, 2006 - Introduction
A. RMA mission, collection
B. Program goals and schedule
C. Journal keeping

II April 7 – June 16, 2006 - Examining Themes and States of Being that are represented in the works viewed at the Rubin Museum of Art
A. April 7 - Beauty

1. Guided viewing - learning to look slowly in an informed & educated way
2. Making notes & sketches in journal: work credits, colors, composition, symbolism, personal responses
3. Sharing personal narratives, "What is beauty?"
4. Reflection
5. Homework: write about your experience of being in a state of beauty. Write a poem about beauty (language arts) as related to the above

B. April 21 - Peacefulness

1. Guided viewing - symbols, composition, dynamics
2. Journal notes & sketches
3. Sharing personal narratives, "What is peace?" (how is it represented visually? - drawing activity, group grawing collage)
4. Reflection
5. Homework: write about your experience of being in a state of peacefulness. Web research on notable figures in RMA collection (social studies). ExploreArt – http://www.exploreart.org and Himalayan Art Resources – http://www.himalayanart.org

C. May 5 - Teaching

1. Guided viewing - mudras, history, geography
2. Journal notes & sketches
3. Sharing personal narratives, "What is teaching?" (peer teaching activity & presentation, groups)
4. Reflection
5. Homework: write about your experience in being in a state of teaching. Write lesson plan drafts for beauty, peacefulness & peer teaching (interdisciplinary) Final plans to be published on the RMA Education Web site.

D. May 19 - Meditation

1. Guided viewing - mandalas, symbolism, usage
2. Journal notes & sketches
3. Sharing personal narratives, "What is meditation?" (mandala making on floor w/tape, creating movement for each cardinal direction, 4 groups)
4. Optional ½ hour of meditation instruction
5. Reflection
6. Homework: write about your experience in being in a state of meditation. Bring in music to accompany your movement (performing arts).

E. June 2 - Wrathfulness

1. Guided viewing - deities, history, etc.
2. Journal notes & sketches
3. Sharing personal narratives, "What is wrathfulness, and why do we need it?" (tangka painting activity)
4. Reflection
5. Homework: write about your experience in being in a state of wrathfulness. Count the ways wrathfulness can be manifested in our lives & create a math word problem for your grade level (math).

F. June 16 - Enlightenment

1. Guided viewing - terminology, iconography, etc.
2. Journal notes & sketches
3. Sharing personal narratives, "What is enlightenment? (selecting images/text from your journals & making relief prints on rice paper for group bookmaking activity)
4. Reflection
5. Homework: write about your experience of being in a state of enlightenment. Experiment w/ natural products to color bookmaking papers: acids & bases: teas, coffee, barks, fruit & vegetable juices, etc. (science)
Write lesson plan drafts for meditation, wrathfulness, and enlightenment
(interdisciplinary).

III Conclusion
A. Lesson Plan Review
B. Pre-program Preparation – What you will need to do

IV July 1 – 15 – Study portion in India

V July 21 - Post Travel Debriefing
A. Field notes, sketches, photos, etc.
B. Culture Shock
C. Homework: Final drafts of lesson plans on 6 states of being

VI Independent preparation to implement curriculum in the classroom & follow up activites

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Olivia Beens
I have been interested in ancient cultures for many years and use the iconography in my own artwork. I've been looking at Tibetan art for years but haven't been able to put all the pieces together or in a proper context. I'm hoping that this trip will add to my knowledge base intellectually and spiritually. In teaching children I'd like to offer lessons based on my interests and study. On a personal level I am interested in learning more about the religions and practices in India and Tibet. The iconography fascinates me and I yearn to understand the symbolism on a higher level. I have always wanted to go to India and Tibet and see this as a heaven sent opportunity that I am certain will be with me for the rest of my life.

Ellen Cowhey
I hope to drink deeply of all the resources this trip and program may provide, and in turn, share that depth of knowledge as richly and creatively as possible back with my students, other faculty members, and the wider community. I would very much like to learn more about Tibetan Buddhism, particularly how it is lived out by the Tibet community in exile. I would be interested in visiting the schools that the Tibetan children in Ladakh are attending and finding out whether or not they are government sponsored and the language in which they are learning. In 2000, I had the opportunity to visit some government and privately-run school programs for children of various economic backgrounds in Calcutta. I've also visited several school programs in Thailand for refugee children along the borders. I'm also interested in grassroots sustainable development projects, but I'm wide open to exploring the possibilities that our path provides.

Lotus Do Brooks
To go to India to study Himalayan art could produce an understanding and association that will enhance and add validity to my current pedagogical work. It is a personal goal to formalize the appreciation of Asian people's art and culture here at Dalton. I would relish the opportunity to visit sites of Buddhist Art… I have heard about Dharmsala and I would like to visit the Insititute of the Arts and the monastery in Dharmsala and to meet and study with the artists who paint thankas. I would like to see the Dalai Lama and the Namgyal Monastery as well as the artists who produce Tibetan sand mandalas.

Kate Donovan
Through my work with the Rubin Museum of Art's Educators' Program I anticipate that I will gain a greater understanding of the art, culture and history of Tibet, its people, and Tibetan Buddhism. This knowledge will enable me to strengthen the Asia-related topics and themes that I explore in my eleventh grade curriculum. As a historian with a particular focus on material culture, I am especially interested in learning about how sacred texts and the arts are used in both religious practice and daily life.

Kathleen Frye
I hope to learn about Tibetan art and culture in a way that is comprehensive, interdisciplinary, creative and based on experience…. I would be interested in any experiences related to the visual arts – meting artists, watching artists at work, exploring architecture – as well as dance and music. I am interested in how the arts are used in daily life and spiritual practice. I would also be interested in seeing sacred Buddhist texts and learning more about the practice of Buddhism. I am interested in meeting teachers and the Dalai Lama and his followers.

Laura Krier
One of my professional goals for this summer is to begin work revising our ninth grade World History curricula to be more truly global. Personally and professionally, I would most hope to gain a greater and deeper understanding of the culture, religion and religious artwork of Tibetan Buddhism. I have a particular interest in both religion and how religious ideas are expressed through art…. I am also a firm believer in the importance of experiential learning. Being able to study the artwork in the museum before our departure and then to travel to the Indian Himalayas would be a phenomenal opportunity for me, and would in turn allow me to develop much more powerful and experiential lesson plans for my students.

Geoff Perry
I hope that I can gain a deeper understanding of northern India and of Buddhism as it is practiced in the Himalayan region. I hope that I can work this into a larger study of trade and cultural assimilation across Asia, specifically through the "Silk Road." I would like to bring back to my seventh graders unique perspectives, expertise and an artistic understanding of the region. I always find that my teaching is at its best when I have been fully participating as a student.

Laura Prendergast
I have ambitions of creating a degree program for clinical researchers in Behavioral Sciences. As part of the requirements for the degree, the students would be required to choose a field of non-western (or "alternative") medicine and to utilize methods for western scientists. I have been practicing meditation for a number of years. I am most looking forward to seeing how it is practiced in Asia. I think that easterners are much more straight-forward about training students in mind discipline, whereas a western education seems to focus more on cultivating knowledge and intellectual pursuits. I feel strongly that if children are trained in mindfulness from a young age that many problems in later life could be averted. I believe that practice of meditation could alleviate ADHD and other psychiatric illnesses, and would cultivate qualities of loving-kindness and intimacy, which sometimes seem in short supply in America.

E-Anna Soong
This trip to India and the Himalayas will enrich my ongoing Asian curricula in my classroom. I would like to receive more knowledge on the Indian, Tibetan and Nepalese cultures, customs and arts to impart to my students and increase their understanding of South Asia. As an art teacher, I have an opportunity to include more and more on cultural awareness in my activities within the classroom, school and community. Meeting the Dalai Lama or people that know him would be of great interest to my students and me. I would like to bring back a way to meditate for inner peace. Many of my students have trouble handling their anger and have low self-esteem issues. This is especially true in my literacy and art class. In the curriculum they go through a massive test-prep part of the school day and think that everything they learn in school has a correct and wrong answer. They believe it true for art too. If it is not perfect they are not happy with their work. Learning meditation will enable my students to be more open with their experimentation of the arts.

Sandy Stokely
I am very interested in this program because we are working district wide on improving school culture through character education. I took a class from an organization called Peace Jam. In this program, Nobel Peace Prize laureates are studied by students in order to learn about the ways that people problem solve, and use conflict resolution in order to get along in diverse societies. The Dalai Lama was the first laureate cited. He is a member of the Peace Jam Foundation, and I have been intrigued by his life and the situation with the Tibetans since then. I hope to be immersed in the culture and learn enough about it to bring back the essence to my students as well as to enrich my own life. So, I am very interested in the ethics of the Tibetan culture and the kindness, compassion and fogiveness that I have read about in this extraordinary culture.

Erica Yonks
I look forward to having an insight into the cultural ideals and then to be immersed in them. I would like to explore religious objects and how the artists envisioned, created and used these objects. What does the symbolism mean? I would love an opportunity to hear artists that work in ancient traditions and observe them and absorb their words and techniques. To experience this program will enhance my enthusiasm in the classroom and my teaching techniques. A stronger collaboration between my colleagues and myself provides for a coherent curriculum across the disciplines for our 9th grade program. Observing professional educators utilizing a museum and objects to teach will give me new insights and techniques for my own teaching.

Posted by Global LAB at 3:18 PM | Permalink

Program Co-Director Alex Gardner examines a text by Gendun Drub, the 1st Dalai Lama, at a recent Teacher Workshop.

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