Contact:

Melissa Proebstle, Education Department
Memphis Pink Palace Museum
3050 Central Avenue
Memphis, TN 38111
(901) 320-6389 (901) 320-6391 Fax
e-mail: [email protected]

Venue Date for The Greatest Places: February - May, 1999

1. Contact the Tennessee Geographic Alliance in August of 1997 (following the G.P. Leadership Institute) and explore the possibilities of presenting (with Partner Teacher Kermit Simons) the Greatest Places animatic and a brief program on our experience at the Institute and our plans for the 1998-1999 school year at their Fall Conference.

2. Attempt to establish a relationship with the h the Mississippi Geographic Alliance and present similar program to their members.

3. Partner with our area Alliances, the objective being to kick off the 1998-1999 school year with a strong, committed Geographic emphasis (museum and schools).

4. Provide at no cost a Greatest Places Teacher Guide for each school reservation, time line: available to the Guest Services Department at least two months before the film is due to open.

5. Provide a Teachers’ Open House at the museum featuring a showing of The Greatest Places film, an interactive demo with activities from the educator guide, a section on the G.P. web site, the Discovery Room, and other correlating programs/ areas throughout the museum (exhibits, Planetarium, and labs).

6. Present inservices and workshops to city, county public and private school teachers in Memphis and the surrounding regions. Work with Kermit Simons, Teacher Partner, to co-design and present inservices in his county and if possible to other counties. We also plan to offer a one or two day summer workshop on The Greatest Places & Geography For Life, including practical classroom applications Kermit used in the 1997-98 school year.

7. Design a teachers’ newsletter featuring the Leadership Institute, the teacher/museum educator partnership, the large format film, the web site, the educator guide and activities, museum and local connections and extensions, workshop and inservice opportunities, integrated themes.

8. Design and implement a Greatest Places Discovery Room (free to schools and the public), that will supplement and enrich the film experience. Utilize the S.M.M. Museum Trunk to establish the framework and scope for the room. The room will encompass activities from the Five Themes of Geography, and the Six Essential Elements. Activities should allow visitors to Ask, Acquire, Organize, Analyze, and Answer Geographic questions as they find out information from as many of the 18 standards, as possible. The 7 Greatest Places will be featured, plus connections to Memphis as "our greatest place", and a culminating activity that explains S.M.M.’s criteria for choosing places and encourages the visitor to determine their own criteria for greatest places and to pick one (or even 7) and explain why (oh, the heated discussions that may occur!). I hope to be able to use a CD-ROM on The Greatest Places, and a video on our large screen T.V. (maybe a video on the making of the film, or else one on the places featured). Maps, models and other tools will be utilized in the room.

1. The Discovery Room (Same as #8 above)

2. Provide at least one free lecture/ program in the IMAX® theater, shown in conjunction with The Greatest Places film. The topic of the program could be on Geography (Physical, Cultural, Ecological), Unusual Places, Ecotourism, or we could use a local resource with a connection to one of the 7 greatest places.

3. Partner with the volunteer coordinator to reestablish the Docent storytelling program. Find children’s stories and objects that represent the 7 places. Set up a program offering story telling to our weekend family visitors, and possibly offer program during the weeks of spring break.

4. Team with the MPPM web site designer to not only link with the G.P. web site, but create teacher and family sections on our web site that correlate with the film. Extract ideas and activities from the Family Guide that would work on-line.

5. Provide Family Guides in the lobby area and the Discovery Room. Exhibits Department can build a special holder for the guides and one of the trade poster images could be mounted to the back of the holder. These will be provided throughout the primary run of the film.

6. Provide a Saturday family program on the geography, geology, animal adaptations and diversity, and the peoples of the Greatest Places. We could also do a parents program on encouraging Discovery and Inquiry learning, using The Greatest Places as the tool.

1. Free program in the theater (same as #2 above).

2. Research existing G.P. connections within the museum staff and our surrounding community. If resources are available, design and provide an adult program on one or more of the themes and elements of the Geography Essentials.

3. Explore the possibility of going on a S.M.M. led Greatest Places trip and then organizing and leading a trip for MPPM. If this is not feasible, then connect with Bill Allen at S.M.M. and determine a way to promote their trips, so that Memphians would still have an opportunity to participate in educational based tours to the Greatest Places.

1. The Planetarium Department will produce a program entitled "The Greatest Places in the Universe", which will run during the primary run of the film.

2. Work with the Public Affairs / Development Department to identify and approach possible corporate sponsors to provide funding for trips, programs, speakers, Family guides, etc.

3. Explore the programming possibilities that the extended stay (3 years) of the film allows. Opportunities to reach out to the subsidized lunch program, boys & girls clubs, other need based audiences. Continue programming on some level throughout this time period (?).

4. When we conduct initial focus/market testing for The Greatest Places, we could modify our existing testing procedure which includes already includes school groups and teachers, and strengthen that angle by increasing the number and diversity of school groups included. We would still have them fill out the surveys, but we could also move to two classrooms (one for teachers and one for the students) where we could conduct a more in-depth focus group that would allow us to clarify their needs for supplemental information and clarification. (Ask questions like: What did you like most about the film? Least? What did you want to hear/learn more about? What connections did you make to your place and life? What would you like to see us do with this movie?) This would help us design our programs to meet their needs and desires.

Program Title: The Greatest Places Discovery Room

Museum Educator: Melissa Proebstle, Education Department

Educator Information:
Memphis Pink Palace Museum
3050 Central Avenue
Memphis, TN 38111
(901) 320-6389 (901) 320-6391 Fax
e-mail: [email protected]

Program Overview & Goals: Design and implement a Greatest Places Discovery Room (free to schools and the public), that will supplement and enrich the film experience. Utilize the S.M.M. Museum Trunk to establish the framework and scope for the room. The room will encompass activities from the Five Themes of Geography, and the Six Essential Elements. Activities should allow visitors to Ask, Acquire, Organize, Analyze, and Answer Geographic questions as they find out information from as many of the 18 standards, as possible. The 7 Greatest Places will be featured, plus connections to Memphis as "our greatest place", and a culminating activity that explains S.M.M.’s criteria for choosing places and encourages the visitor to determine their own criteria for greatest places and to pick their favorite.

Program Dates: February - May, 1999

Time Needed: On going

Materials: Museum Trunk, Educator Guides, G.P. web site, MPPM collections, maps, models, Odyssey Globe, G.P.S., stream table, Nature Scopes, Geography For Life ( and other resources), materials compiled by G.P. Leadership Institute participants.

Location: Memphis Pink Palace Museum, Discovery Room, located across the hall from the Union Planters IMAX® theater.

Program Audience: Public and private schools, families, and the general public

Internal Contacts: Exhibits Dept., IMAX Theater, Collections Dept., P.A. Dept., Volunteer coordinator

External Contacts: Possible sponsors, travel agencies, University of Memphis & local college faculty, Leadership Institute members

Possible Financial Support: Need to team with P.A./ Development Dept. to identify potential donors

Venue Dates for The Greatest Places: February - May, 1999

Time line for Planning and Implementation: Early stages of planning room - February 1998 (the film will be released, Museum Trunk will be completed and information will be available on the contents, web site and possibly a CD-ROM will be accessible, price per teacher guide, etc.). By summer of 1998, possible sponsors will be identified, wish list of items for the room, MPPM educator guide will be written and distributed to teachers featuring The Greatest Places programs, and initial ideas for a guest speaker and a topic for the free lecture will be explored. December, 1998 - January, 1999, purchase additional objects, design activities, request objects from the Collections Dept., write labels and text, plan teachers’ preview. Open Discovery Room on the day the film opens.

Evaluation: Evaluation forms will be given to the head teacher of each group that sees The Greatest Places.  These forms allow the group to critique their guest services experience, and their Discovery Room and IMAX® experience. Measuring percent utilization also allows us to compare and contrast previous Discovery Room’s attendance.