Edutopia - October/November 2008 - (Page 57)

The group of students stares intently at a large slide projection of a work of art, until the teacher asks, “What’s going on here?’’ Comments ⇓ow—about the ⇒gures, colors, shapes, emotion, story, light, and anything else anyone cares to mention. The teacher paraphrases every answer and continually probes: “What do you see that makes you say that?’’ Also: “What more can you ⇒nd?” This conversation could be taking place at El Verano School, in Sonoma, California, or at Hamilton Central School, in upstate New York, or in K-8 classrooms in cities as diverse as San Francisco, San Antonio, Miami, and dozens of others whose school districts are using an art curriculum called Visual Thinking Strategies to improve critical thinking, language and writing, and academic achievement. This conversation could even be happening at Harvard University, where VTS is studied as a way to make medical students keener observers and ultimately better diagnosticians and doctors. Today, a Monday in July, the conversation is taking place at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, in New York City. The “students” are forty teachers and museum educators from around the country who use VTS with children and have come for advanced training. They’re looking at Diego Rivera’s fresco Agrarian Leader Zapata. There’s revolutionary fervor in the room, and it’s not only coming from the image onscreen. People talk of VTS as transformational—for their students and themselves. “It’s just like magic,” says Audrey Morton Miller, who introduced VTS in her ⇒rstgrade classroom at Hamilton in fall 2007. “It’s an exciting way to get students talking, observing, making inferences, and backing them up. And its had a big effect on me as a teacher. I’ve gone from being the expert, the one who always has the knowledge, to being more of a facilitator.” This would be a lot for any curriculum to accomplish. It’s remarkable for a program that consists of a mere ten lessons a year, including one at a local museum. Students view art from different cultures, eras, genres, and media—two or three works in a forty-⇒ve-minute session. Then the kids say what they see. “It’s a very powerful tool that can really change how we educate ourselves and each other,’’ says Oren Slozberg, executive director of VTS. “What it basically does is get people to look and think.’’ A education How is the education calculation adding up for your students? Are they keeping pace with their global peers in math and science aptitude? Do they have the solid foundation in core principles they need to compete and succeed? Would you like the equation to add up in their favor? Pearson can help! Our instructional technology solutions can give you the tools you need to help NEW FROM PEARSON NovaNET® Algebra II calculation 1.75 Get the latest instructional technology innovation! your students develop a Aligned to Prentice Hall Algebra 2 © 2007 textbooks. deeper and more Find out more today comprehensive at PearsonSchool.com/ solveit understanding of math and science. To ﬁnd out how we can help you solve the education calculation, visit PearsonSchool.com/solveit or call 888.977.7900. PearsonSchool.com/solveit 888.977.7900 Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. or its afﬁliate(s). All rights reserved. NovaNET and Prentice Hall are registered trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries of Pearson Education, Inc. or its afﬁliates. MS-Edu2-0908 http://www.PearsonSchool.com/solveit http://www.PearsonSchool.com/solveit http://www.PearsonSchool.com/solveit http://www.PearsonSchool.com/solveit http://www.PearsonSchool.com/solveit

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Edutopia - October/November 2008

Edutopia - October/November 2008 Contents UpFront Feedback Dispatches Sage Advice Ask Ellen Head of Class Cool Schools Design: Lessons from the Mall The Bucks Start Here Go Global: Virgil Rocks Big Ideas: Powerful Learning Mapping Their Futures Heart & Soul Pop Quiz: Suze Orman

Edutopia - October/November 2008

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