Learning Opportunity at Point Lookout
photo by Charles Hamm, Belfast HS art teacher
On Friday, April 10, 2009 85 educators representing K-Higher Education from visual arts, world languages, technology, leadership and gifted education traveled from all regions in Maine to participate in a Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) workshop. It took place at the beautiful Point Lookout in Northport. We were on the top of the mountain and it was simply a GORGEOUS day.
Trainers Willamarie Moore from Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts and Michelle Grohe from the Gardner Museum in Boston did an outstanding job of presenting the information on Visual Thinking Strategies and consistently modeling the VTS techniques.
Philip Yenawine, co-author of VTS says: “kids start using their eyes to make sense of the world when they open them as infants. They look around them and they reason. Schooling very rarely takes any kind of advantage of that incredible strength that people have.” VTS is a program designed to encourage students to take advantage of those natural skills which develops their critical thinking skills and apply them to learning. These techniques are done while looking at artworks.
Three basic questions are used, the first one: What is going on in this picture? Students observe and build on each others observations with the facilitator encouraging kids to express their ideas. This impact students writing and some believe, reading. VTS is doing research that supports the impact the program is having on student achievement.
You can read and learn more at the VTS site. I invite teachers who participated in the session last week and the one offered two years ago to share comments here.
Thank you to Cathy Melio and Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport for collaborating with the Maine Dept. of Education to sponsor the workshop. If you liked to view more pictures from the VTS session please click here.
