National Arts and Humanities Month Brings National Arts Education Leaders to Arizona
Educators lead extremely busy lives. Our work is gratifying but demanding, and rarely leaves time for professional development. But we know how important it is to take time to reflect, share, listen and learn, for our students and for ourselves. This October offers two excellent chances to do just that.
On October 13th, the Phoenix Art Museum’s Education Department will host Dr. Shari Tishman, Director of Harvard Project Zero. Project Zero is an educational research group at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, whose mission is to understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts, as well as humanistic and scientific disciplines, at the individual and institutional levels. Read more about this opportunity to engage with a leading institution in arts education in the guest blog post below.
And on October 15th, the Arts Commission and the Arizona Department of Education will present the second Joint Arts Education Conference (JAEC) at the Mesa Arts Center. Be inspired by opening keynote speaker Dr. Peter Boonshaft and reconnect with the reasons you teach in the arts in the first place; engage in reflective and exciting dialogue with your statewide colleagues; learn more about the intersection between the arts and Common Core standards; join closing keynote David Dik to discuss how each of us can move forward with a more informed, engaged and proactive practice to benefit our students and our communities.
Registration for the JAEC is open until October 11th. Learn more at www.azarts.gov/jaec.
Slowing Down – To Look, To See
Dawn Uscher, Program Specialist for School Programs, Phoenix Art Museum
How much time does the average art museum visitor spend looking at a work of art? Take your best guess. 4 minutes? 3 minutes? Try 4 seconds! Yes – one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Mississippi…and that was 4 seconds. In a world where we are constantly surrounded by images, slowing down – to observe – to look – to truly see can be challenging. When technology provides nearly instantaneous access to information – how do we teach ourselves (and our students) to slow down? Looking is not limited to the galleries of an art museum. Strong observational abilities are needed to decode the visual information that we encounter on a daily basis. To the K-12 community, looking skills are essential across the curriculum; understanding a primary source photograph, comparing and contrasting graphs or diagrams, recognizing a symbol and interpreting descriptive language in a piece of non-fiction literature.
In the spirit of slowing down and taking the time to look — to see, Phoenix Art Museum’s Education Department presents Artful Thinking Across the Curriculum, a special one-day workshop with Shari Tishman, Ed.D., Director of Harvard’s Project Zero and Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Project Zero is a research group whose mission is to understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts and scientific disciplines. Dr. Tishman’s research focuses on the development of thinking and understanding, learning in museums, and learning in and through the arts. Her Artful Thinking strategies encourage students to develop thinking dispositions that support thoughtful learning across many content areas.
Workshop participants will explore the value of “looking long” to develop observational skills, discover tools to deepen student understanding and practice Artful Thinking strategies in the Museum’s galleries using original art objects. No prior art experience is needed, but a desire to slow down, look and see is required! A registration fee of $50 includes morning refreshments, lunch and teaching resources. For tickets and more information, visit https://tickets.phxart.org/public/show.asp.
