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Lesson Plans


Re: methods for secondary museum ed.

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
Thom Maltbie (tmaltbie)
Fri, 12 Jan 1996 15:45:51 -0600

>I think this is generally the queston my thesis is going to be on. I
>don't have musch formulated yet, but I'd be happy to let you know what I
>dig up as things progress. My basic idea is that it's a million times
>more effective for kids to be able to stnd in front of an original work
>of art and discuss it for its aesthetic and historical properties than to
>read a book or be subjected to "art in the dark."

Kathryn,

Sorry to butt in,(this is a discussion, though). I've been teaching for ten
years at a rural school (60 miles from Cincinnati) and therefore the
collections are not accessible. I've discovered that kids, especially
younger ones (we can't all teach high school), do not understand the
inherent abstraction of the reproduction from its respective "real" work of
art. I have, literally, thousands of electronic and paper reproductions
which pale in comparison to a trip to the museum (we don't take those
trips). My feeling is that this problem is partially overcome by (1) the
"teacher as artist" and "art room as studio" switches (sometimes the
teacher has to have a meaningful and high level involvement with his/her
own studio work right there in the school) and (2) local artists and art
works (no matter how good) must be used as examples so that the students
understand the involved media and techniques. Keep discussing this, I
struggle with this and my own work as an artist.

Thom Maltbie
South Ripley Elementary School
812-689-5383
Versailles, IN

  • Reply: Kathrine L Walker: "Re: methods for secondary museum ed."