A Trip to the Palmer Art Museum

This week in #AEE412 lab, we got the privilege of going to the Palmer Art Museum on campus. We were led through a guided tour, in which our tour guides used a different teaching method at each work we stopped at to show us the differences they make when trying to learn.

Stop 1: Still Life with Grapes

This is a painting from around 1860 by artist Severin Roesen. It is a very realistic piece with much attention to detail. One of the things I found interesting about this piece is the way that the watermelon looks, as it did back in 1860 before genetic modification.

 Our tour guide taught out about this painting through a lecture. I know from my education classes that lecture is a good method to relay information to large groups of people in a short amount of time. However, there were only 6 of us and we had plenty of time, which is why this teaching style did not seem to be effective for us. The lecture teaching style offers very little student engagement unless the teacher pauses for questions. Otherwise, the student's main job is to sit and listen, while the teacher’s job is to speak about the topic being presented.

Still Life with Grapes, Severin Roesen, 1860

Stop 2: Harlem Rose

This art piece was created in 2006 by Willie Cole, an African American artist. The work presents many pairs of worn women’s shoes in the shape of a circle, to form a rose. Our tour guide started at this stop by asking us to make some basic observations about what we were looking at. Slowly, our group shared that we saw shoes, then worn shoes, and then that they were all worn women’s shoes. After we made our preliminary observations, our tour guide shared some information about the piece and the artist that created it. Then, she asked us what message the artist may have been trying to convey through creating an art piece like this.

The method our tour guide used to teach us about this piece is called shared inquiry. It is when the teacher asks open-ended questions about a topic, such as, “What do you notice about this?” “What does this remind you of?” or “What does this feel like?” to help students reach their own opinions or thoughts about something. The questions the teacher asks should promote critical thinking and analysis from the student.

Harlem Rose, Willie Cole, 2006

Stop 3: Painting of J and Others

For our last stop on the tour, we were led into an art gallery on the second floor. After the tour guide told us a little bit about the art pieces around us, we were given a prompt and were instructed to find an art piece that answered that prompt. My prompt was “Find a piece of art that reminds you of your past.” After looking through the gallery, I choose Portrait of J by Nathan Oliveira. This 1959 painting is mostly dark with a person in the middle, featuring a little bit of color and light on the person's face.

This teaching style is called free-choice learning, where the students have the opportunity to explore and communicate their ideas. An activity like this allows student autonomy, as well as gives us a chance to get to know our students better and strengthen relationships within the class too. An activity like this also gives students an opportunity to expand their perspective and see things differently. To top it all off, the students get to share something about themselves with the class, which really drives home the, “What’s in it for me?” by in that we need from our students.

Portrait of J, Nathan Oliveira, 1959

As an agriscience teacher, these three teaching styles can be implemented in all of my classes, but I think I am the most excited to see where I can try the free-choice learning activity. As an in-class activity or as an interest approach, I think that it is a great way to get students engaged and keep them focused on the content. There are many settings in the classroom we can do this activity too, such as the greenhouse, the shop, or in the forestry plot if I work at a school that has one. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Palmer Art Museum for the first time this week in lab. It really helped me open my eyes to how different teaching styles affect our learners, especially from an educator's standpoint. I also learned from our tour guides to not be afraid to reach out to places in the community if we have an idea about where to take students. They most likely want to help make it a great experience for all attending!

Thank you for reading, and as always, thank you for your endless support,

Ms. Cusate