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Current Schedule
Professional Development Institute—Session 2 of 3
West Coast: September 17-20, 2007; San Francisco, CA.
Professional Development Institute—Session 1 of 3
East Coast: TBA.
Professional Development Institute—Session 1 of 3
West Coast: November 7-10, 2007; Seattle, WA.
November 7: 2pm-5pm
November 8-10: 10am-5pm
Hosted by The Seattle Art Museum and The Frye Art Museum.
The Goal
Formerly referred to by VUE as “Trainer Training,” these institutes prepare people for helping others use VTS, becoming, in effect, VTS experts.
The complete Professional Development Institute program consists of a sequence of three sessions spread over time. The goal is to develop participants’ practical expertise at facilitating VTS as well as discussions of teaching practice, research data, theoretical writing, and assessment of learning—in other words, to teach participants how to maximize discussion as a tool for collaborative learning, whether the subject is art, other still and moving images, text, or observed behavior.
Participants get a solid grounding in the theory and research findings on which VTS is based including understanding the learning that VTS nurtures, its transfer, and its effects on test scores. They address practical and logistical issues that arise during VTS implementations with teachers, docents, museum staffs, and pre-service and other college-level educators including what to expect at different points in the process. They practice using a variety of web-based tools available to support professional development in others.
One objective of these institutes is to develop a national network of VTS colleagues. Participants are encouraged to submit stories, photos, and experiences they want to share with others to VUE’s quarterly email newsletter. A bulletin board is maintained for questions and virtual discussion of discoveries and challenges. Gatherings are usually organized for those attending the annual National Art Education Association conference, to allow for key updates and also to give people a chance to see and talk informally—as well as to make sure everyone knows if and when VTS is being discussed at sessions.
Throughout the process, participants are given time and occasion to talk informally. In fact, the relationships created are lasting and helpful to people for reasons that extend beyond VTS. One of the most cited benefits of this training is the chance to reflect on the content and form of our work. This time of deep focus on the teaching and learning about art is something that work pressure seldom allows.
Who Should Attend?
These institutes are designed for:
- Museum educators who want to build the skills of their own staff/docents and/or establish VTS partnerships with schools.
- School system staff interested in implementing VTS within a district.
- College and university educators dealing with all levels of teacher preparation.
- Those who want to teach VTS to others applying it in contexts such as teaching art history, artists and artist/teachers, or out of school programs.
Because VTS training partnerships between schools and museums are encouraged, it is suggested that participants attend in teams. For example, a team could be a museum staff person and either a docent or a teacher from a nearby school.
If you have no previous VTS experience, we strongly encourage you to first attend a VTS Institute. However, commitment to completing the cycle is sufficient.
What Is Expected?
- These institutes consist of three four-day workshops separated by enough time to give participants a chance to use and reflect on what was addressed in the previous session. Typically, the first session is offered in fall and the second the following spring, bracketing an academic year.
- The third workshop is often separated by as long as two years from the second to allow participants more time to see VTS working with young people as well as to train at least one group of others.
- Practice teaching: between session one and session two, participants are
expected to arrange to teach all ten lessons of the basic curriculum in a local
school. If, as we recommend, you attend with partners from your museum or school, we hope you will both teach and observe one another. For example, one of you could teach a Grade 3 class, while others observe, and another of you could teach in Kindergarten observed by partners in turn. This will allow all to experience what happens over a ten week sweep with two age groups.
- If a partnership is not possible, we
encourage participants to teach two sets of classes, K-2 as well as 3-5. If teaching
in a classroom is not possible, some similar long-term practice can be substituted;
for instance, conducting VTS museum tours. Between sessions 2 and 3, participants
will make preparations to train a group of teachers or docents. During this time
period, we also suggest some involvement, at least as an observer, in some ongoing
training.
- The VUE bulletin board and email can be used for peer and VUE staff feedback
for discussions and questions that arise between training sessions.
The Training Sessions
All sessions are facilitated by national VTS experts. Philip Yenawine presents the second and third sessions;
at some point, Abigail Housen is available for questions and updates on research
findings. Presentations and discussions involve the full group, though we break into
subgroups for practical experience. All sessions are flexible enough to address
specific concerns as they arise, and if participants need one on one time with VUE
staff, it is arranged.
Professional Development Institute I (PDI 1) stresses VTS practice and basic theory so that each aspect of VTS, including image selection, is thoroughly analyzed and examined in light of Abigail Housen’s research. In addition participants are introduced to a method of coaching others in VTS, and they practice facilitating discussions of pedagogical issues and live and taped examples of teaching. We expect participants to return to their sites and teach sequences of VTS lessons to classes of students (ideally two groups, one K, 1 or 2, another 3, 4 or 5) to experience what happens over time, both to them as teachers and to their students. We want, if possible, for participants to collect writing samples from older students. We also ask them to present VTS to others, perhaps principals, teachers and/or museum staff, and through all of this to make notes about what they observe and think. We assign reading from VTS background texts and other theoretical writing.
Professional Development Institute II (PDI 2) begins with debriefing and reflecting on participants’ experience with VTS since PDI 1: what was learned from watching themselves and students over time as well as from presenting VTS to others. While there is ongoing practice of VTS (using the questions added to VTS over time), this workshop focuses on coaching and facilitating discussions of teaching/learning as well as theory and text, especially Housen’s data and writing by Arnheim and Vygotsky. From these discussions, we want participants to enrich their understandings of when and how learning occurs and how VTS experience with art nurtures learning. We spend time assessing growth in VTS students, using writing samples (pre and post “tests” from one year) as well as tapes of discussions. We examine and discuss agendas for trainings to make sure all intentions, processes, and expectations are clearly understood. We study the uses of the Internet to implement classroom lessons, including writing assignments for students, and to aid in teacher discussions and practice. Upon returning to their home sites, participants are expected to teach VTS to at least one—preferably more—group of docents, teachers, or others, and to use VTS themselves with a variety of audiences.
Professional Development Institute III (PDI 3) begins by debriefing and reflecting on what has been learned in the time since PDI 2, followed by a review of any new research discoveries or developments regarding VTS practice. In terms of practice, we focus on facilitation skills to meet the needs of students with a number of years of VTS and of audiences of others with substantial art exposure—docents, adult museum audiences, or museum educators, for example. We examine and discuss other theoretical texts. We review and reflect on training formats, agendas, use of web resources, challenges of different learning contexts, and the process and pace of learning. We further address evidence of student learning by examining writing samples (pre and post “tests” over several years,) and study the path marker and other tools/rubrics for teachers to use when assessing changes in visual skills, language, and thought.
Materials
Each participant will need:
- A set of VTS Basic Manuals: Grades K-2 and 3-5.
- Each team of two
should have one set of posters (for either K, 1, or 2) and a set of slides or image CD-ROM (Grades 3-5).
Materials may be purchased at Crystal Productions.
Fees
$500.00 per session. Registrants are required to pay $250 downpayment for each session to reserve a space. Please note that $100 of the downpayment is non-refundable. Starting 1 week before the session the entire $250 downpayment is non-refundable.
The balance is due prior to the start of the training session. 10% discount for up-front payment of all 3 sessions -- $1350.00. Payments can be made by check to "Visual Understanding in Education" (119 W 23rd Street New York, NY 10011) or online below by credit card.
Participants should budget approximately $130/night for hotel in Seattle, WA and approximately $135/night for hotel in San Francisco.
Online Payment:
Sessions 1,2,3
Full Payment (reflects 10% discount): $1,350.00
Professional Development Institute —Session 2 of 3 -
West Coast: September 17-20, 2007; San Francisco, CA
Session 2: $250 down payment
Session 2: $250 balance
Session 2: $500 full payment
Professional Development Institute—Session 1 of 3 -
East Coast: TBA.
Session 1: $250 down payment
Session 1: $250 balance
Session 1: $500 full payment
Professional Development Institute—Session 1 of 3 -
West Coast: November 7-10, 2007; Seattle, WA
November 7: 2pm-5pm
November 8-10: 10am-5pm
Session 1: $250 down payment
Session 1: $250 balance
Session 1: $500 full payment
For more information, contact VUE at (212) 253.9007, or by email
at info@vue.org
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