Insights & Skills

A Picture Tells a Thousand Words

a growing resource

As this is a study tour to observe Visual Arts it seems obvious to report acquired insights and skills mostly through visual images, websites and educational links or a rare comment. A final report will be written using this information.

Many of the observed artworks and ideas intended for teachers to use in classrooms or at student and teacher workshops. If you have a specific question about how these works were created or information about how they might be adapted for your classroom then please post below.

City of Toronto Youth Services – Living Through The Arts 

Under Construction: My Ideal Home – A Group Work

Doncrest Public School – Toronto   and their teacher  Rina Singh

Greenfield Elementary School, New Waterford, Sydney – Diane Lane

Holy Angels High School, Sydney – Elizabeth Lalonde

Alexander Graham Bell Museum – Linda Watson

http://www.pc.gc.ca/apprendre-learn/prof/index_e.asp Type in a key word eg: Art, Flight

Coordinator of Program Services P-6 Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board – Cathy MacNeil

www.cbv.ns.ca/finearts  CBVRSBoard’s arts info

www.learner.org Annenberg media site has great video streams of arts based classrooms plus discussions

www.pz.harvard.edu/index.cfm Project Zero Classroom on the Harvard site

‘Why Our Schools Needs The Arts’ by Jessica Hoffman Davis

In this book, Jessica Davis equips educators and advocates alike with a rich vocabulary and clear examples of how to teach and how to make the case for the essential and unique place of the arts in the school curriculum. – Richard J. Deasy, Director, Arts Education Partnership
“This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about kids the ones who are naturally drawn to the arts over sciences, for whom cutting the arts is depriving them of their very nature, and those who badly need an introduction to the arts to balance their gifts in other subjects. We must be able to promise all of them that the arts will have a well-loved and revered place in the curriculum. This powerful book will help us to do so.” Carly Simon, author and musician

ArtsSmarts – Kris Webster

www.artssmarts.ca/eng/resources/artssmarts.cfm

www.artssmarts.ca/eng/resources/links.cfm

ArtReach – Willie Reid

For more information and useful suggestions around the development of visual literacy, visit the following sites:

www.nationhood.ca – (go to lesson plans) for many examples of cross-curricular lessons using artist’s images

www.agns.gov.ns.ca – Click on Education, then ArtReach – a growing body of lessons connected to current exhibitions

www.artsedge.kennedy-center.org – Hit “lesson finder”, type in “visual arts” and “language arts” – grades 5-8

www.kinderart.com – artists and art history, grade level lessons based on images across time and culture

www.teach-nology.com – lots or teacher resources, lesson plans around the arts

http://picturingbooks.imaginarylands.org/ – a site devoted to picture books and the importance of illustrations in developing and maintaining language skills

www.carleton.ca/gallery/schoolwork/activitieslearnlook.html

www.princtonol.com – has everything artful! Images, lessons, library, art criticism, etc.

www.readwritethink.org/  – look for “artistic elements: Exploring art through writing” motivating students to develop descriptive language in their writing. Says 3-5 but certainly useful for 6 (and well beyond) as well

Google Internet School Library Media Centre for sites on visual literacy.

JL Ilsley High School, Halifax – Sabine Fels

In general the arts are valued by society but this does not extend to arts education that takes place in the school system. This is reflected by the fact that the arts are the first subjects to be neglected or dropped whenever there are cuts.

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

Curriculum links through lessons on the AGNS website: