Dear Susan,

I am a volunteer with the Textiles Museum of Canada (Toronto).    These past
few weeks I have been working with summer camp groups by taking them through
the galleries to discuss the exhibition in the context of their study focus
(i.e. media literacy or environmentalism) then teaching them a craft related
to the exhibitions in our interactive education space.  At the end of one
group my partner Wendy gathered the group of students (ages 7 - 12) and
asked them to close their eyes and think about the things that happened that
day drawing their attention to sights, sounds, tactile experiences and even
smells.  She proceeded to ask them to pick one thing that they considered
their favourite moment in the gallery then to go back to camp to write about
it making good use of adjectives to describe the experience.  She didn't
give them ideas of what to write but suggestions of how to write about it.
Then after asking everyone to open their eyes she explained that everything
we saw in the gallery today was made by people just like us who cared enough
about their projects to invest them with careful skill and attention. She
noted that anyone can do that and that we're all artists and that in fact
makes us all very special people.  She closed with striking a round of
applause for everyone to celebrate the artists within us and the great
experience had by coming to the museum and thinking about objects housed
inside.

That was so cool! The students took very positively to it and especially
liked how they were told that its important for the experience they had to
be personal -- that there were no right or wrong ways to think about the
things they learned on this day.
The student's counsellors appreciated the moment too because it helped
settle kids down for their trek back to the camp.

A variation on a theme would be (pre-arranged with the teacher of course) if
the kids each wrote a letter to the museum letting staff know what they
thought about the experience and what in the day stood out as their
favourite moment.  Or, depending on the age of the children, maybe they
could write such letters to another class in their school.

Good luck!!

Milena Placentile, Assistant Curator
Justina M. Barnicke Gallery
Hart House
7 Hart House Circle
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario
M5S 3H3



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
> Behalf Of Susan Wageman
> Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2001 9:02 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: School group departure procedure/experience
>
>
> In an effort to improve the school visit experience, we are considering
> developing some sort of departure experience that would (briefly) give
> students and teachers the opportunity to reflect on their visit before
> boarding the bus (or cars).
>
> Currently, school groups explore the galleries on their own. When
> it is time
> to leave, the teachers and chaparones gather them and they leave
> (usually in
> a rather chaotic fashion).
>
> I would be interested in hearing about departure procedures in
> other museums
> where visits are self-guided. How is the group gathered? How is it
> facilitated? Do students and teachers appreciate the opportunity to pause
> and reflect briefly before leaving?
>
> Susan B.F. Wageman
> Evaluation Manager                       [log in to unmask]
> The Tech Museum of Innovation            408-795-6303
> 201 South Market Street                  fax: 408-279-7167
> San Jose, California USA 95113           http://www.thetech.org

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