1. Pre-Visit Observation and Conversation Exercise Secondary Impressions

2. Skills you use at the museum

3. Skills you use in the classroom will help you observe, enjoy and understand art  Deep looking and making observations  You will have lots of time to look and collect visual information about artworks and galleries  Problem Solving and Critical Thinking Skills  You will make interpretations about what you see in artworks  You might think about what an object was used for, the style of the artwork, or the story or message that is being communicated in the artwork  Citing Evidence  Interpretations you make may be influenced by details you see in the painting, things you have learned in the classrooms, or things you have experienced in your life

4. Practice: Deep looking and making observations

5. Choose one of these images, take a moment to look, then…  Make as many observations as you can  List everything you see

6. Practice: Problem Solving

7. Take a deeper look and make some interpretations…  What story is being depicted here?  What message is the artist trying to communicate?

8. Practice: Citing Evidence

9. Think about the interpretations you just made…  What do you see that makes you say that?

10. Post-Visit Extension Exercises

11. Continue to look, observe, and think critically:  Consider a space  Consider artworks  Consider your textbook

12. Inventory a space in your school:  It could be:  A wall of your classroom  A part of the library  The cafeteria  Ask yourself:  What’s going on in this space? How would you describe it?  What do you see that makes you say that?  What more can you find?  How do the images and the arrangement of the objects give the space a certain feeling or mood?  What messages are communicated to the students using the space?

13. Use your notes from your Pre-Visit Observations and Conversations to write about these images: You may choose to use: ● Expository writing ● Persuasive writing ● Narrative writing

14. Expository Writing Ideas:  A letter to the artist  Tell him or her your reactions to this artwork and what questions you still have.  Be a reporter  Write a news article that records what has happened in this image.  Compare and contrast  Write about what these images share, and how each is unique.

15. Persuasive Writing Ideas:  A critical review of the artwork  Is this a successful artwork? Persuade your reader why or why not?  An advertisement for the artwork  Use persuasive language to convince your friends or family to go see this artwork.

16. Narrative Writing Ideas:  Make a storyboard with images and written captions  Think about what is happening now in the image, what happened just before, and what will happen next?  Give it a title  Explain how your title relates to and informs the viewer about what is going on in the image.

17. Find images that are exciting and confusing in your texts:  Preview the next chapter in your textbook.  Look only at images and ask yourself:  Which images make you say “Whoa!”  Which images make you say “Huh?”  Use these images as entry points for a class discussion about what the theme or key messages of your next unit of study might be.

18. Image Attributions Sylvia Plimack Mangold, American, b. 1938 Ruler Reflection, 1977 2010.43 Paul Gauguin, French, 1848-1903 Faaturuma (Melancholic), 1891 38-5