Picturing America
School Collaboration Projects
School Collaboration Projects
Example 1
An art museum in the Midwest proposes to conduct three Picturing America School Collaboration conferences, each for forty teachers or school representatives drawn from recipients of the Picturing America portfolio. Each of the three conferences will examine images on the broad theme of landscape as a prism for understanding American history and culture. Teachers will learn to use images to probe issues related to America’s transition from rural society to industrial society, migration and settlement, animals and habitat, and American conceptions of wilderness. During one plenary session, for example, a scholar of the Hudson River School will compare Thomas Cole’s View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—the Oxbow (1836), Louis Comfort Tiffany’s Autumn Landscape (1923-1924), and Richard Diebenkorn’s Cityscape I (1963). Led by noted scholars, concurrent sessions will be devoted to Charles Sheeler’s American Landscape (1930) as a point of entry to American economic history, Romare Beardon’s The Dove (1964) as a means for exploring urban development in the United States, and John James Audubon’s American Flamingo (1838) as an illustration of interest in indigenous animals and habitat. In a small-group working session, a literature scholar and a master teacher will collaborate with participants in developing lessons on Edward Hopper’s House by the Railroad (1925) as it resonates with Our Town, Thornton Wilder’s play about life in small town America in the early twentieth century. Discussions begun at the conference around individual school plans will be continued and sustained through use of a listserv. The museum will post successful school projects on the teacher resource section of its Web site and will encourage participants to undertake other means of disseminating results of the projects, such as in-service workshops, conferences, or e‑newsletters.
An art museum in the Midwest proposes to conduct three Picturing America School Collaboration conferences, each for forty teachers or school representatives drawn from recipients of the Picturing America portfolio. Each of the three conferences will examine images on the broad theme of landscape as a prism for understanding American history and culture. Teachers will learn to use images to probe issues related to America’s transition from rural society to industrial society, migration and settlement, animals and habitat, and American conceptions of wilderness. During one plenary session, for example, a scholar of the Hudson River School will compare Thomas Cole’s View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—the Oxbow (1836), Louis Comfort Tiffany’s Autumn Landscape (1923-1924), and Richard Diebenkorn’s Cityscape I (1963). Led by noted scholars, concurrent sessions will be devoted to Charles Sheeler’s American Landscape (1930) as a point of entry to American economic history, Romare Beardon’s The Dove (1964) as a means for exploring urban development in the United States, and John James Audubon’s American Flamingo (1838) as an illustration of interest in indigenous animals and habitat. In a small-group working session, a literature scholar and a master teacher will collaborate with participants in developing lessons on Edward Hopper’s House by the Railroad (1925) as it resonates with Our Town, Thornton Wilder’s play about life in small town America in the early twentieth century. Discussions begun at the conference around individual school plans will be continued and sustained through use of a listserv. The museum will post successful school projects on the teacher resource section of its Web site and will encourage participants to undertake other means of disseminating results of the projects, such as in-service workshops, conferences, or e‑newsletters.
Example 2
A major metropolitan library proposes two-day Picturing America conferences on the theme “Art and the American Revolution” for two groups of forty K-6 educators each. The library’s educational staff and visiting scholars will collaborate in using selections from Picturing America and poems, biographies, and other literature for young readers as a stimulus to discuss themes in American history and American life, as well as to develop art appreciation skills. During the conference, participants will rotate among small group sessions focusing on art, craft, literature, and history in Colonial America. Each session will begin with the discussion of formal qualities—the use of color, line, and perspective—of the artwork and then integrate it with literary connections, historical background, and other art traditions that are suggested by this particular work of art. In one session devoted to Grant Wood’s painting The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (1931), the participants will listen to and study Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem of the same title. They will also discuss Joining the Boston Tea Party by Diane Stanley and Give Me Liberty! The Story of the Declaration of Independence by Russell Freedman, a title from the NEH We the People Bookshelf. Another session will focus on John Singleton Copley’s 1768 portrait of Paul Revere and will explore events in his life before and during the American Revolution. Another session will focus on the Picturing America image of Revere’s teapot, thus taking the discussion into the realm of American industry and craft history. To facilitate the use of these works in elementary school classrooms, workshop sessions will focus on story telling, vocabulary building, and arts creation. Plenary demonstration sessions with a museum curator will inform participants about silversmithing techniques and craft. Mentoring will be facilitated following the conference via a listserv. Upon completion of school projects, lesson plans and curricular materials will be posted under the educators’ resource section on the library’s Web site where a video archive of the keynote speaker and other presenters will be maintained.
A major metropolitan library proposes two-day Picturing America conferences on the theme “Art and the American Revolution” for two groups of forty K-6 educators each. The library’s educational staff and visiting scholars will collaborate in using selections from Picturing America and poems, biographies, and other literature for young readers as a stimulus to discuss themes in American history and American life, as well as to develop art appreciation skills. During the conference, participants will rotate among small group sessions focusing on art, craft, literature, and history in Colonial America. Each session will begin with the discussion of formal qualities—the use of color, line, and perspective—of the artwork and then integrate it with literary connections, historical background, and other art traditions that are suggested by this particular work of art. In one session devoted to Grant Wood’s painting The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (1931), the participants will listen to and study Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem of the same title. They will also discuss Joining the Boston Tea Party by Diane Stanley and Give Me Liberty! The Story of the Declaration of Independence by Russell Freedman, a title from the NEH We the People Bookshelf. Another session will focus on John Singleton Copley’s 1768 portrait of Paul Revere and will explore events in his life before and during the American Revolution. Another session will focus on the Picturing America image of Revere’s teapot, thus taking the discussion into the realm of American industry and craft history. To facilitate the use of these works in elementary school classrooms, workshop sessions will focus on story telling, vocabulary building, and arts creation. Plenary demonstration sessions with a museum curator will inform participants about silversmithing techniques and craft. Mentoring will be facilitated following the conference via a listserv. Upon completion of school projects, lesson plans and curricular materials will be posted under the educators’ resource section on the library’s Web site where a video archive of the keynote speaker and other presenters will be maintained.