Teacher Training
Spokane Public School Teachers Apply Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) to Art and Beyond
With assistance and training from the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, Spokane Public Schools educators are learning how to use Visual Thinking Strategies to create more confident students, whatever the subject area.
Visual Thinking Strategies
Developing Powerful 21st Century Skills Through Art
Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is a research-based, international teaching method that uses works of art to support observation, creative and critical thinking, listening, and communication skills in all students. Rigorous discussions of art nurtures students’ aesthetic development and visual literacy. During a VTS discussion, students learn to reason in a social context. Over time, this practice transfers critical thinking to all subject areas. In VTS, visual art is the catalyst for complex thinking, cooperative learning, and language development.
"To build a society that is innovative, prosperous, and truly democratic we need to teach next generations not just facts and skills, but how to learn, how to communicate, and how to think creatively, critically, independently."
--Philip Yenawine, VTS Co-Founder
VTS is both a professional development program and a critical thinking curriculum designed to meet the needs of all learners.
Benefits for teachers
- Discussions provide a unique vantage point into student's learning processes.
- Open-ended, inquiry-based strategies build community and teach respectful debate.
- Meets the high-cognitive demand for Common Core State Standards in Speaking and Listening, ELA, Art and more
- Strategies naturally transfer to content areas.
Benefits for students
- Exposure to high quality diverse art in a safe and nurturing way
- Jumpstarts and ingrains the development of critical thinking, problem solving, and a range of language skills
- Open-ended, non-evaluative paraphrasing encourages even hard to reach students to participate
- Engaging way to authentically learn vocabulary
Objectives of VTS Professional Development
- Train specialists to facilitate conversations about art in classrooms/small group work
- Practice with VTS experts and build confidence to implement with all students
- Reflect on teaching and learning through modeling and coaching opportunities
- Learn to evaluate shifts in student thinking by analyzing their writing for the following: Critical thinking, vocabulary, conditional language, evidentiary reasoning, supported inferences and more.
- Foster a life-long facilitation tool that can be adapted across content
Overview of Professional Development
DAY 1: Launching VTS (6 hours)
- The research behind VTS2
- image discussions with discussion time
- The elements of an image discussion
- Practice session
- Implementation tips and pacing
- Access to VTS curriculum
Three 2-hour debriefs throughout the year
- The power of paraphrasing; neutrality, vocabulary and linking ideas
- 3 little questions
- Troubleshooting difficult comments
- Writing with VTS
Resources Included
- VTS Binder with pacing guides, research and theory, useful paraphrasing language, assessment rubric
- Access to VTS website which contains grade level curriculum, articles, videos and more
Pricing
The twelve hours of professional development, curriculum, and resources is $275 per participant. For groups larger than 10, please send your inquiry to Lindsey.Newton@NorthwestMuseum.org for custom scheduling and group pricing.
These trainings will be in person at the MAC with the possibility that a portion of the professional development will occur virtually.
Dates
Initial Launch: Saturday, February 18, 2023, 9:00 am-4:00 pm (One 6-hour session with 1-hour lunch break)
Debrief dates: Saturday, March 18, 2023, 12:00-2:00 pm; Saturday, April 15, 2023, 12:00-2:00 pm; Saturday, May 20, 2023, 12:00-2:00 pm (three 2-hour sessions).
For more information please contact
Lindsey Newton | VTS Trainer | she/her
Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture
Lindsey.Newton@NorthwestMuseum.org
Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) Educational Video
The MAC shows how visual interaction with art boosts academic achievement.