[MUSIC] Writing and discussion activities can be tools for encouraging close looking and analyzing a work of art. Unlike other activities, many of these do not rely on elaborate materials or a great deal of preparation on the teacher's part. The activity ideas I'm about to share can work across themes and with different mediums or types of artworks. One tactic we use often is Turn and Talk. We'll pose an open-ended question and ask each student to discuss their response with a partner. We'll usually give students two to three minutes to share their ideas with each other, depending on the question. For this activity to work well, it's important that the topic be truly open-ended. For example, the question can be something like, talk to your partner about what kinds of shapes you see in this painting. Or, the question can be more focused on reflection. Such as, why do you think the artist might have chosen to paint the man's face green? This activity can be used with any age student. It gives each student a chance to talk and share their ideas. It also creates a safe space for those students who have a harder time sharing with the entire group. Similar to Turn and Talk is another tactic we call Whip Around. During the discussion phase where students are describing what they see, we'll say something like, look closely at this work of art. Let's go around and each student will say the first word they can think of. We then invite students to each say a word with the only rule being no repeating. The word can be something that they see in the work of art or a descriptive word. Often, we'll keep a list of the words students say that can be revisited later after a deeper investigation of the work of art. This allows the students to see a progression from where they began to where they end up. It allows for every student to speak and immediately levels the playing field, because there are no wrong answers. >> A fortune cookie. >> [LAUGH] >> A fortune cookie? Okay. >> A volcano. >> Volcano. Okay. >> Loneliness. >> Loneliness, loneliness >> I was gonna say darkness. But I also thought about overwhelming. It's like the darkness is just taking over. So, that's why I said overwhelming. >> Another version of the Whip Around activity could be the visual inventory. As a full group, in pairs, or individually, students can make a list of all the things they see and notice in a work of art. This activity encourages students to hold off on interpretation, and instead start off exclusively describing what they notice. This visual inventory gives students the chance to be all on the same page in terms of what they are looking at before they move on to the phase of interpreting. This activity can be used with students of any age and for almost any object. >> Think of other words that correspond to this one. You can just circle the words if you want to. >> Gravity. >> Of gravity? >> To enclose. >> To enclose. >> [INAUDIBLE] And then to surrounding, to wrap. Like, when you lift something, it goes like that [CROSSTALK] and then makes circles to wrap you. >> A simple memory activity can illustrate the importance of spending time with a work of art. This activity involves asking students to look at the art work for 30 seconds. After 30 seconds, the students will all turn around with their backs to the work of art. We'll then ask the students what they saw and what they remember in the work of art. Sometimes, we ask students to focus on one specific section at a time, or just let the students share what they remember in random order. After a little while, students will realize a few things. They'll realize that they need each other's help to piece together full visual memory of the work of art. They'll realize that they each missed important components, or remembered certain parts incorrectly. By the time they spend a few minutes sharing, students will be eager to look at the work again and fill in the gaps in their memories. At this point, we'll invite the students to turn around and look at the work. We'll often wrap up by asking questions like, do you notice more detail now or is there anything you missed when you looked at the artwork the first time? [MUSIC]
