National Gallery of Art - EDUCATION

Art Around the Corner: Multiple-Visit and Outreach Programs

Brief Overview | More Information | Fourth Grade Lesson Summaries | Fifth Grade Lesson Summaries

Brief Overview

Art Around the Corner Multiple-Visit Program
Art Around the Corner is a partnership between the National Gallery of Art and District of Columbia Public School (DCPS) Title I elementary schools.

Art Around the Corner brings fourth and fifth graders to the National Gallery up to 14 times over two years to experience original works of art and make personal and interdisciplinary connections with them. In small groups, students look closely at works of art, engaging in open-ended discussion, role-playing, sketching, art making, and creative writing. All lessons are interactive and tied to DCPS standards of learning.

Art Around the Corner also serves families during special Art Nights at the schools and at Family Days at the museum.

Mini-Multiple-Visit Program
The Mini-Multiple-Visit Program extends the learning opportunities of Art Around the Corner to a broader audience of Title I students. This program includes one visit to the classroom by Gallery teachers and two visits to the museum by participating students, all within one week. Visits are connected by a common, interdisciplinary theme. Like Art Around the Corner, students engage in inquiry-based looking exercises in the galleries to make meaning from works of art and then create art in the Education Studio.

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Title I Program
In collaboration with the Fairfax County Public Schools' Title I office, Art Around the Corner staff provides family tours to students and their families on four Saturday mornings during the school year. Designed to provide an introduction to an art museum for families visiting the National Gallery for the first time, these workshops include an interactive guided tour of three works of art on the theme "Every Picture Tells a Story," followed by an art-making activity.

More information about Art Around the Corner

Mission
Art Around the Corner's mission is three-fold: to deepen understanding of art, strengthen critical thinking, and expand the worldviews of its students. Students will engage in critical- and creative-thinking activities to make meaning from art, acquire art vocabulary in context, explore art-making techniques, and visit the National Gallery often, making it "their own."

Program Format
Each school year Art Around the Corner students visit the Gallery six times and Gallery teachers visit the classroom three times from October through March. Each class is divided into two groups, and students remain with the same Gallery teacher during each visit throughout the year.

Gallery visits last two hours and take place on alternating weeks so that classroom teachers can conduct related activities between visits. At the National Gallery students spend approximately an hour and a quarter focusing on art in the galleries and the remaining time creating a work of art that relates to their gallery experience.

Pedagogy
Art Around the Corner uses inquiry-based strategies to engage students actively with works of art. The curriculum is based on Teaching for Understanding and Artful Thinking, both developed at Harvard's Project Zero. Teaching for Understanding emphasizes asking questions of broad scope, called "Throughlines" or "Overarching Questions," that students can delve into over time. The Overarching Question for the current year is: "What can I think and do when I look at art?" Gallery activities are designed to help students develop understanding of this question and of the Essential Question for individual lessons.

Artful Thinking routines are used in the galleries to promote a range of thinking dispositions, including observing, describing, reasoning, questioning, investigating, comparing, and connecting. Sketching is used to encourage close looking, and role-playing helps students make personal connections while using kinesthetic techniques to interact with the art and each other. Art activities that allow students to experiment with authentic materials and techniques are important to developing understanding of what it means to be an artist. Student reflection after each gallery experience is also integral to the curriculum.

Professional Development and Evaluation
Professional development is an integral part of Art Around the Corner. Staff provides workshops for museum and classroom teachers and collects feedback from participants (both teachers and students) via written reflections, student work, and evaluation forms.

Curriculum and Materials
Extensive materials are provided to classroom teachers and students, including curricula, workbooks, sketchbooks, art reproductions, art materials, children's books, and certificates of completion. Classroom teachers also receive a modest stipend for their participation.

Special Events for Students and Families
To involve students' families in the program, special events are held at the end of each year: a Student Art Exhibition at each school, and Family Day at the National Gallery. At the Student Art Exhibitions, students exhibit the art and writing they created in the program, and students and families make art together. Family Day follows soon after, with families coming to the Gallery for breakfast, an interactive gallery tour, and art making.

Video: Art Around the Corner

Image:  Video: Art Around the CornerThis film introduces viewers to Art Around the Corner, the National Gallery's multiple-visit partnership with District of Columbia Public Schools. Each year fourth- and fifth- graders in the program visit the National Gallery up to seven times, using a variety of interactive strategies to experience art in meaningful ways. The film focuses on fifth-graders from Maury Elementary School, as they carefully observe, describe, reason, question, sketch, act, and make art in response to what they see. Using these methods in conjunction with classroom teachers, the Art Around the Corner collaboration aims to strengthen students' critical thinking, deepen their understanding of art, and expand their worldviews.

Watch

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