Art Museum Visit

Image from The Smith College Museum of Art. Click image to visit their site.

​As teachers, we know how to visit an art museum, but for many of our students, it may be a new experience. We should not be surprised if they want to walk up and touch the creamy textures of a Wayne Thiebaud cake painting. But if they have never been told, "That's a no-no," they might not honestly know. 

​Prepping a class for a visit is as important as the actual visit. Students need an assignment to keep them busy, looking, exploring, and focused. Showing them a few images before the trip can set a tone. For younger kids, setting up a mock museum visit with posters on the classroom wall can be both fun and informative. Have students model both good and bad behavior. It will be fun and educational!
 
I give my students this paper below. One side is the 10 Commandments of a Museum Visit, and the other side is their graded assignment.

I also try to show students the proper way to take a photo if the museum allows that (and without flash) and how not to back up into a work of art while taking a selfie. ​Maybe you want to forbid the use of electronics, and that's fine, but teaching appropriate use of them can be helpful in the long run. I have students set a timer on their phone to return to a pre-set pick-up-point. 

Knowing what work is in the museum can allow you to make a scavenger hunt for students. They can find the work, and add the proper labels to prove they located it like the date, artist, and medium. Below is the form I use with my students, and it requires that they sketch a few works and think about their selections. Obviously you'll need to take the age of your students into account for the kind of assignment you'd give them, but this has worked for me for grades 4 and up.