2012-2013 JDSP Teacher Resource Packet - Milwaukee Art Museum

What Is the Junior Docent School Program
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s Junior Docent School
Program (JDSP) teaches elementary school students
the vocabulary, history, and interpretation of the visual
arts. The instruction provided assists students in
developing awareness and understanding of the
visual arts in relation to history and cultures. Further,
students explore and develop various verbal, visual,
and critical-thinking skills and methods that are then
applied to discussing works of art. Students in
participating schools visit the Museum three times a
year for three years, building on concepts and skills
while using the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Collection.
A trained docent liaison leads the student visits, actively and creatively engaging students in the
specific theme of the tour. The interactive component of each visit/tour—from critical-thinking
strategies to hands-on activities—serves to support the information and concepts covered and to
enhance lessons back in the classroom.
During the third year of the program, each student chooses and becomes proficient around an
individual work of art from the Museum’s Collection. The work of art is studied and then reproduced
for an oral report and aesthetic response that is presented to families and peers during graduation.
Students are encouraged to creatively present and discuss their chosen work of art through poetry,
drama, dance and/or the visual arts.
PROGRAM GOALS, OBJECTIVES, AND DESCRIPTION
Program Summary
The JDSP primary learning objectives for students include:
Understand the basic elements and principles of visual art.
Develop a vocabulary for looking at and discussing visual arts.
Explore and develop various verbal, visual, kinesthetic, and critical-thinking skills and
strategies that promote the understanding and aesthetic evaluation of visual arts.
Develop awareness and understanding of visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
Research, read, write, organize, discuss, and creatively present information about and
personal responses to a specific work of art in the Museum’s Collection.
The primary goals of the program include:
Develop engaging lessons in communication and aesthetic evaluation.
Make connections between visual arts and other disciplines.
Help teachers use visual arts and art history within their existing classroom curricula
as an instructional tool for core competencies, as related to the Wisconsin standards
of education.
Involve and expose students and their families to the Museum’s Collection.
© 2012 Milwaukee Art Museum 700 N. Art Museum Dr. Milwaukee, WI 53202
JDSP – Teacher Packet
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