Reflections+on+the+Summer+Institute




 * Here are some thoughts from participating teachers about what they expect and hope to gain from a program centered around thinking skills:**

My main objective is always for my students to learn. Not by memorizing but by thinking and incorporating new ideas into existing ones to create long lasting ideas that will be reused and expanded upon.

I realize that although I wish for my students to develop thinking skills my methods don't always promote these skills...I want my students to question, to explore. I want my students to take responsibility for their own education. I want them to think. I want to learn to develop these skills within myself in order to share them.

Focusing on art may help me help my students become better observers of the world around them and better thinkers as a result.

I hope to learn new ways of thinking about learning and refresh what I know and use already. As teachers we sometimes don't give kids a chance to think for themselves or reflect and give back.

I hope to learn new ways to incorporate art into the classroom and how to make the students better thinkers. I want to learn new ways to work with the classroom teachers to make the lessons more meaningful. Since I have to grade students I hope to learn new ways to assess student learning.

I would like to learn methods to foster critical thinking when looking at art that would make natural connections to the other disciplines.


 * Here are some comments and reflections from teachers participating in the TEAM program at the end of the Summer Institute:**

I feel very comfortable and look forward to using these techniques to stimulate my students to be more reflective and make more personal connections to works of art. As an art teacher, I truly enjoyed watching and listening to non-art teachers approach their lessons with an open mind.

Thank you for a fabulous, fun, enlightening, enriching three days, and of course for the coffee!

This has broadened my knowledge of how to ask questions that illicit curiosity, discovery, and exploration.

I will be able to incorporate a variety of activities to enhance my students' thinking skills. I envision using the arts integrated activities we learned across the curriculum.