July 2017 was the 19th year of Summer Teacher In-Service at the OJAC. This season we enjoyed visiting classroom instructors from Abilene, Albany, Anson, Breckenridge, Cisco, Cherokee, Clyde, De Leon, Haskell, Hawley, Leuders Avoca, Merkel, Stamford and Wylie.
Weekly Teacher Workshops are very interactive as instructors explore the OJAC collection through cross-curricular and TEKs aligned lesson plans and art activities. Teachers leave with freebies, classroom art supply sets, a full curriculum packet (printed and digital) with colored prints of collection objects, as well as their completed sample of each craft or activity.
2017 Themes ranged from Hispanic Arts and Culture, local West Texas History, Global Printmaking traditions and Visual and Language Arts Connections for Early Learners.
At ¡Fiesta!: A Celebration of Hispanic and Latin Culture through the OJAC Collection, Spanish language and social studies teachers explored traditions, celebrations, artists and history of Hispanic and Latin Cultures through the lens of the museum collection. They created Incan Quipu, Spanish Colonial Straw Applique, Amate Bark Paper Paintings, Tres Reyes Wishing Shoes, Peruvian Bird Gourds, and learned the traditional Mexican children's game of La Vieja Ines.
Erin Whitmore, Education Director
At Printmaking: A sampler of Cross-cultural traditions, visual and fine art teachers learned fun and budget-friendly ways for their students to explore ancient printmaking traditions from countries such as India, Mexico, China, Ghana, Japan and the Netherlands. They experimented with a variety of materials and techniques presented through the lens of Visual Art and Artifacts from the museum collection.
At The Art of Reading, teachers of PK-2nd grade students investigated connections between popular and classic children's books and the museum collection. Participants practiced instruction of visual thinking and language arts activities and enjoyed games and crafts corresponding to each book.
Our final workshop was a Local History Tour, where social studies and history instructors enjoyed a guided bus tour of local historical sites, followed by instruction at the museum. Participants enjoyed a performance by a singing Cowboy Poet, as well as crafts connecting to frontier life and Native American Cultures in our region.
