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Alan Gartenhaus

Familiar Strangers

Perhaps you might salute a group of arriving eighth-graders with the same slogan I’d use, “Hail mighty contrarians!” These awkward, yet occasionally articulate, fourteen and fifteen-year-olds reflect the many challenges and dichotomies inherent when transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Young people in this age range are full of a restless …

Talking the Talk

If there is one characteristic that distinguishes those who excel at giving presentations or demonstrations it is proficiency in public speaking. Public speaking, like most skills applicable to teaching, is not a simple matter. It requires understanding how to engage audiences and how to hold their interest while stimulating reflective …

Asking Questions

Ask interesting, thought-provoking questions and you know what happens? People try to answer them! Whether they respond orally, or simply contemplate in reflective silence, visitors will actively participate when asked appropriate questions. No matter whether you teach with art, history, or science collections, you can encourage active thinking and participatory …

Not Getting Burned

For years museum educators felt neglected, the step- children of their profession. They struggled for recognition within their institution’s hierarchy and vied for precious budgetary resources. Education departments and their programs were considered of secondary importance to their institutions and were treated accordingly. During the past 30 years, many of …

Participatory Teaching: Guiding the Discovery Process

While traditional classroom studies primarily call upon deductive reasoning skills (going from generalities and moving to specific examples), learning from art, history, or science collections requires inductive reasoning (looking at specific examples and extrapolating as to generalities). Quite naturally, therefore, teaching within museums, historic sites, zoos, gardens, and other similar …

Crafting a Tour

This issue of The Docent Educator examines introductions, transitions, and conclusions — three of the most important structural elements of any lesson. Along with content, these structural elements determine and direct every guided learning experience. When poorly conceived or implemented, introductions, transitions, and conclusions can defeat the most well intentioned …