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Vol. 7 No. 2

For Your Consideration 7.2

Tips for Teaching Limited English Speakers The Decent Council of the Oakland Museum, in Oakland, California, produced a highly instructive text to assist docents who tour visitors with limited knowledge of the English language. Their manual, entitled Expanding Horizons: Art Museum Tour Techniques for Beginning and Intermediate English Speakers, offers …

Knowing What’s Expected: Position Descriptions & Volunteer Agreements for Docents

As a docent program grows, how can changes in training and touring, expectations be incorporated without confusion or conflict? How can a docent program effectively clarify docent responsibilities and privileges and at the same time avoid misconceptions? If there are changes in staff, as well as changes in docent and …

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 …