Teacher Programs and Resources

Teacher Talks

The AGA is excited to announce a new series of teacher professional development opportunities called Teacher Talks! These informal learning workshops focus on making connections between theory and practice in a fun and social environment. Each session features a new concept, gallery explorations and several hands-on art projects. The aim of these workshops is to provide practical, hands-on projects AND inspire ideas that can be used in the classroom. Workshop themes focus on visual art concepts that can be used for all ages and can also be applied to other areas of the Programs of Study.

Teacher Talks: Place-Making

Wednesday, February 1 2012, 6-8 PM
Cost: $15/$12 AGA Members
Cost includes Gallery admission and all studio materials
Register now >

How has the concept of ‘landscape’ changed over time? What is the relationship between ‘landscape’ and ‘place’? Explore these questions and more through discussions, gallery visits and studio art-making projects in the first Teacher Talks workshop! This session begins with a brief introduction to the art of ‘landscape’ focusing on how the genre has changed over time including the role of ‘place-making’ in contemporary art. Discussions will center around concepts of ‘place’ across the curriculum and how these notions can promote student understanding of self and the world around them. The opening discussion will be followed by a Gallery visit to the exhibitions A Passion for Nature: 19^th Century French Painting and State of Nature: Western Canadian Landscapes from the AGA Collection, 1980 to the Present. This visit will focus on strategies for promoting visual literacy and thinking skills by looking at landscape art from the past and present. In the studio, several projects that explore the idea of ‘place’ will be introduced and teachers will have the opportunity to explore media, concepts and strategies through hands-on, brains-on sharing and collaboration. This session also includes a take-away resource of lesson and project ideas that can be used in the classroom.

Teacher Talks: Techno-Folly

Wednesday, May 2, 2012, 6-8 PM
Cost: $15/$12 AGA Members
Cost includes Gallery admission and all studio materials
Register now >

What is the relationship between art and technology? How has this relationship changed over time? This Teacher Talk workshop focuses on the concept and the use of technology in visual arts. The workshop will begin with a discussion (or debate!) on the role of technology in art based on theoretical approaches and the experiences of classroom teachers. In the Gallery, explorations will focus on the role of technology in the history of art including a visit to the exhibition Icons of Modernism, which features work by Picasso, Duchamp, Mondrian and Dali. In the studio, several projects that explore both the concept and the use of technology (whether it is a paintbrush or a tumblr blog) will be introduced.

Connect to your AGA with resources that can be used in the classroom prior to your program or on their own. These classroom resources provide jumping off points for discussions and projects that can be used with multiple age levels and several areas of the Programs of Study.

Classroom Resources

Program Specific Resources

Use these resources prior to attending your program at the AGA. Each resource offers ideas for reflection questions, in-class activities and more information on connections to the Programs of Study.

Art Beyond Borders >
Artist as Storyteller >
Art Texts >
ImaginArte (Spanish Program) >
Learning to Look >
Lire l’Art (French Program) >
Science of Museums >
Shifting Perspectives >
Tiny Art Adventures >

Appropriate This >
Architecture Olympics >
Colour Play >
Drawing with Light >
My Place >
Play on Architecture > 

AGA Education E-News

Sign up now to receive information about upcoming exhibitions, new School Programs, Teacher Professional Development opportunities and other exciting AGA news! Starting in September, AGA Education E-News will be coming to you monthly with updates on how you can connect to the AGA.

Conferences and Presentation

NCTCA’s Embracing the Challenge Convention 2012

Teaching to ‘Un-Know’ through Visual Literacy
Friday, February 10th, 10:30-12:30 at The Shaw Conference Centre

How do we come to ‘know’ something in the 21st Century? How can visual literacy and visual thinking skills lead to a process of ‘un-knowing’, encouraging critical thinking about the world? As new media technologies and unprecedented access to information pervade every aspect of contemporary life, including education, students and teachers are faced with new questions and new challenges related to knowledge. This session explores the process of ‘un-knowing’ in order to promote 21st Century visual literacy and visual thinking skills. The session focuses on specific visual literacy frameworks and strategies that can be used to encourage critical thinking in students across subject areas. Educators will investigate a variety of ideas and project examples that use art and visual culture in an inter-disciplinary way to promote higher level thinking skills. The session combines theories of knowledge, aesthetic education research and concepts of literacy with practical solutions to incorporating visual thinking skills in the classroom.