Making a Vision Come to Life

How do you make a vision come to life?

You have a vision. You put it into words and then into print. You share your vision. Now what does it take to make that vision a reality?

My time at the Newark Museum was extremely informative, educational, and personally quite rewarding. The vision was to have a cohort of teacher leaders develop a conceptual map of knowledge in their content area, understand how that knowledge is developed, why it is important, and how to communicate that knowledge to others.

In order to make this vision come to life, the members of the cohort read about bridging practices (combining content with different forms of pedagogy in order to evoke meaning and understanding), and Dewey’s theories of “doing” for true learning (I look and I see, I listen and I hear, I do and I understand), readiness (knowing what to look for and how to see it; interpretation), and the combining of feelings, the times, one’s culture, and experiences all coming together to form ideas and ideals for teachers to use when choosing a pedagogy for optimal learning. We also read articles about how art and objects can be used as springboards for classroom activities where students can put meaning to the content, the constructivist approach where you interact with your environment in order to develop deep understanding, and knowing who the knower is and how and what they will learn. It all comes down to authentic engagement.

Intertwined with the discussions of the articles and our knowledge and beliefs regarding pedagogy, were private tours of select galleries in the museum. The experiences that I had were so valuable for my understanding of how we were to use object-based learning. Kevin had a certain way about him and knew just how to “make us think.” He set a very good example. The other gentleman, I don’t recall his name, brought us through the Science gallery. He spoke “our language” and opened my eyes to what really goes into setting up a child-friendly educational exhibit. So much thought went into the placement of objects, how to incorporate interactivity, how to make everything as authentic as possible, the natural flow of things, the simplicity yet effectiveness of it all. It made for a good example of what was expected for our table-top display and what we could do in our own classrooms.

We explored the art and objects, discussed the information and then we applied our knowledge. This is what it is all about. When it came time to actually work on the display we were to know our big idea and then think of the three essential questions which are: What will the students see?, What will the students learn?, and What will the students do? Through the construction of the display, these particular questions should be answered. I think we all did a fabulous job in making that happen.

With all the knowledge from the readings, discussions we had, gallery tours and explanations we were fortunate to be a part of, and construction of the displays, we were able to make this vision come to life. The proof was not only in the finished display products, but even more so in the explanations and the guest audience reactions. I think the best was Patty’s son; he was the true test of the effectiveness of all the hard work for those eight days. He walked around to each and every display and looked, touched, listened, and made many discoveries. He asked numerous questions and I’m sure there was lots of inquiry on his part; once again, validating that the vision came to life.

As for the personal reward; it was tremendous! I feel that this cohort is becoming not just a group of teacher leaders working to achieve a masters degree together, but we are becoming friends; people who truly care about each other. We are concerned about each other’s feelings, personal happenings, successes, and more. We learn from each other through the good encounters and the struggles. I never expected for this to happen when I first began the program, but it is happening and has been the icing on the cake!