A week or two ago, I invited a group of 15 students to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. SAAM is a favorite DC museum of mine for so many reasons- the beautiful courtyard, folk art area, the Luce center and open storage space, and the fun contemporary art (Nam June Paik, seen on the right)- but this field trip gave me a new reason to love them. First their field trips are free for DCPS AND more importantly, they provide FREE BUSES! Amazing! Once we arrived at the museum, we broke into small groups and my group had a fabulous docent. Unfortunately, I can't remember 
her name but she was incredibly knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and flexible. My student were super enthusiastic and happy to be at the museum commenting on literally every artwork they saw. In this way, we were a bit of a difficult group because everyone was so excited and wanted to talk about everything!! Our tour guide went with it and jumped around from work to work, imparting basic art history facts and art making techniques. She was creative and engaged asking questions like "What kind of sound would this artwork make?" in reference to a Clyfford Still work of abstract expressionism. I was impressed with her ability to both encourage the students' enthusiasm and focus them on specific works. In an hour, we saw the entire museum and looked at probably around 20 specific artworks. Bravo SAAM! What a great tour.
her name but she was incredibly knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and flexible. My student were super enthusiastic and happy to be at the museum commenting on literally every artwork they saw. In this way, we were a bit of a difficult group because everyone was so excited and wanted to talk about everything!! Our tour guide went with it and jumped around from work to work, imparting basic art history facts and art making techniques. She was creative and engaged asking questions like "What kind of sound would this artwork make?" in reference to a Clyfford Still work of abstract expressionism. I was impressed with her ability to both encourage the students' enthusiasm and focus them on specific works. In an hour, we saw the entire museum and looked at probably around 20 specific artworks. Bravo SAAM! What a great tour. While every student in my group was engaged, there was one student, I will call him Brandon, who was following the tour but not as vocal as the others. In fact he did not speak during the entire tour. At the very end of the tour, the guide took us into one of the small SAAM elevators to transport us down to the ground level. The elevator was really small and we had to squeeze inside. At this moment, I finally hear Brandon make a comment to the group. And what does he say? "Damn, this elevator is small as sh*t!!" I had to laugh- sometimes its the little things on these field trips that students remember.
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