As a leader in museum and art education, the AGO School and Teacher Programs team is dedicated to creating pedagogical spaces that encourage creativity, enhance visual literacy and facilitate the development of critical thinking.
We are committed to implementing the teachings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report. All professional development sessions for educators have taken the TRC: Calls to Action into consideration so that we may work towards reconciliation. This is our commitment to moving forward and to building relationships through education. Download the report for free from the TRC website.
Join us for a 90-minute in-Gallery experience exploring your choice of the following themes:
Activating Indigenous Knowledge in a Museum
This is an introduction to thinking about how to integrate Indigenous knowledge into your classroom through art. Discover how Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists have interpreted Canada’s various regions. Review how Indigenous artists are influencing the present and past ways of looking and being on the land. How do we understand pedagogies of land? In what ways have different artists used visual language to share ideas, express land, environment and materials at different moments in time?
Art for Non-Artists
Engage with favourites from the AGO Collection, including selected works from our Indigenous, Canadian, African, European, and Contemporary collections. Discussion will focus on how to create your own comfortable discourse about visual language and understanding so you can integrate art into your classroom.
Hip Hop as Social Change
Artists have been making marks and telling visual stories on walls since the beginning of time. Social change is the ability to critique current conditions in order to change them. In this session, we will look at the art form of hip hop to imagine how we can read images and marks for social change. The content will focus on the hip hop cypher as linked to life cycles, rotation, invitation, community and ceremony. You will also learn about tools that can help respectfully infuse hip hop pedagogy into your classroom as a beginner.
Let’s Talk About Appropriation
We begin this visit with a discussion around appropriation and what it means in the context of art education. With a visit to our various galleries, educators are urged to think about how and what constitutes appropriation in a socio-historical context. Topics to guide this session include tips on how to design lessons around cultures that are not your own without appropriating, and how to critically view artworks with respect.
Program fees include facilitator, materials and admission to the AGO Collection. Entry to select AGO surcharged exhibitions is available for an additional $10 per person. All prices include HST.
1 – 25 participants $150
26 – 50 participants $300
For information about groups of 50 or more, please contact teacher_programs@ago.net.
Looking for a customized workshop tailored to meet your specific needs? The AGO also offers full-day intensive workshops developed especially for your group – additional fees apply. Please contact teacher_programs@ago.net to discover how we can create an experience just for you!