Observations and Best Practices

We spent the morning of May 1 discussing the tours we had observed and noting the best practices among them.

In the order I heard them, not the order of importance, I noted a few:

1. Flexibility - buses are often late, children arrive after long bus rides needing to use the bathroom, docents don't show up, children are fidgety - flexibility is really key in all these situations.
2. Energy - adjust to energy levels of the docent and of the children.  Docents can feed off the energy of the children or vice versa.  Have a seated activity in your toolbag for those tired days.  
3. Forge ahead - in the face of difficulties, like fidgety children, bad chaperones, etc., forge ahead.  Those children who are interested deserve the best tour they can get.  
4. Connections - pointing out relevance to students' lives always keeps them interested.  People in the past had the same needs and emotions that we do.  
5. Cameras - photos, including those with flash, are permitted.  They are very distracting, however, so suggest at the beginning that photos be limited and/or taken at the end.  
6. Participation - we all agreed that tours that focused on the children, not the art, were the most successful.  Having one student do something focuses the attention of the other children.  
7. Museum manners - in the talk before the tour, stress that one of the rules, maybe even the first rule, is to have fun.  For enforcing manners, be firm, fun and fair.  
8. Pointer - laser pointers are not allowed, but small flashlight beams may be used as pointers. 
9. Specific activities that work well: skeleton pictures for Animals in Art, iPad to show the Winged Genius in color, hieroglyphic alphabet cards and then find the letters, make the tableau exercise into a movie exercise, and include a director, lighting, sound effects, etc.  In Ancient Greece, always include the Treasury, because they will stop and look at it even if you don't.
10. Sell the Walters - talk about free admission, using the website, coming back, how to look up a piece of art if you are interested, fun activities that are coming up if appropriate, etc.  For teachers, if appropriate, point out teacher resources for use in the classroom.  

Overall, John stressed as usual that he needs us all, and that good tours are good enough, great tours are just icing on the cake.  We don't have to perform magic tricks (apparently, there is a husband and wife team that is wildly popular and he does perform tricks) in order to do a good job and make a connection with the children. 

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In the afternoon we observed our colleagues compare and contrast.   

Rina did a great job contrasting the large tomb guardian figure of Sekhmet with a smaller, more portable cycladic female figure.  Rina emphasized the uses of both objects in and around tombs and the female nature of these presumed "protectors."  Small female figurines of this type have been found almost exclusively in tombs in the Cyclades. Although it was first believed that these so-called "idols" represent deities, they probably should be interpreted more broadly as representations of "femaleness." Rina pointed out close-set legs with dangling feet, noting that this figure was probably not intended to stand.  John noted for us that the Cycladic figure would have been painted, but during Victorian times when these were found most of these were assiduously scrubbed clean.  

Sharon took us back to the "amphora" world next.  On the red-figured vase,  three elaborately dressed women prepare for a music session. A seated woman relaxes while fingering a "barbiton" (a stringed instrument). Above her head hangs a lyre. She faces a woman holding double flutes, and a third woman lifts the lid of a box, probably containing music.  We discussed what the figures were doing and saying.  She transitioned to a Greek funerary scene by inviting us to compare how the Greeks presented figures in their art.  She then invited us to form the tableau of the figures in the relief (who are probably members of the deceased person's family, living and dead - their names are inscribed across the top) and discuss what they might be saying to each other.  Great activity.  

Nancy discussed the Caryatid Mirror with Aphrodite.  After pointing out the "siren" above the mirror and the "Eros" figures, and noting that Aphrodite was the goddess of love, she asked for ideas about who might have used this mirror or given it as a gift.  Not all of the answers were appropriate for 5th graders . . . We then moved to the statue of an Amazon woman, and compared her clothing, gracefulness, and symbols around her (she leans against her shield, for example) to discuss where this type of statue might have been used and for what purpose.  John informed us after that the figure, if complete, would have shown the Amazon examining a wound in her right side.  Amazons were portrayed wounded because they had fought the Greek Theseus, so although they were admired for grace, strength and beauty they had to show a weakness.  

Perhaps my favorite presentation of the day was Cayla's.  She contrasted two vases, a red-figured "hydria" picturing an Amazon fighting a Greek, perhaps Theseus, versus the Volute Krater, a large funerary vase.   She asked us about super heroes, invited us to look closer at the battle scene of the hydra, and asked us to imagine what the background of such a scene might be.  Then she asked us to close our eyes and imagine the scene, and she played a recording from her iPhone that really sounded like a battle.  I would put this use of the iPhone on my "best practices" list.  In front of the krater, we discussed all the different things going on and how we could tell who were gods, who were heroes, and who were the mere mortals.  

By the time we got to the last presentation of the day, our energy was flagging a bit, which was perhaps not fair to Lenore but also probably realistic in terms of how some classes will come to us.  Lenore compared compared and contrasted the clothing and the symbols of these two imperial statues.  She tied them together by telling us in advance that we would be looking at the three main items of a Roman emperor's wardrobe, the cloak, the tunic, and the toga.  She got us to look closely and see the decorated sandals on the standing figure, indicating a person of high stature.  And of course we discussed that he was not wearing his original head.  

Many of the pieces we saw today were pieces we can use on tours, so it was a very good day overall.  But tiring.