Working with Special Guests: A Visit with Patricia McLachlan

The Amon Carter Museum in Texas offers on-site tours which are planned and coordinated with teachers and based on picture books or novels students read prior to the museum visit.
The Museum receives grant money to purchase the books for student use. Many of these Book Tours this year were based on Patricia MacLachlan books. When the Student Program Manager realized that this author had planned a speaking engagement at the Dallas Museum of Art, she contacted them and her agent, and together they worked to share expenses and coordinate an itinerary. The result was a videoconferencing program that reached eighty schools, seven of which were interactive.

The program, “Painting Pictures with Words—Patricia MacLachlan at the Amon Carter Museum,” was a huge success. Ms. MacLachlan discussed the creative process focusing on her old favorites such as Newberry award winner Sarah, Plain and Tall, as well as her newest book Edward’s Eyes. In addition, connections to paintings from the Carter collection were also made and discussed. A drawing was held where 10 of the 80 participating sites won an autographed copy of one of Ms. MacLachlan’s books.

We asked Nancy Strickland, Distance Learning and Docent Program Manger at Amon Carter, “What makes this event so special?”

The Challenges
An event which includes a guest speaker is a little risky because you have limited control of the presentation content and methodology. We have had two other ‘special guest’ programs. One was an artist who had also been a teacher; he was great! Our other artist was a very interesting person, and although she loved children, she had limited experience with them. She was not nearly as successful in keeping them engaged. We have learned that it is important to always have an experienced teacher work with the speaker, so that the interest and flow of the program will be maintained and student interaction can be ensured.

The Patricia MacLachlan videoconference was by far the best received of all our special guest programs. Yet, there were also challenges to be overcome. Ms. MacLachlan had never done a videoconference. We had limited time (about thirty minutes) to go over the technology and further acquaint her with the paintings which would be in the background. To simulate a tour-like setting, we had her move from one location to another during the program. Even though Patricia is a phenomenal speaker, it was necessary for the museum teacher to facilitate the program to ensure that the relevant visual arts connections were made and that the participating interactive classes were actually able to participate. It was also a little tricky to keep both the on-site and remote students all engaged. To this end, the museum teacher took cues from the presenter to find opportunities for student comments and questions about the art and about the author and her work.

The Outcome
Nancy sent us many teacher evaluations that leave no doubt as to the success of this program. They contain words and phrases like fantastic, superb, impressed, informative, captured their interest by talking about student-appealing topics, demonstrated that students, too, have their own stories that lend themselves to writing, students are excited and want to write their own books, outstanding, enthralled fabulous, and inspiring.

The true evaluations, however, can best be discovered by reading the children’s blogs.
The museum has a blog on their website and opened it up to participating students.
Be sure you read all of them. The very last one is this educator’s favorite—it excites me that a student who may not be the best speller still realizes that he/she has something to write.
Visit the Blogs here.

Thank you
CILC wishes to thank Nancy Strickland for her time in sharing the background and outcomes of this program.
Nancy Strickland
Amon Carter Museum
3501 Camp Bowie Boulevard
Fort Worth, Texas 76107
817-989-5038

About the Amon Carter Museum
The Amon Carter Museum offers a stunning survey of American art, from the first landscape painters of the 1830s to modern artists of the twentieth century. The collection includes masterworks by such luminaries as Alexander Calder, Thomas Cole, Stuart Davis, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Georgia O'Keeffe, John Singer Sargent, and Alfred Stieglitz. The museum also houses founder Amon G. Carter's collection of works by the two greatest artists of the American West: Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. The Carter's holdings by these two artists are recognized as the finest and most comprehensive in the world. The museum's photography collection ranks among the top five in the country, with more than 30,000 exhibition-quality prints that cover the breadth of the medium's history.