What is reflective practice? Taking regular steps back from the work we do in order to assess its quality and its effectiveness. Asking ourselves and each other: to what extent do our day to day efforts help us to reach our established goals? How can the reality of our daily work help us to rethink these goals and to adapt our long and short-term visions to better meet the needs of the people with whom we work?

And what does reflective practice look like at DHC/ART Education?

Four educators, a curator, a social media wizkid, and a local artist working together:

Developing content for gallery visits:

As the new exhibition goes up, we draw both on lessons learned from previous ones and on our unique and respective experiences. We share our research findings, discussion questions, and conceptual links in order to create a first draft of a lesson plan. Does its content balance formal concerns and context? Are various learning styles and lived realities reflected in the words and examples we choose? Does it allow us the freedom to adapt and respond to the unexpected surprises that unfold in any given teaching moment? Copies circulate, feedback is given and received, and revisions are made. There is no final version. The document is a living one, its contents open to adaptation as visits begin and the mutual learning/feedback inherent to our visits continues to inform the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of what we do in education.

Designing exhibition-inspired art workshops:

A chosen local artist conceives of a project and brings a proposal to the education team. Over the course of multiple gatherings, we examine together the viability and relevance of the project. What logistics would the project demand? Knowing the diversity of our groups, how might they respond to it? To what extent do participants play a role in the final outcome? How can it be archived or integrated into a larger collective effort that could be accessed from a distance using new technologies? Once these and other questions have been considered, the artist facilitates the workshop with the education team as participants. Again we take the time to reflect on the process as we prepare to put the project to the test with learners. The first few workshops we deliver in duos, and time is set aside to exchange on how they unfolded. These reflections are shared with the team and necessary changes are implemented as we deliver the workshops to our groups over the course of the exhibition.

Next time: Evolving Outreach Strategies

Emily Keenlyside
DHC/ART Education

Photo: Myriam Daguzan Bernier