Pre-K-12 Educators
As a teaching museum, we are committed to finding innovative approaches to teaching and learning through art, making connections across disciplines, and building literacy strategies.
Through looking closely at art objects, exchanging ideas, and creating art, participants investigate art history, artistic practices, and the issues raised by the artwork. We work closely with teachers, administrators, and homeschooling parents to shape our programs. We invite you to explore art with us, express your ideas and creativity, and consider the connections between art and our lives.
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Booking Your Visit
Everything you need to know before you come to the museum.
Interactive Guided Tours
Guided tours facilitate inquiry-based discussion of the artwork and include hands-on activities.
Multi-session Programs
Combine visits to the museum galleries with art-making and writing workshops in your classroom.
Curriculum Resources
Our educators’ guides provide resources to connect a museum visit to classroom learning.
Teachers’ Workshops
Offered to educators from all grade levels and disciplines, administrators, and home-schooling parents, we offer Professional Development Points.
Booking Your Visit
All programs are free but reservations are required for guided tours, self-guided visits, and workshops due to limited space. Please contact us at least three weeks in advance. We can reimburse your school for transportation costs up to $125 per visit for a total of seven trips per year. We are happy to help you plan the details of your visit. Call the Education Office at (413) 597-2038 or email us.
Check out our visit page for hours, directions, parking, and museum policies.
See tour descriptions below for a guided visit. Groups are welcome to tour the galleries on their own. Reservations are required. Limited to 20 students, with one chaperone for every 10 students. Please plan on dividing your class into small groups, informing students about gallery rules, and discussing artwork with your students.
Guided Tours
Tours are interactive and are conducted by our Museum Associates, Williams undergraduates trained to teach with art. Confirmation packets include standards-based educational material to assist with integrating the museum experience into the school curriculum.
Tours are offered Tuesday through Friday 10 to 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 to 2 p.m. They typically run 1.5 hours.
Asco: Challenging Convention
February 21–May 11, 2012
Middle and High School
In the 1970s in East Los Angeles, four high school students began working together on art projects to protest how they, as Chicanos, felt invisible, without representation and voice. They developed a group called Asco, which worked collaboratively to create performances, conceptual art, and multimedia projects addressing broad sociopolitical issues. The first retrospective on Asco, co-curated by Williams professor C. Ondine Chavoya and Rita Gonzalez from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, this exhibition empowers middle and high school students to consider how art can express a voice for social change.
The Founding Documents & American Art
October 4–December 9, 2011 & February 21–May 11, 2012
Elementary, Middle and High School
The Founding Documents—the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Articles of the Confederation—tell the story of the country in formation. Consider these rare documents alongside exceptional examples of American art. Express yourself through artmaking and text-based activities.
Founding Documents Education Guide Fall 2011 PDF
African Americans and the American Scene
February 21–April 20, 2012
Elementary, Middle, and High School
In the 1930s and 1940s in America, artists increasingly addressed social realities in their artwork. Themes of race, class, and work emerged as visual and performing artists grappled with questions of American identity. Combining rare footage of dance, theater, and music performances with a rich collection of prints and photographs, this exhibition gives us a glimpse into the social and political forces at work. Learn about the new wave of Depression-era African American artists and consider how art of the period depicts African Americans and the American scene.
The Mysteries of the Ancient World
October 4–December 9, 2011 & March 6–May 11, 2012
Middle and High School
Artifacts can tell us about life in the ancient world, and yet there are many mysteries left to unfold. Students will think like archaeologists, analyzing ancient objects from the Near East, Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, and Mesoamerica. Compare artistic styles from different cultures and consider how art objects were used originally and how they are seen today. Unearth the stories of these objects through writing and drawing activities.
Storytime in the Galleries
October 4–December 9, 2011 & February 21–May 11, 2012
Preschool and Elementary School
Combine art and stories in a fun, literacy-based tour! Look at art on view in the museum, listen to related stories, and create art projects. Topics can be tailored to your curriculum.
Multi-session Programs
This three-session program includes visits to the gallery and artmaking sessions at your site. Offered to school groups, community centers, and audiences with special needs. Design your own program or try this year’s theme:
Bring the Museum to the Classroom
February 21–May 11, 2012
Create your own museum! Tour the galleries to learn about the inner workings of a museum, the creative problem solving involved in organizing an exhibition, and the stories art objects tell. Make your own museum dioramas, analyze a collection of objects, and design exhibitions. Articulate your creative decisions through writing activities.
Curriculum Resources
Guides include background information on featured artists and artwork, as well as standards-based pre- and post-visit activities, bibliographies, and more. Guides are available for current tours.
Downloadable PDF curriculum guides from past tours are listed below. You can use these guides as a resource:
- African Art: Who Can Dance (PDF 373 KB)
- Posing Beauty in African American Culture (PDF 152 KB)
- Photography at the Frontier of Physics and Art (PDF 274 KB)
- Mocha Dick (PDF 262 KB)
- Remington’s Bronco Buster: From Art Icon to Pop Icon (PDF 193 KB)
- Landscapes of the Mind (PDF 1.2 MB)
- Location, Location, Location (PDF 1.2 MB)
- Lincoln to the Nth Degree Tour (PDF 180 KB)
- The Abcds of Sol Lewitt (PDF 676 KB)
Explore the entire museum collection online or select an area of focus with our online education modules, which combine high-quality images of art objects with accessible background information, discussion questions, and hands-on activity suggestions. Current education modules include:
Teachers’ Workshops
Offered to educators from all grade levels and disciplines, administrators, and home schooling parents. Reservations are required. Professional Development Points (PDPs) offered. Please call the Education Office at (413) 597-2038 or email us.
Visibility and Voice through the Arts
Friday, February 10, 2012
9:30 a.m.–3 p.m.
Reservations required. PDPs offered.
Teachers and community educators are invited to explore how art can draw attention to issues that are often overlooked or challenging to discuss. This workshop takes inspiration from the first retrospective on the performance and conceptual art group, Asco (1972–1987). The four founding artists—Harry Gamboa Jr., Gronk, Willie Herrón, and Patssi Valdez—met in high school in East Los Angeles. Asco protested the lack of representation and voice of Chicanos and addressed broad sociopolitical issues. This workshop includes a curatorial tour, discussion, and activities that prepare educators to tackle challenging topics through art.
The Art of Narrative: Indian Painting
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
9:30 a.m.–3 p.m.
Reservations required. PDPs offered.
The museum’s exquisite collection of Indian paintings offers an opportunity to explore the connections between art and narrative. This workshop combines hands-on artmaking and writing activities, a curatorial talk, and use of our new online module on Indian art. From these experiences, teachers will develop ideas for lesson plans on using art in their curriculum (which can be published on the Indian art module for additional PDPs).
Education programs at the Williams College Museum of Art are made possible by the Eugénie Prendergast Trust. Additional support comes from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
