Last Thursday, Old Adobe School District Superintendent, Diane ZImmerman, hosted  a “Toast for Change” at the Mystic Theater introducing the Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) that are now being deployed in her school district.  It was an amazing evening with many of the gallery owners, educators and community members engaged in this method of teaching critical thinking using art.

I had been exposed to VTS a couple weeks before at my Rotary club.  I was fascinated at how easily the facilitator, Oren Slozberg, was able to get the audience to participate.  There was a safe environment of expression as each person raised their hand to give their interpretation.  The process of engaging the audience promotes evidential reasoning by asking each person what made them think what they thought.  Seems simple, but that process of asking is what prompts the person to think critically.

The school district is looking for support of this program.  I anticipate that each of you, our community members will get a chance to experience VTS next year on the Art Walks.  Stay Tuned…

If you’d like more information about VTS, you can go to http://www.vtshome.org.  If you’d like to find out how you can help the schools with this program, contact me!