Blog Topic #4: Lesson 1/Image 1

• Assessing Student Engagement & Learning:
• Students have been very willing to participate in the VTS discussions.  For the first lesson, most students raised their hands to contribute their thoughts on the image, though we didn't have time to get to everyone.
• A few observations the students made about the featured artwork were:

The girl is sick and the mother is using the palm leaves and the medicine to make her better. The brother is sadly looking on. The grandmother is in town taking care of the sick mother. The purse sitting on the chair and what looks like a coat draped over the chair tells them that.

The couple that are in the pictures on the wall are dead and everyone in the room is very sad. The mother is so sad that she is in bed and the others are trying to soothe her. The trashcan is full of tissues because they’ve been so sad. The medicine on the table next to the bed is leftover from the other people dying from illness.

The grandmother is there to take care of the sick mother with lots of different remedies. She is using medicine, the plant leaves, and the cross above the bed to ward off evil.

This is set in an old time, because of the sewing machine and the old radio. No one uses those very often anymore.

The mother is dead from some kind of sickness and the grandmother is using the plant leaves as a death ceremony.

The man in the picture on the dresser is gone and his wife and boy are so sad. The mother is so sad that she has to take the medicine that’s sitting on the table next to the bed. The grandmother is there taking care of the mother and her grandson because the mother can’t get out of bed. The grandmother is using everything she can to make the mother feel better, like the plants and the cross.

• Based on the notes I collected above, I would say students interpreted their observations, rather than simply listing them.  They picked out details from the artwork, and explained what they suspected the meaning of the details might be.
• Students did not interact with each other very much during the lesson, though they would occasionally piggyback off the theory the student before them had proposed.  Because talking when they have not been called on was a clearly stated rule, students didn't interrupt one another's thoughts, or have "discussions" per se with one another.
• The discussion concluded with many hands still in the air.  I let students know that often we continue to have thoughts and feelings about artwork, even when we aren't viewing the work anymore.  I praised students for their work and pointed out positive behaviors, per the VTS Basics-Timing & Closure section.
• I think students are learning to become more comfortable openly discussing their ideas about images.  They understand that there aren't wrong answers, and that using their imaginations to formulate responses based on details presented in the image leads them to view the image more thoroughly.
• I saw the students concentrating on the image more deeply after a few brave souls offered their ponderments.  Once the ice was broken by one or two students, more and more hands started to raise so that others could express their findings.
• Reflecting on Practice:
• The VTS discussion felt very comfortable.  I haven't quite memorized the "script" yet, but I often have similar types of interactions with my students, so overall it felt pretty natural.
• I used the prescribed teacher behaviors comfortably.  As stated above, I haven't completely memorized the questions and I had to stop and mentally remind myself of the proper wording for the questions.  I don't think it had much of an impact on the discussion, however.
• I was quite surprised at how many details the students found in the image that I hadn't really thought to pay attention to.  The way they used those details to weave an explanation about the meaning of the piece was also quite surprising to me.
• I think this was a great practice session for me and my class to get comfortable with VTS, so that we can make the next session even more worthwhile. 
• Planning:
• For my future VTS lessons, I want to memorize the script more thoroughly, and make sure I remember to paraphrase each comment after a student makes the comment.
• In order to accomplish the above goals, I will type my script out and practice it with a colleague so that the wording and paraphrasing becomes second nature for the next lesson.

Blog Topic #3: Pre-VTS Assessment

I gave the Pre-VTS Assessment to my 4th graders during the middle of what we call "collaboration week," which means their schedule is a bit mixed around due to extra planning time for their classroom teachers.  For elementary students, this can be a difficult transition, but my students did quite well despite the challenge. 

For the most part, students noticed similar attributes in Norman Rockwell's Roadblock. They suspected the dog near the center of the painting was in the driving path of the Pepies truck and the man to the left in the white uniform was trying to get the dog out of harm's way.  They mentioned the various other people standing around, crying out for the dog to move. 

I noticed many characteristics Housen describes in Stage 1 viewers after reading my student's assessments of Roadblock.  Housen calls this the Accountive Stage, and describes viewers as storytellers.  They "incorporate people and objects into an idiosyncratic narrative."  I had one student weave a tale about all the commotion caused by a lazy pug.  Another thought the Pepies logo must have meant puppies in another language, and the crowd gathered around the dog in the painting were there to purchase puppies from the truck drivers.  Still another took it in a different direction entirely: she thought it looked like the man in the white uniform was bent down fixing the truck.  She also thought that because other people were standing around smiling and pointing at the men in white uniforms, that meant they must be famous.

Emotions definitely colored the student's comments, as Housen mentions happens with Stage 1 viewers.  The majority were very concerned about the safety of the dog, and clearly felt sympathy for how distressed the people were in their efforts to coax the dog out of the way. 

One thing I was surprised about after reviewing student's responses to the painting, was how observant they were about minute details.  One student in particular mentioned several little things, like the "guitar for a sign" and the two birds located above the truck.  One boy noticed a man holding a watering can off to the right side of the painting.  Another student brought to my attention that the group of onlookers at the bottom of the painting are in another vehicle, so the alley has been blocked off completely by more than just the dog.

Overall, I'm very impressed with how my students fared with their introduction to VTS and I'm looking forward to seeing the next stage unfold.

Blog Topic #2: Peer Practice

For my practice VTS lesson, I chose the Winslow Homer image, "Dad's Coming".  One of my favorite aspects of being an art teacher has always been having discussions about various works of art with my students.  Children are typically very vocal about their ideas on the meaning of artwork, but I found it somewhat difficult to have that same interaction with my peers.  They were subdued and seemingly intimidated at the beginning of the lesson by the idea their answers would be "wrong".  After much assurance that wasn't the case, they agreed to participate in my peer group.  They opened up and created various narratives for Homer's somber sea scene.  It was interesting to hear my peers begin to bounce ideas off of one another.  One even came up with a detailed description of events that unfolded before our small group's eyes.  "In the sky are dispersing clouds, as though there has just been a storm," he said. "A sailor must be missing at sea due to the storm and his wife and children are wondering if he's okay or if they will ever see him again."  The others began to take notice of other details around the figures, such as the sailboats in the distance that "might be out searching for the lost sailor" and the debris littering the beach that could be further proof of the storm that had recently occurred.

I think overall it was a good experience for my peers to discuss artwork in a way that they've never felt comfortable doing before.  The feedback I received was overall very positive, and most agreed that frequently asking "What else can you find?" pushed them to look closer at the painting and take in details they may have otherwise ignored.  For some, the probing made them feel like they were "missing something they should have noticed".  They did feel, however, that with more VTS practice, that somewhat negative feeling would subside.  They also agreed that the VTS method is something they can adapt for their own classrooms to facilitate a level of critical thinking important for student's cognitive development.

"Aesthetic Thought, Critical Thinking, and Transfer"

I loved these bullet points found in the conclusion of the Housen article and thought they were worth an additional post this week:

• Art is accessible. Art can speak to all viewers, allowing them to enter its space early and easily.  Children can 'read' a picture long before they can read print.
• Art touches timeless issues.  Art can take the viewer as deep as the viewer has the capacity to go.
• Art is compelling.  Seeing a work's meaning change as interpretations grow can rivet attention.
• Art is ambiguous.  Art has more than one 'right' interpretation.  Its crafting contains carefully shaped clues.  Its ambiguity invites speculation.
• Art viewing unfolds.  The more one looks, the more one sees.  The interpretative possibilities in art keep unfolding.