week 16 blog 16

 Frontcover

 

Backcover

Week 15 Blog 15

Word Count

Multiple Possibilities

Both results state statistically significant, but the most in word count. I agree there has been improvement when reading both pre & post assessments I saw improvement in sentence structure and vocabulary. I had see improvement in their comments and language during VTS, but it feels great to know for sure there have been a change.

Week 10 Blog 10

The students jumped right in, they all had things to say and wanted to share. Sadness was one of the first thing commented on; which was backed up by the observation of somber expressions, heads down and dark clothing.

This piece is by one of my favorite artist and i knew it depicts people grieving at the bedside of someone who has just passed. I was there for suprised that it took so long for my students to come to this realization. There where some comment of them being at a funeral, Comment about an investigation, comment on home buying, comment on this is the hotel they are staying in for the funeral. Then final someone said they are in the room with the person dying. Is it just there lack of experience with the passing of loved one or what?
I think they are become more flexible. They changed their thought. they are still having trouble being respectful when others say things outlandish. I am having trouble varying questions but still keeping them meaningful. I want to continue to work on that by practicing the new questions before VTSing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT68C81PwEA

Week 8 Blog 8

The students seem to fall into a discussion easier. They still interrupt but it doesn't seem to be in a negative "your wrong" way. Students are backing up their ideas with visual evidence and/or background knowledge. They have become better at tying their comment to other classmate's comments; like "I agree with...". The students are listening to one another and learning to respect each person's opinion. I can't wait to continue working and seeing how VTS helps them grow as observant people.

Video part1
Video part2

Week 12 Blog 12

I would say the most challenging aspect of this work for my students was the nudity. we talked about being mature and how we many see more nudity when we go on our museum trip at the end of the year. They all handled it well, no giggles, or silly comments. But with that said I think it still held them back. It was in their minds and keep them from exploring this work of art more. I think they can handle nudity but aren't ready to VTS it.

My students did have some interesting observation. There was some debate on weather there is one snake or two. They did recognize this work as Greek. There was some reference to Greek gods.

Even though I'm not sure about the nudity and 6th grade I think I will use this image again next year when teaching Greek artwork. I want my students to realize nudity is part of art and to learn to over come insecurities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN-imB5ZSCY

Week 11 Blog 11

Laokoön and His Sons
by Hagesandros, Polydoros, and Athenadoros of Rhodes

I choose this piece mainly because I have been wanting my students to question the type of art, the medium. I know this is not a stage they are at yet and I understand it is a process. I just hope showing them this piece might jump start that way of thinking. I could be very wrong. This piece does fit into my current curriculum for 6th grade we are working on Greek pottery. This piece ties in to the point I want to make about the Greeks being wonderful storytellers. This will be the first 3d work I have VTS with this group of students, I'm excited to see what they have to say. I think the students will focus on is the look of pain/fear on the 3 men's faces. I hope I will be able to avoid or turn the conversation away from the nudity in this piece.

Week 9 Blog 9

  Guido Daniele. http://www.opticalspy.com/guido-daniele-gallery.html

I choose this image to VTS with a 7th grade class. The unit we are about to start is Hybird animal drawings. I feel it is visually interesting and fits with the unit. there are several things students could notice and talk about. I think my students would really like this art piece.

Week 7 Blog 7

What dangers/risks might be associated with premature cognitive commitments in the visual art classroom? How might VTS remediate these dangers/risks? If you paraphrase as facts then students think that is the "right" answer and will stop looking for any other options. like in the image we viewed this week, a students comment that "the boy is sad that his mother is paying more attention to the new baby then him" if I had paraphrased pointing to the front figure saying "the boy" or to the women saying "the mom" the class would have see those as concrete relationships. I instead used conditional language. This allowed the class to think of other relationships for the people in the picture like aunt, cousins, or siblings. It also allowed them to think of other reasons for the front figure to be "sad". 

I have noticed other student "correcting" other student (out of turn). It is something I am working on. When they disagree in turn I can paraphrase using conditional language but when they call out its more difficult.

Week6 Blog6

The student where excited about this image. It was a pair of boxers fighting at a boxing match. The students still had some problems calling out. they wanted to jump right into the discussion right away. There was a lot of talk about if this was an illegal move in boxing. There was also some dissagreements on the identity of the referee/fan. I think the students did a good job of supporting their observations. There was a lot of disagreements and they still are having some problems calling out and being respectful. The students did not want to stop this conversation. they all had a lot to say and it was hard to come to a conclusion. I think this discussion has helped with some self confidence, student where more open with their thoughts.
I think my biggest goal for next time is give each student more time to explain themselves and try to get some of the less active participate to start the conversation. I may tell one or two of my quieter people that I want them to go first before we start VTS so they are prepared.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD4kSEXL67M

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFA8e8Gon10

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2z-lsx43qM

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn064VRb6cg

Week5 Blog5

Portrait of Possibility

The student I choose I spoke of in the last post. I will call him DD. As I said in the last post DD keep arguing right after someone spoke. For example one student said ‘I think the red is the support that holds up the cards” DD immediately said “no those are cards!”. I asked if anyone has disagreements to please raise their hand for me to call on them. He did it again a few times and he never raised his hand. I spoke to him after class and told him I would love to hear from him but I want everyone to hear his opinion, so would he please raise his hand. 
DD had a total of 27 words on the pre-VTS, with a lot of straight forward ideas. In my opinion he is a very "it is what it is"; no other possibilities kind of person. I would like to see him listening to other's points of views and developing his imagination a little more. I also hope that reflects in his artwork and writing. 

I have another student I'm keeping an eye on, I will call him Texas. He had a word count of 24 on his pre-VTS. Texas has some social issues and prefers to sit and work alone. He contributed to the conversation and had amazing ideas about emotions that surprised me. My hope for him is to fell safe and comfortable during VTS to share more and build positive relationships with me and the class.

Week4 Blog4

6^th grade A class

I first asked my class to tell be what they thought Visual Thinking Strategies are. A student did get to the conclusion (from the pre-test) that it is “looking at art and writing about it”. I told them it is a new way of looking and discussing art. When I told them we would be doing VTS today; there where several groans. I think they where anticipating a lecture.

There was a lot discussion on the cards in the picture. Where the red (cards) cards or the stand to help hold up the cards. There was not very much listing. There where some interesting comments. One student believed the scene was taking place on a train because of the windows in the background (Harry Potter influence?). There was a collective “oh” from everyone else after that comment. The only problem I faced during the discussion was one boy keep arguing right after someone spoke. For example one student said ‘I think the red is the support that holds up the cards” the one boy immediately said “no those are cards”. I asked if anyone has disagreements to please raise their hand for me to call on them. He did it again a few times and he never raised his hand. I spoke to him after class and told him I would love to hear from him but I want everyone to hear his opinion, so would he please raise his hand. I think the students really enjoyed it. They wanted to keep going but it was going on 20 min.

I think I did well at sticking to the three questions as written. And for the most part was neutral. The exception was when they saw something I hadn’t; like the train idea I raise my tone of voice a little “ok!” instead of ‘ok”. I want to work on not worrying about time, and just watch them for the queue they are done. I also need to work on neutral voice.

Week3 Blog3

I gave my pre-VTS assessment to both of my 6^th grade classes. I use the Winslow Homer’s painting The Fog Warning. I feel this was externally important first step, because not only will it allow me to see if student’s writing and communication skills improve but it also gave me an opportunity to see at what writing level each student is currently at.

I was very surprised by the student’s lack of diverse adjective. Even the students who had 50 or more word count continued to use the same adjectives over and over. The adjective that was used by almost everyone was “big”. There was also a lot of listing simple assertions. I was also surprised that I would classify a few of my students at a stage 0 or early stage 1, just listing things in the picture not even creating a narrative; for example “a big wave”, “big fish”. I would guess (with my experience with these few students) they maybe the ones who don’t want to talk when we start a VTS discussion.

Week2 blog2

I choose to show George Tooker, Government Bureau for my VTS practice. I was only able to get 3 people to come but they all enjoyed it. I had my principal, jr high English teacher, and instructional couch participate. My principal liked VTS so much he would like me to conduct a VTS with the entire faculty. I was more nerves then I am when I VTS with my students, but I guess that can be expected. The conversation was good, but it would have been better with more people. I did experience that moment when it seemed that no one had anything else to say but they where just thinking and had a lot more. I had a question about if students could write their first impression before the discuss to have more ownership on the their thoughts. I said that is a great idea but that I have to first stick to the straight traditional VTS then I can branch off into VTS like concepts. Over all I think it we t well.

Description of class

I teach K-8 Art. I have two classes I'm considering for VTS; one with 13 students with 5 girls, 8 boys. One with 14 students with 6 girls, 8 boys. This school is a 96% white, 42% free/reduced lunch, very rural area. About half of each class lives on a farm. These are both 6th grade classes, 11 & 12 year old. Students in this class have had an art class every year since Kindergarten, but my understanding is it was mostly crafty. I choose 6th grade because it is one of my favorite age groups. This age group has the capability of a little higher level thinking then my K-5 students. I hope after they practiced VTS they will have very insightful ideas. I also hope student's experience with VTS will reflect in other subjects and other aspects of their lives as well. Both groups have more boys then girls and my experience with both groups is that the boys are little silly, I'm worried there my be some outlandish comments when we first start. I also have a 6th grader who is has trouble in all class dominating conversations. that student is a wild card. Over all I'm excited to start VTS with these groups.