VTS1: Summative Reflection Project.

Side/ Back / Front of Brochure

Inside fold out of brochure

4x6" Postcard

2x3.5" Business card

Here, I have created a set of documents that can be used to educate other teachers or administrators about the positive process and impacts of using VTS in the classroom. The brochure is the most informative, showing the history, explaining the purpose of the questions, what the teacher is doing simultaneously, data, and quotes from my students. The postcard is slightly less informative, listing the gist of the questions and positive impacts. I would envision this as something that I could give to other faculty members to show them what we are doing in art and why, and possibly entice them into trying the process themselves. The last item is a small business card that simply lists the three main questions. This card could be used to quickly pass out to students who are learning about the process or for facilitators to hold in their hands discretely while leading a discussion.

I tried to highlight the positive impacts about why it just makes sense to use VTS with students. All of the social, emotional, and academic influences. I feel like this is very important for arts advocacy, so that people realize we are supportive of our students growth beyond creating artwork. I hope that this helps other educators look at art educators in a higher light, and even want to integrate it into their own classrooms. I also hope that these can be used for administrators to understand the process that we are developing with our students, so they can understand the relevance of this system. It would also help administrators to advocate for the importance of keeping art classes in the public schools.

VTS1: Week 16 Blog Assignment.

Word Count

 

Technically, this is statistically significant. The average went from 25 to 31. However, I was disappointed to see that some students decreased in word count, or just barely improved. 

I believe this happened for a few reasons.
1) It was the Monday after Thanksgiving break, and they were not in working mode.
2) They were disappointed it was an image they had already seen, & didn't want to do it again.
3) Lots of our ELL or kids at a lower academic level dislike writing.
4) Students took three questions on the paper as a list they needed to complete one time. They made one statement, provided evidence, then mentioned one more thing they could find and thought they were done.
5) Students wrote more concise/coherent statements.

Interpretations with Evidence

I decided to look at how many times my students actually provided evidence for one of their interpretations. I noticed right away from our first VTS pre-test and discussion that students were making lots of interpretations. Even when students made a simple observation during a discussion, I really tried to make sure that I included the second question when possible. And, this is the most interesting part of VTS to me.  I noticed that some students would provide one or two reasons for their observations, which helped them become more concise. Usually, there would just be evidence for one of their observations on their written assessments. I think this was partially just because of the written form, and them feeling like all they were supposed to do is write one thing. I was much happier with how this went during our discussions.

But even in this written format, many students improved and as a class it was statistically significant again.

Pre/Post-Assessments

I am very proud of my kids. As mentioned, I have complete faith in their abilities, especially if we could VTS with them individually or in smaller groups. Small improvements are still improvements. We might take a little longer to make some of those improvements, but that's ok. The statistics show that there is in fact growth, even if on paper it's not as high as I would like it to be.  

VTS1: Week 15 Blog Assignment.

Preliminary VTS Findings

How have individual students grown?
I feel like VTS was successful in meeting my students where they were at. I felt like students were free to make their simple observations or inferences. Many of them did not supply evidence at first. I saw many individual students apply evidence, even if it was simple. EX: We went from "Two men fishing in a boat" to "Two men fishing in a boat because I see fish, a boat, and water." So, they are able to justify even their simplest of observations.

For students whose word count went down, I felt like they were actually becoming more coherent and concise. Students again went from listing to giving one coherent statement with evidence. Sadly, my class did not really continue to repeat the tree bullet points, just answered them and stopped.

How has your focus class grown?
Socially, this has helped my class agree and disagree with each other respectfully (at least when we are VTS-ing.) I also feel as though it has leveled the playing field for students to offer an opinion and join in group discussion, as I did see more and more students slowly start to participate. I believe I saw little bits of growth from each student from where they were starting. That means if they were just making simple inferences, they're more detailed. If they were making inferences, most are starting to provide evidence for at least one of those. As mentioned if they were listing, they now appear to make one solid coherent thought with evidence.

How have you as a teacher/practice grown?
This has helped me to really challenge students in breaking down their assumptions by asking for evidence. Even what would appear to be a very simple observation like "They are fishing" or "They are in the ocean" when asked, "What do you see that makes you say that?" Forces students to realize they have made an assumption and provide evidence for their opinion.

I feel very comfortable with this process now. I am more comfortable knowing when to paraphrase and move on, or finding a moment to introduce the second question. I have also become more comfortable introducing this process to my class, and dealing with curveball scenarios like a student being silly or listing many things at once. The classroom behaviors/management is still a challenge, but I try to remain calm through the chaos.

I also feel like it has helped me to understand my students better and have more evidence to advocate for their brilliance. In fact, I'll advocate for the fact that written assessments are really tough for my kiddos, and that I don't think this written assessment gives them the full credit they deserve. I also think group situations are difficult for them. I feel like if I could sit down with them individually or in small groups and facilitate this process, brilliance would pour out. But even if I am not literally doing that right now, it is reassuring to know that I have that faith in my students abilities because of this process.

VTS1: Week 14 Blog Assignment.

Portrait of Possibility Revisited
4th Grade, ELL Cluster Class, 50 minutes.

As mentioned before, "Student A" was one who was excited about looking at the images and noticed many things. This student has a personality that tends to cause distractions by talking out, or saying things that seemed slightly off. Whether this was a genuine statement or one that was meant to be stilly to gain attention was not quite clear.

Throughout our weeks practicing VTS, "Student A" is still one to notice many things. With his bold personality, I have been proud of how well this student and peers have been able to agree and disagree with each other respectfully (at least during the VTS discussions.) When we talk, even if (s)he appears off task for one minute, "Student A"  can hop right back into the discussion with many things to say.  Sadly, there are times when I think "Student A" might be trying to say silly things, because they will look at the class as if they are waiting for attention. Also, this student is one of the ones who likes to come right up to the picture and point out the many things they notice, to stand in front of the class and be the center of attention. Most of the not icings are acceptable, but occasionally they will throw in a curve ball to try and get a reaction from the class.

In my first blog post, I mentioned that if this behavior continued I would have a side conversation with them, which I have not. Instead, I tried to focus on the class as whole because we have multiple students with similar problems during VTS. I kept the expectations clear at the start of every lesson. I even started reminding them that they should only tell me one thing they notice at a time, to help limit those like "Student A" from a huge list of observations. I even made a poster to hang right next to the Smartboard with all of these reminders. Then, on our last discussion, I had to tell the class that they would go back to their seats if they were disrupting the class at the carpet. "Student A" was one student I had to send back to his seat for behavior problems. This was sad because I do think he is 100% capable of contributing to the conversation, just lacks the self control to participate appropriately. If the student said something that was potentially meant to be silly, I accepted it with the same neutrality, paraphrased very briefly, and moved on quickly. This seemed to stop it from getting out of hand most of the time.

Hopefully, I am predicting this student will have one of the longest post-assessments because of their tendency to be aware of so many details in an image. That keeps me hopeful to remember that this class, while very difficult with behavior issues during the process, is making connections and has the potential to say wonderful things...if we can just learn to sit still and speak one at a time.

VTS Week 13 Blog Assignment.

In Johnson's, "Differentiated Instruction Allows Students to Succeed" article I felt comfortable when he said that it was hard to do, because we want to initially treat all students the same. My target class has become full of different personalities, different language levels, and different academic levels. In this article Johnson states that the goal of differentiate instruction is to provide, "..."Learning activities that cater to the students' strengths but bring all of the students to the same learning objective." This forced me to go back to the very first day of VTS class and think, what is the simplest concise objective of VTS? (Especially for beginners) My answer would be for students to start reading visual texts, and providing evidence for their observations. For this objective, VTS is helping to meet my students where they are. Students who need to make rather simple observations can, but they can also provide me with evidence for what they are seeing to state that something is a flower or a tree. Students who are more advanced might be able to provide me with evidence about a potential narrative they have constructed in their minds.

Overall, VTS has also helped my students because of one obvious switch: We are looking at visual texts instead of traditional ones. This automatically provides imagery for us to discuss, which helps my ELL students who can recognize a flower, but might not recognize the english word for flower. Also, the audible discussion and association of english words with images should be helping ELL students build their vocabulary. As mentioned above, the different possibilities to say a blunt observation, or create a narrative out of ambiguity, have helped my students of different academic levels participate in the conversation while still working on our objective. In this class, there are lots of students who dislike each other and continual drama between peers. However during a VTS discussion, my students continue to be respectful with each other. Furthermore, more students who were once shy are now participating. So, the process seems to help foster their classroom community. The frustrating part is that once the discussion is over they go back to being disrespectful. I even mentioned this to my principal, and she suggested perhaps showing them a video of their discussion to show them that they CAN be respectful with each other, just like they were 10 minutes ago.

While reading these articles I kept thinking about how I could differentiate the process of this discussion to help my students behavior. So far, we have all been coming to sit together on the carpet in front of the smart board, and raising our hands to talk. Should students be in their seats, so they have more space and aren't annoyed by each other? (Then they may not see as well or I may not be able to manage as well.) Should I allow students to stand in the back if they feel like they would do better standing? Should I have a visual reminder as to who the speaker is, like the person holding the red ball is the only one who should be talking? What's so frustrating is that when I call on my students, they have brilliant things to say. But the process of sitting quietly, hands still, and not talking out of turn continues to be a behavioral challenge for them. So, am I missing differentiation in the process of a lesson that is already differentiated?

Peer Coaching 4.

Sadara,

You seemed very calm and comfortable in your own environment facilitating this discussion with your students. I was surprised at how long your students were willing to debate the time of day because of the light, a simple factor that got them thinking about artistic choices. Your students were very comfortable agreeing or disagreeing with each other and did so respectfully. There are a few students who kept commenting, noticing more details. For a moment in your video you comfortably ask if anyone else would speak other than the same students, saying not to be afraid. Another possibility is to say that you would like to hear from someone who hasn't talked yet today. It was nice to see that one student in particular was thinking as a stage two viewer noticing the artistic choice to have the pale skin of the woman right next to the dark shadow, making her the focal point. Also, I wouldn't worry about having to stop and talk to the student who was disrupting. He isn't in the class and you had to explain something special was going on and that he should be silent. No big deal, it had to be done! It was good that you apologized to the speaker for a moment to take a break to do that, then continued on like normal. I agree that this image was an appropriate choice for your class. It had concrete observable things for your students to make observations about, left ambiguity for plenty of agreeing/disagreeing, and still had opportunities for people to start considering artistic choices. Well done!

VTS1: Week 12 Blog Assignment.

Reflecting on Yenawine’s recommendations for image selection, was your Teacher’s Choice image an appropriate choice for your students, considering their age, stage, interests, and needs at this time? Explain why or why not.

• Accessibility- Yes, there were many recognizable objects for them to grasp, which was good for some of my lower level students who still need to make blunt observations about what they see.
• Expressive content- Yes, we had many interpretations of what could have possibly been going on to make the figure's body in this position.
• Narrative- Somewhat, students were again wondering why the figure's body would be in that position, and what the relationship between the male and female was.
• Diversity- Somewhat, the figures weren't as diverse as the ones we had previously looked at. The students noticed how the figures were very pale. I thought they might mention how the woman's dress might appear from an older time period, but it didn't come up. 
• Realism- Somewhat, the figure's positions were so abnormal that it was the focus of our conversation. However, there were recognizable objects which made it more accessible. It was a bit more surreal, which I thought might be a good push for them, but might be a little too soon when we need more of a narrative.
• Series/themes- I continued the theme of people doing things in a room, but instead of one person or a family it was focused on a couple, which might have been too distracting for the kids.
• Media- This was a painting, as I was hoping we might push into some stage two thinking about artistic choices, but we didn't discuss many of them.

 In what ways did the image challenge them?  Was the challenge too great, too little, just right? What did you observe that makes you say that?

The image seemed to challenge the students because for the first time, there was something heavily abstract about the image we were looking at. This caused them to wonder what was going on to make the figure's body so disproportionate/ out of normal position. While I was hoping this might push them into some stage two thinking, they were still looking for a blunt narrative, as I expected. For example, there were statements made like: He is doing a flip, he is a ghost, he is a vampire, they are on the moon. So in that sense, it was interesting to see them come up with possible explanations. This was enhanced by the figure's pale colors. There were a few deeper statements like "I think he's trying to be in a relationship with her."

What features/aspects of the work of art and its narrative did the students notice? What intrigued them?

As suspected with 4th grade students, this image got an immediate reaction of, "EWWWWWW" because of "the kiss." That was our first comment, and thankfully we moved beyond it as the male's position became more interesting since it was so abnormal. We even had a student disagree about the fact that they were kissing. How the bodies were so contorted became the main focus of the discussion. 

 What opportunities for SCAFFOLDING did this image provide? How did you and/or students address and support those during the VTS discussion?

Based on our previous images, the students had been telling me what they saw people doing in certain rooms. Sometimes, there would be a narrative made between the people we were looking at. So, this one provided us with a view into work that is a bit more abstract. I'm hoping that that can get them thinking about artist's intent, and having to think beyond what they're literally seeing. It was good for them to still have opportunities to tell me their blunt observations, but still be challenged to think of WHY something was made to look not normal. I am hoping that will open doors for people to start thinking that the artist made a choice for a reason. Whenever students agrees or disagree with something a student says, there is usually solid evidence to support it. That shows me they are looking for concrete evidence and finding many details to support a certain theory. Also that they are listening to each other, and learning to take in other people's opinions. 

Were there any surprises?

MORE KIDS TALKED THIS TIME. BAM. I was so excited that some of my ELL kids joined in on the conversation. They felt comfortable to disagree, and gave evidence why. Not all ELL kids are talking yet, but we are getting there. I was surprised that we didn't talk about more details in the image, and so much of it revolved around the people. 

Would you use this image again with a similar class of students?  Explain.

II think it was fine, but could have been better. I would avoid the whole kissing "EW" scenario and just pick something that involves kids so they better relate to it. I would also look for something that has a lot of potential or clear clues for a narrative. I think that's what they're really excited about. I was jealous of some people's Norman Rockwell paintings, so I would look into some of those in the future possibly. I would also be interested to see my students VTS a photograph, especially one that has a sense of production, almost like a film still. Darn,  now I'm thinking of some other good artists...

VTS1: Week 11 Blog Assignment.

I've chosen to do Marc Chagall's Birthday with my fourth grade students.

I'm hoping that it will ping well off of our previous discussions, as we have been doing several images of "People inside doing things." However, this one becomes a bit more abstract with the position of the figures as well as perspective. My students enjoy creating narratives, which I'm hoping will be appropriate with this kiss. But I think the intertwined people with different facial expressions will give them potential content to talk about for the relationship. I also think (coming off of Halloween) the abstract body positions and skin tone could have students wondering why they are floating, or if they are ghosts. My students also like pointing out (fairly obvious) details of objects that they recognize, and there are several in here for them to find. They've also been noticing the clothing that people are wearing, and using that as a reference point for a time period.

My conversations tend to be male dominated, so I'm glad that there is both a male and female in this image. I'm also glad that there are words my ELL students would be able to recognize, especially given our previous conversations. Ex: Window, flowers, table, dress...

I always have a fear of an image being too simple/not intriguing. But I've felt that way about almost every image in the curriculum so far, and our conversations have been great. So, I'm hoping that it continues with this one as well.

Anyone think the kiss will be a problem? Should I address it before showing the image? Only address it if it becomes a problem? 4th graders, I just never know...

VTS1: Peer Coaching 3.

Ginia-

I was very impressed with on or two of your students are becoming stage two viewers. It's even more exciting to hear that they are doing so despite other academic challenges. They are also very thorough in linking their ideas off of one another, which you reinforce during paraphrasing which is great.

I noticed several times in your video that you were naturally using conditional language. The note card might be helpful, but I think it comes with practice and reminding yourself that you cannot take any assumptions for granted. That will also help with question two. So even if it painfully obvious that it is a truck, "This object that you think could be a truck" or "What do you see that makes you say this is a truck?" That makes them provide evidence for the observations that feel extremely obvious, but can't be taken for granted. How do you know it is a truck from any other vehicle?

I saw you get stumped by Riley's comment about the license plate, as it was very cut and dry. Paraphrasing those simple observations is fine. However, be careful about asking if they can find anything else/more, because that might make the student feel like their contribution was incorrect or not as important. Also, there are a few times when you transition using "Ok" or "OK, good" which doesn't seem to bother your students, but also has the same potential to make some feel more correct than others. So just try to keep your response the same each time so it's neutral :)

I agree that your students were engaged and I had a sense watching your video that your students were enjoying the conversation/process, and that they will keep impressing you the more they grow! I bet you get a few more stage two viewers developing soon! Good job, and great job sneaking in some nice vocabulary words while paraphrasing. Keep it up!

VTS1: Week 10 Blog Assignment.

4th Grade Lesson 2 Image 1

Assessing Student Engagement & Learning

The good news is, that through all the talking and classroom management issues, there is talking. I think my kids are actually engaged, and that we are still just practicing some of the behaviors of how to have an organized conversation. Even when I say I'm going to wait to call on people who have looked closely for a long time, I have hands shoot up in the air before I can ask the first question. Even when I say please state only one thing you notice, I have kids who will ramble off a whole list. One of the most exciting things for me in this lesson was that a boy who had never participated before, did. And once again, they love to agree and disagree with each other, and are doing so respectfully. That shows they are listening to what the other person is saying, and finding parts in it to agree or disagree off of. 

Reflecting on Practice

For whatever reason I said "picture" instead of "image" in the first question? I also had a kid question what it meant when I said, "What's going on?" So that was interesting...that he was questioning if I wanted him to list what he saw or what the narrative was. And he went with the narrative of thinking someone was mowing outside. The classroom management part is still difficult for me. I have high engagement and then just one or two kids that are off task. I tried Mary's suggestion of stopping and apologizing to the speaker when the class was not listening/talking out of turn. I have kids that come into my trailer late, or kids that come in for the buddy room. One kid sat right in front of my iPad, and knocked it over for the rest of my video. Oh how kids are kids. And it kills me when I mention specific things in my instructions, like mention one thing at a time, and I have kids who still mention multiple things. But I don't want to be mad at them for being engaged. So, I again tried Mary's suggestion where I said, "You mentioned many things but what stood out to me was..." But then I feel like I'm breaking neutrality and giving more importance to one of their observations? 

Planning

Like I said, I need to keep hounding the expectations at the beginning of the discussion. So far, I've been doing this right at the beginning of class. Even if I try to wait a few minutes until most students are there, for whatever reason, I still have some kids who come in late. So I'm thinking I might try the next one at the end of class to avoid that disruption. I'm also wondering if I should just send those few students who are not on task and difficult to manage back to their seat, instead of stopping to give them a warning. I hate removing them from the conversation, but I hate having to interrupt the speaker and the flow of our conversation for everyone else who is engaged. Sometimes I feel like maybe they would at least listen better from back there instead of being a distraction for the rest of the group. 

VTS1: Week 9 Blog Assignment.

I am using VTS in a 4th grade class of 19 students. 8 of these students are ELL students. There are about 4 boys in the class that can really rock the boat behavior wise. My school has ~400 students in it, is a Title I school, and is currently trying to implement the Leader in Me system.

My class has been progressively doing better with VTS. My ELL students are still pretty quiet, but appear to be getting more engaged as we go on. Slowly, more students are starting to participate. I was happily surprised to see how well the boys respectfully agree and disagree with each other. They are very much stage one viewers, stating simple observations or making assumptions of the narrative of the piece we are looking at. I wrap conversations up now after about 10 minutes, because that's basically how long they can handle it. The ELL kids will talk to their neighbor about anything else they notice at the end of the discussion. The boys seem to dominate the conversation.

I used the app called "Art Circles" to browse for some possible choices for my VTS lesson. It's great because it organizes pieces of work by phrases like "Saturation" or "Serenity" and lets you browse many pieces based off of what you're looking for!

Alfred Eisenstaedt, Little Boy Staring Up at Medieval Suit of Armor

John Tenniel- Alice at the mad hatter's tea party

Charmaine Olivia, muerta

Gjon Mili, Pablo Picasso creating light drawing of vase of flowers

Marc Chagall, birthday

VTS1: Week 8 Blog Assignment.

What do you think you are doing well?
Right now, I'm happy with my comfort of the second question. I feel like I know when it is appropriate to simply paraphrase back when a really blunt simple observation is stated. I feel comfortable asking, "What do you see that makes  you say that?" And I am happy with the responses my students are able to give me. When a student is offering their own evidence, I feel like I am doing a good job paraphrasing it all back, or trying to pick out something specific to question an assumption they stated in their evidence. I also feel like my instructions of the expectations during VTS have gotten better each time, which helps eliminate problems each time.

How have you grown since your first VTS experience w/ professional peers?
I feel like I was really unaware of what to do when someone said something bluntly obvious. I also feel like I have been aware of how to neutralize some potentially disrespectful comments. Now that I have been becoming more comfortable with the second question, I feel like I am starting to add in the linking pieces to what other kids are saying, specifically referencing them by name.

Have there been any surprises for you so far?
I've been surprised at how excited I am about them simply agreeing or disagreeing with each other respectfully. That to me seems like such a big deal that can be overlooked. I've had a lot of problems with respect in my classes, so when we sit down and agree/disagree respectfully, I say how proud I am of them for doing that. And then when the discussion is over and students start to be disrespectful, I can remind them of our VTS discussion and how they were able to use respectful words with each other like adults. I think that is a really important life skill that I have been trying to hound into them, and I love how easily it shows up during VTS.

What do you still want to work on?
I still want to work on managing the class as a whole during a discussion. Sometimes my kids come in totally riled up and ready to pick on each other, and I miss things that are happening when I am so focused on the speaker, paraphrasing etc., Using Mary's advice of stopping the speaker and apologizing to the speaker for having to pause for students who are not being respectful, has helped. And like I mentioned, I feel like I'm setting up my my expectations better before the discussion. Shorter discussions are also better. So I'm trying to push myself to go from VTS facilitator, to facilitator+classroom manager at the same time, which is proving to be a challenge at points. It's just another ball to juggle while facilitating. I also really hope my ELL kids are engaged and learning vocabulary. Engagement seems to be increasing just slightly more each time, so I hope more students will participate the more I remind them to state one observation at a time.

VTS1: Peer Coaching 2.

Dionne,

It's so interesting to see what it is like for someone to practice VTS with an adults, especially who are more comfortable with viewing art!

It sounds like your viewers are becoming much more advanced, at least in stage two as they are discussing the artist's intentions. I also thought it was very interesting that one person offered up a theme, (communism) as to what the piece might be about. That is definitely a sign of an advanced viewer. It was also nice to hear that the group accepted this possibility and found further evidence to support the theme. However, just make sure you are using conditional language when talking about these intentions/themes. Make sure you are saying, "You think this piece COULD be about communism...what do you see that makes you say that?" That way you are leaving room for someone to disagree, instead of just leading the group to provide more evidence. If they offer supporting evidence that's great, you just don't want to make it seem like they have found the only/correct answer.

I agree that it is hard when multiple people start talking over each other. This is something that I have to keep addressing with my students as well. I reminded them that if they did not get called on, do not whisper to their neighbor and do not try to talk at the same time. You also might find it helpful to ask your group to just mention one thing at a time, as Mary advised me. That way you can still cover everything in the image but it gives you time to focus, as well as more opportunities for other people to join the conversation.

Being recorded is definitely awkward, but just remember that you are learning like the rest of us. You're getting safe and productive feedback, and you're not supposed to be TOTALLY AWESOME yet. Try as much as possible to just ignore the fact that you're being recorded, and don't put too much pressure on yourself when paraphrasing to throw in fancy vocabulary or anything. You're just confirming that you heard the speaker correctly, and trying to tease out visual evidence for their statements through the second question. Even though I bet your group offers evidence without being prompted too a lot :) And practicing with other people sounds like it is helpful, and that you are definitely wanting to keep working on your own performance!

Keep it up!

Lori

VTS1: Week 7 Blog Assignment.

Why not tell?

After reading these articles, I saw this quote on Facebook.
I thought it fit this discussion very well.

I understand that teachers who are aware of an artist's intent can feel like they are missing a teaching opportunity by not explaining to students the intent, backstory, or historical context of a piece. However in my opinion, this just goes back to the idea of a "Right answer" when looking at art. The correct answer, being what the artist's intentional message was.

And this seems to be a continued debate that I have had throughout fine art and art history courses. This question of, "Did we get it right?"

First, that brings us to the question of who gets to decide what the "correct answer" is. And in my opinion, only the artist can state what their intent was. And so many art historians throughout time have not been able to speak to the artist about their intentions, but instead use their own clues and visual evidence to derive a meaning. And since they are "experts" their own derived meaning is taken as truth and passed on to others to pass onto people sitting in an art history lecture or on a guided museum tour. So my first argument against telling people "the right answer" is that a good portion of the time, some expert somewhere had the skills to VTS a piece themselves, and they just took that answer and shared it as some undeniable truth. But how did they get that "answer" that was spread around as truth? By being equipped with visual thinking skills/strategies.

But back to this idea of the artist's intent. When you create art, sometimes you are judged on if you communicated your idea clearly enough to the viewer. But then, you are praised on if your initial idea, can be a spark for other viewers. This spark ignites multiple possibilities of "answers" from people who see what they want to see in the artwork because of their own personal experiences or knowledge. In my opinion, it is more exciting when what you started with, even if it was a great idea, can become something more to someone else. What you were shooting for could be just fine, but isn't it exciting if you land somewhere else instead? To me, that's what art is about. Awakening anything and everything possible in your viewer for them to connect to. If they get the same message you intended, great. If they didn't, that's ok. Different is not bad, it is just different.

And I also agree, that those "teachable moments" of connecting it to historical context or other world issues, will have been previously taught somewhere else. Students will learn about WWII in social studies, and then recognize it in artwork. I don't think that artwork is the sole means of teaching kids historical context.  So once they have learned it, if the image is developmentally appropriate, they should eventually be able to tease out those connections on their own. And they will remember them better once they are actually connecting them to their own background knowledge, not being told about it for the first time.

Furthermore when speaking towards my teaching philosophy, I have a hard time telling kids to memorize certain facts as truth and try to remember them for as long as possible. I believe in teaching towards self-discovery and creating kids that have tools in their own toolbox to take out into the world and be successful in any scenario. Being equipped to form an opinion with evidence, create connections to your own background knowledge, take in multiple answers, respectfully agree or disagree are more important skills/tools for students to be equipped with than knowing the assumed correct message of one piece of work.

VTS1: Week 6 Blog Assignment.

4th Grade Lesson 1 Image 2

Assessing Student Engagement & Learning:

• In my video I can spy lots of kids in the back who are very fidgety and picking on each other, which is frustrating. The even more frustrating/interesting part is that once they stop and respond, their answers are great. So perhaps they are still engaged even if they are really fidgety?? I see lots of eyes wandering around from time to time, and students needing to stretch a little bit. But I also see people, especially ELL students, maintaining eye contact with the speaker or image. 
• Students noticed many things:
• The man appeared to have just been fishing because he is by the boat and holding fish.
• That the boy has a bow and arrow, aimed at the fox.
• The woman is making a dress that appears to be of Native American origins or from a long time ago, even though the clothes she is wearing look like those we wear today.
• That they might be hunters because of the gun and animal head on the wall.
• The woman weaving a basket.
• The pot/basket behind the chair.
• The pole behind the chair that could be a fishing pole because of the bobber.
• The picture hanging on the wall, that might have writing on it.
• The flock of birds flying in a V, as if they were flying south for the winter.
• That it is probably evening time because of the sunset colors in the sky and white dot that looks like a moon in the sky.
• That the people are probably a family because of the different family ages.
• Most of these responses seem to be like stage one statements, as they are content related or statement observations.
• Students are starting to offer evidence for their statements without being asked, which is exciting. They are noticing many little things. In this particular conversation, there were a lot of students disagreeing with each other. This is exciting for me to see them practice being respectful towards each other, because they tend to have a lot of student drama in this class. I liked seeing that the ELL students appeared to be engaged. And, that some different students were starting to feel comfortable offering answers compared to last time, because there's no right answer and I am looking for a whole class discussion.

Reflecting on Practice:
Honestly, I felt like this VTS lesson was more chaotic than our previous one. There were just a few behavior problems that interrupted our discussion, and I am still working on having our class talk one person at a a time. I feel like I get so caught up in listening to the one speaker, pointing, paraphrasing, and linking, that managing the rest of the class gets lost. So I'm still balancing that out, and now I know that I can be more aware of what's going on. However, I am still proud of the students' responses. They are noticing closely, providing evidence, and respectfully disagreeing with each other. I also felt like there were students wanting to make MANY observations at a time, which is somewhat frustrating because I feel like it takes away opportunities for other people to talk, and it's a lot for me to paraphrase. (Should we put a limit on how much they can respond to at a time??)

Planning:
I think I really have to keep harping on those expectations before we begin the process. Students still wanted to talk right away when we were just looking, and students occasionally talk over each other. I didn't implement any of the silent hand signals yet, because I still get caught up on making sure I'm listening to the speaker. I think I might try making a poster of VTS expectations to put by the smart board, so I can remember them, point to them during discussions, and students can look at them when they are not participating.

Summative Reflection Proposal:
I'm thinking of making my project be somewhat of an arts-advocacy form. Part of what I love so much about VTS is that it just seems to make sense, AND connect art to critical thinking as well as visual texts. Which is why it seems frustrating when other educators do not want to implement it, or administrators do not understand it enough to support it. So, I would like to make perhaps a brochure/flyer/postcard (or set of all) that can be used to educate the community about why VTS is so important in art education. It could briefly explain how VTS started, have quotes from my students about how VTS helped them, some data on pre/post assessments, the overall process, and how it connects to common core standards for literacy. I'll have a more flushed out proposal for the 18th.

VTS1: Peer Coaching 1.

Kaj-

Sounds like you had a great first experience, Kaj!

I was also slightly nervous, and on some level also felt like I couldn't believe that it was just working so easily! I agree with you that the notecard is a nice tool to have with you as you begin the process, I used one too.

Reading what the students saw, they noticed so much more in VTS than I did when I quickly looked at the image on your blog! It is SO impressive what they are noticing. Because they are talking about art vocabulary, the details included in certain animals, the shape of the design and so on, I agree that they are definitely thinking like stage 2 viewers. So much of their discussion was about the artistic choices made and the artist's intent. It's interesting that they are very comfortable doing so, and are becoming so analytical as they look at a piece of artwork. I know they are still capable of thinking of content for the work, and am curious to see what types of discussions they will have with you when their is a piece with a bit more of a narrative to it.

I agree that paraphrasing is difficult at times, because it completely depends on the student response. Sometimes if the statement is pretty obvious, remember that it is ok to let the second question disappear and simply paraphrase back to them. If you can pick out a question, remember that it is good for them to provide evidence even on seemingly simple things like "I see two C's in there that make me think it's the artist's signature." 

My advice for body language/gestures would be to remember that whatever you do, just do what feels natural, but EVERY TIME. I tried to think of a "home base" pose, which was both of my hands on my notecard in front of me. So, I would keep my hands on the note card, remind myself to point when the student was talking, and then bring them right back to my note card. Remembering to point can even slip your mind when you are focused on the student's answer, but it helps you confirm what they are talking about and build vocabulary for any English Language Learners.

Mary's kids definitely have lots of practice with VTS, but sounds like YOU lead them through a great discussion! Good job!

VTS1: Week 5 Blog Assignment.

Portrait of Possibility
4th Grade, ELL Cluster class, 50 minutes.

I have one student, "Student A" who I think VTS will be very helpful for. He seems very excited about diving into images. Even in the pre-assessment, he came up to me and was pointing out things he saw, and I had to just tell him to stay in his seat. After he looked at our first image together, he raised his hand with excitement and couldn't wait to be called on. So much in fact that he kept calling out. Normally if "Student A" is not occupied, he has a strong personality and can be doing other things that tend to cause distractions. So I was glad that the activity was engaging enough for him to stay focused.

However, some of his statements he made seemed slightly off, as in not very probable. This could be because it was his genuine opinion, or because he is being silly. Either way though, even if he thinks the boards people are carrying in the desert are surf boards...students respectfully disagreed with him and provided evidence for what they thought might be more probable. I think this solution is good for either cause of his statements. If he is being silly, he will see that his peers are going to disagree and move on with the conversation. If he is being genuine, he will start to provide more concrete evidence for his statements throughout the process when he sees his peers doing so.

But overall I am excited that Student A appears engaged, willing to contribute to the group, and has the potential to be re-directed by his peers instead of me while I facilitate the discussion. I also think that it will improve his writing skills when he takes the excitement and is able to see many things that he likes to point out and explain what he sees that makes him say that, on top of creating such elaborate narratives in his imagination

If he continues to say things that seem a bit off I will stick with question two or if it becomes apparently silly I will paraphrase quickly and move on. If need be, I can have a side conversation with him about his intent at the end of the class. I can also give reminders at the beginning of the discussion about the expectations for how VTS will go.

VTS1: Week 4 Blog Assignment.

4th Grade Lesson 1 Image 1

Assessing Student Engagement & Learning:

I am excited to report that once again students immediately jumped to the content of the image. They noticed the structure and the people digging. Immediately, they were guessing what they were digging for such as oil, gold, clay, etc. They also noticed that it appeared to be from a long time ago because of the clothing, and that it appeared to be in some place "Like Egypt" because of the colors that look like a desert.

Students seemed to be caught off guard that I would paraphrase/confirm their thoughts. So they would say something, then check out. Which makes me hopeful that VTS will give them some validation for acknowledging their comments.

They also seemed to be surprised that I asked them for evidence for their statement, but happy to offer it. Most of it was pretty good.

A FOURTH GRADE BOY RESPECTFULLY DISAGREED WITH ANOTHER STATEMENT! Loved it.

Students were relatively engaged. I really had to force them to just look silently for a moment so everyone could take a chance to just look. My ELL students were not speaking as much, but appeared to be listening/looking intently.

Things the reading helped me with: At one point I had to ask if we could hear from any other students, because one boy kept wanting to dominate the conversation. Also, one comment was made that was borderline inappropriate about the text in the top left corner. A student said they thought it was Chinese writing, and when asked why he said because it looked like noodles. I tried to quickly paraphrase with more appropriate language like "Curving characters that appear to not be ones like you see in the English language" and moved on.

Reflecting on Practice:
VTS was going pretty darn well for our first time doing it together. I think now that they have seen the practice, it will only get better. The main hindrances were reminders that we do not talk over each other, and some classroom management when we were nearing the end of the conversation after ~10 minutes. Overall I was excited at the level of engagement for the first round and that students could come up with different ideas, respectfully disagree, and offer evidence when asked. It felt like a calm beginning to our class that was building community in a class where there can be peer drama.

I felt like I was able to use the questions with ease, and am figuring out the balancing act with the second question. I gave myself permission to simply paraphrase, deliver the question as written, or sometimes ask a specific follow up question for the evidence.

When the conversation was ending I said I would take 3 more answers. One, I don't like that I called it "answers" instead of "comments/responses." Secondly, I could see how this could set me up for potential awkwardness and I would rather just end the conversation or say I will take one more comment. I liked Mary's idea on Facebook about having the students turn and talk to each other about any remaining comments at the end.

Planning:
-I want to spend even more time looking at the image before we begin the discussion.
-I want to make sure the expectations of how the discussion will be are clear, especially that we talk one at a time and listen to the speaker. 
-I had the questions/expectations written down on a notecard in my hand which helped me feel more comfortable even if I didn't look down at it, so I would like to do that.
-I think I might try to come up with some silent hand signals as expectation reminders to use with students while another one is talking so I don't have to interrupt the speaker when they are talking.

VTS1: Week 3 Blog Assignment.

Pre-VTS Assessment: 4th Grade students.

What did you notice about your students' written responses?

Most of my students' responses were rather short, with word lengths of: 59, 38, 24, 30, 24, etc. Most of the students appeared to recognize the boat and fish. Most made 2-3 observations about the boat, fish, and weather. Some students would offer 1-2 interpretations/inferences either about the fact that they were in the ocean, what the object in the background was, the weather/storm, and that the man on the edge would die. Occasionally a few students would attempt to explain their evidence, but it was rather redundant to their observation.

EX:

• "Some men are catching fish I see a net with fishes in it they are in a boat and they are in the water."
• "They are little fish the sailors caught. The sailors look like they are putting their boat on the shore. In the background it looks like a volcano." 
• "I think that they're on a boat and there's a big scary storm and if one of them is going to fall and die."
• "Two guys bringing fish out of the net so they get food. There is a net with fish on it. One guy is hanging out of the boat. The one guy looks like there is a shark coming." 

Did you recognize kinds of thinking discussed by Yenawine? Explain.
I recognized students making simple observations such as "There is a net with fish on it." But I noticed my students making a lot of inferen
ces on their own.
"They are going to cook the fish in a pot." "The man is going to die." "There is a shark coming." "There is a big scary storm." I'm not sure that some of these would be considered speculations, as the students appeared to just make the direct inference without any clarification as to "I think" or "Possibly."

Reflecting upon Housen's descriptions of Stage 1 & 2 viewers, did you recognize characteristic responses/thinking in these pre-assessments?
Yes! I think my students are mainly still Stage 1 Viewers. They made simple, concrete observations about the boat and fish. Some observations appeared imaginative, especially about the object in the background. My students were especially, "Incorporat[ing] people and objects into an idiosyncratic narrative." Some emotions colored the comments about the sense of something "scary" whether it was the storm, a shark, or the person about to fall off of the boat.

I didn't see much Stage 2 thinking yet, as students were looking at a fairly realistic image and not acknowledging much intent by the artist yet. Nor were our observations very detailed or linked to our own experiences.

Were you surprised by anything in the students' writing?
I was so surprised by the amount of inferences my students were making! I was expecting to get back a list of students writing " I see two men, a boat, and fish." What's encouraging is that the students seem to be making inferences about the content of the image, adding a storyline to it. About what would happen to the men, why they were fishing, why the water was rough, what was the object in the foreground. This makes me excited/hopeful that the permission to wonder will really be appreciated/utilized by my students, and that they will understand art is about something.

VTS1: Week 2 Blog Assignment.

I practiced VTS-ing an image with an elementary instructional aide and a doctoral student.

We looked at this image from the VTS curriculum (Mary- I must have missed the images we were to choose from!) The practice went fairly well, and these are some of the comments that they made about the experience:

• First off, they noticed how much they normally would have missed, because they spent a longer time looking at the image and were able to find more details by doing so.
• They noticed how they built their ideas off of each other, and listening to someone else's ideas helped them develop their own.
• They felt like I was giving them an accurate confirmation of their ideas, and had the opportunity to make sure I was paraphrasing them correctly. 
• They felt like the process was helping them build a bigger picture by looking closely at the individual pieces. 

I feel like the things I need to work on are determining if the second question needs to go away or not. Sometimes they say things that are so bluntly obvious (Like, "I see a brush") , it feels like I shouldn't ask them what makes them say that, but just paraphrase it and move on. Or, it is difficult to quickly come up with a specific question to make them provide further evidence. 

I got to practice placing questions back on the group, when they would ask things like, "What is that? Is that another brush?" Etc, by asking if the other one knew the answer and inviting them to come look closer.

I think this is connecting to the readings by focusing so much on the fact that we are building the critical thinking skills to teach people how to VIEW art. It's the same set of skills they use in reading or other deductive reasoning processes, but people don't necessarily think to use in art. 

I like the fact that I do not have to have one right answer when I begin the discussion, I do not have to know the accurate story or history of an image. That way my students have permission to wonder, but so do I. I'm not teaching an art history course to them, I wondering WITH them. I don't have to worry about making sure they get to the "right answer." 

I also agree that I think pointing and paraphrasing are going to be huge assets to my ELL students when building vocabulary with them, even if they are just listening, so I want to make sure I implement that in my practice. The reading also reminded me that I should allow students to look at the image for a moment before I jump right in to the questions.