My new favorite word is “WHY” after doing this last
VTS assignment. I think we need, as artists, to ask that question more often
than we do. We need to ask it all the time within the practice of thinking of
the eye to mind connection, what do you see and we need to ask why? Why do I see things like this and not
like that? Why did they do it that
way not this way? Why the color
green in a purple painting? Asking the question why is an innocent question,
but I think it’s one of the biggest ones we can ask.
What did you notice about your students’
written responses? They gave more details about the artwork. They gave
additional information about what was in the background and why was this work
done. They were also willing to talk about what was in the artwork after the
papers were gathered up. They engaged with each other to find the answer to
what was going on.
Did you recognize kinds of thinking
discussed by Yenawine? Yes, through writing and doing VTS over long periods of
time, we can see the growth within each student. Sometimes this growth is hard
to see if we use the standard testing methods that do not realistically measure
ideas students learn over time, but adding the VTS to their course work along
side with other skills, is very necessary to help each student grow over time.
Reflecting upon Housen’s descriptions of
Stage 1 & 2 viewers, did you recognize characteristic responses/thinking in
these pre-assessments? The skill at drawing conclusions from complex
observations that carried over to the classroom and then to the students to
note is why I think have a pre-assessment in the classroom helping each student
to push their own response to the artwork. The Housen process talks about
helping students with their grammar. By taking the time to talk out what has
been seen, they can and will push/add new words to their vocabulary and so on
to the assessment. They might not understand every word until the class
discussion goes over it. With this approach, we, as teachers, do not have to
dig very far to see that each student can be educated in a quality manner. Additional resources might be needed to
further encourage each student to expand their vocabulary in the arts. In this way, they can also better
understand the world around them.
Were you surprised by anything in the
students’ writing? Some yes, but the next time I will not be doing
this at 8am, but rather a 10am. My
students are not up at the 8am slotted. Some students are willing to give more
than others, but that I think goes back to the way each of them learn. Some are
open and loud about what they see and others sit back and listen to what is
being said.
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