BLOG TOPIC #14: Portrait of Possibility - Revisited

Were your predictions/assessments accurate? 

Oh yes, Rikki was getting to see artwork from the other side, not just finding art that appealed to him, but might appeal to the class. He also went looking for artwork in the same media that we are using in the classroom.

What did you see during the semester that makes you say that?

Rikki now thinks about, not just materials, but what do the materials say? He is looking at his artwork with new eyes and with a deeper understanding going into it.

You developed a plan or strategy for addressing the needs of that student specifically with VTS. Having Rikki go around and looking up four to six artists, and actually doing the VTS lesson for our class was a way to help him address what he could do with his own art. Rikki really did enjoy doing the VTS lesson for the class and I do think this helped him reach his goal of seeing that he could do more than just what is the norm.

How did that plan or strategy play out? 

The plan was for Rikki to find four to six images for a VTS lesson. He did this and then we talked over each of these images to see what would be the best image for him to VST. Rikki and I picked Jo Stealey’s artwork to do. (This made her happy when she walked into the class during the VTS lesson and saw Rikki VTS it.) I videotaped his lesson so that you could see him in action. He found this process very challenging, having to get up in front of his peers and working the through the lesson.

What were its outcomes for the student?

My students went right in full steam ahead with Rikki doing the VTS lesson, but I do have a great group of students. They are so well trained; any one of them could do the lessons now. I could not ask for a better group of students for using VTS.

What are your “take-aways” in terms of this student or similar students??

I know that VTS has helped all of my students see art in new ways. Because I do have students that have never seen most or all of the works that have been shown in the VTS lesson. It has given them a broader aspect of art that they would not have had in the classroom. I do see that I will be using VTS in my future classrooms, because it shows not only what the artwork is going to look like, but it opens up the students to more artists than I would be using.

Blog #13 VTS Through a Differentiated Lens

In what way has VTS provided differentiation for students in your focus class?

My students come from different backgrounds and they have come together through using VTS in my class. I can clearly identify which students need more help/time to grasp the lesson that we are going over in class. My non-major art students have been developing over this semester because VTS, it helps in their artwork and in our class critiques.

I want to become the best teacher that I can for my students. I have learned through using VST, that I can help them in new ways. By having them work as a group, it helps to ensure the students that need more help can get it or at least understand what we are going over in class.  At the same time, I do agree with Johnson that students need to work individually as a method of increasing their cognitive development. I also, like Johnson, have my students re-work their projects after we have talked about them. This is so they have some insight and understand them better. 

What have you observed in your VTS teaching that makes you say that?

With my non-art major students, they are picking up the language that art students and I use on a day-to-day basis. They are looking at art differently and they know they have a voice to express it. Through VTS my students are finding subject matter that interests them where they were not interested in it before.  By adding the VTS lesson, it has pushed my students to open up their minds to new views and thoughts. VTS has helped all my students in someway.

Blog #12 Assessing, Reflecting, and Planning Video C

         Reflecting back on Yenawine’s recommendations for image selection I do think this image is appropriate from my student. Them being in college age students we as teach are trying pushing all their boundaries and this image is do that.

         This Image might have been too daring with a group of a different age group or had not been working with VTS, but I did feel that most of my students would be able to handle this image. After the lesson, I’m on the fence if it was the right image for my students. “Raw Skin”, the image, really made them think. It was a step up for this group of students and I hoped that I pushed them to dig deeper into their cognitive processes. Some of my students just sit back in most of my VTS lessons and don’t share their ideas, but with “Raw Skin” the majority of my students did share their thoughts. I could see the gears in their minds moving, as they were looked at this image.

They wanted to find an answer to, why it she pulling her skin off?

I challenged them today, to find the meaning in this VTS lesson, but I do not think my students came to the table ready to work through the image. Over the last few months, they have been getting better and better at looking for the meanings in each new image that we see in the VTS lesson. The students did a great job of thinking through and finding meaning in “Raw Skin”. They stepped up to stage 3 for this lesson. That is where this group should be now.

         One of my students that just usually sits back in class during in the VTS lesson he was the biggest player in this lesson. He is shy and not an art student, but he gave it his all today.

         I still feel, sometimes, that I’m the one who needs to work on my paraphrasing words that will challenge my students. I just need to get out of my own way and let it happen. I forget to even link back to other students because I was so in my own head. I do think that over time, I will improve on the VTS lessons.

Blog #11 Preparing for Teacher’s Choice:

Karin Janssen 

Raw Skin: Uncompromising visions of the visceral body 

2013.

“RAW SKIN challenges the dualistic view that the body is merely a seat for the mind, a shell which, with willpower and discipline, can be moulded into a perfect shape, something that we have influence over. This idea denies the reality of our living bodies, our corporeality. The exhibition RAW SKIN aims to research what happens when internal emotions start bleeding into the body, changing, morphing, transforming and exploding it, causing it to clash with the external world around it.”



How do you believe this image addresses the needs and concerns of your students?
Raw Skin challenges the view of the body by just seeing the shell in which we all have on the outside of one self.  That mold that each of us is trying to achieve the “perfect shape”. In my class, we talked about the living body and the dualistic view that we all have about our bodies.  Bringing this image to the VTS lesson is another way of talking about and emphasizes body image. Will my class of older students see this as something that each and every one of them are dealing with on a day to day basis?  I think through art images like this one we can open dialogue for students to be honest about these issues.

In what ways do you believe it will challenge them?
This image changes the traditional conception of understanding the body and would suggest the values we put on ourselves.  Communication about the body and the relationships that all students have with their own body can be worked out in their art in a healthy way.
I have to find more stimulating images for this group.  In finding this one, I see my students really opening up about the imagery and wanting to know more about this artist. Second, this is a 3-D wok of art and my students are drawn more to those than the 2-D works.  So I do hope this work pushes the boundaries in the next VTS lesson.