What would I have done different? I'm not used to teaching
to such small students, but I see that I need to bring the lesson down to their
level and prepare or assemble smaller sets. Everything worked out pretty
well. One small factor was time. I
needed more. The students were amazing during the whole lesson.
I introduced the lesson through a PowerPoint and in the
PowerPoint was the Powtoon. The
Students got to yell back-and-forth the answers at the screen. I really think
they enjoyed that part of the activity. Then we moved on to understanding what
a microorganism is. They had a general knowledge from their field trip that
they went on last week in science class (I also went on that field trip with
them). Next was the VTS lesson, this group of students has never done a VTS
lesson. So it was a little slow at first, but eventually they started to
understand that their answers were correct and they could express themselves
with a variety of answers.
After the VTS lesson I introduced them to making a little
art journal, they had to follow the step by step instructions to assemble a
small book. This is where I needed to plan out for more time so they could get
their books done. I had to adjust
the books in a different way, so it all worked out in the end. I brought the
students back to the mat and we had a small discussion about what their
homework would be. What they needed to investigate and where they could get the
information from for the investigation. Their homeroom/science teacher was
there so she knew what was going on. She is going to help them in their reading
time with their investigation. We did an assessment at the end of the day to
rap it up. We talked about what they enjoyed about the lesson and what they
didn't in within their art journals.
Like me, you experienced something new working with your lesson because the age group was unfamiliar! Remind me; what exactly does "VTS" entail again? I keep losing the concept. I love the fact that this was a cross-disciplinary lesson. What I’m having trouble visualizing is how the students created their own micro-organism; did they use fibers or did they draw them? I’m not sure I interpreted that correctly. Do you have any examples of how this could / or did turn out? It sounds challenging to me, although, again, I think it’s a cool lesson idea and blends science with creative and artistic thinking. I’d just love to see what they produced artistically from this activity.
ReplyDeleteHey Jon here is the link to VTS - http://www.vtshome.org
ReplyDeleteTo see a visual look at the project just look at the post right before this one and you can see what the students are making. Yes its made out of fiber materials with paint, salt and water.
I like the idea of combining science and art. This lesson is a great way to overlap subject areas. Another great thing is that the microorganisms kind of take on a more non-representational approach which allows for all projects to look unique. I’m curious about some of the questions that you used during the VTS/”looking at art” section of the lesson. What were some of the queries that you posed and how did the students respond (and vice versa)? I bet the students were wowed by many of the images that you chose to display. Did any of the images seem to make more of an impact (just curious)?
ReplyDeleteSide note: I recently read clip card lesson plan in SchoolArts Magazine called “At the Cellular Level”. It might be of interest to you, too. The students were inspired to create clay artworks based on what they found under microscopes:
http://www.schoolartsdigital.com/i/152199-jan-2007/8