Blog #9 Teacher's Choice Proposal

       My students are in college at the University of Missouri.  I have 14 students that are in one or the other of my Beginning and Intermediate Fiber Arts class.  These are stacked classes and can have advanced and graduate students enrolled in them.

      Each student is at a different place in his/her education from early college to last semester seniors and some are not even art majors or minors.  My students come from various areas and different departments throughout the University and take this class for credit in the humanities area.  Each of my students arrive at class with varying amounts of art education.  I encourage them to bring in their own voice to their artwork through each of the areas we are using to help tell about their art.

We meet twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday at 8am to 11am for a three-hour block of time. 

      We meet in Bingham Commons.  This building is an old kitchen and dinning hall that was in operation about 20 or so years ago. This is the preferred place to have a fiber classroom.  We can beat paper, dye fabric, and make baskets in an area that is very forgiving.  We, in fibers, will work in multiple medias this semester.  We are also working with 3-D sculptural units, first surface design, paper sculptural, and basketry. Presently, we are in the 3-D paper sculptural unit.  Each student will beat own pulp and creates an armature to cast over. Then, our next unit will be sculptural basketry.  This is why I have chosen these four artists for my teacher’s choice images.

Blog #8 VTS to Date

The first thing that I’m very comfortable doing is pointing to an area that each student is talking about and I think I have this down pretty well. I have to use a long ruler to be able to touch the image on the screen, because of the very large desk that is in front of the screen. Also I think I’m showing to each of my students that I’m there for them.

Adding VTS to my curriculum involves decisions that help me see the artwork different after each lesson.  I’m now looking for more in each work of art that I’m seeing in my everyday life.  Also this experience has let me evaluate am I giving my students enough information so that they can see art in different ways. I know look at my peers artwork in an open minded way that helps me see that there is more to reflect on in art than just what is on the surface.

Trying to take out all the stumbling blocks by letting there be an open-ended question. Letting the students have freedom in looking, talking, and questioning the artwork without all the answers placed in front of them. The learning through approaches allowed the students to ask why and keep on asking why. Understanding art in itself can be difficult for some students, but using VTS improves their knowledge of critical thinking. I have been surprised that students not engaged in class, can be engaged in the VTS lesson. I see that they understand more than I thought they were.

To what degree would students learn the concepts of looking at art be taught separately?  This is a necessary question to ask the educator in expanding a student’s art experiencing in both creating and interpreting an art form.  In the present political climate of budget restraints and common core standards, it may be difficult to get a straight answer.  Nevertheless, we must continue to fight for the overall education of our students and that includes improving the art curriculum in primary and secondary education settings. Yet, I still want to work on the question of “What is going on in this picture?” “What do you see that makes you say that?” and “What more can we find?” Getting down each of these phrases is my biggest concern and the paraphrasing would be the next concern to me. Coming back with different wordings is something that I think I will be dealing with for a long time, but it is something that I am most compelled to over come!

BLOG TOPIC #7 Why Not Tell?

By not teaching the VTS or not telling the viewer what the work is about, we are just asking them to find their own meaning from their own experiences. Within a group of people you can pull many ideas and much more experience. What each person’s experiences will be is so different from the person next to them. So, by not telling the viewer, we are creating a bigger picture of what is going on in the world today and past experiences. We also need to grow as viewers and if we are just spoon-fed the meanings of the artwork no will grow in understanding and take more information away from the work.

There are many different possibilities that people can take from asking just one simpler question, “what more can you see”, changes the ambiguity of the artwork to something more fulfilling that they can ask more questions of what they are seeing. Part 1 & 2 helps open up the question, why is this artwork like this or what is in this artwork. If we stop asking questions and have the freedom to speak our minds on what we see, we have stopped the process of opening the mind to grow.

The evidence is in the question, what more can we find?  With that question being asked of the viewer, we are asking them to think beyond what is right before them. This question being asked of viewers is finding a method for them to be able to take away from their own experiences. The observations of artwork can not just be something that is not given through names and date, but a more meaningful journey that help each viewer associates with their own experiences. I find that with my own students having VTS in the classroom opens up a way for all students to voice what they see happening in each of the artworks that I display.

Blog #6 Assessing, Reflecting, Planning

Right out of the box, they were engaged.  Even my student, which is not engaged in class, started out engaged in the VTS lesson.  Then the class just went from there. Half of my students are in stage II and a small group are still in the beginning of stage I.  This shows me that some students are learning from these VTS lessons and some are just on the outside of the learning curve.  

During this general observation of my students, I noticed that the students asked more meaningful questions and I also noticed, by their observations, that their answers were more in depth. Overall, most of my students picked up on small details and tried to analyze the artwork.  

The students noticed “Color, color, color” that is dark, foboating, depressing, and gloomy. Then they moved to the man on bed that looked like a medical bed or a military bed. Then, they related the pile of clothing being 6 feet high as if it were six feet under or in the grave. They were exhibiting a form of reasoning out on what was going on in this image. They came up with different scenarios that might be behind the work. 

They were:  1) They observe the man on the bed that it might be a solider and the clothes were the weight of war. 2) They noticed pieces of clothing “a pair of sweat pants and shirts”. 3) With in the difference of colors within the clothing really had powerful ambiguity that helps this shape that is tomb like to pull the viewer in.

What did my students learn from this VTS lesson? That it’s okay to have an opinion, that this class can have an open dialogue or they were in a safe place to say what was on their minds.

The feeling of this lesson was great and after awhile I was in the groove with what they were saying and wanted to join them in a discussion of this artwork. They had it going on and it did not feel like a VTS lesson for me, but finding what the meaning of this artwork is. They have grown so much over the last few weeks and I’m so amazed by my students. I was very surprised that they are learning. I think that the VTS lessons are coming to a place that is opening up my students, so that they can understand viewing artwork is different than just looking at it.  I was so happy today that they have come so far in just this short time.

What I would like to work on is my timing and vocabulary, that way I can push the students timing and vocabulary to a level that is so far out there. They will never go back to just seeing art. I think I can accomplish this by broadening my own vocabulary by pushing myself to comprehend more of each artwork that I show.

Blog #5 Portrait of Possibility

I have chosen “Rikki” who would be helped by using VTS; I think the VTS would challenge him beyond where he is today. He is a very bright student, but I think it could make him a great artist and someone that could go to graduate school and with this push would help him to go down that path. Rikki really took to the VTS lesson today. He surprised me with his answers and the way he would come up with the meaning to the teapot. He looks at the meaning to the scroll design on the bodies to that of henna. The earrings represent babies and the teacup in the tummy as a baby that has not been born yet. He would feed off the other students and after I was done with the lesson, he and Amy wanted to keep going.  They sat there and kept analyzing it.

”Rikki” is the name I’m going to use as a pseudonym for my student. Rikki is a first year art student, willing to learn new things. Sometimes he does not always engage with the lesson plan. I would say he goes his own way, but he is very smart. I have to push Rikki sometimes and at other times he’s just a super kid.

I think Rikki would benefit by being exposed to new images, terms and techniques. Rikki is one of those students just on the brink of finding himself as an artist.

VST lesson plan; I would like to have Rikki find four to six images that he would like to know more about. Then, I would like to have him do a VTS lesson for the class. This would allow Rikki to see from both side of understanding the learning process.  I would videotape this so that we can go over after the tape after he is done. That way he can start thinking about the artwork in a new light.

Blog Topic #4 Assessing Student Engagement and Learning:

                                                                                        Student Engagement and Learning:

I prepared my students before the video was turned on. I told them we would be doing a VST lesson. I asked them to silently look over the image on the screen for couple minutes. Then I turn on the video and we started. As I called on my students they responded with hands raised. My student engagement level was open and thoughtful. They sat and thought out each piece of this artwork. Then they would ask one question at a time, I loved that they listened to me this time. They started with small surface items that were easy to find, then they got down in depth to what was going on. They picked out the meaning of the books from the mouth of the bird, to that of the books in the stomach. My students really went for “Why”. They pulled out that each layer was a represented of layers of a person’s soul; this is shown in the center of the bird. With the layers of nails on the outside, it helps to protect the bird from the outside world.

Reflecting on Practice:  

After the video was turned off we talk about the “why” this lesson is helpful and that it would help students to understand art better over time. A student wanted to know why I said, “what I hear you saying is”, I loved that they played off  each other this time. All in all, I’m very happy with this VST lesson today. 

Planning:

Next time, I hope to pull more from my students and show them they can understand that it’s okay to state their opinion and they need to be awake. YES, my class is at 8am and for College student and they are not awake just yet. I’m still working on being comfortable in the rewording back to my students, but I think that it will come in time.

BLOG TOPIC #3: Pre-VTS Assessments

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.