Summative Project and Artist Statement

Using Visual Thinking Strategies in my classroom has benefitted me in so many ways.  I have been most struck by its focus on patience, quiet, and listening.  VTS, in some ways, mirrors my philosophy on life by placing so much importance on the true, careful art of these ideas.  VTS has helped me to become better at all of these, especially listening because it requires you to delve deeply into another person’s words and ideas and reiterate them back to the participant. 

As a metaphor for my learning this semester, I painted a stack of balancing rocks using watercolors.  I chose to make this painting because I felt it best expresses how VTS has benefitted me.  VTS has shown me that silence is something to be revered, and that the patience of speaking and listening slowly will be rewarded.  The balancing rocks are a little part of nature that absorbs the quiet and all the sounds around them.  The rocks stand quietly while being present will all that is happening around them.  The painting uses mostly pastel and neutral colors, with little flecks of browns to simulate the texture of the rocks.  The artistic choice of watercolor paint helps to drive home that feeling of flow and natural elements.  While the painting is simple in subject, it becomes complex in metaphor and idea.

Blog Topic 16 Pre and Post VTS Analysis

My data consisted of ten students.  There were some that were not included in my sample due to absences.  Here is my data pile with a cameo by little Pete.

And, here are my data screenshots.  The first is of my word counts and the second is interpretation or influence with evidence:

I was really saddened that both of my responses were considered to be not statistically significant because I really believe that VTS has benefitted my class.  As I mentioned in my last post, there are outside factors that may have affected my data, like the kind of day students were having and the fact that I was missing three kids from my sample.  Even though I am a hardcore believer in science, I still think that I have seen benefit from doing VTS discussions and I definitely plan to continue them each week.  My students really look forward to them and I enjoy facilitating.

Blog Topic 15

I was so surprised to see my students' final numbers this week.  They didn't all go up, but the ones that did went up drastically.  About 75% of my kids writing samples went up in word count.  Three students weren't included in my sample because they were absent on a day when we did the pre or post tests.  I also know that one student was having a particularly bad day on the occasion of the post test, so I think she may not have taken it seriously as her score went down a lot.  Overall, on an individual basis, my kiddos did a great job.  Most of them used more words and cited reasons for their thinking when in the past they did not.

I saw a lot of benefit from holding almost weekly VTS sessions with my kids.  They became something to look forward to on Friday's.  My kids wanted to see art that's out there, and they wanted to talk about them.  On week's when we didn't have discussions, the kids said they wanted to or that they missed doing them.  In a way, it feels like our discussions were a way to bond.  They got to freely speak about their ideas in a place that lacked judgement and fear.  I really feel that VTS has helped my class to bond with one another and with me.  Because of VTS, I am becoming more patient and a better listener, which is something I try to work on every day.

Blog Topic 14

In week five, I identified a student who I thought VTS might help.  The student's name was Brad.  After almost ten weeks of VTSing, I am sad to say that I did not see any improvement during the VTS discussions.  Brad was one of three students who did not participate in any image discussion that we had.  I am a little disappointed that Brad, and the other two students, didn't participate, but I suppose that doesn't mean that these kiddos learned nothing from our discussions.  VTS offers such great opportunities for listening and wondering, which I know that Brad must have been doing.  He was present during the discussions and attentive to what his classmates were saying.  My hope is that he gleaned at least a little about artistic choices and meaning making during the discussions so that he may be better able to understand and implement these concepts within his own work.

In the future, I would be really interested to find a way to help these students participate.  VTS is all about feeling comfortable, so it would be wrong of me to call on them.  Anyone have any ideas about how to encourage these students without making them feel uncomfortable?

Blog Topic 13

Differentiated instruction helps to better meet learners where they are by addressing multiple needs of students at one time.  I believe that VTS is a great way to differentiate in many ways.  For one, VTS allows the teacher to choose images (unless you are using the prescribed VTS curriculum) that will benefit a particular group of students.  For example, maybe during a week where color is being taught your class looks at Wayne Thiebaud.  This is a form of differentiated instruction because it is hitting on a certain topic or area and addressing it in a different way (visual, audial) than it may have been previously taught in the classroom.  VTS also helps to differentiate students' art vocabularies by hearing words they may not have known before.  I truly believe that VTS has benefitted my classroom, especially with their art vocabularies because I am noticing more of my students using advanced language more frequently than I noticed it before we began VTSing.  My students seem to be thinking about and planning their art more deeply, which I almost never thought might happen.

Blog Topic 12

The image I selected for the Teacher's Choice VTS was:

I was really happy with the way this VTS discussion went developed.  Most of my kids, save maybe three, participated at least once, with some commenting multiple times.  The image felt really appropriate because I thought it lended a lot to the ability for my students to develop a narrative about the image.  The kids picked up on so many of Hopper's lovely details.  Students noticed:

• Two people having a meal (kids debated about time of day)
• That it looks old because of the clothing and sign design
• That the restaurant looks nice because of so many details (lamps, shades, nice chairs)
• The woman in the middle is the focal point
• An urban feel because of the sidewalk outside the window
• The conversation between the women seems important

The kids captured so much about this painting.  They always impress me with their ability to find the tiniest of detail intriguing.  I worked really hard on scaffolding this time, trying to connect each person's idea with that of another student.  I worked on remembering which student had said which comment so I could revisit it later.  

I would absolutely use this image again.  This was one of the longest discussions we have had to date, so I am up for doing another one similar to this.

I had two difficulties during this experience, one being getting the three quiet kids to speak.  The other was a student who is not in my class.  He likes to visit me and was present during the discussion.  He liked to interrupt and talk over me while the discussion was going, which was pretty distracting to me and the kids (I had to scold him in my video).  I should have better prepared him for what we were doing.

Blog Topic 11

The image I have decided to use for my teacher's choice VTS is Chop Suey by Edward Hopper

I decided against the other images because I felt that they did not have enough detail or opportunity for narrative within them.  I was really interested in the Banksy image, but I think I had shown it before during another presentation in class.  Hopper is one of my most favorite painters.  I love his use of light and ambiguity within his work.  I think the color in the image lends a lot as far as emotion goes within this work.  I think that because there isn't a true focus to this image that my students will really take in the background and environment in this piece.  

I think this image will definitely challenge my students because it is a little less clear than some of the other images we have seen.  I want to slowly start working toward more complex, abstract images and think this might be a good avenue to do so.  My students always, always surprise me during VTS and I am so looking forward to talking about this.  Last week when we didn't do a VTS, my students asked why we were't completing one.  So, in that regard, I think that they are really liking doing this too.  Thanks, Mary :)

Blog Topic 10

The image I VTSed with my students this week was the following:

When I first saw the image for this week, I immediately wondered how much my students would be able to pick up on.  Photography in general seems to be a bit tougher to VTS for me.  However, my students always seem to exceed my expectations and they did so again for this image.  The students commented on the following:

• the black and white somber mood
• the writing on the license plate
• a general feeling of being poor or poverty
• the idea of beauty
• a feeling of sisterhood or caretaking
• a feeling of nostalgia or family heirlooms

My students really gleaned a lot from this image, and likely more than I may have picked up on on my own.  They really reach beyond the obvious in images (for example, "I see two girls") and extend to the artist's ideas and intent.  I am still noticing that there are maybe two students who have yet to participate in a discussion, but that may still be to come.

I always feel comfortable with my students and I do feel that I am able to easily grasp when a discussion is over.  My VTS this week only ran about 8 minutes, so it is a bit short of where it needed to be.  I think that may be because the image is a photo and not a sculpture or painting.  Those seem to lend a little more time because it is easier to talk about artist choices and the presence of the artist's hand.  

In the future, I would like to continue to work on paraphrasing and sensing the end of the discussion.  I am always wary that I may not be letting enough time pass between comments, which may keep the few students from talking during the discussion.  I would also like to be able to better encourage those kids to participate in our talks.

Blog Topic 9

As a reminder, I have been VTSing with my smallest class, my Advanced Art group.  They are either Juniors or Seniors who have taken all of the other art classes my school offers.  The class is super independent, where students generally compose their own projects to complete.  The images I am considering for my teacher's choice VTS are:

By Shintaro Ohata

By Banksy

By Edward Hopper

By Moki

Blog Topic 8

This week, my students completed a VTS of the following image:

So far, I think I am doing a nice job at a few things.  One positive aspect of my VTSing has been my positivity.  I have great relationships with my students, and this makes for a really happy and easygoing atmosphere.  The sense of trust that provides definitely enhances our VTS discussions.  I also feel that I am getting better at listening to what my students are saying.  This makes it easier to paraphrase what they have said.  I can see vast growth since the beginning of the semester with my peers, especially in regard to listening and paraphrasing.

I still feel surprised at how uncomfortable I was doing VTS at the museum yesterday.  I think the acoustics of the room and my difficulties hearing definitely played in to that a lot, but I would like to continue working on being able to do these lessons in any situation.  As I move forward in this course, I would like to continue to work on paraphrasing and determining when to use the second question.

Some interesting things my kids noticed about this photo were:

• a sense of old vs. new due to new clothing, old house and furniture
• a sense of destruction due to the peeling paint
• a sense of loneliness due to lack of a decorated space
• the possibility of a flood or water damage due to the peeling paint and clothesline (drying out)

I was surprised a how long we talked about this image.  When I first saw it, it seemed a bit one note, and when our discussion went on for about fifteen minutes, I couldn't believe it.  One student who has yet to participate said something this week, so that is something to be proud of.

Blog Topic 7

After reading Philip Yenawine's piece on VTS and information, I was really struck by his comparison of viewing art to reading a text (since art IS a visual text anyway...).  Yenawine stated that art, like a text, needs to be considered from multiple perspectives.  Yenawine says, "...we feel that capacities to observe, think about what one sees, reflect on meanings, and consider various interpretations are basic to art viewing and the prerequisites for later learning."  After taking a course on visual literacy and visual culture, I have learned that this comparison of art to text is absolutely true.  Why should art be held to a higher, more rigorous standard than a typical text?  Why is it not ok to look at an image and wonder or imagine?

I absolutely side with Philip Yenawine here.  The student who imagined aliens instead of gas masks was not damaging other students or making a mistake.  He/she was simply using their experiences and prior knowledge to bring themselves into the image.  What I love about art is that it is open to interpretation.  Each viewer who looks at a work brings their own background and experiences to the table when looking at a piece of art.  Without a little room to move for interpretation, art becomes fixed and black and white, like a math problem, which couldn't be more opposite of what art is really all about.

Blog Topic 6

This week, my students did a VTS of the following George Tooker painting:

My students have VTSed this artist twice now, and both times they have seemed really excited about the work.  Almost all students raised their hand at one point, and they were all really respectful of one another.  Some things they noticed about the image were:

• a clear divide in classes (rich vs. poor) due to clothing and items characters held
• a theme of pain, suffering, waiting, and imprisonment
• repetition within the painting (boxes, groups of people)
• a neutral color palette

My students seem to surprise me every week.  Sometimes their artmaking can really lack in critical thinking, and when the class participates in these discussions, I feel so impressed.  They have such great vocabularies about art and seem to notice many deep details in the work.  I think that my students artmaking abilities will really benefit from out VTS discussions because it gives them an opportunity to see how other artists create conceptual art.

Overall, the VTS felt really good to me.  I don't seem to be having any issues using the prescribed lines much at all.  My students seem to be getting used to having these discussions. as I have noticed that they are providing evidence for what they see without me having to ask them.  While I know this is inherently good, it sometimes throws off my balance during the discussion because it makes me really think about what I need to say next.

In the future, I really want to work on transitioning more smoothly.  A few of my students shouted out during the discussion without being called on, and I need to be able to better handle speaking to two students at once.  It is really surprising me how much I am enjoying this class and I really hope that it continues to be beneficial to my kiddos.

Blog Topic 5

Identifying a student VTS might help or challenge is a tough question in my situation.  Most of my students are operating at or above grade level, and most of them have high grade point averages.  However, a student who I believe VTS might help is Brad.  Brad is a really, really talented artist in my advanced art class.  He shows so much skill in technicality, but often lacks meaning in his artwork.  He doesn't participate much, if at all, in VTS discussions during class.  While I do think he is the "sit back and take it all in" type of person, I think he could greatly benefit from being involved in our VTS classroom discussions.  Getting Brad to participate in VTS could help him to see that artists create art to tell stories and share meaningful experiences, which he struggles with in his own work.  In the future, I think that I could ask all students to make at least one or two comments about the work we view during VTS so that all students participate without pointing him out.  Overall, my VTS discussions have gone really well so far and I can't wait to see where they go next.

Blog Topic 4

After a bit of a rough start with the written portion last week, I was really happy and intrigued with my results this week.  I did a VTS using the following image:

The main aspects of this image that my students noticed were:

• This is some type of dwelling, but it looks really bare
• A relationship between the woman and child
• The woman's clothes seem really nice, may elude to wealth
• The letter look really old and may have a link to the woman's past
• The woman's grip on the box in her lap and the woman's gaze

Overall, I was so super proud of my kids.  They picked out themes of time, place, and culture in this image, which I definitely was not expecting.  It was interesting to see how students would play off of one another's thoughts, creating theories of their own about this woman's story (there were lots of ideas about the letters being family heirlooms or that maybe someone she knew had been away at war).  The VTS definitely employed a sense of community during the discussion in that sense.  The only real issue I experienced was that when my kids got excited, they tended to talk out of turn, interrupting before I got a chance to paraphrase.  I think I can better avoid that next time by making sure the group understands my expectations before we start.  

I felt completely comfortable leading the discussion, and I noticed that I had a lot of patience, even when kids spoke without giving me a chance to.  Next time, I will absolutely take more time to develop expectations for a VTS discussion.

At the end, I had two students stay after class (at the end of the school day!!) to tell me how much they enjoyed the discussion.  They mentioned that they liked to hear other's stories and felt it was enjoyable to search for more in the artwork.  One student mentioned that he liked my inclusion of vocabulary words when I paraphrased their remarks.  I was really proud to hear that.  It was a fun discussion and I am really looking forward to the next one.  

Blog Topic 3

In all honesty, I was really surprised by my Pre-VTS assessments.  As I have mentioned earlier, I am moving through this class with my Advanced Art class.  I am not sure if the title of the class or my prior knowledge of my students gave me high expectations, but this exercise really made me realize that I believe my students to be more advanced viewers and artists than they really are.  I felt a bit disappointed, because, really, many of my students blew through the exercise, writing only a few sentences about what they saw (and I have done VTS with some of them before).  I would say my students are probably somewhere in between stage 2 and 3 viewers, by wanting to expand on ideas and imagery, but not have as much background in Art History and technique as a historian would.  Before I sound too negative here, there were around three students who did an exceptional job, picking up things that I hadn't noticed in the given image.  So it may be that I really have a range of viewing skills in my classroom.

Peer VTS

I completed my peer VTS last week, and overall, it went great.  Most of the adults felt pretty comfortable, but the other art teacher mentioned that she felt a lot of pressure about looking at the work.  The image I chose was "Dad's Coming" by Winslow Homer.  Everyone participated, and most people seemed interested, though there were a few people who joked around about not having an art background.  The general responses I got afterward were:

• VTS helped the narrative/story come together for the participants
• VTS forces you to continue to look for more, even if you think you have noticed everything
• helped to think critically about the image 
• encouraged you to revisit objects or things in the image you already looked at

Overall, the experience went really well and I even had one group member ask if I could help her do this with her students.  

Blog Topic 1

For those who don't remember, I teach art at Fulton High School.  The class I have chosen to VTS with is my Advanced Art class.  I only have 14 students in this class, so will be a pretty small sample, but I think that VTSing with tis group will provide a great sense of community for the kids.  This class is mostly composed of junior and seniors who have taken the other art classes at the high school.  Most of them want to go in to an art field, but some just want a place to express themselves.  The class is very independent--they develop their own projects to complete throughout the year that will benefit their portfolios.  I can definitely see VTS benefitting this class.  Most of these kids have a pretty large art vocabulary already, but I think it will help the students to better develop their own ideas about artwork and form opinions on them based on visual evidence.  I'm really excited for this class and can't wait to see what kind of beautiful things emerge.