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.
This is very exciting, Sadara! Teaching is so much about relationships and learning, so much about feeling safe and accepted as you go about the process. As you can imagine, I smiled when I read that your kids missed VTS when you didn't do it. There's a theory that library science uses a lot - the principle of least effort. It maintains that organisms, including humans, will prefer the path of least resistance or effort. It takes a lot of mental effort to "noodle" through the meaning of a complex visual text, yet students generally love the challenge and want more complex texts as their experience increases. This flies in the face of the theory. Your students seem to be supporting this contradiction!
ReplyDeleteYou are right to recognize that emotional state of a student will impact assessments. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the mandatory state tests were that sensitive and empathetic!
Looking forward to looking at your data and analyses! Good job!