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.
Very exciting that your students found this seemingly "ordinary" image so intriguing! That's evidence of a good fit! As I mentioned to Mike with regards to his "Teacher's Choice," simplicity often contributes the ambiguity that keep students looking and debating. And Hopper is a master at ambiguity, so hopefully this image will ignite the desire to research him and his work for your students. Congrats on a great choice!
ReplyDeleteSadara,
ReplyDeleteYou seemed very calm and comfortable in your own environment facilitating this discussion with your students. I was surprised at how long your students were willing to debate the time of day because of the light, a simple factor that got them thinking about artistic choices. Your students were very comfortable agreeing or disagreeing with each other and did so respectfully. There are a few students who kept commenting, noticing more details. For a moment in your video you comfortably ask if anyone else would speak other than the same students, saying not to be afraid. Another possibility is to say that you would like to hear from someone who hasn't talked yet today. It was nice to see that one student in particular was thinking as a stage two viewer noticing the artistic choice to have the pale skin of the woman right next to the dark shadow, making her the focal point. Also, I wouldn't worry about having to stop and talk to the student who was disrupting. He isn't in the class and you had to explain something special was going on and that he should be silent. No big deal, it had to be done! It was good that you apologized to the speaker for a moment to take a break to do that, then continued on like normal. I agree that this image was an appropriate choice for your class. It had concrete observable things for your students to make observations about, left ambiguity for plenty of agreeing/disagreeing, and still had opportunities for people to start considering artistic choices. Well done!