Today a second year art teacher observed my afternoon classes. Wanting to share VTS, I divided my sixth grade class into two groups of 14. One group worked independently while I used Image #2 with the other half of the class. Most students enjoy the experience, but for the past two times I've had a couple of boys who delight in making up outlandish observations for the entertainment of their peers. Last week I reminded them that all participants should be respectful and that I didn't appreciate their shenanigans. Today I had to warn them again, and then ignored their hands as they attempted to participate further.
Have any of you had this situation? How did you deal with it?
Not yet (knock on wood), but I've not officially fascillatated a VTS discussion with my students...
ReplyDeleteWhat kinds of things are they saying? Let me see if I can suggest some neutralizing statements.
ReplyDeleteThe way I deal with comments designed to derail the discussion is to keep my composure and neutralize them; replace the silly or offensive words with serious words. If they see they can't get a rise out of you, it's usually no fun anymore. For example, I was VTSing St. George & the Dragon w/ 5th grade. A boy that I called on said something like, "That dude looks like he had a sex change." Of course there were gigles, but I ignored them and remained intent on the student who had made the statement, taking it seriously just like any other comment. I responded, "It sounds to me like you are unsure of the gender of the person on the horse; you might be questioning if the person is male or female. What do you see that suggests to you that the person on the horse might not be male?" I think he was surprised that I didn't reprimand him. I recall that he stammered for a moment, then said something like, "He's got curly hair and a girly face." I paraphrased, "So his hairstyle and face suggest he might actually be female. What is it about his face? Is it rosy cheeks? The smoothness? The roundness?" When he finally spit out something about the face looking made up, I paraphrased it quickly with something like, "So his face looks feminine for that reason, good, what more can we find?" and then turned my attention to the group and called on another student who I knew would get the discussion back on track.
Sometimes, just a short paraphrase with NO EMOTION (as if you are taking their comment very seriously), omitting the second question and then immediately asking "What more can we find?" is enough. It limits their time "on stage" which defeats their purpose. Other times, digging into the statement, paraphrasing neutrally, and insisting that evidence be offered will do it. If they can't offer evidence, you might reply with something like,"Hmm. Really good thinkers notice things they can back up with evidence in the picture. Maybe you should watch your classmates for a while because they are really good at this. They'll show you how it's done. What more can we find?" and then call on another student. If you try this and it still continues, I would take the student aside after the discussion and explain very dramatically that students who don't know how to participate respectfully need to just watch and learn from their peers. If that doesn't help, he will just have to write about what he sees; maybe even during recess. Try HARD not to let them think they've got you flustered or upset....that is their aim.
Again, let me know what kind of things these boys are saying (they may be cohorts; you may need to split them up into different discussion groups, too) and I'll try to give you some ideas about how to handle it. I did VTS with some pretty tough cookies; kind of enjoyed the challenge and LOVED IT when they failed to get the response they wanted from me AND the class!
Don't give up! We'll figure it out!
Oh, one other thing. You might ask a colleague to be a secret time-out room for you. We did this from time to time in Blue Springs and it worked amazingly well. If a child was acting up, we'd say, "Johnny, I"m going to need my blue folder in a minute and I think I left it in Mrs. Smith's room. Could you go ask her for it?" (Have a hallpass ready.) The student goes to Mrs. Smith's room to ask for the "blue folder" which is actually a code word. Mrs. Smith tells the student, she'll need to look for it. Could he sit down and wait until she gets a chance to do that? Five minutes later, she tells Johnny she just can't find it; to go back to your class and tell you that perhaps you left it somewhere else. You've just bought yourself 5 minutes of recomposure time...and the student just lost 5 minutes of "on stage" time. =0)
ReplyDeleteI love the 'secret' time-out room suggestion!
ReplyDeleteI can't remember exactly what the first boy said, but, as you suggest, I remained neutral, asking him what he saw to make him say what he did. That seemed to take him by surprise, his face turned red,he thought for a moment and then stammered something lame. Then, boy number two, who happened to be sitting right next to the first boy, said that he thought the two golden triangles, which are very clearly teepees and had already been identified as such, were Egyptian symbols and that the scene was a combination Indian and Egyptian scene. He was snickering as he said this and glanced around seeing what response this would elicit from his peers. Again, I remained neutral, at least on the outside, and asked what made him say that. I moved on quickly, and did not call on either of them again, though their hands were thrust into the air and waving about wildly. There are 30 students in this room and even though I've had most of them before, a small group of them seem bent on seeing just how far they can push me. My administrator is sold on VTS, I'm certain I can enlist his help if it comes to that.