Introduction to story – watched video Tom Benton’s Missouri, VTSesqued aspects of the story.
VTSed a variety of images from different time periods, medias, and cultures including : Las Posadas 2000 Carmen Lomas Garza
Running for shelter during the air raids. Bilbao, Spain, 1937. Robert Capa
Louis Lang (1814–1893), Return of the 69th (Irish) Regiment, N.Y.S.M. from the Seat of War, 1862-1863. Oil on canvas. New-York Historical Society
Detail from Column of Trajan
Students compared and contrasted Spring on the Missouri, Thomas Hart Benton, 1945 and Moving Day, Norman Rockwell, 1967
My students are familiar with VTS. They substantiate their responses without prompting. They are using more and more conditional language. Most students participate on a regular basis. Hands are still shooting up after I’ve said that I’m taking the last response. I am comfortable with paraphrasing and have become adept at using variations of the VTS questions.
How Might VTS support “Studio Habits of Mind”?
Winner says “Studying the arts is serious; studying the arts require visual thinking.” VTS is Visual Thinking! Maybe I’m stretching here, but I believe the open-ended format of VTS supports nearly all of the Studio Habits of mind.
The Soep article inspired my plan to conduct small group peer critiques on the rough drafts for their story tiles. As I have offered formative assessment this week students have expressed frustration. It was as though my suggestions to include specific details relevant to their personal story were falling on deaf ears. “What? I don’t know what you mean? I don’t know how to show that! I can’t use stick people?!” I was seriously wondering if I had selected the wrong project for this unit. Initially I had planned to have students pair-up with tablemates for the critiques. However, sitting closely, I believe they are already familiar with one another’s stories and I believe this could affect them being honest with one another. I’m working on a plan to group them randomly and am anxious to see how this experience turns out.
Hi! I loved reading the habits of mind. I was going to list each one and write about them through a VTS lens, but as I read them I realized they all fit and they are all inter-related and I would have written for ever. Im verbose enough as it is.... I so wish I were in the same place as everyone else in my unit so I could offer more in the way of my experiences.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of peer crit, I think you're right on with not having students at the same table respond to each other. When ever I do a peer exchange, I collect them all and redistribute far away from the persons table. I also consider who get who's, as I have multiage and I don't want to give something too complex to one of the littles, so I make sure they get someones that they can not only learn something from, but offer something too. I am fortunate in that I know all my students very well so its easy for me.
I don't know if its relevant to how your doing your peer crit, but I also demo for them, in other words, if I have a response sheet they have to fill out first for thoughts on feedback, I will do one as I look at a piece and ask them to crit my crit...... "Is this useful"? "Am I being clear?" "How else can I make a suggestion to support this artists growth?" etc. Is actually fun and breaks the ice if they kids are new to it. The ones who are not love to take the lead and demo for the others. Have fun with it!
Your replies are always so insightful,your classroom experience is valuable no matter that you're in a different place unit-wise. Thanks for the peer critique suggestions, great advice!
DeleteHave you read the book Studio Thinking - The Real Benefits of Visual Ats Education? Winner is one of it's four authors. I had to have it for a class last year, but after this weeks reading assignment I think I'll reread it,with VTS in mind.
I think 'Verbose' could be my middle name! My friends claim that I am overly detail oriented! Though I can see the value in condensing something, I find all of those details contribute to the juicy goodness of the whole, whatever it may be! ;-)
I had VTS lesson as a peer critique last week and I realized that students and I were a little bit confused because we were not familiar with VTS with students’ works. I think students’ artworks are frequently more abstract and ambiguous to understand and interpret than artists’ artworks. I don’t know either that the project is appropriate to have VTS discussion as a peer critique. (They made magazine collages.) Besides, I still don’t know well how much I could modify VTS for a peer critique.
DeleteHaving students sit around the table, I had VTS discussion with each student’s work. One thing different is that after a short VTS discussion for each work, I provided a chance for each creator to explain intentions and add ideas about peer’s interpretations. Students seemed to enjoy the process and, I personally think, they could have a better understanding about the work. However, since VTS follows open-ended discussion, I am not sure this is really appropriate. How do you think about that? I want to get some advice from the professional art teacher like you.