VTS II - Week 10

The two images I selected for my students to compare were Spring on the Missouri, Thomas Hart Benton, 1945 and Moving Day, Norman Rockwell, 1967. I projected the two images onto my SmartBoard exactly as they are posted here. At first I did not ask students to compare and contrast, I wanted to see what they would do when confronted with two images. There was much murmuring, oohing and aahing when the projector first came on. I gave my normal introduction and then asked "What do you see happening in these two images?" Most students responded to one image or the other, two students made a comparison, and then the class reverted back to one image or the other. Finally, toward the end of our session I asked them to compare and contrast what they saw happening.

Using side-by-side viewing, or in my case top-to-bottom viewing, I felt that students did not have the time to delve as deeply for meaning. When I specifically asked students to compare / contrast though the conversation started to become really juicy. I wish I had asked them to do so earlier in the discussion.

When comparing / contrasting every student either inventoried, or substantiated their observation without prompting. They noticed:

• a good situation vs. a bad one
• rural setting vs. urban setting
• one scene depicts a departure, the other, an arrival
• one scene is lighter, the other is darker
• bad weather vs. good
• the possibility that perhaps slaves were escaping, the other scene portrays racial equality
• difference in the time periods
• the Benton image having two horses - one white and one brown, and the Rockwell image depicting two African American children and three Caucasian children.

I would use this technique again. While students didn't delve as deeply, I felt that the comparison allowed them to make some powerful observations that might have escaped notice otherwise. I believe that the success of a compare / contrast VTS session would depend on image selection.

My students seemed to focus more on the Benton than the Rockwell. I'm not sure if this was due to the image itself or the placement. Next time I would like to display my images side-by-side to see if positioning makes a difference.