My school is located on a large army post; students are 99% military dependents. It is a culturally diverse, transient population,with a large number of students qualifying for the free and reduced lunch program. My VTS focus group is a class of fourteen third graders.
Pre-VTS Assessment
The amount that my students wrote varied from a seven to forty eight words. All students noted that ice skating was taking place; several mentioned that there was snow on the ground, or that it was winter. Most mentioned that some people had fallen, and that the people were having fun.
Housen describes Stage 1 viewers as wanting to find a story in works of art, saying that personal narrative is created from viewers using their 'senses, memories, and personal associations '. (VTS Manual p 15) This was clearly evidenced in the writings of my students. They were familiar with the concept of both falling down and almost falling down. I’m not certain how many of these children had ever actually ice skated, but they definitely identified with the emotion of the piece. Specific quotes included: “They are having fun”, “This painting is about people skating with happynes”, “people are skating and they are happy.”and, my personal favorite,“…having fun and celebrating the time of winter.” Who can't identify with a celebration?
I was a little disappointed in the quality of writing I received, but kept reminding myself that they are just beginning the third grade and that they have also just returned to school after summer vacation. The child who wrote the most (48 words) pretty much just repeated herself several times. I delighted in this observation….”They’re skating on ice. Because there on ice and they have skates on.” (Way to go Jeffrey!)
I'm very much looking forward to conducting the first lesson next week!
No comments:
Post a Comment