Week 12

Assessing, Reflecting, Planning

Assessing Engagement Learning:

Describe student willingness to participate in the discussion.  Has this changed over time?  If so, how?

 Students are becoming more confident in their observations. One of the first hands to shoot into the air for this lesson was that of Hunter, a student who is shy, and who rarely participates in any group discussion. Additionally, another student, one I called on last time, even though he did not raise his hand, was quick to volunteer this session.

What did students notice about the featured artwork?

Students noticed the three girls holding hands and wearing wooden shoes, the dog, the buildings, that the girls were playing some kind of a game, and that this was probably a scene from long ago.

Did students list or interpret their observations? Are they offering evidence to support their interpretations without prompting?

 Almost all students interpreted their observations and almost all supported their observations.

Describe student interactions during the discussion.  Are they linking their responses to those of others?  Are they disagreeing respectfully?  If so, how do liking & respectful disagreement impact the discussion? 

 I’m using VTS with all of my classes K-6, however, the students in my focus group more than any other group, almost always preface their observations saying  “ I agree with________ “ or “ I disagree with __________”. It’s funny, kind of an unspoken norm that this group has somehow instituted, all of their own accord. There are one or two students who are disrespectful, but I attribute it to impulsivity versus purposeful rudeness. This is a cohesive little group, they seem to enjoy the linking process, and no one seems offended by the occasional disrespect.

What did students learn from this discussion?

I think my students learned that play, companionship, and pets are universal experiences, crossing the boundaries of time and place. 

Reflective Practice:

How did the VTS discussion feel and what did you learn by facilitating this lesson with your students?

I’ve mentioned before, VTS feels very natural to me. I enjoy facilitating the discussion and am challenged, in a good way, by the paraphrasing. This lesson was particularly rewarding. I loved that two of my most reticent students were anxious to participate.

Were you able to use the questions and prescribed teacher behaviors comfortably? If you omitted or changed anything, what impact did it have on the discussion?  Why do you think that occurred?

This discussion was perfect. Not to brag, but I really felt that this was one of my best experiences in following the prescribed behaviors. Everything fell place just as is should have.

Were you able to scaffold vocabulary through paraphrasing?  How might you reinforce this learning? 

 I think I did a good job of scaffolding vocabulary. My students understand it as part of the process although this time when I paraphrased I had one student who, after I paraphrased, said,”No, I said…..” and restated his exact same observation. I said, “Oh yes”, and repeated my paraphrase. He argued and said no again, “I said…”. I replied, “Oh, I know, “I said…..”. It’s just another way of saying the same thing.” That satisfied him and we moved on.  I have observed that students occasionally incorporate my paraphrased vocabulary words into their subsequent observations. Gotta love that!

Were there any surprises?  How will these impact your practice moving forward?

No real surprises, as I continue to implement VTS with this group I have learned to predict the behaviors of my group. My little voracious reader boy will make profound and accurate observations, one student will always take a lot of time to point out something that really isn’t there. Another boy is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to religion. One girl studies the image so carefully and listens to others so intently that I can visualize the wheels turning in her brain – she enjoys contradicting observations made by everyone else. As I reflect, my heart can’t help but swell with love for these students! The VTS experience has allowed me to know them on a far deeper level than I usually do. (Seeing a total of 460+ students, all but two grades on a three-day rotation, most of the time I feel fortunate if I know their names!)

Planning for the future:

 What do you want to work on as you plan for future lessons?

 Due to assemblies, emergency drills, and various other school events, in order to squeeze this lesson in, for this week with my target group, I had conduct VTS without studying the image beforehand. Thankfully, the image was fairly straightforward, but I could feel a difference….I didn’t like that was viewing it for the first time right alongside students.

How do you think you can accomplish that?

I plan to photocopy the pages of VTS images and keep them on my nightstand. Even if it has been a crazy busy day, and what day is not, perhaps I can at least glance at them for a few moments before going to sleep :-)