Read and Reflect #10

Read and Reflect # 10

            When a student does not feel he has adequate knowledge or ability to express a “felt” or intuited” idea, frustration or with draw occurs.  It is not due to a lack of intelligence, but a lack of comfortable skills to express these “Higher order mental skills.”

            VTS is an excellent example of equipping a student with a tool to tackle higher order mental skills.  VTS helps support the development of independent thinking  by validating ideas of each student, there fore a student might be less intimidated to offer suggestions or observations.

            In reading the behavioral patterns which point to deficits of higher-order mental functions, almost all of them could be turned around through the lense of vts.  Again, I return to it as a seed for so many additional benefits to the classroom…

            A phrase that also stuck out for me “Teaching for Thinking” ISNT THAT WHAT WERE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING?????

            The thinking operations offered by Rath are fabulous.  They seem obvious but as we all know, we get into routines and such and like Wasserman stated, sometimes we think were doing things were not really doing…

             So, in looking at them, I selected the ones I felt had the most connection to VTS based on my own observations of my students experiences and my own.

 Comparing; One way Comparing I believe happens in VTS when listening happens, students listen and consider and compare with their ideas and thinking and respond.

Interpreting: This happens in looking at artwork no matter what, it’s the level and depth of interpretation that VTS serves so beautifully.

Observing: Again, a given, but through VTS students are invited to observe not only beyond their first impression but also through the eyes and experiences of others.

Summarizing: This happens as a result of interpretation and observing when looking at art.  Students have to extract meaning and summarize something big into the small world of words. (Disclaimer… words are not small… its that “A picture is worth a thousand words” thing….)

Classifying…  less clear on this, I suppose it happens on subtle levels when students classify experiences through linking to create meaning, but I do not believe they are aware of it and as a facilitator, it would be a lot to keep an awareness of….

Suggesting Hypotheses: I think this is happing because: Students suggest things all the time, they see a frown and make suggestions (often based on some personal experience) then VTS asks them to back up that hypotheses by explaining what they see that makes them say that.

Imagining and creating: This should be all teaching/learning. 

Criticizing and evaluating: Again, I believe VTS serves this operation, especially once a student has some experience under his belt.   The beauty in VTS is that it allows for scaffolding for a lifetime… these skills are acquired honed and developed along the way.

Designing projects and investigations: Simply learning to investigate and be clear paves the way for such things.  I have students who often ask me if the can do one thing or another, but when I ask them why, if they cannot sit and have an intelligent dialogue with me about their motivation and interest etc, then we start there.  Designing a project is as much of the project as the project itself.  VTS made a difference for many of my students in this way because rather that asking “what do you see that makes you say this” I ask them to keep asking “why” over and over and over until they get to the meat of the idea.  Why is it important?  What have you experienced that makes you say that? Etc Its rather a bit like or big idea unit.

Identifying assumptions; VTS is so GREAT for this.  When students learn there are a million ways to see and experience the world, they get underneath the ideas they think defines them and start to open to possibility.

Applying new principles in new situations:  I believe VTS gives students confidence to play out thoughts and ideas. The group dynamic created in VTS creates a safe environment for this.

Gathering and organizing data: As humans, are we not constantly doing this anyway? As artists, even more so, VTS gives an organized yet open structure to explore data, re-arrange it and then rearrange it again, in a safe group environment.

Coding to become aware of certain patterns of thinking…. HMMM Not entirely sure what is meant by coding.  I do believe patterns of thinking emerge in VTS and that’s where linking occurs.

HA! I love how the curriculum model mirrors so much of VTS.  It does make me wonder a little that if humans just by how we’re wired, really require this somewhat linear model of stages. It’s like human development.  It seems to emerge in varying forms in most places (until you dive deep into physics and origins of the universe and such)… everything is an evolution of thought and energy and expression. Where education seems to exceed the norm is when judgment is not restricting experience or capabilities of the student.   KNOWING-UNDERSTANDING-KNOWING HOW, is beautifully open to learners at all levels, allowing for possibility to unfold depending on the readiness of the learner.  Further more, this structure works very well in a multiage classroom.  Any classroom will already have learners at different stages, but when you have a multiage, then a dynamic develops between students which accelerates the first stages for the younger’s (due to help, guidance, inspiration of olders) and in that guidance from olders, comes a mastery of the “knowing how