Week 11,
Read and reflect
& Blog
Had a lot of thoughts beyond just my own unit...... So bear with me.
The first page of the Arnhiem article intrigued me to no end. Arnhiems assertions regarding balance are fascinating.... And I immediately wondered how our knowledge of gravity and our human orientation of up and down/vertical, biologically influences our perception of visual balance with out visual having as much to do with it.... Does our physical orientation to the planet influence our perception? I suspect YES
It was also interesting to me the way subjects are so separate. For example, all the study of whether or not the arts improves literacy. The studies suggest that it is not the arts that improve it but the additional time. I would argue though, if students were taught to read art through at VTS lens, which could then extend into broader topics and areas of learning, that the arts could very much enhance all student leaning and success, not just the nebulous test score.
It was stated that the weakness in the studies was that researchers failed to document the kinds of thinking skills learned in the art classes.... How can it be research then?
OMG, what if we got a group of non art educators, and VTS’d a photograph of an art room full of working students, and asked them, what do you see in this picture???? ARGHH!!! Would love to be a fly on that wall, I wonder what would bubble up to the surface? The things Arnheim states(Visual Thinking, 1969)” The arts are neglected because they are based on perception, and perception is disdained because it is not assumed to involve thought” (pg 3)... Imagine the process that might unfold, and the potential shift in the perception of the arts, that might occur through this process......
Arnhiems contention that visual literacy can not be developed well if its only taught in an art studio, I agree with. It would be like asking students to speak one language in one class and another in math and so one. Or like only using one sense in each class... We will see in art, smell in science, hear in history etc... Nothing connects, nothing serves the greater whole.... Visual literacy is not just about “seeing” as the habits of mind illustrate. It is about being, interacting, responding to etc...
OK, so thoughts, on how the habits of mind in regards to my anticipated a studio activities will impact my unit:
Each habit is beautifully described and I would agree fundamentally important. Each habit is also related to the others. They connect, like puzzle pieces, there for it is important that opportunities to employ them be woven into all my units/experiences.
In using the VTS process, students will enhance all these skills right from the beginning. I went to try and list them but they all fit one way or another into VTS. Exactly how they will happen, (beyond VTS) will be decided as dialogue emerges between the students and myself.
In regards to Soep’s article, I believe critique happens internally (automatically) with artists that practice good habits of mind. I also believe that good critique is dialogical in nature. With in all of that, critique happens in evolving stages of complexity, if we were to compare it with the stages in week 10’s reading, knowing is one level, understanding takes it deeper and knowing how evolves it even further. It allows for varying levels of critique.
“There is little room for critique by students in settings where adults are solely responsible for teaching, where the goal of any given assignment is to find the correct answer, where apparently chaotic moments of the student interaction signal cause for alarm, or where young people get in trouble for passing judgement on peers work” (page 40) This is the antithesis of VTS. VTS naturally supports critique. I routinely have peers critique peers work, both in the art room and my literature classes. Of course, it requires that element of letting go as the teacher....
Because learning is a “process” critique can easily be woven into that process, not as something separate, but just as another interaction or dialogue, especially in when considering the habits of mind. It all becomes a huge web, where all things are related and one thing affects another in the learning/creating process.
What if the school were a community..... And therefore a community based learning environment???.... A place, like Soep states, pushes them “to the edge of their own capacities”
By the time we get into my unit enough to use VTS as a vehicle for critique, I feel fairly confident that my students will be able to share feedback with one another and offer insight and suggestion.
It is interesting the way that subjects in school are so separate. Makes me wonder exactly why and how it evolved to be that way? Recently while introducing a unit on communication I had a sixth grader complain,"This is art class, why do we have to do this in here? We come to art class to MAKE stuff, not learn things." GRRRRR the art teacher hackles were rising. (This student is new to my building.) Thankfully another boy jumped in and defended me by saying, "Art is a part of Language Arts, GET IT dude?!!" This gave me the opportunity to repeat that visual images communicate powerful messages, just as written and spoken language do.
ReplyDeleteThe library media specialist and I are collaborating on a blended literacy curriculum we plan to implement at the fourth grade level next year. VTS is going to play a big role in what we do. I'm excited that I'll have the opportunity to witness firsthand and document how VTS skills carry over into other areas of learning.
LOLOL! I get that every once and awhile with my youngers (3 rd or 4th who are new to me) They find out quickly nothing is off limits in my classes, math, science, history, writing, research, its all there. The same is try for my LIT classes and everything else Im involved in.
ReplyDeleteI love what you're going to do with the Media specialist! Its exactly what meant when I was babbling on in my blog! I hope Ill get to hear more about this as you progress. If I had three more hours in my day I'd consider doing it too!
Its too bad we are not closer!
It IS too bad that we are not closer, because I could learn SOOOOOO much from you! My boss has given me permission to visit Columbia and observe the Boy Writer's Club at Ridgeway Elementary where VTS is an important part of their curriculum. Wonder if he'd let me visit Michigan? ;-)
DeleteI am both excited and nervous about the plans for next year. My Media specialist buddy and I are predicting that it's going to be amazing. Now we're gonna have to prove it!