Blog Topic #4 Reflections

Blog Topic #4 (week 5)

Thus far, I’ve enjoyed the VTS process with my students because they are always eager to jump in and explore the imagery. The quieter ones are also willing to share when prompted and offer their own insights.  I attribute this enthusiastic response partly to our long relationship,  I have known these kids for up to eight years and we all have a very solid and trusting relationship.  This more or less by-passes the initial hesitation many students might other wise have. 

*A note of interest, students were much more aware of artistic choices regarding color, expressive use of line etc, the artist may have made, when I VTS’d a less realistic piece over the realistic pieces...  That influenced the attention they put on technique or expressive qualities of the piece.

My students noticed all sorts of things about the art work. Often they would initially list things they saw then then offer an interpretation after wards. My students used mostly conditional language, “It might be” was stated often, or ”  it looks like maybe”...  That said, several made huge leaps to possibilities not based on anything they saw. For instance, because the central character appeared upset, (From “The Scream”) one student decided it was because he had lost his shoes.  When asked what she saw to make her say this, she said “thats how’d Id look if I lost my shoes.”  As the discussion evolved, there were revisions in thinking by some of the students as they listened to the interpretations and observations of other students. Sometimes these revisions included the idea, sometimes it seemed the idea sparked a new idea.

      Students shared openly through out the class.  More often than not, there was little interaction between each other, comments were more directed towards me.  On occasion, one student would address another’s comment. I do believe they were listening to each other though as some comments contained, “I the area Tanner thinks might be water looks more like land to me” .  There were not any attempts on the students part for one student to be right and another wrong.  

      I believe students are learning several things throughout these exercises.  First of all, they are learning to really look deeper at something before coming to a conclusion. As they made statements and listened to others, they would offer a revision.  This indicated to me they are learning to hear others views and differing opinions and consider them and how they might influence their own ideas.  They are of course learning more about art pieces and choices artists make.  Thus far, most of the pieces we have used have been fun because my students are usually shown far more expressive examples from me that realistic ones.  So they are seeing art from another perspective as well. I know the process is exciting them because I’ve had a couple now ask where the “real” painting is, want to know more about the artist of the painting in general. 

The VTS lesson feels very natural, except that I usually use art examples when I am wanting to highlight a specific technique or an idea that leads into a specific project.  VTS, being a little more open ended feels somewhat undone.  Therefore, I am working on ways to tie this into process’s or projects.

         The prescribed questions worked fine, although there would be times I would have to catch myself from wanting to follow a thread on a tangent. I feel each time I VTS another piece I refine the questioning and stay closely to the prescribed questions.  I believe I have missed a few opportunities for linking.  Videotaping a lesson and then watching it was very useful in identifying that.  That process helped me see the bigger picture of what was occurring.  While I was engaged in the process it was hard for me to see the similarities in comments and make the connection for the students.  Hopefully I will hear that more clearly next time.

I think there are always surprises.  The rich back ground and inner worlds of these kids never ceases to amaze me.  Another example of this was when I VTS’d my video lesson, one boy, who is a history buff, correctly identified all sorts of very accurate information, the kissing of the sward, knowledge of civil war.  It was difficult for me to not say “You're correct!  That is exactly it!”  Im wondering if I could have? 

As I move forward, I will work on linking, and tying in with students own work. I want for students to be able to think about their own work and work of peers with the same intense consideration as that of a master artist.

Blog Topic #3 (group B)

Blog Topic #3

            To initiate an art project, I decided to pull out “The Scream”. We began with the print and then moved into the painting, VTS’ing each one. (With some compare and contrast thrown in at the very end) 

            Students show clear evidence of Stage two, “constructive”(and a few beyond) thinkers.  Yewanie points out students in this stage are able to think beyond themselves.  An awareness that some one created it (qualifying descriptors).  Responses  to the two images were less list oriented and far more descriptive.  Gesture, facial expressions, motion etc. were pointed out.  Awareness of distance and the entire setting as a whole was observed.  I had a sixth grader make the statement, “It looks like the whole print is moaning.”  When asked what she saw that made her say this she said “The artist repeats the shape of the open mouth over and over again with lines in the back ground.”  She and several others made also made statements on how color (when we looking at the second piece, the painting) really changed the mood. These statements inspired deeper looking on the less experienced viewers, thus broadening there aesthetic understanding, which, Housen points out, is one of the purposes of VTS.

            What I didn’t find in the exercise (and assuming I am thinking correctly that many of my students are with in the stage two range) was the tendency for stage two viewers to dismiss the work if it does not fit into their perceptions of the natural world. “The Scream” is not a realistic portrayal of people places or events.  Not one student seemed bothered or put off by this. In fact, they made comments in support of the artistic style.

            I find structured interaction between peer’s works really well with the multi- aged grouping.  Age, of course, is not a defining factor for what stage a student may be in.  I have some eighth graders with less art experience than sixth grader’s, how ever, there is a difference in maturity and willingness to take risks.  Often the older students will offer up thoughts and ideas with less hesitation about being “wrong”, so where they may offer something less sophisticated they spur the confidences of a viewer with more awareness but less confidence.  So when looking at a group dynamic, it’s as much about someone with greater knowledge, as someone with the confidence to voice an idea in front of peers.  This is especially true at the middle school level when things that can feel risky.

            A note on listening.  I have two sixth graders, interestingly enough both very much into art, who rarely offer insight with out solicitation., they seem lost in thought and require attention to stay involved.  I find this curious as they are both very much into art and take a lot of art classes.  In fact, one of the girls’ mother is an art teacher yet she seems the least engaged.  Thoughts on that?

VTS Image 2

VTS Image 1

Blog Topic #2 (week 3)

"A Meeting, 1884" Marie Bashkirtseff

     I began this assignment imagining I would follow the progress of two different groups.  After completing the Pre-test for each, Ive decided to work with my middle school kids simply because the class size is more manageable.  My 3-5 class has 22 students where my 6-8 has 12.
      The class consists of students grades 6-8.  All the students have had me as their art teacher since third grade and are used to talking and writing about art.
      After giving them a little back ground about what I was up too with my own class, they were excited to participate and begin the assessment. Word counts ranged from 40-150. Most of them used conditional language and made assertions with evidence.  Students are accustomed to backing up statements with evidence in classes so all of them explained why they thought  what they did.
      I found it interesting though, that some were very concretely in Stage one, while others narratives regarding the work were more Stage three boarding on four.   One my students became enthralled with the mood of the piece and on paper followed a train of thought as possibilities unfolded.  They noticed first literal things, such as facial expression and body language, details of the setting and what that might mean, but then they would comment on the lack of clarity in a line or brush stroke and wonder if that also contributed to the concern one of the boys in the painting was perhaps feeling.
     I have several students in this class with IEP's.  I was also interested in their responses, they were both concretely stage one. One boy looking at it and simply making up a story based on his own interests and knowledge.  The other was the only one to notice the girl walking away in the background of the composition.  (which I thought was interesting in and of itself) Again, she is often a loner and that was where her attention was focused.
    As soon as they all finished they of course wanted to talk about it with each other  and compare answers.  The excitement was palpable!  I was not certain if it was ok to discuss it with the kids, but I did.  We went through the VTS questions and talked about the painting for a full 25 minutes.  The students were excited and would jump up and point to the sections they were speaking of, describing what they saw and why they thought what they thought.  I only had to prompt them at the start, they caught on quickly and when making assertions would explain what they saw to make them think this.
     Im excited to have them create some narrative works of their own and then have them VTS each others work.  I love that it will give them a deepened awareness that the world is seen through many different eyes with infinite possibilities for subtle differences.

   
      

VTS Practice Lesson 9/1/11

"Michael and James"
by Stephen Assael

  I am doing this lesson a week ahead of the assigned time because once the students arrive there will be no time to run this lesson with my peers. :)
   I am actually planning on doing VTS with an elementary group and a middle school group (using different images of course for each).  I decided however, to use the secondary image with my peers because I felt it was powerful and subtle, forcing them to really look deeply.  I am pleased with how it went.
     Question 1: Did your colleagues notice what you noticed about the painting?


    I was astounded at the amount of information which was seen and shared in this exercise.  The collective energy of even this small group was consuming, and I noticed, like Ive read in other blogs, it was hard for me to stay on the outside. I did though.  My colleagues noticed most of the things I did, and as the discussion evolved, noticed even more.  I found that as they noticed things and talked about what they thought was hapening, (what did you see to make you think that?) the interpretation would spurn further visual investigation to confirm or alter the initial interpretation.  Although my process was similair, the evolution of idea progressed much more rapidly as thoughts were woven into deeper meaning.

Question 2: Did they notice details or offer insights you had not considered?  How did you respond to these?


    My colleagues offered many insights similair to my intial insights,  as the discussion evolved, subtle differences emerged among a common theme.  One person would offer an insight and another would consider and then build off that, each insight inspring the next. (Imagine a lego house being constructed, each insight and thought a brick, locking into another, building off of each other and supporting a larger structure, or in this case, idea)
     Because I know these people well (we have all been working together for over ten years)  I began to notice how personal experience directly influenced their interpretation of what was happening in the painting.  For example, one of the women in the room in the past, lost a child.  The particular image depicts a child seemingly unwell. Her very first response was the child was dead, before even investigating the rest of the painting.  I noticed many statements which were as connected to personal experience as what was literally seen. Eric Jensen mentions this in his book. I too have spent a lot of time investigating perception as a combination of what is seen combined with experience.  I wanted to discuss this but was not certain it was protcol?  So I refrained and just guided them back to the painting.

Question 3: How did you feel about facilitating this discussion and what did you learn from the experience?


     Oddly enough, I was a little nervous, perhaps because I was following a structured lesson format as opposed to my intuitive way of teaching. I relaxed quickly though as the image was introduced and my peers jumped eagerly into investigating the image.  I learned that I imbue much of this sort of thinking already into my teaching. There has been a lot of positive affirmation for me in my reading and practice thus far.

Question 4: Were you surprised by anything related to this discussion?


     The aspect of the discussion I found most curious was the way personality and experience defined responses. Having done this discussion with adults, I found only some of them were curious beyond the first perception and willing to immediately consider the origins of why they thought something and thus consider something beyond.  However, as the discussion progressed, the curiosity of others was impetus enough for the more "fixed" thinkers to imagine (and look) beyond initial responses.  I am curious to know if this more fixed thinking is more present among adults, and what, if any, differences there will be in working with the elementary and the middle school aged student.
    In all, the excitement of looking at a piece of art (they were all non art teachers) seemed to really inspire them and they'll left the room wanting to know more about the painting.

Question 5: What would you like to work on in your next facilitation and how might you do that?


     Well, to start, I invite feedback in regards to how far beyond the three basic questions I should/can go? I anticipate that my middle school students will be well versed in this kind of exercise and will want to follow threads of conversation that arise from the initial questions. I want to allow them to follow those threads if they arise and then find a way to weave them into the tapestry of discussion surrounding the art work itself.  So I am wondering, as a facilitator, what my own role should be as a guide...Should I allow the exploration and then weave it back into the discussion with questions I deem appropriate for the task?  This is my impulse.
     I will also need to remember to slow the conversation down, the excitement was such that it was difficult to get them to slow down enough to rephrase etc...  I except my students will be a little more responsive than the adults to this....  :)

     Feedback from the lesson was positive.  They all asked to be included in any other exercise I might need them to do.  Having  a few moments to sit and investigate a piece of art was refreshing and inspiring.
   

Woodland School

     Woodland School is located just outside Traverse City, MI on 240 acres of woods.  It is an amazing school where students love learning and understand HOW TO learn and assimilate knowledge into useful life skills.  The arts are imbued through out.

Winter, looking down at the main building from a classroom on the hill.

This tile mosiac was created by students grades 3-8 as a class one trimester.

      My own classroom extends well beyond the art room walls, although I have the best room ever!
In addition to teaching art, I teach Literature, and team teach many classes which combine subjects such as  art, science, history and english, seamlessly. 
     Art (as most classes other than the core curriculum of Math and Language Arts) is an elective.  Students in grades 3-5 (multi-age) may choose up to two art classes each trimester.  Students in grades 6-8 may choose up to three classes each trimester.  I make sure to offer many different experiences so students are exposed to many process's and materials and artists.  Art is deeply woven into language arts classes as well as science.  There is also a very strong performing arts program at Woodland.  This includes, choir, theater and band.

     Art in the 6-8 grades is often quite advanced.  Although I teach to the needs of each student, by the time they reach the middle grades, they have had many foundation art experiences which have given them the skills to develop more complex art pieces.  I set the bar high and they have no problem leaping right over it.  The charcoal drawings here are done by 6th through 8th graders. They were drawn from a still life.  Emphasis on composition, and technique were stressed.

These journals are works in progress and responses to literature.  I have the older students work in journal format when responding to questions about reading. Responses range from sophisticated imagery to simple representations. Students who spend two years in this particular class love to go back and review their progress.  The evolution in their thought and expression is evident, becoming more confident and exploratory in nature as they mature.

Each of these large portraits is 5 x 5. This one is created by a 7th grader.

(My daughters) Sage, 8th grade

8th Grade

     This large portrait project challenged students to work with proportion, often creating their own formula to scale up a photograph. Each square became its own smaller composition with in the whole. Various techniques and media were explored , while emphasizing deeper personal ideas and visions about who they are and what matters to them.  This was an ambitious project and took an entire trimester.
     When students are working on a project, I often work along side them as a fellow artist, we all give feedback to each other.
     This is a VERY BRIEF overview of some of the things I do at Woodland.