Assessing Student Engagement and Learning
- Describe Student willingness to participate in the discussion.
- Many of my students were eager to participate and share their opinions about the works of art we viewed. This class of twelve students, of which three are new to this school. Everyone shared at least once during the session, some more than others.
- What did student notice about the feature artwork?
- The first image we viewed they discussed the woman/girl laying in the bed at great lengths. They went from her being a small girl who is sick to being a mother of the young boy at the end of the bed. All the interpretations had the three figures in the image as family of some type. They also discussed the variety of medicine and would explain that it was medicine because of the type of bottles and the girl looking sick.
- Describe student interactions during the discussion.
- Some of the students were having small side discussions (mostly about the artwork I believe) so I would encourage them to raise their hand and share with the class. We also discussed listening to their peers because they may see something different. The group meaning-making seemed to progress and the students would work off of their peers comments.
- How did the discussion conclude?
- I would bring the discussion to a conclusion by asking if there were any more comments about the piece. There is always the student who has five more things to say so by the time he/she finished it would be time to move on to the next activity.
- What do you think students learned from this discussion?
- I think the students learned to look closely at the details and take everyones opinion into consideration when developing their own ideas about the piece. As we were having our discussion the students seemed to be listening to one another and I could see 'light bulbs going off'. They were getting excited and really wanted to share what they saw in the piece.
- How did the VTS discussion feel and what did you learn by facilitation this lesson with your students?
- The discussion felt very comfortable. The students seemed to enjoy the discussion as I did and wish I could jump in and give them my opinions too. However as I practice the VTS facilitating process I restrained myself from giving my opinions. I learned that many of the students are able to look at the piece and pick out details and create a narrative about the artwork. The class discussion was much more meaningful and thoughtful than the written pre-assessment was the previous week.
- Where you able to use the questions and prescribed teacher behaviors comfortable? If you omitted or changed the questions or behaviors, what impact did it have on the discussion? Why do you think that occurred?
- I believe I used the questions and behaviors comfortably. I tried very hard to not change the meaning of the questions, however it was have to say "What more can we find" instead of "What else to you see" I don't think I ever said the later, however I may have done it unintentionally.
- Were there any surprises?
- I was initially surprised with the quality of the discussion compared to the written pre-assessments I received from this class. After we got into the discussion the variety of responses and the students felt comfortable agreeing and disagreeing with their peers.
- How might this initial experience impact your practice moving forward?
- I definitely need to work on my linking between students. I've been working first on the paraphrasing each students response and asking the correct questions.
- What do you want to work on as you plan for future VTS lessons? How do you think you can accomplish that?
- As I said previously mentioned I will definitely work on linking my students comments to one another.
Twelve students! How AWESOME is that? I'm sure you are the envy of every classmate that will read your blogs!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like the listening to peers and considering other possibilities were strengths with this goup. How exciting and I am so impressed that they wanted to continue with the second image! Your faciitation clearly made the process comfortable and fun for them. They sound like very motivated learners, but your are clearly bringing it out of them as well.
I understand your surprise, too, at the discussion quality after their "short and sweet" pre-assessments. Doesn't it make you doubt the reliability of written assessments for demonstrating what students know and can do? As Eisner said, "The limits of our cognition are not defined by the limits of our language." Your VTS experience has just proved his point!
Way to go! Can't wait to read your next blog! This is the next best thing to being there to watch!
My students were also comfortable agreeing and disagreeing with their peers. For the first ten minutes of VTS there were two distinct narratives developing about the image. Each successive student seemed compelled to start out saying the name of who they agreed with, "I agree with Joe because..." or "I agree with Sam because..." I began to wonder if peer popularity was coming into play.
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting observation, Sheryl. We might all begin to watch for this kind of pattern. I've seen VTS pull socially unpopular kids into the group as others begin to regard them as commrades with valid observations to contribute. Wouldn't it be wonderful (and fascinating) if VTS began to make the unpopular kids popular?
ReplyDeleteWhen we met as a group, Mary highlighted that there are two parallel tasks going on in the facilitator's brain - comprehension and summarizing/linking. Once there is a group of students in front of you a third role pops up - classroom management! I have noticed my students behave a lot better when engaged in VTS. Have you noticed any difference in your students' behaviors?
ReplyDeleteI have such small groups that I am lucky not to have to deal to much with classroom management on a daily basis. The largest group I have k-12 is 13. However, I would say that having the students engaged in the activity would allow for little time to act up if they are listening to the peers an observing what is being explained.
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