Student Engagement Learning
Describe student willingness to participate in the discussion. Are you witnessing change?
I feel that all of my students have been willing to participate. Some share more than others, but each student usually contributes at least once during the discussion.
What did students notice about the featured artwork? Are you seeing more careful observation and deeper noticing?
The image the class viewed was Family, Waiting Room, South Bronx. Most students seened to think they were at an airport and the child who is standing was coming to visit his cousin or he was his brother and was returning home. Most students believed the people were in some kind of public space because of the man in the background. Something the students did not discuss was that the image is a photograph not a painting or drawing. I thought this might come up in the conversation.
Are students expressing their observations conditionally as they gain experience looking at art?
I believe some of my students are using conditional language. I believe the more I paraphrase using conditional language the more they will use it when viewing artwork.
Are students demonstrating more flexible thinking?
I have noticed some flexible thinking. Some are stuck on the point they made and will not think about the piece in a different way, however I find some students listening to their peers and then agreeing with them.
Describe student interactions during the discussion. Are they linking their own responses? Are they respectful and democratic as they construct meaning?
I see some linking in the discussions. I hope to hear it more and more as we progress with VTS. The class participating has been very respectful of their classmates at all times during the process.
Were you able to vary the questions from time to time without altering the meaning?
I don't get very many opportunities to ask the questions because I always have hands up with students ready to contribute their ideas.
What do you think student learned from this discussion? What did you observe that makes you say that?
I think my students are learning to listen to others opinions about art and take those into consideration. I have observed some of my students 'changing' their mind and agreeing with some of the ideas they hear their classmates talk about.
Reflective Practice
How did the VTS discussion feel and what did you learn by facilitating the 4th lesson with you students?
Are the questions and prescribed teacher behaviors becoming more natural and comfortable? Have you tried to reword the questions without changing their intent/meaning? Did the change impact the discussion in any way?
Yes the process is becoming more natural. I have not reworded the questions too much up to this point.
Were there any surprises? How will these impact your practice moving forward?
I didn't have any surprises in this discussion. We did have to cut the discussion a bit short do to camera malfunctions and scheduling. However it was a good experience.
Planning
What did you want to work on as you plan for future VTS lesson?
I would like to work on rewording the questions without altering the meaning of them.
How do you think you can accomplish that?
Prepare a list of questions I could use instead of the given ones in the text.
It seems like you and your students enjoyed the VTS lesson. How many students did you work with? And were there some students who want to dominate the discussion? Wasn't the suggested time short to your class?
ReplyDeleteEven though I have worked with a small group composed of 5 students, I felt like the discussion time, 20~25 minutes was short since my students were very passionate and competitive.
I work with 8-10 students in this 5th grade class. Some of the students would go on and on and always come up with something to say. I feel that the quality of the discussion goes down if I continue to let the same people talk continuously. I do have a few that dominate the discussion, however they have to be called on to talk so I always give everyone a chance before I let them talk a second time. Most of the time 15-20 minutes is enough and I know the students are anxious to make art so we usually wrap up with 20-25 minutes left in class to allow time for art making.
ReplyDelete8-10 is a good number for VTS. I find I have to cut my discussions much shorter when I have large groups. Do you find the students come up with very different meanings that what you see in the images?
ReplyDelete