"Eye of the Beholder"
Housen discuses her theory and research within this article. She explains the five stages of viewers along with the classroom teachers responsibilities. "The role of the teacher is to pose these open-ended questions, encourage the group member to think out loud, encourage every participant to speak and allow repeated opportunity to share what is seen" (pg. 15). This statement applies to a VTS discussion but I also believe teachers should use this strategy throughout the day. Students need to learn to think by themselves and self discover. We are continually feeding them information not requiring them to discover information on their own. I had this conversation with our 7-12 science teacher. She was extremely frustrated with a group of students because they weren't willing to take risks and were scared of 'messing up' during an experiment. We need to provide our students with more opportunity to experiment and discover things on their own when the teacher just acts as a facilitator. Housen states "Students keep silent to avoid being evaluated; they want to avoid making mistakes and looking foolish" (pg. 16). Again we need to make them feel confident when beginning something new by providing them the tools they need to use in these situations.
Teaching Meaning in Artmaking
Chapter 4 and 5
The text gives five possible categories for artmaking problems: 1) transformation 2) concealment 3) disruption 4) illogical combination and 5) opposition. As I was reading through these I found transformation interesting. I thought to myself "Aren't the students continually transforming their art and ideas as they work on a project?" Walker states, "Transformation alters reality, endowing it with new perspectives that can motivate artist and viewers to question what is normally taken for granted" (pg. 53). I think this is happening frequently in visual culture today. An individual has to have new ideas and views to be able to 'make it' in the market. The same old stuff won't cut it in today's society.
Setting boundaries is one of the tough jobs of an art teacher in my opinion. I don't want to limit my students so much that they don't have any choices to make but I also set requirements and boundaries to help guide them and "provide a framework to enable them to make such decisions" (pg. 92). Walker suggests only giving students "two or three purposeful requirements for a project" (pg. 92). I have a problem with putting such a number on it. I feel that some projects may more than just two or three. One example I am thinking of is a bookmaking project my 8th grade students do. They have to make a book (1), it must have a spine and be bound (2 and 3), it also have media requirements....I don't want them to do the same thing over and over. If it is a large complicated project that has many steps so I feel this number needs to be flexible.
That wicked and awful "one right answer"! How many wonderful discoveries are silenced in the classroom and how many discussions stay on the straight and narrow because of it? How wonderful that your science teacher recognizes that students are afraid of risks! Acknowledging there is a problem is the first step in fixing it. We need to get VTS into her/his classroom, too!
ReplyDeleteWalker's suggestions are good, but just one way to "skin a cat" and I think that as long as there is also flexibility within the "media requirements" you still keep the project open for exploration, risk-taking, and discovery.
Great reflections!
I found both of these readings powerful and it sounds like you did too. I have had a hard explaining what exactly VTS is to other teachers without it sounding watered down and simplistic. I also have kids that are afraid to take risks and I have been working on this with VTS. Mary gave a great idea last fall to state to students: I see on your faces that some of you have some really great ideas to share. I have used this with my group and it has worked.
ReplyDeleteI struggle with setting these boundaries and framework to keep students successful and giving them full choice to explore their ideas. I have really gone back and forth with this as one of my colleagues has adopted a Choice-Based/ T.A.B. classroom.