I have learned so much about VTS so far. I had many questions about VTS as I begin learning about it over the last couple years. The website has been a huge help with curriculum already prepared and advice. It has also been incredibly helpful to get to have a teacher who has been doing this for a while give real application advice and feedback. Our peer coaching and feedback has also been helpful and it's been great to hear about what VTS looks like at different grade levels.
I think I am feeling comfortable with these questions and the process. I feel calm when facilitating to the students. I think I am doing well with pointing and paraphrasing. I also feel like i've gotten into the groove of using conditional language and remaining neutral. It seems to be becoming second nature when I am with my students. My own peers might be another thing though.
Since my first VTS experience with my professional peers I have learned so much more about VTS. I feel more equipped then ever to talk about VTS to other people. I feel much more comfortable with the process and am now at a point that I can evaluate myself and change certain behaviors or add more specific directions to my guidelines. I am able to recognize how the students react to the questions if it is new to the class and after practice see a class that is more comfortable with the process answer the second question without being asked. I also might catch myself using the wrong phrase and correct myself immediately.
If there were any surprises i'd probably have to say that VTS is much more complex then it seems but easier then I thought to implement the process. Students have been responding really well to VTS. They do enjoy seeing the images, but then again today I had a boy say "do we have to do that again?" I just want to make art". Finding the balance of VTS and creating art knowing that VTS will take time away from creating art and if there will be any implications from that seems to be a bit of a challenge. I am surprised how helpful the website is.
I want to work on many things. I want to work on adding vocabulary when paraphrasing, liking responses, and responding to student comments and questions out of the ordinary. I also want to manage behavior better during the vts process. Unfortunately there are many kiddos who are active, defiant, etc. so I think it may be a challenge to keep them from yelling out and on their bottoms. I also wish I had chairs for the bigger kids so they could sit closer but I don't. I feel like i've seen kids throw the whole conversation off track when they were "not being okay" and I have to stop to correct them (pulling my line-up tape of my floor and chew on it, the worm, spinning in circles etc.) . I feel like i've been able to lose them in a matter of seconds. I want to be able to deal with behavior and listen to the kid talking at the same time. I'd also like to shorten our conversations but it always seems like the good stuff is just around the corner and I feel uncomfortable ending our conversation.
Wow! Great insights here! It sounds like VTS has not only impacted your kids, but your own reflective practice as well! Yeah!! It fascinates me how metacognitive the VTS process is. Like you say, one can reflect while doing it; catch themselves and self-correct on a dime. I think at the heart of it all is mindfulness. We are just more "in the moment" when we VTS and I think that causes us to transfer that mindful disposition to areas of our teaching that aren't VTS. I'd love to drop in to your classroom one day to brainstorm with you the logistical issues. You've said your furniture isn't ideal for VTS, so that's a given, but surely there's something else our two minds could figure out! I found last year that, because of the classroom arrangement I inherited from the previous teacher, the VTS wasn't going as smoothly as it always had in the past. So, before school started this year, I prioritized my room arrangement and created an ample VTS space. I also taught the kids, first day, that I expected them to seat themselves in rows with personal space around them. It's been very successful and just like the VTS questions, they are "getting with the program." All I have to do now is say something like, "Okay, Table 1 and Table 4, will you start our first row?" and boom, they're on it! (Crazy how a little detail like that can really make a difference in the discussion!) You're doing a great job with a challenging group! Kudos!! Can't wait to see their growth by semester's end!!
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