Blog Topic #9 Teachers Choice

The students who are the focus of this VTS experience are second graders.  This class is almost half SPED and also had ELL students.  They are early stage 1 viewers.  They notice most of the details but are very much working on the "why".  Some are creative and will share, others have a harder time talking in front of others.  I usually have 1 paraprofessional with 1 student.  I notice that by the end of the day the students who use meds have lost the effects of those meds.  They are a challenge to sit and focus for more then 5 minutes.  The students also have great insights when they focus and listen to each other.


                                              Image 1:  Norman Rockwell "The Runaway"

 

Image 2:  Carmen Lopez Garza, Birthday Party

 

Image 3:  Eugeno Zampighi "Gathering"

 

Image 4:  William H Johnson, "Tattler" (?)

 

 

Blog Topic #8 VTS-to-date

   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.

Peer Coaching #2

Peer coaching with Mike.

Mike,
     It sounds like you had a great VTS session.  What age group are you working with?  It's wonderful when the students are engaged and discipline sounds low.  I have a lot of students that are impulsive/defiant which makes it a little hard to listen to the person talking.  Hopefully it gets better as the students get used to being patient and taking turns.  It sounds like the VTS website has been helpful for you and it's great that it helps to know how to reply to those out of turn talkers.  What was the most helpful thing you found on the website?  Did the student follow the directions after being reminded?  Was the class annoyed at that student?
     It is very cool the students respectfully disagreed with each other.  I'm sure you were excited to see that level of engagement. I am curious to see if you internalizing the guidelines will help your level of comfort for the next time.  The other aspect that you have to deal with is that the students aren't that familiar with you right?  I'm sure that after they are a little more familiar with you and following through with your guidelines they will know you mean business and respect that.
     It sound like you have things figured out and going smoothly.  If I had to offer any advice it probably would be practicing the questions and getting to know your students.  It sounds like you've been working on all of those things and very thoughtful about them.  I don't know if this is right but if I have students being too disruptive after being reminded of expected behavior I might send them back to their seat, we were on the floor, so the rest of the group can continue on.  Of course that depends upon your classroom teaching style.

Sounds like your doing everything right.  Keep up the good work.

Blog Topic # 7 Why not tell?

Why not tell?

This is something I was curious about in the beginning.  I had thoughts about if it really mattered if the information was given or not?  My instinct has always been to feed the students information about things but I know that they often are not listening or paying any attention at all to what I am saying.  I wonder about a better way to teach.  VTS allows that kind of exploration and thinking.  I think that learning how to think, probe and look further into things with multiple possibilities far exceeds me giving information that may not have been remembered anyway.   I really like the analogy of "learning to read" and how kids are taught how to read and probe text for meaning long before they learn or have any interest in why an author writes or about their life.  It really reenforces that this is the beginning and we are teaching them tools they will use for a long time to come.  My other thought is that this is a process that they are working through as a group with many different ideas and multiple possibilities to be revealed.  Important things may reveal themselves throughout the discussion or even beyond.

I would explain to an administrator that finding the "right answer" isn't the goal of VTS.  The students go through a process of learning to look at images and make observations, grounding them with evidence, and continuously probe them to look deeper and reveal multiple possibilities.  This process teaches them how to "read" art and find the answers for themselves.    

Blog Topic #6

Assessing Student Engagement and Learning:
     I would describe student engagement as pretty high.  I think I heard from just about all the students.  I had some very creative ideas and perceptions.  They had a bit of a hard time focusing, not talking to each other, etc. but they were the last class of the day on Friday and I know that doesn't help anything.  In the past they have been able to focus better.  They were also distracted by the ipad recording.
    The students noticed many things about this image.  They noticed the "mom and daughters" first, the jungle around them, and the lack of a dad in the photo.  Many of them thought that it might have been painted inside somewhere similar to when they get their photos taken.  If they were outside some pondered what they could have been sitting on, they thought a log would have been too low and it's not in the photo.  One noticed the mad look on the girls face in the red but i'm surprised she didn't say something about her arms.  They noticed the flowers in the moms hand and background.  Some thought that maybe the dad was buried in the ground where the white flower is planted on the right.  Some thought she was someone important because of her fancy dress and collar that some kings might have.
    The students had detailed observations and interpretations with and without evidence.  I think one might have used conditional language.  I would think they are stage I viewers.
    I think the students learned how to look deeper into an artwork. Some of them are working on looking for clues as to what might be going on.  They certainly pull from their own experiences while looking at these images.I think they are learning to listen to each other.  I did have a student agree with another student using their names and building on that idea.

Reflecting on Practice:
    I think the VTS discussion felt good.  The questions seem to flow fairly easily.  I tried to remember to paraphrase everything and not jump onto question 2 without paraphrasing.  I am getting used to deciding what needs question number 2 and what comments don't.
    I think I was able to use the questions, behaviors, paraphrasing and conditional language comfortably.  Sometimes I catch myself and try to correct myself but over all I think it went well.
     Sometimes I used question 2 and used a more direct question, or "I see you noticed this, what do you see that makes you say that".  It seems helpful when there are many ideas thrown out by one student to break it down.  I haven't noticed a difference.
    If there were any surprises it was how hard of a time they had focusing this time when it wasn't this bad in the past.  With kids you never know, time of day, weather, and holidays easily throw them off.  I think they are getting the hang of the process and it's coming more easily.  It would also be great if they would stay in their seats but I guess they get so excited they really want to get up and point to what they are talking about.  I guess I will need to explain to them that pointing is my job their theirs is to look and talk.

Planning:
   I would like to continue working on paraphrasing and linking ideas.  I hope the more comfortable I feel the easier it will be to slow down and focus on listening and paraphrasing.  I did put the questions in the back of the classroom so I can look at them if I mix up the wording.

Blog Topic #5 Portrait of possibility

    A student for whom I believe VTS might be both a help and a challenge will be called "B".  B is a second grader who is an ELL student and a SPED student.  VTS helps many ELL students widen their vocabulary and understanding.  I think him being SPED only gives him room to grow.  When I gave him the pretest he sat there and didn't write anything for a long time until a para sat next to him and helped him understand what it was he was supposed to be doing.  Many students had a hard time with the format of the picture and them a second page with lines.  Many just wrote on the first page under the picture and didn't understand how they could keep writing onto the second page. 
    He is a student who doesn't really talk or even answer many questions.  I've never been sure if this is because he is an ELL student and doesn't know what I am saying, is quiet, or because he simply doesn't understand.  He did show promise when he said that the people in the picture were a mom and dad, although getting him to write it down was a huge challenge.  One of the other specials teachers mentioned noticing him talking more this year instead of just the constant humming he has always done.  He seems to be blossoming as a second grader.
    My plan for B is to have him front and center when we are VTSing.  He is easily distracted so this might help.  I also will try and call on him even if he isn't raising his hand.  My goal will be to hear from him expressing his thoughts.  Since this isn't written, which is hard for him, hopefully it will be more natural for him to speak his mind and let the words flow freely.  He could easily expand his vocabulary though this process and the community that is his class.  I would love to hear him verbalize supporting evidence for the things he notices on the artwork and since this is verbal and not written it should come a little easier for him.  I can't wait to find out what is going on in that brain of his.

Side note.  I did VTS with another 2nd grade class Friday and they blew my socks off with the things they noticed and how they gave supporting evidence, sometimes without even being prompted.  The coolest part of the conversation was when they acknowledged what another student had said and gave more supporting evidence. (I agree with what A said and I noticed this to go along with her idea)  Several students chimed in with evidence, it was wild!  They even disagreed with each other in a respectful manner on another part of the picture.  Just thought i'd share!

Danielle

Blog Topic #4

Assessing:  Student engagement was high in lesson 1.  I heard from almost every child.  I had my second graders come sit on the floor in front of my smartboard in hopes of keeping their attention better then 20 feet away at their tables.  I had many raising their hands and some students who needed to be reminded not to talk or interrupt.  The students did an excellent job noticing details in the artwork "The Child's Bath" by Mary Cassatt.  They began with the obvious then moved to the floor and background.  They talked about how maybe she was amish because of her dress, how she may have been poor because they were using a bowl to take a bath.  They discussed how she was sitting and if she was sitting on the floor, books, or a chair.  They noticed the rug she was sitting on.  Some of the students thought they saw stairs in the background and a rope, another thought they saw glass as a banister around stairs.  The students had detailed observations and supported their ideas with evidence quite easily.  They were thinking deeply about this image and also pulling from their own experiences to create understanding.  I can tell they were listening to each other talk because they were making meaning influenced by others statements.  They did well raising hands and taking turns.  I also noticed when they took what someone else said into consideration but disagreed and offered their interpretation.  I think the students learned from this discussion that there were no wrong answers and felt more comfortable sharing by the end of our first lesson.  I observed the quiet children raising their hands and sharing toward the end of the discussion.

Reflecting:  I think the VTS discussion felt very comfortable for both them and me.  Nothing was forced and the ideas flowed.  I learned that there was nothing to be nervous about and they have so much more going on in their heads then I would ever otherwise know.  I was able to use the questions and behaviors comfortably.  I found myself trying to skip to the second question without paraphrasing so that is something I need to slow down and make sure I practice.  I think that if I skipped paraphrasing that it sped up the discussion and didn't allow enough time for the students to ponder what was said.  I was surprised at the detail and depth of the students discussions, especially compared to their writing.

Planning:  I want to work on paraphrasing moving forward as well as beginning to link observations.  I think I can do this by practicing, proceeding slowly through the process and not rushing it, and by practicing my listening skills.