VTS: Week 4 Blog Assignment

Assessing Student Engagement and Learning:

I prepared my Advisory students for the lesson by telling them I had an activity I wanted them to help me with for my Graduate work.  In my Language Arts classes, I have implemented “Connections to Art” with the novel we are reading, The Giver, so they knew the activity would have something to do with art.  As I loaded the image on the SmartBoard, students immediately began to center themselves to view the image.  At first, they began talking about it, so I asked them to view it silently for a few moments.  With a couple redirects, they did as I asked.  Before I could get the first question out, hands immediately went in the air.  Every student was looking at the image, and several wanted to comment immediately.  Students began with direct observations like, “I see boys concentrating on stacking cards.” When I asked “What do you see that makes you say that?” the response described their intent expressions.  I then asked, “What do you see that makes you say those are cards?”  The student responding looked at me sideways with an expression that read, “Come on, Ms. Gowin, are you kidding me?”  :) Moving forward, I knew my second question would be appropriate for them to explain less obvious interpretations.

As students responded (the same few at first, then others joined), the discussion gained momentum. Their observations became more interpretive with evidence.  For example, one student said, “The boys are brothers because they all have the same color hair and their cheeks are reddish.  You know what I mean, how some people’s cheeks always look red? That’s how they are.”  Then another student connected that response with, “They are brothers because they look different ages. If they were friends they would look the same age.”  Up to this point, only male students had volunteered to share in the discussion.  One female student raised her hand and said, “I think the youngest one is a girl because she looks like a girl with short hair to me.”  The others looked for a minute, and then nodded in agreement.

I noticed, during the discussion, that the students seemed to be making meaning as a group rather than individually.  When one student would correct himself, the others would nod in agreement.  I also noticed the students raising their hands right away at the beginning of the discussion, but as it continued they would listen to the person speaking, then wait for me to say, “What more can we find” before raising their hands.  This, for me, was evidence that they were listening to each other to make meaning.   All students were engaged in viewing, but they did not participate in the discussion.  What was interesting to me is that only one girl participated, with one observation about the smallest child in the picture being a girl, and to clarify when a student asked, “What’s in the cup? Are those flowers?” she said, “Yes, they’re forget-me-nots. I know that because I know what forget-me-nots look like and they’re blue.”  Did the girls feel less connected to the image because the group consensus was that the image was of boys playing?  Also, one student with an IEP only contributed once, but he and another student (this is the student with emotional/behavioral difficulties) came up to the front right after I wrapped up the discussion, and wanted to share their thinking only with me. They pointed at the image and began their own VTS.  Why did they not contribute during the group discussion?

Reflecting on Practice:  

I found it difficult to be the facilitator and not a participant.  In thinking about this, I realize it’s because, as a teacher, I am trained to “model, model, model.”  Especially at the onset of the discussion, I felt like my students expected me to lead them.  When someone would ask a yes or no question, like “Is that a doll?” I caught myself blurting out the answer.  I did begin asking the second question more specifically…”What do you see that makes you say they are brothers?” and students would answer with specific evidence.  It surprised me that I felt more pressure to help them think deeply and make meaning (although they were doing this) and I wanted them to enjoy VTS.  Fortunately, when I wrapped up, even though it was the end of the day and time to go home, they wanted to do another and asked if we could do this every day.  That alone, with seventh grade students, is a success!

Planning:

In the future, I am going to focus on stepping aside and being the facilitator rather than a participant. I had to force myself to do this, but I want it to come naturally.  I was so focused on the three questions, which I didn’t struggle with at all.  I’m much more comfortable in front of my students than I was when I did this with my VTS classmates and my professional peers, but in a way that made it more difficult for me to stand back and just facilitate.  I think this will come with intention and practice.