VTS: Week 13 Blog Assignment

VTS as Differentiated Instruction:

Without differentiated instruction, many of my Advisory students would fall behind, some would lack motivation because they are uninspired, and the others would not be challenged to reach their potential.  This is a varied group- academically, socially, and emotionally.  In Johnson's article, "Differentiated Instruction Allows Students to Succeed" he discusses the importance of "meet(ing) students where they are "and "allow(ing) for do-overs".  VTS does this for my Advisory students because it provides opportunities to build vocabulary, scaffold learning, practice with multiple images (mediums) and revise thinking without the pressure of one right answer. Johnson's "Active Learning Is Key to Differentiated Instruction" emphasizes providing activities that are intrinsically differentiated, which involves creating cooperative groups and encouraging student inquiry.  VTS discussions promote cooperative learning within the group by linking student responses, and it encourages student inquiry by asking students to continually find more.  My Advisory group is great at linking their responses, and I've noticed that sort of linking has trickled into other class discussions.  With each discussion we've completed, students' observations become increasingly more detailed, and every student participates, which Tomlinson discussed in the process component of differentiation.    I feel more of a sense of community with this Advisory group than I have with other in the past, and I attribute this to our VTS experiences.  VTS does create a positive learning environment- another necessary element discussed by Tomlinson.  Through VTS discussions we are able to share ideas collectively in what would normally be a study hall- void of collaboration.

VTS: Week 12 Blog Assignment/Video

Video C of Lesson #5 (Teacher's Choice):

Norman Rockwell, Girl with a Black Eye, 1953.

Assessing, Reflecting, Planning:

I do think the image I chose was appropriate for my students because the subject matter is familiar to them.  One student noticed the filing cabinet and commented that the picture was older because we don't use filing cabinets much anymore.  There was a consensus that the picture is of a student waiting outside the Principal's office.  Because the setting is familiar, students were easily able to create a narrative.  

The image challenged this group of students to make sense of or find a reason why this person is sitting outside the Principal's office.  The very first observation was that she had been in a fight and won.  The next student recognized the theme of bullying, but thought this girl was being bullied and finally beat the bully.  The discussion moved to the gender of the girl- some thought it might actually be a boy, and the date of the subject matter.  One student was reminded of Pippy Longstockings.  I felt like they were on the cusp of considering the artist's intent with the choice to make this fighter a girl, but they didn't quite get there.  Every time I thought they were warm, they would then focus on specific details, like clothing, to question the gender of the subject.  My students live in a rural area, and we have very few behavior issues... I think they were attempting to create a narrative that made sense to them because the idea of this cute little girl beating someone up wasn't a reasonable explanation.  I was hoping to challenge them with ideas about stereotypes, but it didn't work out as I hoped.  

This group of students does a great job listening to each other and linking their ideas.  Everyone was engaged and participating equally, which was a goal of mine since past discussions have been male dominated.  I did have them all gather closely around, which helped, but I think the image captivated the students as well.  They were scaffolding- a few boys provided evidence of another culture based on their background knowledge, and some students made assumptions about the time period by noticing clothing, hairstyles, and objects in the picture.  I wanted to help them delve deeper into the ideas about bullying and gender stereotypes, but I wasn't sure how to without deviating from the prescribed questions.  

I would be interested to see how responses might be different if this image was used with students who live in an urban area or with older students.  My class did not mention humor at all, which I thought they would notice immediately.  Some students are moving into Stage II, but many are still at Stage I, so they did not move beyond making observations with evidence.  It's funny, when this discussion ended, the students seemed satisfied, but I had hoped it would have been more eye opening or...what's the word I'm looking for... meaningful, maybe?  

VTS: Week 11 Blog Assignment

Preparing for Teacher's Choice:

Norman Rockwell, Girl with a Black Eye, 1953.

I am excited to use this Norman Rockwell image because it has a sense of humor, which I think my students will enjoy.  Our discussions have mostly been male dominated, so I am interested in seeing how this image affects participation.  The main character here is female, but the situation is relate-able for 7th grade boys.  

My Advisory students have been very good at creating a narrative with the images in our past discussions, so I chose this image because the narrative is easily accessed,  I'm hoping this choice will challenge students to move beyond the narrative and question the artist's choices, source of inspiration, purpose, technique, message, etc. Yenawine describes Stage I viewers as "storytellers...they make concrete observations about a work of art that are woven into a narrative."  This describes what my students have been doing.  Stage II viewers, according to Yenawine, "look at works of  art using... their own perceptions, their knowledge of the natural world, and the values of their social, moral, and conventional world," which is what I hope my students will do with this image.  I'm hoping this image will probe ideas about bullying, gender stereotypes, or other moral issues.  I realize it's a bit risky- using an image with a story to move beyond the story, but I think these kiddos are on the cusp of Stage II viewing and ready for the challenge.  

VTS: Week 10 Blog Assignment/ Video

The following image was used for Lesson 4:

Video B, Lesson 4:  

Assessing Student Engagement and Learning:  All students were engaged during the lesson and... both girls and boys participated in the discussion!  Yea, a breakthrough!  Most students focused on the girls and created a narrative about how they got to this place and what they were doing at the time of the photo.  For the most part, they still exhibited Stage 1 thinking, but one student did speculate about the meaning/ artist's intention.  I hoped this would spark similar thinking for the others, but they quickly referred back to observations w/ evidence.  

Reflecting on Practice:  The VTS discussion felt okay, not great or terrible.  I tried to focus on the prescribed teacher behaviors and paraphrasing with scaffolding, but they stumped me a couple of times.  When the student made the speculation about the meaning of the image, I was floored for two reasons- (1) this level of thinking hasn't happened with my students yet, and (2) the student who made the comment really struggles academically and performs well below grade level on written assessments.  I was also caught off guard by one students blunt observation about the license plate.  I wasn't sure how to link his observation without implying more, so I basically repeated what he said and moved on.  I realized later that these contributions stumped me because one was more advanced and one was more simplistic than the others in the discussion.

Planning:  I feel like I forget to pay attention to my use of conditional language while facilitating.  When I use conditional language, it is without effort, which is good, but I want to be aware of all prescribed behaviors.  Using the three questions is becoming easier each time, and paraphrasing is more natural, so I am ready to really focus on using conditional language.  I think I may write "conditional language" on a note card and hold it during my next VTS to serve as a reminder.  Any suggestions to help with this would be greatly appreciated!