I teach in a large suburban high school outside St. Louis. I will be using VTS in my Introduction to Art courses. Intro is a class made up of 9 - 12 graders, mostly made up of 9th and 10th graders. I haven't decided which class to focus my VTS assignments on, mostly because I am still getting to know them. For now, my 1st hour and my 3rd hour classes are the larger classes with 28 students. My 2nd hour class is tiny with 14 students. I am thinking I will probably focus on my 2nd hour with its small size. And that way I can practice my technique and technology use on my 1st hour students. The majority of my students in this class are 9th graders with art experience in middle school.
I have to confess I have seen Mary's presentations on VTS at the state conference for the past few years and even ventured into trying it myself in class. I am not confident that I have been doing it as prescribed and think that by focusing on this strategy that I can do my students a great service. I have seen students processing and thinking change through the use of this in my class. THey start to really see what they are looking at and notice details. It helps improve their writing and their reflections on their own art work. I am hoping by using it more in class, and improving my technique that it will benefit them even more. I anticipate that my students will at first reject the idea of reading and writing in an art class, (it always seems to be an adjustment of expectations on their behalf).
Having only known my class for three days, I will be sure to update this post with more information about my students as I get to know them. I look forward to beginning my discussions with them. They are so full of enthusiasm and expectations for the class. I think we have some amazing learning ahead of us!
LOL! You really made me work to read this post! I don't know about your view, but it shows up on my screen as all symbols! Kind of like a secret message! I copied and pasted it into a Word doc and then converted the text to Times New Roman and read it just fine!
ReplyDeleteI think your decision to focus on your class of 14 students is wise. VTS CAN be done with larger groups, but it is more difficult and there is less of a chance that all students will be able to speak during the lesson. That often creates two problems: First, student frustration when they have something to say, but don't get a chance. Secondly, students who are less motivated can easily hide behind more involved students and get by with just watching. (Don't let them!) I believe last year, Lindsay divided her large class of 30 into two subgroups for VTS and had great results. Something to think about as you work with larger groups.
We'll talk soon about image selection and substitutions so that we can be sure to match your students with images they will find intriguing. For those of you working with high school students, we will be doing some tweaking.
Excited to be working with you this semester!
Michelle, I'm right there with you. I tried to VTS a little with the college students I had last semester in my writing lab. They seemed to like it, but I was never quite sure if I was doing it right. Glad I'm taking this class! We'll get it all figured out and become pros like Mary. And thanks for the instructions for the labels. I still need to try and see if I can get them up.
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