VTS: Wk 6 Blog #6

BLOG TOPIC #6: Assessing, Reflecting, Planning – Video #1

Review notes from Video #1 and respond to the following questions sequentially on your BLOG.

Uh-oh. I answered the Blog Topic #4 questions about video #1 instead of lesson #1. My first VTS experience blog post did not get posted so I confused myself. Ergh. Well, I will repost my responses to that video here below and post my first VTS experience as Blog #4 Take 2!
 

Assessing Student Engagement & Learning:

• Describe student willingness to participate in the 2^nd VTS discussion. 

Students seem fairly willing to participate in the discussions, depending on the hour of class (i.e. 1st hour not so much. Slides in a darkened room at 7:20 = zzzzz).

• What did students notice about the featured artwork?

Students noticed details about the symbols in the artwork. They began to analyze what the symbols in the artwork could possibly mean. Students inventoried the scene in the artwork in order to make sense of the story that could be taking place. The students discussed possible scenarios that could be taking place and why they thought that.

• Did students list or interpret their observations? (Why do you think that occurred?)

Students did a little of both. At first students had to list to make sense of what they saw, but then they interpreted their observations.

• Describe student interactions during the discussion.  How did this impact group meaning-making?

Students referred to each other's observations and built upon them. Alternately, they disagreed with each other's observations and would state their disagreements respectfully. They seemed to build on each other's ridiculousness elevating the hysterics. At one point I had to step out of my role as facilitator and bring focus back to the group.

• How did the discussion conclude?  

The VTS discussions normally came to a lull where I would close the discussion. I have a habit of letting the dialogue evolve organically and not time them.

• What do you think students learned from this discussion?
• What did you observe that makes you say that?

Using the conversation as a wrap up and introduction to a future unit, I think students were able to synthesize their information learned from the project and I could then see what they were taking away from their classroom experiences. Students would refer to pictures as symbols for deeper / broader meanings. They were referencing terminology we had learned in class.

Reflecting on Practice:

• How did the VTS discussion feel and what did you learn by facilitating this lesson with your students for the second time?
• Were you able to use the questions and prescribed teacher behaviors comfortably? If you omitted or changed one, what impact did it have on the discussion?  Why do you think that occurred? 
• Were there any surprises?  How will these impact your practice moving forward?

The class I chose to document is my smallest class, but also my most challenging class. They like to challenge what teachers will find acceptable. This is evident in my VTS discussion. One student in particular has issues with social interactions and can not always determine what is or is not appropriate to say. This affects the class dynamic and another student likes to encourage this behavior. The first and third hour classes felt better than this 2nd hour discussion did. It was difficult to get through the conversation with real meaning making taking place.

In general I can use the questions and behaviors comfortably. This was the first time where I felt that the students were not responding to the neutralizing affects of the structure. But I don't believe that this was necessarily an outcome of the VTS process but rather a special situation with a special student dynamic.

I was pretty surprised at how this group of students were fairly undisciplined. With most high school groups I can be more relaxed about the structure (of raising hands, calling on them, etc.) and let the discussion evolve more organically. This group I should have enforced the structure more.

This class in general is going to take some more getting to know them in order to discover what techniques and methods work to diffuse their fires in terms of general classroom management. Knowing this and what makes them tick, will I think help me in my image selection and in knowing who and when to call on them in the VTS discussion.

Planning:  

• What do you want to work on as you plan for future VTS lessons? 
• How do you think you can accomplish that? 

I want to make sure I select images that students connect with. I want to make sure I enforce the discussion structure with this group so that the discussions are meaningful and productive.

I also think  my high absence rate actually makes them crave attention from me. If I time my VTS discussions after I have been back for a while, this might improve the dynamic and structure. I will also remember to stop to reexplain the structure before we begin.

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The Questions:

Assessing  Student Engagement and Learning:

• Describe student willingness to participate in the 2^nd VTS discussion. 
• What did students notice about the featured artwork?
• Did students list or interpret their observations? (Why do you think that occurred?)
• Describe student interactions during the discussion.  How did this impact group meaning-making?
• How did the discussion conclude?  
• What do you think students learned from this discussion?
• What did you observe that makes you say that?

Reflecting on Practice:

• How did the VTS discussion feel and what did you learn by facilitating this lesson with your students for the second time?
• Were you able to use the questions and prescribed teacher behaviors comfortably? If you omitted or changed one, what impact did it have on the discussion?  Why do you think that occurred? 
• Were there any surprises?  How will these impact your practice moving forward?

Planning: 

• What do you want to work on as you plan for future VTS lessons? 
• How do you think you can accomplish that?

VTS: Week 4 - Lesson #1, Blog #4 Take 2!

Kicking myself right now. I can't believe I got so turned around! Oh well. Here is the original post about my first VTS experience with my students.

BLOG TOPIC #4:  Assessing, Reflecting, Planning

VTS Lesson #1:

Images

 

·         Assessing  Student Engagement & Learning:

o   Describe student willingness to participate in the discussion.

Students were perplexed as to why we would be looking at and talking about art rather than making art, but they were new to class and so complied.

o   What did students notice about the featured artwork?

Students of course noticed at first the “weird” head on the dear, attracted to the unusual as a focal point in the work. The ambiguity of the gender as well as the unibrow also had them mesmerized.

o   Did students list or interpret their observations? (Why do you think that occurred?)

Getting the students to even list what they saw at first was a challenge. Thinking about the story behind an artwork seemed to be quite a foreign concept.

o   Describe student interactions during the discussion.  How did this impact group meaning-making?

Student interactions were quite limited, with very little connections between student statements.

o   How did the discussion conclude?
At one point, because students were having such a hard time discussing the first question, I encouraged them to tell me what they saw in the work. Once we had inventoried the work, it did seem easier for them to then answer the question, “What is going on in this image?”

o   What do you think students learned from this discussion?

I’m hoping that students learned about symbolism and how artists use images to communicate messages. I’m also hoping they learned the VTS process we are going to use as we discuss works of art.

o   What did you observe that makes you say that?

As we moved on to the second image, they started to understand the first question and did not have to inventory the image. They were able to dive into the discussion without the prompting.

·         Reflecting on Practice:

o   How did the VTS discussion feel and what did you learn by facilitating this lesson with your students?

I wonder if because I had an agenda to using these images (wanting them to be able to see examples of literal and figurative imagery and discuss ways in which these artworks illustrate these) that using VTS felt strange. In the past I have used these images “VTS-ishy.” I would start out using the 3 questions, but be flexible in asking follow up questions that guided their understanding. This year in this lesson I stuck to the 3 questions faithfully so it felt a little strange at first, but as I went through the hours it became easier.

o   Were you able to use the questions and prescribed teacher behaviors comfortably? If you omitted or changed the questions or behaviors, what impact did it have on the discussion?  Why do you think that occurred?

I used the questions and the behaviors comfortably except for right at the beginning. To get students to open up, I had to scaffold their thinking by asking them to inventory at first.

o   Were there any surprises? 

I was surprised at how hard it was for them to start with the deer image. I’ve tried it with each image first during different classes in different years. And it wasn’t that the image was hard (I don’t think) but it was that thinking about art in this way was hard for this particular group of students. Many of them haven’t had art for many, many years.

o   How might this initial experience impact your practice moving forward?

I will want to stick faithfully to the 3 questions. I hope that students will be able to discuss the artwork and move past inventorying.

·         Planning:

o   What do you want to work on as you plan for future VTS lessons?
I want to make sure I ask the 3 questions with fidelity and remain neutral. It is hard to not break when the students say something funny or outrageous about the artwork.

o   How do you think you can accomplish that?

I think that through practice I will get better at the VTS process.

 

VTS: Wk 4 - Official VTS Session #1

VTS Lesson #1

Image #1
(artwork shown without title)

Video Part One

I apologize for it being so dark. My room has only 1 light switch and absolutely zero natural light. ( Go figure - an art room designed with no windows). We can't see the images on the IWB if the lights aren't off. I realized after taping and then reading the outline for each lesson that I was supposed to be visible. Oops! Enjoy the sneak peeks of me while I traipse in front of the projected image. 

I have had so much trouble getting my videos on YouTube so my blog topic #4 was posted a while ago. If you wish to go back and read my reflection, here is a quick link.

I used this VTS session as an outgoing lesson after learning about Haring and looking at symbols in art. Then we did a photograph of Warhol in his studio, kind of connecting what we had just done with Pop Art and Haring's connection to Warhol to what we were going to do with Warhol and his celebrity images as we studied color.  Seemed to be a nice transition. 

Image #2

Video Part Two

I've started the video with the directions at the beginning so that you can hear how I handled some of the classroom management speed bumps. My second hour is a challenge. I thought that as the year would go on it would get easier. Silly me.

[And in case you were wondering about the differences in my hours, I will post another hour of mine so you can compare the behavior differences in 2nd hour, my chosen hour for inspection, and my 1st hour which seems to be more thoughtful, but also more quiet. (if I can get my computer and YouTube to comply.)]

AT: Week 9 - Topic Reflection Games, Immersive Social Networking, & Virtual Worlds

Topic Reflection: Games, Immersive Social Networking, & Virtual Worlds

Readings:  - Brooks-Young Ch. 6 & 9
                  - Rosen Ch. 5

What are the possibilities and limitations of using games, immersive social networking, and virtual worlds in the classroom? 

First, I feel I need to state my original position on virtual worlds and gaming in the classroom.  I have heard about the use of avatars and virtual learning and how gaming should be embraced for many years now in my attendance at various state and national conferences. It has never sat quite right with me. In theory, it sounds... okay. Creating a new environment that students are eager to participate in and therefore are more willing to engage sounds great.  But I am hesitant because it feels very faddish to me and a bit hokey. Teaching high school students I have never thought the reward (the learning or the engagement) outweighed the risks (the time and energy spent by myself to learn and/or create these virtual environments or the class time needed to prepare students in how to behave, maneuver, or create in these places.) I see a greater use in classes such as English Language Arts or Social Studies, but in art I see much greater value placed on the teaching the creativity skills, the content skills, the media skills that could be translated to the creation of these very programs in the future. I don't see it fitting in to the bulk of what we are responsible for teaching. Connected to yes, but not a good fit for the way our current art class systems are set up. 

 Probably about five years ago now, there was some hubbub in the media about people being addicted to Second LIfe, people being addicted, having virtual affairs, getting real life divorces due to the lack of intimacy or even real life interactions with spouses, etc. That in connection with all I was hearing in the art ed world about tying in virtual worlds and gaming into learning made me curious, "what experience did my own students have with virtual worlds?" In my own small populace, when I ask students about their virtual reality participation, very few have admitted to using it. I'm not always sure we define these virtual realities the same way - many male students don't define the interactive video games they play (such as World of Warcraft or Call of Duty) as a virtual world. But barely any have heard of Second Life. And Gigapets and Webkinz were all they had interacted with as children. However, very few consider the Facebook games as virtual worlds (myself included, really.). Nowadays I find very few if any are playing the fb games such as Farmville and see it as an annoying thing some adults do on fb. So, maybe my questions weren't worded correctly, or maybe I wasn't asking the correct questions. 

As far as the question, "What are the possibilities and limitations..." I see many of these environments being creative for the teacher but not as much for the learner. Or at least I do when I am in my shoes as Intro to Art teacher. Perhaps if I was a digital media or an AP Studio teacher, I could allow my students to work independently to create these virtual worlds or even programs. It is another way to deliver content, but it seems a little heavy handed, time intensive, and possibly frustrating. I confess that for me, this might just not be where my interest lies and therefore doesn't work for me. In the hands of someone who is very interested and knowledgeable, it might fit their teaching style wonderfully. Right now I am sitting here thinking that I spend a lot of time setting up an elaborate scavenger hunt game based on the Gardner Museum art theft of 1991. With all the time I spend creating badges, and case notebooks, and clues I could probably just as easily create a virtual environment that students could use to solve the case and learn about art history. But which is better? Engaging with peers in reality or virtually? Would they learn more by having a more "realistic" virtual world or is it better to stretch their imaginations through recreations?
I see more value in the power of play and a game than I do in the virtual worlds for many of the reasons that were cited as concerns in the Chapter 6 of the Brooks-Young book: Safety and privacy, technological capacity, cyberbullying, and unwanted content. It also makes me wary that I can not monitor content. Many issues in classroom management are controlled by  my mere presence. And to a point, you trust students with the responsibility to behave and act appropriately. But it makes me worry to know that my livelihood or more importantly the safety of a student could be at risk in any way if I a m unable to monitor student interactions during my class.  

So I see both positives and negatives associated with the content of these chapters. I am still  not sold on Virtual Worlds, but see the benefit to inserting gaming into learning activities. I see a lot of benefit to Project Based and Problem Based Learning experiences, which in essence are elaborate games. Art History seems ripe with possibilities for this as well as students learning about Art Careers. Could students create avatars of famous artists and present a bio of them? Sure, but is that what we are wanting them to learn about the lives of artists? I am not sure the objectives I am trying to engage my students in are going to be met by these virtual worlds. At least not in the classes I teach. 

VTS: Week 5 - Blog Post #5 Portrait of Possibility

Blog Topic #5 Portrait of Possibility

As I practice using VTS in my art room, I feel like many of my students will benefit from it. No, strike that, I think ALL of my students will benefit from it. Although this process can at first feel burdensome,  ("Talk about art, Ms. Ridlen! We only want to MAKE art! Booooo." Feel free to substitute 'talk' with think, write, or any other word that isn't make. Sometimes its even draw vs. paint vs. sculpt. Booger heads.) I think the benefits to their artistic habits of mind greatly outweigh the students complaints and the stressors of the curriculum and time constraints. These are actually some of my favorite days despite the initial reluctance. So now to focus my thoughts on one student in particular.
The first student that springs to mind is *Alex. She has been home schooled until this year, she has some learning disabilities, is lacking in social skills, has just come out as a lesbian, and is relishing all the attention she is getting in this huge school of ours. She is suffering academically and has a super hard time focusing on anything other that socializing. She is nice and we have made a bond over music and similar interests. She loves art, she is very creative. But she is mad genius creative that leaves things half completed and doesn't follow directions. I struggle with embracing this and letting her run with it just to keep her creative juices flowing, and with teaching her to discipline her screaming mind. But what I've realized with her lack of formal schooling is that task is waaay too big for me to tackle alone. I can't even harness the creative craze to let her create on her own. She is now into the socializing and forget the creating even. Whoo. So, Not her. Too much work to do there that goes beyond VTS.
I think instead I will focus on an 11th grade student, *Smith, who struggles with liking school, needs support academically, and struggles with reading and writing yet loves art. He comes to school just for my class (who wouldn't love to hear that?!). He always has interesting thoughts about art, but is hesitant to express them - out loud or on paper. He will share with me privately but rarely speaks up in large groups. Or at least not about on task topics. I feel that this is the year he is turning a corner and he is coming around to the realization that he needs to achieve certain things in order to get where he wants to go in life. This growth is always so nice to see and I think the attributes of VTS will be beneficial to him especially. He would benefit from being given space to express his thinking, to feel successful, to think about art in a concentrated way. He would only grow in his abilities to read and write, which will benefit him as he goes through his ELA classes and others. And I think he needs support in this area of interest - VTS creates a bond with students just through the act of discourse that allows for a stronger relationship to occur between teacher and student. It provides more opportunities to facilitate learning and for the students to take ownership of their learning, exploring their own thoughts as well as building community with their peers.
  As far as a plan concerning this particular student, I am not sure exactly what that would look like. I imagine by utilizing the VTS process, and encouraging his participation (neutrally of course), he would benefit naturally. I worry that the friends he has in class may deter him from speaking on topic so my plan would involve careful monitoring of the VTS procedures and behaviors so that he and others have a chance to speak. And so that the dialogue stays on course. I would monitor his writings and his reflections to see if they develop more as the semester progresses so. My hypothesis is that it will.

AT: Week 7 - iBrain

 I love learning about the way our brain functions, so reading this was fascinating to me. Especially when I think about it in context with what I am doing in conjunction with Professional Development in my building and what I am planning for PD in my Art departments across the district. Since we are implementing a pilot iPad Classroom project, I am also organizing the PD. It has been difficult to get everyone together, even though they are clamoring for the PD (as opposed to other times PD is offered in the district). And it is always in short bursts which can be frustrating for those more advanced users (i.e. digital natives) dealing with questions that take a lot of time for the Digital Immigrants. For example: "How do I get this thing to turn on?" or "How do I get to that next screen with more stuff on it?" I kid you not, these were real questions that took up most of the first training. And the trainer wouldn't believe me when I said I thought we should have a tiered training and offer 2 sessions.
I thought it was extremely interesting to see how our different internet and technology uses effect the brain, (BTW, I would still love to get a picture of my brain lighting up!) and how with just a few days use you can activate areas of your brain. I am also captivated by the studies on multitasking. THe results that speak to the INability to multitask and how doing a simple thing like general browsing can cause irritability and inhibited cognitive functioning were added to my mental pinterest file. I swear that I am even seeing pop out windows when I look at people in coffee shops and the such, even without wearing Google glasses. Using the internet the way I do nowadays has me viewing the world differently. ANd reading the first few chapters if the iBrain book shed some light on how my brain is developing due to my practices. (Another side note: I was so interested in the first chapters we read of this book that I looked into purchasing the whole book. Unfortunately it looks like we got to read the best parts and the rest of it goes down hill...bummer.)

Avatar!

Here is my Artist Educator avatar that I created with DoppelMe. 

Not sure I would use this one again, too hard to use it past creating it.