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.