Week 9: Teacher's Choice Proposal

The Meeting
Pietro Longhi (Pietro Falca) (Italian, Venice 1701–1785 Venice)
Date: 1746
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 24 x 19 1/2 in. (61 x 49.5 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Samuel H. Kress, 1936
Accession Number: 36.16
Metropolitan Museum of Art

I chose this painting because next project Mary's students will be working on is mask-making, and I really wanted to find a work of art that referenced masks rather than a mask itself.  I thought this image would work well because the masks add an air of intrigue, and there is clearly some kind of narrative happening here which would allow students easy entry into the work.  I found it after watching this audio/visual (not really a video) here: http://www.metmuseum.org/connections/masks
The Connections section of the Met website is a great place to get ideas and think about big ideas and works of art that go along with them!

Week 8: VTS To Date.

I have seen a lot of change over the past couple months in the Unit C students.  In general, the students have always been eager to participate, but it seems like more of them have things to say and those who haven't talked as much in the past are starting to jump into the discussion more.  The students that were eager in the beginning seem to never put their hands down now.  I have seen some improvement in the quality of contributions to the discussions.  Every now and then they get a little hung up on agreeing or disagreeing with so-and-so, but they seem to be moving away from that now or at least beginning to all present different ideas, rather than bouncing back and forth between only two ideas.  Because we have limited time, I have never ended a discussion because it seemed like they didn't have anything else to say, only because our time has run out.  I am curious how it would go if we had all the time in the world.

I have also noticed that it has become much less necessary to use the second question.  Students are often offering evidence for their observations before I ask.  That I think is the strongest evidence of student learning. They are learning to support their arguments with evidence.  Students are also learning to piece together new ideas from what they learned from their classmates, and to help each other.  For instance, in a discussion of a photograph of Chuck Close that Mary lead, the students concluded that there was a self-portrait in the background, but the first student who noticed it wasn't sure why.  The next student said they agreed because he had similar facial features, and a third student said they also agreed because they were both wearing glasses.  I loved hearing them really building on each other's ideas like that.

The more I learn about and use VTS, the more impressed I am by the thought and research that has gone into the process.  I occasionally have questions about how it might work in different situations, but it always seems like that has already been thought of.  I feel completely at ease conducting a VTS session now, but I do still find myself stumbling over paraphrasing before asking the second question.  I seem to have developed a bad habit! I was really consciously working on it during my last session, so we'll see how that went when I get the video back. I am also still concerned about the students who have their hands up in the air before I even ask the first question and our time constraints.  I might like to try saying something like, "We only have enough time today for everyone to get one turn to talk, so please think carefully about what you would like to contribute to this discussion before you raise your hand." That might give students who don't usually talk a chance to contribute and encourage students to really think before blurting out something really obvious.

Blog #7: Conditional Teaching with VTS

Conditional teaching is not something that comes naturally, and is not something most people would think of when they think of teaching or teachers.  But I think maybe it should be. After just a brief introduction, conditional teaching seems like a no-brainer.  Ideas may be more easily transmuted and applied to other ideas when they are presented in an amorphous form.  

The creative process in the art classroom is especially susceptible to premature cognitive commitments.  Preconceived and closed ideas about what is "good" art, what art means and what art should look like may cause some students to perceive major barriers for their own creative process (i.e. "I can't draw.").  Art is a fluid, definition-defying subject, but if students develop rigid, absolute ideas about what a work of art is or means, they may become unable to expand those thoughts to encompass the true, multi-faceted nature of art.  If a student perceives technical skill and photorealism to be indicators of “good” art, then of course they will be quickly discouraged by their inability to create “good” art.

A student who is accustomed to being expected to provide a correct answer might also have difficulty engaging with art on a personal, meaningful level (i.e. “Just tell us the right answer.”)  But the instances when we actually know an artist’s intention in an artwork are few and far between, and the real function of that intention or the importance of that intention in viewing an artwork is arguable at best. The intention of the viewer is far more knowable.  Still, students who are used to being taught in absolutes may have difficulty trusting their own perceptions and experiences and how they affect their interpretation and interaction with an artwork.

VTS, through its acceptance of all ideas, use of conditional phrasing, and most importantly, the third question, "What more can we find?" can begin to tease out a student's greater understanding of what it means to engage with a work of art.  Students are encouraged along other lines of thought: “There is always something more to see, and other people might disagree with your ideas about what is going on.  That is perfectly acceptable.  Your ideas are just as valid.  Your contributions are just as valued.  Art is flexible and receptive.  Trust yourself and your abilities.”

Blog #6: Video 1, Assessing, Reflecting, and Planning.

Assessing

The students were mostly eager to participate in the discussion.  They all had their hands raised almost as soon as the image came up on the screen. I would like for them to really take the time to look before they start making decisions about what they would like to say because I think taking that time to look would really lead them past the listing kinds of observations into more meaningful observations.  At the same time, I am thrilled that they are so willing and excited to participate.

With this work, “The Tragedy” by Picasso, the students had a good mixture of listing and interpretation.  They noticed that the people had bare feet and were standing on a beach, and they noticed that both the date and the artist’s name were apparent on the painting.  Then they also made more meaningful interpretations, suggesting that the figures were stranded or poor.  One student suggested that the figures were praying because of their posture.  They also noticed that this painting highlights one of the abstraction techniques which they have been learning about, “unrealistic color.”

The students had a few interactions.  Most centered on some disagreement about the time of day depicted in the painting.  One student said night time, one said day, and another suggested sunrise.  The students also made connections with the observation of the unrealistic blue color and the mood of the painting concluding that something sad or unfortunate is occurring as if the figures were stranded or poor.

I think the students were applying some of the ideas they had previously discussed about abstraction techniques and it was good for them to see the technique of unrealistic color in action, and to see the way it affects the interpretation of the painting.  I observed them commenting on that unrealistic color of Picasso’s “Blue Period” and beginning to interpret how that color made them feel and how it made them see the figures in the painting as sad or somber.

Reflecting

I felt pretty good about this discussion.  It went much more smoothly than the discussion I led the week before about Rockwell’s triple self-portrait, and by comparing the two experiences, I learned just how important it is to choose the appropriate image.  “The Tragedy” seemed to be a perfect choice for these students.  They had a lot of interesting and various things to say about it and didn’t seem to get hung up on any particular aspect.

I am feeling very at ease with the VTS questions at this point and other than a couple of word jumbles, I think I used the questions as prescribed.  I have noticed recently though that I do not paraphrase the students’ responses before I ask the second question, I wait until after they have given me further clarification.  I feel like it would sound really repetitive, and waste a lot of time that we don’t often have to paraphrase what they say twice, but I know that’s part of the process so I will have to work on that.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear the students beginning to make deeper observations and interpretations.  In the past they had been doing a lot of listing.  I think this was a combination of having more practice at VTS and also the previous preparation for this specific kind of artwork these students had by discussing techniques of abstraction.

Planning

As I said, I need to remember to paraphrase before and after I ask the second question.  I would also like to work on encouraging the students to look quietly and thoroughly without thinking about what they want to say, waving their hands in the air.  I think that would help lead them to more thoughtful responses.  I think that will happen with more practice and self-awareness on my part.

Blog #5: Portrait of Possibility

My Portrait of Possibility is a 4^th grade girl who I will call Ashley.  I think VTS with be both a help and a challenge to her.  She had multiple great ideas to contribute to our VTS discussion of the Portrait of a Musician.  She noticed details about the instrument and the “formal” clothing of the musician.  I think she shows the potential to really grow in our VTS discussions, and that growth might help her in the artmaking portions of the class too.  She seems very spirited and has some trouble focusing.  I noted her bouncing around the room and was a little behind the rest of the class in the art process.  At one point she denied that her name was “Ashley” even though she was working on a project based on her name, “Ashley,” written largely across the page in front of her.  Luckily, I am not so easily fooled.

I think VTS will help develop her attention span as it grabs her attention with a work of art, but still requires her to sit quietly and contemplate.  This might help her better sit still and focus on her artwork.  I also think that looking at art will help her learn to value her own work and encourage her to concentrate and invest more time in it. I hope further VTS discussions will also encourage her to look more deeply past the obvious in the artworks and that I will be able to see her begin to notice more subtle details and meanings in the art.

Blog #4: Assessing, Reflecting, Planning.

The first VTS session I did at Ridgeway was with Thomas Hart Benton’s Portrait of a Musician, one of our paintings from the Museum of Art and Archaeology, which of course made this just a little more challenging for me.  These students had already done VTS with Mary before, and their hands were in the air before I had even begun my introduction.  Almost every student had something to say about this painting.  There was some discussion about what instrument the man is playing.  One student first suggested it was a guitar, then a violin, and then another student said he knew it was a bass.  He also told us that the musician was holding his bow incorrectly which he knew because he takes violin lessons.  Other students noticed the gradation of color in the background and on the instrument, and another suggested he was dressed for a performance because of his suit and tie.  They all seemed on point and focused on the painting. 

This discussion went very smoothly.  I felt very comfortable with the work and at ease with the VTS questions.  This was my first time doing VTS in a classroom rather than in the Museum galleries so that was a new experience for me.  It is hard to explain how it is different, but in some ways I think the students are more focused in the classroom, perhaps because they are in a familiar place and there aren’t a lot of other artworks around to distract them.  I also had never done VTS with that many students before, and as much as I wanted to call on each of them, it was hard for me to keep track of who had already spoken and who hadn’t.  When our time was up, there were still a lot of hands in the air, and I really hated not being able to hear what the other students had to say.  I would like to work on remembering who has talked already and make sure everyone has a chance to share their ideas.

Blog #1: Getting to Know My Class

The class I am working with for my VTS research is a  Unit C (4^th and 5^th grade) class at Ridgeway Elementary.  There are 24 students, 14 girls and 10 boys.  There are 11 5^th graders and 13 4^th graders.  I haven’t been able to spend a lot of time with this class in particular, but I almost always see a Unit C class when I visit for my field experience.  Because they are on a rotating ABC day schedule, it is always a different class, and seems to always happen to be not the class I’m really focusing on.  Anna is also working with one of the Unit C classes, so between Mary, Anna, and I, we make sure that all of the Unit C classes get the same VTS experiences so that our data will be relevant at the end of the semester.

My experiences of these classes is that they are all generally excited to be in the art classroom, and eager to work.  There seems to be two or three students in each class that have a hard time focusing, who talk all the time, or generally cause a ruckus, but even these students seem respectful and interested in the classwork.  There are also students who are very bright and meticulous.  I assume these students have always had art classes, but I’m not sure about how much art viewing they have done in the past. Mary has a great classroom with lots of posters of artwork from all over the world all around the room and I have done VTS almost every time I have visited, so I know they are getting a lot of it this year.