Since I am not a teacher yet and don’t have my own class, I
have recruited some fellow art buddies to participate in my VTS discussions.
The 4 participants are college aged and have taken art classes during their
K-12 education as well as college. Two of the 4 are currently MU art majors,
one is an MU art grad, and the other is a college grad who took a few college
art classes. I want to teach high school which is why I chose participants who
have a lot of experience of viewing art. I’m looking forward to working with
the participants I have chosen, because although they are educated about the art
world, they don’t have the experience of viewing and talking about art in the
way a VTS discussion allows. Ideally, when I have my own class, I plan on using
VTS often. At the very least I plan on using VTS for each lesson.
From what I have seen, VTS is beneficial for students of all
ages. It is successful with young children as well as adults. I feel like at
the high school level, students may be a little apprehensive about speaking
their mind in case their interpretation is wrong. Therefore, I think VTS would
be most beneficial for high school students because they would feel comfortable
sharing what they really think, and it will help them stay engaged and want to
participate in the discussion.
Dionne,
ReplyDeleteI agree that your future high school students will benefit greatly from the VTS discussions once they get comfortable with the idea of speaking without fear of being "wrong". I also think your college art friends will find VTS a whole new way of looking at art. I know it has changed the way I look at art when I go into a museum.
I also think that VTS will change how even college art students will look at art. Taking studio courses and art history courses, there is often a "right" answer, even in college. And it seems like we look at the work we make in studio courses only during critiques. And sometimes the connection between content and technical choices can be lost. So I'm very curious to see how your art buddies like being refreshed on their viewing skills!
ReplyDeleteDionne,
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting group you have arranged. I am interested in teaching adults and I will be looking forward to hearing about your experience. I agree with Cindy that this has changed how I view art.
This really sounds like a great way for you to learn implementing VTS. I look forward to reading about how the freedom to wonder will shape their art making experiences.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if you have the challenges that we all shared while practicing VTS with peers, such as participants giving a lot of information in the first statement and not being able to go through the questioning process. I look forward to hearing about how it is going.
ReplyDeleteOlder students present a challenge in that the "one right answer" belief is pretty ingrained. With such a small group, you will also need to insist that they speak one at a time. Listening thoughtfully to each person's contribution as well as your paraphrasing are crucial to group meaning-making. Let's meet to go over images, too. The viewer/image match is also critical to VTS success. This will be a fascinating group to watch!
ReplyDelete