Blog Topic #4: Assessing, Reflecting, Planning

This is the image I used for my first VTS session with my 3rd grade class; Image #1, Lesson #1, grades 3-5, year 1.  I have used this image before and I really like it because it has so much to notice!  My students were really engaged with many hands up at once ready to answer that first question, "What's going on in this picture?".  They began, as I would expect, with comments such as, "the mom is sick", "the boy is playing with a ball"--in other words, listing the different objects and characters in the painting.  But soon they began to notice details that made various interpretations and inferences possible, such as,  "the mom is sick because I see medicine and a spoon on the nightstand", and "the grandma/ aunt is praying over the sick mom/daughter because she is using special leaves".  It was interesting to me that my students noticed the picture of the Virgin Mary on the dresser and the Cross over the bed, "so the people must be Catholic".  I teach in a Catholic school and my students are Catholic so this is a good example of students bringing prior knowledge to a VTS discussion to help figure out "What's going on in this picture?" They also noticed the pictures over the bed that "could be the grandparents", and the picture on the dresser that "could be the dad who got killed in the war because he is wearing a uniform".  They noticed the "old fashioned radio, so it was in the olden days"; "but not that old because the lamp has a plug so there was electricity".  So, I think the students are still Stage 1 viewers, but they are definitely noticing more details and creating a "story" to go with the image.

Most of my students were very engaged throughout the whole discussion--some to the point of distraction as they were carrying on their own mini-conversations and not listening as they should have been.  But for the most part the students listened to their classmates and often revised their ideas because of classmates' comments.  

I think my new students learned how to VTS and what is expected of them which I will reinforce at the beginning of each VTS session.  My returning students really remembered how to VTS and felt very comfortable looking and commenting without fear of being wrong.  Even the students who rarely spoke up last year had something to contribute this year.  It will take a while for the new students to feel that comfortable but I'm hopeful that by the end of the semester they will.  There was one new student who tended to offer some "silly" comments, and one new student who seemed completely bored by the whole process. I really feel that he just needs to understand that he "has the permission to wonder", as Yenawine put it, and doesn't need to find the "right" answer.  

I felt very comfortable with the VTS discussion due in large part to the fact that I have done it before with my students.  I use the questions as written and try to paraphrase and link when I can.  I try to remain neutral, although I'm sure that I can improve in that area and improve in general.  That is really why I am taking this class--to improve my VTS skills so that my students get as much from VTS as they can.

In future VTS lessons I want to work on staying neutral, paraphrasing and adding vocabulary, and engaging all students.  I think if I keep the discussion going well the students who are distracted and distracting will become more engaged. They will enjoy having "the permission to wonder"!