Blog Topic #7: Why not tell?

After reading Yenawine's commentary on why VTS does not correct "wrong" observations I feel that he explains it so clearly and gives so many good examples of why students need to figure out the images for themselves.  His explanation makes so much sense and is so easy to understand especially after having seen VTS facilitation in action.

I too, struggled with the idea of "not telling" when I first became introduced to VTS (at a practicum 2 years ago).  As an Art major with an emphasis on Art History it seemed to go against everything I thought was important.  I'd been introducing my elementary students to Art History for years--much the same way I imagine Yenawine did at MOMA--talking about an artist and art style.  Putting the piece of Art in a historical context using dates and events.  Even though I tried to be very basic and thought that I was simplifying information I realize now that most of my students probably heard "blah, blah, blah" coming out of my mouth!  They simply didn't know enough to care about why Monet's Waterlilies are an example of French Impressionism (for example).  I now see that they enjoy the process of figuring out a piece of artwork much more than they enjoyed my telling them about an artwork.  It's like solving a puzzle.  And the collaborative nature of the process is so much more engaging than having one person (me) dispensing all of the information.  I almost think it might be easier to facilitate a VTS lesson at first if one doesn't have any art historical background.  Because, as Yenawine says "it is easy for non-experts to remain developmentally appropriate with their peers".

Just last week at a meeting of schools in my region I was telling two other art teachers about the many virtues of VTS and briefly explaining the process and philosophy.  I was met with incredulity when I said "and you don't give the kids information about the artwork".  So I did defend the VTS method by saying, "We're not really teaching them about the art, we're teaching them how to think--and they generally come up with the right idea by listening to each other, giving evidence and figuring out what it is they see in front of them."  But I really think it's hard to grapple with that idea until you see VTS in action and experience it for yourself.  I would also, (and did), recommend to anyone that they read Yenawine's book to truly understand the process as I think he states his point so well.