In Progress - Summative Project

 

Subway, 1971 by Red Grooms (lithograph)

So far, I have four students repoused, with another on the way this morning. I have narrowed my focus to the Nine who were post tested, plus myself. 

I am loosely basing my work on the installation Ruckus Manhattan by Red Grooms. I have pinpointed the use of facial expressions, gestures, motion and flat color to use in my final piece. I love Groom's caricatures, as well as his belief that art should be for everyone. His installations in the 70s were on the streets of New York, so anyone could experience the work at no cost.

Blog #14

Student	Total Word Count	Total # Adjectives	Conditional Language	Assertions w/o Evidence	Questioning	Inference/Predictions
Emily	165 /40+	16/3	8/0	4/2	1/0	4/0
Elizabeth	58/20	4/1		3/0
Anna Grace	40/30+	2/0	2/0	3/0
Marlee	27/40+	1/0	1/1	2/ 1
Payton	111/75	6/1	1/1	9/2		2/2
Andrew	20/5	1/0	1/0	3/1
Jamison	67/50	7/2	0/1	2/2
Rayne	15/25	1/1		1/0
Daniel	30+/45	2/1	/2	5/5

 

Pre/Post VTS

I need to start out by saying that not all things were equal between the two assessments. During the pre-test, a smaller number of students were in the class, and two students were suspended. The post test included double the number of students. Also added to the mix was the fact that the students were wound up. About half of our VTS session was spent correcting misbehavior.

I do think that this class still belongs in the Level 1 viewer category. They like to describe and make up narratives.  The changes that I have observed during the post-test as follows:

• Conditional language: I categorized ," I think that..." as conditional language for a kindergartner. The reason I did this is that I really think they were referencing their personal interpretations  in those statements. "I think.." statements were only made by one student during the pre-test. Most statements were, "That is..." During the post assessment there were more ,"I think" statements than, "That is."
• Listing/matching - The pre-test was laden with listing and matching statements. The post- test included much more narrative and three statements about cause and effect. The students seemed to get past understanding the image and started to more comforable make connections that led to narratives.
• Adjectives - no/ VERBS - Yes: I am listing a null change in the use of adjectives.  What I did notice was an increase in the use of verbs. During the pre-test the verbs were the obvious - skating, falling, snowing. During the post-test the students described slipping, running, dancing, spinning, and twisting. These verbs were added to their more developed narratives.
• Accessibilty: The students still have a hard time figuring out overlapping shapes. Instead they find humor in pictures that juxtapose figures.

Interpreting the qualitative data. 

• The advancement I viewed was related to the increase use of verbs when describing the artwork. The gestures and stop action poses really engaged the students and helped them to create narratives that were not evident during the pretest. Overall, the narrative and action in the artworks became expressed more in depth. I reference this development in a previous post comparing the VTS discussions between my four kindergarten classes. Using the same image, the class that consistently used VTS were able to read the image more successfully and become more engaged. They were able to go past describing behaviors in the initial viewing of the artwork, and make up many narratives. 
• Perceived inaccuracies in in the artwork viewed triggers laughter, not disdain. They are not level 2 viewers yet.
• I think that more research needs to be done into how language development of very young students both  is affected by and affects visual literacy. 
• I think the VTS scoring guide needs to be modified to accurately can capture the developments in the kindergartners. I would recommend listing other categories to document the fluency with which students in this age group have in verbally describing art. I feel I need to research the literacy expectations of this grade level to more fully understand the data.
• I would also recommend to future VTS teachers that  Piaget's stages of development need to be researched and incorporated into the findings at each viewing. It would give a general context to what the students are verbalizing.

VTS and 5th grade

I am using VTS for the first time with my fifth graders.  They discussed the image below after finishing a collage about popular culture. We are currently touching upon the Ashcan artists to pave the way for pop artists, who we will study for the rest of the year.  We start class by VTSing the image. I then give them a short excerpt to read from a Scholastic book which we discuss as a class. Then they look at the painting again and compare what they said during the VTS session with the information they read.  For the two classes that have done this so far, the students have made many connections with their initial observations and the class reading. It has been fun to hear the comments linking the two, and the comments have all been positive so far.

 

George Luks, Allen Street, 1905

The big differences between fifth grade and kindergarten have been 

• Management: The older students don't wiggle and have better manners.
• Linking: The fifth graders linked their comments to other students voluntarily during the initial VTS session
• Evidence: after hearing me ask, "What do you see that makes you say that?"  twice, the students automatically started giving evidence
• Personal experience: The fifth graders started their initial statements by saying, "I have been to a festival that looked like this, " or,  "I have been to an outdoor market."
• Movement in the pictorial space: The students have experience with overlap and other levels of space, so it was easier for them to move around in the painting.

Blog #13

If only eating my own words was such a pleasant experience................

On the day I videotaped lesson 3, the internet was down. Which would have been fine, except I had not downloaded a big enough file for the image I wanted to VTS. As it were, I had a back up image already loaded into my Keynote presentation. I ended up VTSing a panel of Romare Bearden's The Block.  This image was already in slide format because I knew I was supposed to talk about it with all four of my kindergarten classes to support common core curriculum. I didn't want to use it for video #3 because I thought it would be a flop.  

As it turns out, it did produce limited conversation and interpretation with the other three classes. Each VTS session was 8-10 minutes long. My VTS class, though, talked for 20 minutes about the image.

 

Romare Bearden panel from The Block, 1971

Source: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1978.61.1-6

Critically evaluate the work of art you selected 

 In my previous post I stated " On one hand, the images are like a "Where's Waldo?" book. For a student that interested is in looking at an image for a long period of time, these pictures are eye candy. On the other hand, the concept of time between the artworks would be incomprehensible to a young child. I also think the comparing of two artworks in kindergarten is a bit much, since they are learning how to look at artwork. Both images lack in accessibility also. To understand the Breugel on even a surface level, one would need to know about rural life and the name of most of the objects in the painting. I think a lack of perquisite knowledge would prevent them from getting the overall feel of "community," even though  they would be fascinated with it. The Beardon has lots of colors, but it isn't easily readable.  Even on a large screen, the collaged black and white images are hard to see. The students would have to be right up to the image to see some of the figures. It would be hard to VTS. I think that both artworks, though interesting, may be better suited for a second grader who has the capacity to "read" an artwork or book."

Reflection

Based on Yenawine's guildelines for beginning viewers, I think this image was off because of the lack of personal experience this group of six year olds have had with the subject matter: big city life and a funeral. On the other hand, I knew most students attend church with their families and would recognize some of the religious images. They also know what cities are, though the community that feeds into this school does not have apartments - students live in houses, mobile homes, or multiple family homes. Also, given they are stage 1 viewers, they are open to art that isn't realistic, and don't pass judgment like a stage 2 viewer would. I do have two students that do list unrealistic characteristics of the images they discuss, and they find it funny.

I have contrasting results from my K VTS class and the other three K classes at the same school. In summary, the other classes that have only VTSed once before spent the discussion listing items they saw in the picture, such as rectangles, doors, people, buildings, and colors. A few students in these classes started narratives about the image, such as a person falling, and the people below were there to catch them. Out of these 3 classes, one student stated that the picture was of a city, and another student seemed to be figuring out movement in the space of the image, saying the people went in the door on the left and came out of the door on the right.

By comparison, the VTS class listed items less, and made more narratives. They listed actions such as a bomb exploding, a person in the door placing a bomb and running away, a robber, a robber pushing someone off the building and the crowd below would catch the person with a trampoline, etc. One student did state that he couldn't see the faces of the people in the picture, but I think this group was comfortable enough talking about artwork that the challenge was just right. There was a variety of opinions and stories offered, and the class discussion lasted 8 more minutes than it usually does!

Features of the artwork that the students focused on were the people, the angels, the large face in the upper right hand corner of a building, and people in the space of the stairs and doorways. They interpreted gestures of the figures, perhaps since they couldn't read the faces.

The surprise was that they were so intrigued by the image - I would have saved it for an older group of students.  If I were to VTS this image with kindergarten students again, it would be after the students had VTSed at least 6 times, so as to not frustrate a newbie who had very little experience looking at art and talking about it.

This is the project we are doing following the VTS session, to help them understand the type of image they were looking at.

Kindergarten Common Core

Kindergarten is beginning Unit 3 in common core language arts. The two images art teachers are supposed to discuss with the students are a panel of Romare Beardon's The Block (1972) and Bruegel's Netherlandish Proverbs. They are supposed to compare them side by side and explain there is a 400 year difference between the two. The students are to be shown a panel of the block or a section of the Bruegel and write a one sentence description of what is happening. The overarching theme of the unit is community.

IMO - On one hand, the images are like a "Where's Waldo?" book. For a student that interested is in looking at an image for a long period of time, these pictures are eye candy. On the other hand, the concept of time between the artworks would be incomprehensible to a young child. I also think the comparing of two artworks in kindergarten is a bit much, since they are learning how to look at artwork. Both images lack in accessibility also. To understand the Breugel on even a surface level, one would need to know about rural life and the name of most of the objects in the painting. I think a lack of perquisite knowledge would prevent them from getting the overall feel of "community," even though  they would be fascinated with it. The Beardon has lots of colors, but it isn't easily readable.  Even on a large screen, the collaged black and white images are hard to see. The students would have to be right up to the image to see some of the figures. It would be hard to VTS. I think that both artworks, though interesting, may be better suited for a second grader who has the capacity to "read" an artwork or book.

The common core units each have a theme, and there has been little unity in the sequence of artwork between the units. I would fail most of the common core images if I judged them by Yenawine's suggestions for beginning viewers. It is obvious this part of the curriculum was not field tested before implementation. (But really, none of it was!) Not that I have an opinion on the matter. I like my job ;).

Blog #12

The Fallen Angel, Hugo Simberg, 1903
Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wounded_Angel
Hugo Simberg was a Finnish Symbolist Painter. I came across the image researching a presentation for fourth grade about Picasso.  The artist never offered an explanation of the work.

The kindergarten class that has VTSed with me this semester are Stage 1 viewers. They make concrete observations and try to find narratives in works of art. Using Philipp Yenawine's article on image selection as a guide, I have chosen the above image for lesson 6.

• Accessibility: The figures and setting of the image can be described by this class. I think most will know the central figure is an angel, and they can see that the boys are carrying her.
• Captivation: Knowing how 6 year olds are captivated by boo-boos and band-aids, I think the angel may jump-start their storytelling.
• Expressive content: The painting offers layers of meaning to be interpreted. But with this age group, I think they'll focus on making literal interpretations and won't get the metaphor.
• Narrative: There will be questions of why the boys are carrying the angel, if it is a real angel or a person dressed up, and what happened to her. Some might also explain where the trio is going.
• Diversity: Time - early 20th century
• Realism: The painting is realistically painted.
• Media: Painting for ease of reproduction
• Subject: The painting will offer the students an opportunity to build a narrative from an image that looks like a genre painting.
• Sequences: This painting may be more ambiguous because the angel is a mythological figure in a realistic setting.
• Series: The VTS images do far have been concerned with people: recreation, families, and friends engaged in recognizable activities. This painting includes children going somewhere in a recognizable landscape.
• Mythological/ Religious Subject Matter: Although Yenawine suggests avoiding such subject matter for beginning viewers most of the time, I think there is enough accessible drama in a simple composition for the kindergartners to figure out.

I think the biggest challenge for this group is figuring out why there is an angel in the setting. Some may be content with listing and matching and not ask why the angel is there.  They will probably focus on the children in the foreground and the body of water in the background. If they are just content with listing and matching, the discussion could fall flat. A few students usually make narratives that the others react to, though. I do not expect a metaphorical interpretation of the painting. I do expect they'll start to make a story to explain it.

Blog #11

 

William H. Johnson Boy's Sunday Trip

Assessing Engagement and Learning

Student willingness to participate is sustained. Out of 13 students that can be recorded, nine had hands up to answer questions before I gave my opening spiel. Over time, it has gone from a few hands to over half the class. The last 4 sessions were started similarly to this one. The students are still listing items they see in the artwork. However, one girl interpreted the buildings as being part of a hospital complex. Another boy noticed the texture of the shirts and said the boys had played in the grass and gotten dirty. On the whole, they are still trying to make sense of what they see and find language to communicate their concrete observations. All but one student today had to be prompted to explain, when necessary. The students still voice their agreement, disagreement through listing their observations for me. There is a bit of inflection in the  “I think…” when a student is offering a differing opinion. The students are less surprised when they list items that are rendered unrealistically. They still laugh loudly.

Reflective Practice

One thing I noticed by reviewing the video is that the students wiggled less. The discussion seemed limited, even for kindergarten, as few students went past listing. The students that usually offer the deeper interpretations only listed unrealistic aspects of the painting. However, they were easier to manage, even as the class has grown by two students.  The way I am asking and replying hasn’t changed. I did notice a different use of vocabulary from one of the quieter girls in class. She pointed out the boxes “in the background.” This was exciting for me as some students have a hard time talking about space in the images. She’s been listening! I do need to use my foreground, middle ground, and background more in talking about the division of space.  I scaffolded in paraphrasing texture, gesture, and speaking about the artist’s use of paint.

Planning for the future

I need to work on getting more art vocabulary scaffolded. I can doing this by listing some art vocab that may be relevant to the students, if the opportunity arises,  before viewing. I definitely would like to continue using VTS with this grade to see how they develop. I think I feel a little more comfortable picking ages for this age group to VTS.