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.