VTS Experiences To Date
In has been great to witness the thinking processes of my students this year. VTS discussions have opened a window that lets me view their cognition. To date, I have viewed kindergartners as students that need to be developed, which is true I guess of all people. Kindergarten is such of force of socialization that acts upon the children. It is cool to slow down a bit just to experience them, work with them, and reflect on their growth.
It has been a real eye opener to see the qualitative changes in their discussions. The change that happened mid year was astonishing. I was noticing the reduction of matching behaviors before winter break, but after winter break I noticed a lot of comments insinuating cause and effect and narrative. I really wish Mary would offer a research course next year to gather data on VTS. I would be interested in doing qualitative research that documented the changes in kindergartners, looked at classroom curriculum in the regular subjects, and tried to see if there was a transference of learning in two directions – art to regular classroom, regular classroom to art. But I think I would need a graduate course to help offer the validity to my request to the kindergarten teachers, since it would require time on their sides also.
The major challenge with my focus group is the behavioral challenges. This semester, I have been VTSing with all four of my K classes, but it is my focus class that has so many disruptions during our VTS sessions. My focus group is a conglomerate of behavioral differences. It includes the “regulars”, two very vocal CBI students, and three students with documented discipline issues – it is more than a classroom management issue – it is a survival issue!
Right now I am in search of a text that will supplement our class text and readings. I have early elementary art books that say they talk about meaning making ready to be picked up at UALR library that I hope may be close to our class text in terms of offering information on meaning making, but for younger students.
Right now, I think my writer’s block is coming from defining meaning making in the context of kindergarten. It is not something I have looked at before. I do like the theme of artist as storyteller, and plan to stick with it.
It's very exciting to hear about the growth you have noted in your kinders! That's not only a testament to VTS, but a testament to your skill as a VTS facilitator and, this semester, an image selector! Congratulations!!
ReplyDeleteAs far as the research course, Kathy's summer class this year is a research class; LTC 8750 - Review of Research in Art Education. I highly recommend it. You could use your kindergarteners and VTS as your research topic. If you don't feel like you'll be ready to design the study and begin data collection until fall,you could at least do the preliminary proposal writing in the course. There might also be some kind of arrangement for you to pursue this research as part of your program. Do contact Kathy about it. I'm new at qualitative research myself and don't know that I am ready to teach such a course, but would be interested in collaborating with you or being a VTS advisor for you as you pursue this research topic. I think it would be amazing!
I don't know if you've read it, but Terry Barrett has an article called "Cut and Paste: Interpreting Visual Culture." It contains a scenario in which very young children are taught about denotations and connotations with an age appropriate object from their visual culture: teddy bears. I highly recommend it as maybe a way to stimulate thinking about how to make complex art ideas accessible for little ones. Here's a link:
http://www.terrybarrettosu.com/pdfs/Barrett%20(2003)%20Interpreting%20Visual%20Culture.pdf