VTS Through a Differentiated Lens
Kindergarten students come into the art room with different abilities, experiences, and readiness for school.
VTS meets students at their "rediness level". Students are able to look at an image and bring what they know to the picture without being corrected or told their idea/thinking is wrong. I can think of a specific student who told me that the bird in Picasso's Child with a Dove was a rabbit. From her experience, a white animal was probably a rabbit. She has probably never seen a white bird. VTS meets students where they are and "bring them all to the same learning objective".
VTS uses both an auditory and visual means to teach its lesson. Students look at an image as a class and listen to answers of classmates as well as the paraphrasing that I provide. Currently, I have a student named Sam and his family is Russian. He is hard to understand at times and I have to listen closely to paraphrase his answer. Students are able to understand better what he is saying by the paraphrasing that I provide. He is also able to come up to the image and point out what he is referencing in the image.
*Learners are are working on reading the same image but are met with various levels of support through paraphrasing.
I have paid closer attention to the image selection this year. The images of VTS do reflect various cultures and environments. Each image provides and eclectic view of people, places animals and objects. Students are exposed to such a variety of rich imagery. What image sparks one student, may not entice another. Last year, I recall many of my student who live in the city were excited by the image Boy’s Sunday Trip...many students responded to the city and gave many concrete examples of city details. It is interesting how students do respond to culture specific images they recognize.
*Differentiating the learning environment by "providing materials that reflect a variety of cultures and home settings.
*VTS "provides effective learning for varied individuals."
*VTS provide "similar amounts of effort".
I agree with the above statements but wonder about the students that don't participate. I understand that they are still absorbing the lesson and will respond when they are ready. Is there a way to ensure all students participate?
Great reflections and a very provocative question. By this time in the year, I think it is very appropriate to expect for all to have offered observations at least once. Here is one strategy that I am using with one of our boy writers. After the conclusion of a discussion early on in the year, I went over to him privately and told him that I noticed he had been looking intently at the image while his classmates were discussing it and it looked like he had some ideas... and that I was curious as to why he hadn't contributed. He responded, "I'm shy." I told him that I, too, tend to be shy in groups, but that once I start talking, it gets easier. I asked him what he had noticed in the picture and he mentioned a few things which I praised. Then, I told him that I was going to call on him first next time because I wanted him to share his great ideas with everyone. I did that and he finally contributed. Now, he is still somewhat reticent, but I try to make a point of calling on him from time to time (when his hand isn't up and early enough in the discussion that everything obvious hasn't been mentioned)so that he gets used to sharing. It's working with this child. You might try something similar. I also had a student in Blue Springs that NEVER raised her hand, but everytime I called on her, she has something phenomenal to say. I guess she wanted to be "begged", so I played the game and called on her from time to tome. There are some teachers that actually say, "I'd like to hear from someone who hasn't spoken yet because I can tell those boys and girls are thinking hard and have some ideas to share." That might work as well. Let's brainstorm some ideas to this conundrum on Saturday!
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