There was a lot to chew on in this foundational set of readings. I'll just stick to the surprises/insights for this post:
1) VTS is a social learning experience -- I was particularly taken by the use of the term "group mind" in the two Yenawine articles. The notion of collective creativity and knowledge creation has been very much on my radar lately (largely thanks to this article), so while I'd already considered VTS within the construct of peer tutoring. I think I had mostly thought of this as a peripheral benefit of the VTS model, so it was enlightening to see it foregrounded in these readings. It also brought to mind the Barrett articles that we read for LTC8740 and his emphasis on art interpretation as both a personal and communal endeavor.
2) Within that social learning framework, I have some very clear responsibilities as facilitator that I need to work on honing -- I need to keep in mind that I am modeling the notion that "listening to and trying to understand others is important" (VTS manual, p 6). I've not reviewed my videos yet, but I suspect that I rush things too much in my eagerness to acknowledge and move to the next comment. I need to model what it looks like to take time and carefully consider each participant's input and I need to review this specific component of our activity before beginning the discussion by explaining that we are here to "build understandings together" (p 24).
3) I need to encourage this type of deliberation from the get-go -- I suspect that I get in a rush because I'm eager to respond to the students' eagerness to share their observations. Lately, we've begun the session with the image already on the board and the students usually have their hands raised before I even begin to remind them of the VTS expectations. I suspect that if we're more careful about not showing the first image until after the preparatory conversation, the students will be more likely to more closely attend to that discussion. This is particularly important because I want to encourage the boys to adhere more closely to the "building understandings" notion as opposed to the tendency to list observations that don't lend themselves well to the "what do you see that makes you say that" question. I believe that all of the boys have demonstrated themselves capable of creating understandings but I think they may get in a hurry to contribute and default on these lists as a result. It will be tricky to encourage progress in this regard because the first question is deliberately engineered to be open enough to allow for all types of response and I don't want to take away any tools from the toolbox, but I do want to reorient our understanding of what the VTS session entails.
4)VTS and Big Ideas, a perfect pair -- Finally, it was interesting reviewing the the Walker text through the lens of VTS because I'd never realized how closely their goals are aligned. Each attempts to scaffold students as they build a knowledge base on which to create meaning. Each allows plenty of wiggle room for curriculum to be tailored to the students abilities and interests. Each moves students further along a path from personal meaning making to a broader application and understanding of meaning as a matter of multiple salient perspectives.
Also, I'd like to reiterate that I've not reviewed my VTS videos yet, so it's entirely possible that I've been overly critical about what I think can or should be improved upon. These were just my gut reactions as I read these texts and reflect the extent to which I felt my own efforts were not yet fully formed. I'm eager to see what other impressions arise as I review the video record.
