Tuesday, September 18, 2012
VTS Week 6
Video lesson
Here is a link to my vts session with my 4th graders. Let me apologize in advance for the blurriness of the video, I had no idea it was out of focus until our lesson was over. And this wasn't the best camera angle, but it was the only place to put it and cut the kids out (per district policy).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieivzOuRsz8
Also, this image was a poor quality upload- it was hard for myself to see the details crisply. Here is the link to the image that we VTSed: Grade 3-5 lesson 2 image 1 on the website
http://vtsweb.org/lessons/g302
Assessing Student Engagement and Learning:
16 minutes- 17/24 students made a comment- 34 comments were made.
Most of the students were very willing to comment on the piece. I still had 7 not make any comments. The students noticed so many different things with this piece. Students were drawn to the buffalo and Indians, especially to the fact that they were facing different directions, making them refer to movement a lot. One student made the observation that it looked like a reflection due to the repetition of the figures throughout the piece. Many animals were listed. Then came the interpretations of what the piece was made of "dead bear" and a student even referred to looking at the piece differently to discover that it looked like an animal skin. Many took note of the Indians riding horses and holding weapons and associated it with a fight, war, or hunt. Some tapped into their schema for their interpretations, for instance, "Out in the West, when their was a herd of buffalo, the Indians would jump out of the yellow grass and start throwing spears and shooting at them."
In the beginning it was a lot of listing but then they started to ping off one another leading to more interpretation answers. Most of the interpretations were coming from the students that had been really focused on the piece and studying it for a while. At least 6 times they said "I'm adding on to" or "I disagree with" creating great interactive discussion. A few times students would say "yes" or nod their head in agreeing with a classmate.
We concluded our discussion after the timer when off by me selecting the last three hands up. I always give praise and several students came up to me after we were done to give me ideas of what they were seeing. Students are obviously learning to get more detail oriented at what they see and describe. They also seem to be learning how to disagree with interpretations.
Reflecting on Practice:
The lesson went a little smoothly than last time, but I was nervous knowing I was being taped. I noticed that I didn't use Q2 until about 5 1/2 minutes in. I am also not sure if I am making a no no but asking question to with a recap, "What do you see that makes you think it's a bat?" or "What do you see that suggests that they own the buffalo?" I noticed that I still am not comfortable with my opening statement and would love to know what everyone else is using. While watching the clock in the beginning, I said let's take a minute to look, and I waited for 8 seconds- Ha, I need to wait longer. I am still really struggling with the paraphrasing, and it seems to be worse now. For the most part I think I stayed neutral, I did slip with an "Oh" when someone pointed out something I had totally missed.
Planning:
My biggest goal for future VTS lessons is the paraphrasing and my wait time to let statements settle in for myself and students. The best practice is to keep practicing. I am hoping to implement a bit more VTS with other grades.
Overall it was a positive experience.
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Kelley! You seem to be the only one that I can find that has posted videos...maybe I am not looking far enough into our classmates blogs.
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a fantastic job this time around! I really enjoyed how calm you were at first, I feel that by setting a very calm demeanor at first, the students will follow and begin their discussion in a calm manner but not in a competitive one. You did a great job at saying 'Good," after each student spoke. That is something that struggle with, making sure to throw a positive affirmation at them, if I begin my VTS session excited. I have to remember to stay neutral and remain very consistent throughout my VTS lessons. I also enjoyed how you called out each student's name, sometimes I just look and nod at my kids.
You were able to hit up their main points during the paraphrasing section and were able to speak clearly and guide the conversation while still monitoring the class. I also admired how you went right along with the students and their answers, regardless of how accurate they were. You consistently backed up the areas that the students saw and were able to reword their solution as a possibility, such as when the student suggested it was a flag. Great use of question two, especially when they were almost to the correct thinking.
I really feel that you did a great job using question three, regardless if it doesn't happen until a while in. It seems that at first you were just making sure all of your students were heard at first before prompting them to look at the image again. I found that during this VTS discussion, my students were a lot more aware of themselves as viewers and were able to keep repeating their classmates inquiries to form connections. It seems the more confident our students get and the more the students are exposed to the practice the more effective it is, especially for our viewers. I felt that the students were able to expand on their ideas throughout the lesson, especially when VTSing a physical thing that has been photographed. They seem to consistently make connections with the image and other facts that they have learned in other classes.
Great Job Kelley!!! I wish I could be one of your kids!!
Bit behind on the post but nevertheless I feel I could maybe pitch in some advice.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I love the mess up at the beginning only because that is exactly what I do when jumble my words and my 4th graders (from my field work/observation) love it.
I thought you did a really really good job when you "rephrased" your paraphrasing around the 2 min mark! Its not easy paraphrasing much less redoing it on the fly to simplify it even more. Honestly I wouldn't worry about missing question 3 since it seemed like you weren't lacking in getting responses and you then just started using it afterwards.
I don't know how you feel about your opening statement now but I just wrote mine down and said it several times. I've noticed that even when I don't say it verbatim to the boys they still pick up all the key points and know what to do. I've found that the waiting time in the beginning will help if you just turn and look at it and "ignore" the students and at least count to 20. Its something I've used to at least give a few seconds of pause and let everyone look it over before we start.
Hope some of this helps!