Teacher: Good morning class today we are going to look and talk intelligently about art works in a different way from our usual art criticism process. The new approach is called Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS). VTS allows you to examine art, think, to contribute observations and ideas, to listen, and to build understandings together. It will also develop your critical thinking, communication and visual literacy skill.
Now look at the picture on the screen for a minute quietly.
Teacher: John, can you tell me what is going on in this picture?
John: A group of basket ball players in a dressing or locker room sitting on a bench.
Teacher: What do you see that that makes you say that?
John: They are dressed in the 1970s basket ball outfit and I can also see lockers in the background.
Teacher: What more can you we find?
John: In all there are nine people in the picture the one that has turned his back look like the coach of the team.
Teacher: What make you say so?
John: All of them look like teen agers but he is an adult.
Teacher: So mean to say they are a basketball team players waiting in their locker room with their coach talking to some of the players.
Teacher: Mary: What’s going on in the picture?
Mary: A group of disappointed team players with their coach in the dressing room.
Teacher: What do you see that makes you say that?
Mary: I see a group of boys with a sad face sitting on a bench looking down, meaning that they have lost a game or about to loose the game.
Teacher: What more can we find?
Mary: The coach is talking to a white boy in the right backside of the picture and two of the boys in the front row have white towels on their shoulder.
Teacher: So In brief what you said was that you can see a group of basket ball players who have or about to loose a game and they are sitting in the locker room with their coach planning their next move.
Thanks you very much students you all did very well. I like the way everybody have something different to say about the same picture. We will be doing more of this in the weeks ahead.
Basic VTS at a Glance
by Abigail Housen and Philip Yenawine
Starting the Lesson
Introduce the VTS: it allows students to examine art, to think, to contribute observations
and ideas, to listen, and to build understandings together. Ask students to recall these
aspects of the process often.
Call students’ attention to the first image. Always give students a moment to look in silence
before you invite them to speak.
Asking the Questions
After they have examined the image, ask the question, What's going on in this picture?
Once students have learned this question, use variations.
Whenever students make a comment that involves an interpretation (a comment that goes
beyond identification and literal description), respond first by paraphrasing, and then ask,
What do you see that makes you say that? Once students understand the point of this
question, begin to vary it.
In order to keep students searching for further observations, frequently ask them, What
else can you find? Again, variations are useful once students are familiar with the point of
the question.
Responding to Students’ Comments
Listen carefully to students, making sure that you hear all of what they say and that you
understand it accurately.
Point to what they mention in the slide. Be precise, even when it is a comment that has been
repeated.
Use encouraging body language and facial expressions to nurture participation.
Paraphrase each comment. Change the wording, but not the meaning of what is said. In
rephrasing, demonstrate the use of proper sentence construction and rich vocabulary to
assist students with language.
Accept each comment neutrally. Remember that this process emphasizes a useful pattern
of thinking, not right answers. Students are learning to make detailed observations, sorting
out and applying what they know. Articulating their thoughts leads to growth even when
they make mistakes.
Link answers that relate, even when there are disagreements. Show how the students’
thinking evolves, how some observations and ideas stimulate others, how opinions change
and build.
Concluding the Lesson
Thank students for their participation. Tell them what you particularly enjoyed. Encourage them to think of viewing art as an ongoing, open-ended process. Avoid summaries; linking throughout is enough to show how conversations build.
Visual Understanding in Education
119 West 23rd Street, Suite 905
New York, NY 10011
212-253-9007, (f) 212-253-9139, www.vue.org , January12, 2010
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