Blog Topic #7 - The Student

I am a firm believer that students do, in fact, respond to art based on their experiences.  I have really enjoyed learning the thought processes that occur within each individual student.  I have been taken to find that the most active students in the classroom are the most reserved when orally communicating a piece of art.  I, in turn, find it appealing and exciting that the less social students in the classroom are the more interactive during sessions.  I have also concluded that the more we VTS, the more relaxed a student becomes and the more easy for them to reflect on the works.  This being said, I have had to adjust my VTS focus from student to facilitator.  I have come to the current decision that I should provide less effort in trying to get a student to engage, and provide add more energy in attempting to facilitate.

In the group setting, the students seem a bit more relaxed than myself (in reflection).  I have come to understand through trial and error that tit is much easier to VTS a small group rather than a larger group.  I believe that it naturally makes the environment more intimate, and I feel like it allows for a much more open discussion.

VTSing the student has become a normal part of my daily classroom exercises.  I am not sure that I am facilitating appropriately, but I am looking forward to observing a fellow teacher as she VTSs her class.  I definitely feel that there is room for improvement in the ways in which I facilitate.  My biggest challenge to overcome thus far seems to be that I tend to become too involved with the student conversations.  Also that I do not prompt enough or use proper emphasis in ways to lead the student.  I am also focused on an entire group speaking, when I should be focusing more on the individual student at hand.  I have mountains, oh mountains to climb!