I believe that my image of the T.H. Benton painting "The Wreck of Ole 97" was appropriate for the class of 2nd and 3rd graders that took part in this discussion. From the beginning the students seemed very engaged and many were wanting to share their ideas with the group. This image seemed to me to be good for storytelling which is popular to do with this age group.
Many students got into the narrative of a train about to wreck because the track is depicted as broken. Another common topic was the interaction with people riding the horse and wagon that appear to be about to collide with the train. I observed that the order of events was viewed differently by several comments. Was the horse and wagon running up to the train to warn the people in the wagon about the train wreck or were they about to get hit by the train as they were riding down the road? One student noticed that the train was going very fast because of the intense fire coming out of the smokestack of the engine. Others noticed that it could be a western location or high location due to the lack of trees, and the brown grass. Also noticed was the old-time era due to the use horse and wagon as transportation.
I noticed a few times when I thought to myself, hey "I am scaffolding language here" by my use of language in my descriptions. I want to improve that and be more frequent and improve paraphrasing. Looking at the image in advance and practice can help. For example, I did not notice a figure falling out of the train until I saw a larger image of the painting in the classroom before we began. So looking carefully first would help. I was happy that many students were able to share ideas and that I was remembering who I called on earlier, so more students participated than other sessions. The last surprise was at the end when I asked them if they liked this image, the responses were mixed; some yes, some no. It seemed at the time that most of them liked looking and talking about it, so I think a few no responses could have been to just be contrarian. I would use this image again based on our discussion and interest level.
This was a really great image and some great discussion. I was particularly impressed with the little girl's comment about it being a high altitude (above the tree line, I think she said) because of the absence of trees! LOVE it how VTS increases your mindfulness as you teach! The fact that you noticed yourself scaffolding language is proof the YOU were engaged and paying mindful attention to your practice! KUDOS!!
ReplyDeleteI think you picked a great image for your age group. It seemed to offer lots of storytelling possibilities, which, as you mentioned is what this age loves to do. The fact that the kids could see a variety of possibilities fits in perfectly with Yenawine's guidelines for image selection. The kids also brought a lot of their own knowledge to the discussion when they knew about the topography, landscape and historical details, etc. (Science, geography and social studies teachers would be pleased!) I also thought you did a great job of scaffolding language. Especially the word "vista"--a perfect word for what the student was describing! I agree with you that the kids that said "they did not like the image" were just being contrary. Next time don't ask them a question that gives them an opportunity to be negative! I thought your enthusiasm for the image made it a really great discussion--Good job!
ReplyDeleteI agree that core content teachers would be impressed with the knowledge kids brought to this discussion and used! This is a super image choice from all "vistas!"
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