Week 8

ü  Reflect on the Barrett article through a VTS lens

·      What is consistent w/ Housen & Yenawine’s thinking?

·      In what way might the authors be at odds?

I think Barrett, Housen and Yenawine hold the same idea that “learning to talk thoughtfully about art is especially valuable and learning to interpret meaning of works of art is more valuable than leaning to judge their value”. For discussing an image, I think Housen and Yenawine will agree with Barreet’s rules of procedure: 1) No side-conversations; 2) One person speaks at a time, and everyone attentively listens to that speaker; 3) Please limit your comments to one thought at a time so that we can better follow you.  Actually, I have a little doubt with the third rule. Because in VTS, we allow one viewer to speak as much as they can, the only requirement is he should find visual evidence to support his statement. However, I think this rule is reasonable, because when there are more people in the group, it will give others more chances to speak, rather than spend too much time on one viewer. I think if the population of the group is too large, I will use this strategy as well. Barrett’s ideas about description prompts and interpretation prompts are also consistent with Housen and Yenawine’s thinking. The questions she offered are similar with VTS questions. For the prerequisites for Dialogue, I think a suitable physical environment and select appropriate works are also essential to VTS. We need a equipment that let students to see the image clearly, they should even sit close to make sure they can see the details. And the selection of images is the key to VTS obviously.

However, some of Barrett’s thoughts might be at odds from Housen and Yenawine’s view. When discussing art, Barrett will have in mind a general theme or direction for learning that she would like the group to pursue. But in VTS, we are totally open-minded, we could let the discussion be “all over the map”. Barrett would not say: “There are no wrong answers here—this is an art class”, while it is what we believe. For the multiplicity of voices part, Barrett would like to “call on the silent one, ask particular individuals by name.” I think it is not a good strategy. We would encourage the silent one to speak if they have something what to share. But to “call on by name” is kind of forcing him to speak, I think the student will feel nervous and uncomfortable in this way. In VTS, I believe when students feel ready and safe, they will finally speak out themselves one day.