Edutopia - October/November 2008 - (Page 58)

No Right or Wrong “There’s revolutionary fervor in the room, and it’s not only coming from the image onscreen.” appropriate when they begin—to searchOn the student side, the discussion seems ing out the intentions of artists and dealmore free ⇓oating than most lessons they ing with elements of styles.’’ will ever have; rather than receive or But growth doesn’t stop there. As spout information, students are meant teachers adopted VTS as an art program, to discover meaning. For the teacher, they reported anecdotally that students however, VTS is rigorously structured. applied their newfound analytic capaThe curriculum speci⇒es what images to bilities to other assignments. Housen and show, at what age, in what sequence. VTS Yenawine began testing VTS as a way to scripts the teachers’ questions, down to the verbs, and spells out strengthen general learning. In a ⇒ve-year study in the Bryon, what they do—and must not do—as a student speaks. Minnesota, school district, Housen found that VTS developed To focus the group’s attention, teachers point to whatever critical-thinking skills that transferred to other settings—from children talk about, and paraphrase their comments to elevate group discussions to individual writing, for instance—and to articulation, introduce new vocabulary, and convey that they un- other subjects. In 1998, when the ⇒rst class of VTS veterans took derstand and value every response. Teachers link children’s com- the state’s eighth-grade achievement test, Bryon scores jumped ments to deepen the discussion and enable students to learn from 23 points over the previous year, two and a half times the averone another. Throughout, they are carefully nonjudgmental. age state increase, Housen reported. Many teachers say that’s the hardest part to master—perhaps no surprise in an education culture in which the cheer Small Commitment, Big Impact “Good job!’’ has become a tic. But the dogged neutrality is also An independent evaluation of VTS in a very different district— what many educators seem to appreciate most about VTS. This, in Miami-Dade County—found similar results. Students in the too, is not surprising in an era of high-stakes testing under the program for three years showed signi⇒cantly higher growth rates in visual literacy than a comparison group that didn’t reNo Child Left Behind Act. “In our school curriculum today, everything is so focused on ceive VTS, and this growth correlated strongly with reading and right and wrong, there’s a fear about speaking out and getting math gains. The program also promoted cooperation, respect, the wrong answer,’’ says Maite Iturri, principal of El Verano, and tolerance for various viewpoints. The 2005 report further an elementary school with 420 students—about 78 percent of noted that VTS was effective for students with limited English them English-language learners. “With this program, there is pro⇒ciency, helping boost vocabulary and writing skills. VTS, which started in grades 3–5, now spans K–8, and Housno wrong answer. Students who normally sit in the back quietly en and Yenawine are developing curricula for prekindergarten are now talking. It’s a breath of fresh air.’’ VTS grew out of the research of cognitive psychologist and high school. About 80,000 students will participate this Abigail Housen. After publishing a theory in the early 1980s on year; at a time when the focus on reading and math is squeezstages of aesthetic development, she formulated the ing out the arts, VTS is growing. “It’s a minimal commitment, with an amazing impact,” says idea that children should be taught to make meaning from images, just as they are taught to build meaning Barbara Young, the recently retired superintendent of the Sonofrom letters in a book. In collaboration with museum ma Valley Uni⇒ed School District, in Sonoma, California. The district piloted VTS in grades K–5 at El Verano last year and educator Philip Yenawine, Housen created a systematic, inquiry-driven method using stage-appropriate plans to expand the program to all elementary schools by 2009. art to teach visual literacy. The approach marked a Although hard data on the El Verano experience is still two years huge departure from the way schools and museums off, Principal Maite Iturri says a comparison of pre-VTS and posthad always taught art: Show kids Starry Night and VTS writing tests shows striking improvement, both in the use of language and the volume. And VTS skills turn out to be transferfeed them facts about van Gogh. “We spent so much time telling kids stories about rable not only for the students. “Teachers now have that inquiry art, in fact, that we were training them to be good frame of mind,’’ Iturri says. “They’re using it in a lot of other listeners,’’ says Margaret Burchenal, curator of education and subjects.’’ But for Iturri, the biggest payoffs of VTS may not come from public programs at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. “It’s as if you always read aloud to kids and never let them read higher test scores—at least not directly, anyway. El Verano is a struggling school ⇒lled with low-income on their own.’’ ONLINEVIDEO children who live in the shadows of the Actually, it was as if you always read SEE IT CLEARLY lush, lavish California wine country. VTS Tolstoy aloud to kids instead of working Learn George Lucas’s views on has lifted the spirit of the school, she says, up to him over the course of years, startvisual literacy at edutopia.org/lucas-visual-literacy as great art can do. “VTS builds con⇒dence ing with Dr. Seuss. A VTS paper describes and community. It enhances language, what happens when teachers stop telling stories about art that children are not developmentally ready communication, and inquiry skills,’’ Iturri adds. “It levels the for, and students start “reading” art that they have the capacity playing ⇒eld. The teacher accepts and celebrates all the answers to understand: “Over time, students grow from casual, random, the students give. Everyone is a winner.’’ e idiosyncratic viewers to thorough, probing re⇓ective interpreters. They go from ⇒nding only personal connections—which is Fran Smith is a contributing writer for Edutopia. 58 EDUTOPIA OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2008 http://www.edutopia.org/lucas-visual-literacy

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Edutopia - October/November 2008

Edutopia - October/November 2008 Contents UpFront Feedback Dispatches Sage Advice Ask Ellen Head of Class Cool Schools Design: Lessons from the Mall The Bucks Start Here Go Global: Virgil Rocks Big Ideas: Powerful Learning Mapping Their Futures Heart & Soul Pop Quiz: Suze Orman

Edutopia - October/November 2008

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