Week #5

I have a student that is currently in the class that I am preforming the VTS assignments in, that has become “my project” for the semester. Lets call this student Mike, due to the fact that he reminds me of the main character in the movie The Blind Side.  He is quiet.  I believe that he is smart, but doesn’t give effort in his schoolwork. He is kind to everyone he talks to and he is tall and big; getting the picture. But unlike Mike in the movie where he found his place playing football. My Mike loves to draw. He carries around a notebook that he is always doodling in. All his other teachers tell me about his notebook. When I see him siting alone at lunch, he is always drawing in it. I take the time to sit down with him and page through the book. He loves to draw cartoon stories. I have asked him to take the time and draw out a comic for our school’s newspaper, but he has not yet. He was very excited that I asked him to draw for the newspaper, but he missed the deadline. I am determined to get him to draw one by the end of the school year. Anyways, With VTS, I believe that it might give a voice to Mike. He struggles with writing and in his Pre VTS assessment he only wrote down thirty words. He was very exact and did not explain a lot of details. I think that with VTS Mike can voice what he sees in the image. He can be guided by the group’s opinions to form and alter his own. I would like to see him participate in the group VTS but I am not sure if he will. I will try my best to make sure that he has every opportunity to voice his thoughts. I will make sure that he is sitting within the group and not on the group boundary. Like I said before, I want Mike to succeed in school and if his outlet is through drawing, I want to present every opportunity there is for him in my classroom.