I created my final summative
assessment final of VTS this semester into a viewable piece of artwork. This
artwork sums up my thoughts and feelings I had throughout the semester. I want
to first start off saying that when I created this project; I was in a frustrated
and stressed out state of mind. My seniors are days away from exams and
graduation on May 17th with underclassmen not far behind with the
end of the school year. Because of this, students are at a point where they are
quitting and behaving poorly. In the past week, five students were suspended
and one was expelled. The one that was expelled was a senior. I can say that
frustration and stress is running high within our school and within my
coworkers. On top of my work situation, graduate coursework has boiled down to
a sometimes unmanageable workload adding to stress and frustration. Good thing
art creation is a therapy and I can express what I am going though!
I chose to create my artwork on a
gray sheet of paper. I felt that because gray is the true neutral; I could add
light and dark aspects to the drawing. I also crumpled the paper into a ball
and then smoothed it out before I started drawing on it. I did this because I
felt that this semester, for me alone, was rough.
I then created a roller coaster
ride in the middle of the paper. I created two tracks. One is blue and one red.
I created two tracks to simplify it representing one for my students and one
for myself. The tracks loop around and around and then intertwine. The tracks
go in the same direction because both my students and myself are trying to
reach the same goal in VTS. The end of the track has a list of words that I
believe VTS taught us throughout this semester’s ride. Some words that were
included were “Brainstorming”, “Evidence”, “Connections”, “Learning” and
“Understanding”.
Around the roller coaster track, I included colored circles
that represent the students in the class. At my school, each class is assigned
a class color. (Freshman=green, Sophomore=yellow, Junior=blue, and Senior=red).
Each of the color circles represents one of the twenty-five students in my
focus class.
I named the ride the Venture Track
Scrambler. I wanted to include the word VTS on the project in some way. I
highlighted the VTS in Venture Track Scrambler in a different color to make it
stand out amongst the other letters.
On top of the roller coaster track,
I drew a video projector. I wanted to include the projector because without it,
I wouldn’t be able to perform the VTS lessons with my students. I colored the
projector with black and white charcoal. The black and white signifies the dark
and the light side to some of the VTS lessons I had with my students. The first
time I created a VTS video with the focus class, it was one of the worst I did
this semester. Later in the semester, students knew what to expect and the VTS
lessons became better. It is the light at the end of the tunnel, to sum it up.
I was able to learn from my students throughout the VTS lessons. I enjoy
learning form my students’ everyday and especially when my students were able
to surprise me through the VTS process.
Next
to the video projector, I drew some students. These students represent my
students in my VTS focus class. The students are eager to participate in the
VTS lesson. They are wearing uniforms, like they wear at my school. The
students want to answer the VTS prompt questions. I wrote out the VTS questions
along the edges of the project page. Without the VTS questions, the procedure
and the critical thinking would not exist. I felt that it was proper to include
them in the final project.
The
last thing I created on my final project was the swirls around and overlapping
all the aspects of the project. This semester was a whirlwind. It felt like I was being pushed and pulled
in different directions. I was multitasking, overworking, and stressing out
throughout the duration of this semester. I wanted to portray the tangle of
tasks I took on.
