VTS Final Summative Assessment Description

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 17^th 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.