Sydney Steele

Art 133 05, 06

October 4, 2017

Unit 3 Paper Vulnerability

Vulnerability one of the most difficult things for many people to address and discuss.

Vulnerability can mean a variety of different things to different people. Vulnerability in Visual

Thinking Strategies is one of my favorite big ideas thus far. The idea of VTS is that students can

openly discuss art, ask questions, and try and understand the artists meaning of that specific

work of art (Housen & Yenawine, n.d.). Letting students discuss openly in class can make them

feel vulnerable to judgments or critiques of their opinions and it is important for everyone

participating in the discussion to be respectful of those feelings. By encouraging students to

disagree with one another in a respectful way and build opinions off those of their peers, the

teacher is facilitating active learning and critical thinking.

Incorporating VTS into my future classroom is something I have been thinking about

since the first time it was introduced to me in Art 133 this semester. I love that we can freely

discuss the art and popcorn off each others ideas to figure out the meaning behind the work. I

plan on practicing this in my elementary classroom with pictures depicting vulnerability in the

new age. For example, I could show my class pictures of Hurricane Maria survivors and ask

them to discuss what is going on and how those individuals may feel. While conducting VTS it is

crucial that the instructor remains neutral and does not try to sway any students answers a

particular way. VTS is a discovery process (Housen & Yenawine, n.d.). This statement is the

very essence of VTS. The goal is to push students to discover new meanings within works of art

that may uncover things about themselves they never would have thought about without VTS.
Housen and Yenawine (n.d.) explain that the curriculum works best if instructors first ask the

question provided to start the student discussion, then listen carefully and acknowledge every

answer and paraphrasing what the student said, then facilitate discussion by linking what

students say to points other students have made, and then encourage further discussion and

inquiry. VTS is one of the best ways to encourage visual thinking and cognitive growth.

Reference

Housen, A., & Yenawine, P. (n.d.). Visual Thinking Strategies: Understanding the basics.

Retrieved from http://www.vtshome.org/research/articles-other-readings