Basic Human Endowment Utilized As 21st Century Teaching Tool

                                                                      Maria Scuderi

University of Missouri

Research Paper on VTS for TDP: 7060

November 2011

                 

Basic Human Endowment Utilized As 21st Century Teaching Tool

Since man has walked the earth he has used his natural powers of observation to question, describe and define the world around him. As the progression of human knowledge has developed, it has done so through the systematic processes of observation, hypothesis, experimentation and observation of outcome. A child spends its infancy and toddler year absorbing the world around them through the observation of all the activity that passes before their eyes. Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) takes this natural ability and harnesses its processes to create a 21st century teaching tool. The use of VTS in the classroom measurably develops student’s abilities to observe what’s before them; to speculate and reason; to problem solve; to freely participate; to think critically and independently. These characteristics have shone to greatly enhance verbal communications skills, writing skills and visual literacy in all students, from students who may be challenged or have special needs and non-English learners to students who excel in school.

VTS is based on the work of cognitive psychologist Abigail Housen and museum educator Philip Yenawine. Housen has been looking into the nature of aesthetic development as pertaining to education for over twenty years. While doing her doctoral work at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, she developed a measure and method for assessing aesthetic development. She published "The Eye of the Beholder: Measuring Aesthetic Development," defining five distinct patterns of thinking that she described as the aesthetic stages (Accountive, Constructive, Classifying, Interpretive, Re-creative). Yenawine has been directing education programs at many museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Housen and Yenawine studied the effects VTS has on aesthetic development, and the relationship between aesthetic thinking and cognition in general. Instrumental in the evolution of VTS is the work of psychologists and educational theorists Rudolf Arnheim, Jerome Bruner and Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky’s research focused on the relationship of language to thought, and the outcomes of his research were extremely influential. VTS is expressly designed to address the concerns and abilities of the early observer. VTS is easy for teachers to learn, it’s inexpensive, and efficiently fits into school curriculums.

These two researchers realized that the appreciation of art has much more to do with how to look at it than listening to others explain it. VTS engages the viewer, encouraging them to observe carefully, connecting them with what’s being observed through detailed description and collaborating with others to explore possibilities and other perspectives. The research that has been developed has a visual arts program for elementary school students and teachers that uses art to teach critical thinking, communication skills, and visual literacy. Progress is induced by three things: looking at art of escalating complexity, responding to developmentally-based questions, and participating in group discussions that are carefully guided by teachers.

Students who participate in VTS are asked to look carefully at works of art. They then are asked to develop a personal opinion about what they see through three open-ended questions beginning with; “What’s going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that?” and “What else can you find?” Teachers point to the specific areas of the image that the students speak of while paraphrasing their responses. This paraphrasing validates individual student views while demonstrating language use, and reinforcing a range of ideas. This allows the students to express themselves openly without being right or wrong. Without a right or wrong personal opinion, multiple viewpoints can be considered. These viewpoints might be speculated or debated on which then builds on each other’s ideas. This, then, can lead to respectful disagreement and possible revision of a first impression. Students are asked to support their opinions with evidence as they interpret intricate, diverse material and while constructing relevant meaning together. This methodology not only uses art to teach thinking, communication skills, and visual literacy, but also helps students to develop respectful, democratic, collaborative problem solving. Rosemary Agoglia of the American Library Association wrote, “These multiple perspectives acknowledge the ambiguity of art and the variety of meaning that can be found. Probing these possibilities requires viewers to think about what they see, make inferences, form opinions, and provide evidence for their ideas—the basis for critical thinking”. (Agoglia 2008)

 Studies show that VTS measurably increases observation skills, evidential reasoning, speculative abilities, and the ability to find multiple solutions to complex problems across curriculums. It has also been shown to nurture verbal language and writing skills.  In Myrtle Grove Elementary School, Donna Laffitte reports “Visual Thinking Strategies significantly increased all students’ visual literacy and aesthetic development, as well as, ensured maximum participation, which developed a democratic relationship among the participants. Writing samples provided evidence of growth in language skills and thinking. Seventy-one percent of the lowest 25% of my students showed improvement in their reading skills as evidenced by the state standardized test. Eighty-five percent showed significant learning gains” (Laffitte 2004-2005).

Fran Smith in her article The Eyes Have It, (Smith 2008) says that K-8 classrooms across the country are using VTS to improve critical thinking, language, writing and academic achievement. Even Harvard University School of Medicine is using VTS to help make medical students more proficient observers to be better at diagnosing and ultimately better doctors. Smith states that a five-year study in Byron Minnesota found that the critical thinking brought about by VTS transferred over to other settings from group discussions to individual writings and other academic areas. Byron’s achievement tests jumped 23% over the previous year. Miami-Dade County in a similar study using two groups, one using VTS and one being a control group, found that the VTS group had higher advancement in visual literacy with a strong correlation in reading and math gains over the control group. Smith found that the use of VTS results in increased confidence and builds relationships with peers. For an underachieving or challenged student VTS levels the playing field of learning by creating an environment where there are no losers and everyone wins by speaking out and/or dissagreeing.

VTS is egalitarian in its nature. An “A” student and a challenged student share and learn from one another equally under VTS.  Kristina Robertson in a 2006 web article talks about how VTS is used with reading and writing skill and how each child can work at their own level. “Students can also work at their own levels and challenge themselves as they hear higher level questions that they can use as models after their next reading selection. It also helps them compose questions, which they often need practice with. The Visual Thinking Strategies method offers an easy, interactive and non-threatening way to get students thinking. There are no right or wrong answers, and anything that students believe can be justified by details in the picture. This opens up students' minds to the fact that, even in reading, people come away with different impressions and thoughts. These should be shared and discussed to further develop understanding for everyone. To me this is the richest lesson of all!” (Robertson 2006). Agoglia put it this way, “In facilitating such discussion, each person's response is validated through careful paraphrasing in an open, accepting manner. The reassurance afforded by this approach (there are no wrong answers) makes examining and talking about art non-intimidating and enjoyable” (Agoglia 2008).

Achievements through VTS go far beyond the old school strategies of memorization of facts and testing. “By using VTS, students learn to make meaning from the world around them, to gain confidence in their own ideas while respecting those of others and to contribute to a thoughtful debate amongst a group of peers,” according to the VTS Web site (vtshome.org 2011). This process encourages students to embrace multiple points of view. It develops a mind open to new ideas and concepts, which then can broaden perspectives in personal understanding, as well as relating to other individual’s, diversities. Virginia De Leon, in an article she wrote on VTS being used in Spokane elementary schools, said this, “Their experiences with VTS has influenced the way they read books, conduct science experiments and solve math problems. The students spend more time observing and they’re no longer hesitant to ask questions and share their sense of wonder about the world.” (De Leon 2009). It’s this sense of wonder that motivates a student not to be satisfied with just an answer but to push through “good enough” and seek a more complete understanding of what’s before them. Heather Sutherland of Garfield Elementary School says, “It has really opened up our world. It has built community here. Every answer is valued. Everyone feels safe to contribute…. I love that it provides the opportunity for all our children to be successful” (De Leon 2009). 

VTS in the classroom not only induces a positive change in the students but it can also transform a teachers experience as well. VTS gives the teacher the opportunity to expand their role as educator. Too many times in classrooms a great divide is created between the all-knowing teacher and the students. With VTS the teacher’s role is not one of having all the answers, Audrey Morton Miller puts it this way “…it's (VTS) had a big effect on me as a teacher. I've gone from being the expert, the one who always has the knowledge, to being more of a facilitator" (Smith 2008). Housen and DeSantis quote Rudolf Amheim description of the best teacher when he says “In the arts as well as elsewhere in education, the best teacher is not the one who deals out all he knows or who withholds all he could give, but the one who, with the wisdom of a good gardener, watches, judges, and helps out when help is needed.” (Housen & DeSantis 2009). In this process the students aren’t the only ones to grow. Teachers over time perfect their abilities to maneuver through the subtleties of paraphrasing the observations of each student. The same forces that engage the student now keep the instructor totally engaged also.  Oren says, “It's a very powerful tool that can really change how we educate ourselves and each other” (Smith 2008). Indeed they have to actively listen to the comments being made and be aware of what part of the art work is being referenced too so everyone is on the same page. The teacher exercises and strengthens their own vocabulary through paraphrasing for students, which promotes the expansion of their vocabulary as well as clarifying student comments for the other classmate. The instructor cultivates a stronger sense of neutrality, seeing all comments as worthwhile and beneficial in group discussions. The teacher’s creativity is also called upon to create links from one student’s comments to another. They do this while reinforcing the collaborative learning environment as well as each student’s abstract and critical thinking abilities. Dr. Maria Montessori once said, “Our task as educators is to observe carefully, provide support in the form of appropriate environments in which to explore, experiment, and refine ever-developing skills and understandings” (Whitescarver & Cossentino 2011).  

Teachers in traditional settings, for the most part, are compartmentalized in a classroom autonomously instructing students along with other single cell classrooms lined up with little to no interactions between one another. By facilitating Visual Thinking Strategies a simple method, based on basic human endowments, can transform the classroom into a dynamic synergetic sphere of influence in collaboration with other subjects and curriculums, creating a continuity of education far beyond what we see today. VTS can renew the best of teachers’ practices and give them a simple and refreshing way to stimulate engagement and interest. While students unquestionably benefit from VTS, teachers truly win. Teachers realize accomplishments personally and professionally that they may not otherwise achieve without the awareness of the processes of Visual Thinking Strategies.

           

References

Smith, F.  (Oct. 2008).  The Eyes Have It: Potent Visuals Promote Academic Richness.

Edutopia . Retrieved from

http://www.edutopia.org/visual-thinking-strategies-art-curriculum

Robertson, K.  (2006).  Visual Thinking Strategies for Improved Comprehension.

Retrieved from

http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/13279/

Agoglia, R.  (January/February 2008).  VisuaLearning to Look and Looking to Learn:

Visual Thinking Strategies at the Eric Carle Museum.  American Library Association. Retrieved from

http://www.ala.org/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/knowledgequest/kqwebarchives/v36/363/363agoglia#author#author

Laffitte, D. (2004-2005). Collaboration Approach to the Integration of Visual Thinking

Strategies in a 3rd Grade Classroom: 2004-2005 Action Research Project The Education Fund. Retrieved from http://www.educationfund.org/uploads/docs/Publications/Action_Research_Monographs/Visual_Thinking_Strategies_and_Writing-Donna_Laffitte.pdf

Visual Thinking Strategies web site. Retrieved from

http://www.vtshome.org/

De Leon, V. (June 2009).  Visual interaction with art boosts academic achievement.

The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved from

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/jun/01/the-eyes-have-it/

DeSantis, K. & Housen, A. (Spring 2009). A Brief Guide to Developmental Theory

and Aesthetic Development. Visual Understanding in Education. Retrieved from

http://www.vtshome.org/system/resources/0000/0097/BriefGuidetoDevTheory09.pdf

Whitescarver, K. & Cossentino, J.  (April-June 2011).  Visual thinking in Montessori 

            environment. Montessori International, 99, pp. 20-21. Retrieved from

            http://www.montessorieducationconsultants.com/uploads/4/3/8/3/4383767/vts-     montessori_international.pdf

 Nov. 28,

It was nice to see the boys after our break.
Today we started out with a VTS of the painting below

I did the VTS and found it difficult to remember the exact questions to ask even though they are so easy. I did ask the boys to say their name first since I still need help remembering all of them and so that we can identify who is speaking in the video. The boys were again, eager and ready right away to give their observations and did so with respect and by taking their turns. The first observation focused on the top center figure on top the hill and it seemed like the next few called were stuck on that specific area of the painting. I was surprised that they were looking at that detail and choosing that small area of focus when there was so much more going on down below. It took a while to get some comments on the bigger action  going on with the horses and knights. I also realized that I was wanting the boys to be more descriptive in their observations, yet I forgot to ask, "what more can we find?" After thinking about it I noticed that since they are all so eager to answer waiting with their hands up that I just moved on to the next boy without asking that question. I wonder what VTS says about adding other questions that are similar yet not exactly that? I think I said, "what else or more do you see?" and I wonder if a question such as "what adjectives can you use to describe what you see" is ok or not? I feel like I could have paraphrased better and that I could have used, "what makes you say that", more often. I need more practice if I am to be as smooth and competent as my fearless mentor miss Mary.

After the VTS Mary did a proper introduction to our unit on Knights and showed a powerpoint on the history and some facts of Knights and their code. Mr. Tilley asked the boys if they remembered what the Samurai code was and Mary asked them how they were similar. I think this was a good way to bridge the two and to create a connection with association.

The boys then sat down with their journals and worked on ideas and sketches for two more cards. Mary had read about Pages and Squires and then the boys created each of their own, with the same kind of information as their knights. I am starting to notice those boys that have no trouble jumping in and getting their drawing down and most of the info within a few minutes and those boys that need more time and discussion to help generate ideas and visions before they begin. Talking it out and parroting is good, but I also think having more visuals aids such as books or extra photos we can project might be helpful as well.

Nov. 14th.

Today we started our unit on 'Knights' with the boys. Mary did the VTS with the very rich image of St. Maurice. The boys were on it right away and it seems like their skills and responses had vastly improved just from the last VTS. 
The boys noticed many interesting details and many of them made suggestions and  implications as to who the men where, what position they held, what they were talking about, what had happened to them and what certain symbols might be. The boys had a very lively and engaging discussion while staying respectful, most times, when disagreeing with others observations.
The boys were good at stating what they saw and then adding "I disagree with ...  because I think..." A question I have is that when one boy is noticing and pointing out things and continues to go on and on making two or more observations is that ok or would it be best to limit them? I am wondering if when one boy points out many things if he may be taking away the chance for other boys to speak up with the same observation? Since these boys are older, they may not want to repeat the same observation and therefore not speak up. I realize the purpose is to not limit them and to allow them to express all that they find but it is still a question. Im wondering how it fits into the democratic idea of sharing the floor, so to say? Nothing was mentioned about the knight's ethnicity which was something we discussed at a meeting as to how to handle any questions or statements directly referring to the knight. The boys were more interested in the entire scene, the defining vestments, the possibility of battle and the weapons in the image.
After the VTS the boys were directed to return to their seats. At this point Mary began to speak about trading cards and how the boys were going to create their own cards with a Sir (knight) name with an image on the front and all the other info on the back. While Mary described all the directions, several boys were fidgeting with their pencils and notebooks and some began to draw in their books. I suggest that the boys do not bring their journals and paint pails to their tables until it is time to start using them. After Mary explained what to do and how to do it, two boys asked me what to do and later two more thought that they were creating the final card and did not realize they were doing a first draft to use for their final creation on the real card. Mary even asked one boy to tell her what the directions were for jotting down the information and he told her with accuracy what she said, but then it was the same boy later, that did not realize the paper was just a draft. I know how hard it is just for me to focus and carefully listen without any distractions therefore I am sure for them it is not easy to take it all in while some are talking and others are opening their journals to draw.

After the directions the boys eagerly began to fill out their papers. Some began with drawing the image of their knight while others began to fill out the information about their knights first. All of the boys were engaged and thinking and talking aloud about their idea and sharing with us and with each other.
They were smiling and excited. A few got done within a short time and had plenty of good ideas and a full image of their knight drawn. BoyJ, was having a hard time finding adjectives and describing his best battle. After talking with him and asking him if he ever saw a movie about battles he said, "no but I played a game". I asked him how were battles won and what did the knights or men, do to win? What kind of strategies did they use or secret devices? This helped him to generate ideas and he quickly started rattling off some good ideas as to what his knight did to win his great battle. I remembered what Mrs Tilley told us in the literacy meeting, and I parroted his statement back to him so he could hear it again and he said, "Yah, that's it." and I said, "Yes, write it down" and he did and all was good and right in the land of Boys Writers Club. The end.

I made a power point to go along with a research paper about VTS and would like to share it on this blog yet cannot seem to get into a post.
If anyone knows how to do that or any other way to show the power point on here please let me know.
Thanks

Thank You Cards...

On Monday, Nov. 7th, we told the boys we were transitioning from our Samurai unit into one about knights and that next time we would start that but for today we were going to do something different.
We got them up for a VTS and showed the Norman Rockwell painting of a boy sitting at a barrel with his dog next to him while he wrote a letter. Two boys made a comment about how he was not a knight and one said he was writing a letter to a knight. Interesting how just the mention of Knights remained a focus for some as if the image was tied to or had some hidden meaning about knights. The boys know by now that they are free to notice and comment on anything they want while doing VTS, and I believe that for some it is like a challenge or a type of game where they try to guess or figure out what we want or expect them to find, notice or infer.
Derrick did a great job doing the VTS and the boys were all eager as always to participate. This time we decided we would ask the boys to say their name first before they were called on so that those of us, mainly me, can start to connect the names with the faces and for the purpose of re-viewing the video later.
During the VTS boy W. spoke up and made some good observations. In my memory this was progress for boy W. since he is usually more quiet.
After the VTS the boys were reminded about our fun trip to the corn maze and told how special it was that the Shryocks opened the maze just for us to come and enjoy. The boys were then shown how to make a maze like card that had a secret pocket inside. After a demonstration of how to fold and cut the card the boys began to drall some of their favorite parts of the day and then add a thank you note to it.
It took a while to get some of the boys to think of what they wanted to draw and then what they wanted to say but by the end most had gone beyond my expectations and those having trouble starting did eventually get some good stuff down.

Success Stories - Gay Lundin

"You can almost teach anything with VTS. It's practically bulletproof," says Gay Lundin, an art teacher at Voyager Elementary in Howell, Michigan. She completed the professional development series in 2008, and now uses it to introduce every lesson in her classroom. She also facilitates lessons from the VTS school program, cycling all 550 students at her school through the art room on VTS Wednesdays.

Lundin was first exposed to VTS while reserching Project Zero through Harvard University. She quickly realized she wanted to learn more, and that VTS "is not an independent study. You need other people."

Lundin joined a group of docents at the Detroit Institute of Arts for the first professional development workshop. As she learned and practiced VTS more, she realized how valuable it would be in her school, but that she needed more training to get the maximum benefits.

"You can learn VTS in 20 minutes, but mastering it takes a lifetime," Lundin says. "It's so easy, but it's so difficult."

During the professional development institutes, Lundin was able to observe experienced and expert adults lead VTS discussions. Through these observations and group discussions, Lundin realized she could raise the level of conversation in her classroom though paraphrasing. "I'd been paring it down, which wasn't helping the students as much as bringing the language up."

"We VTS everything," she says, "not only the core VTS curriculum but the student's projects, and their thinking portfolios. 'What is going on in this image' is a way of life! Our Thinking Portfolios combine the creative energies that sketching and VTS writing celebrate!"

Since then, Lundin has been through all three professional development institutes, and she won a state award from the Michigan Association of School Boards, for the best elementary education project in 2006. "The recognition this award has brought to our school, has allowed me to share with others the power VTS can bring to one's literacy program. We all know you have to read before one can write...but teaching children how to see....makes writing fun!"http://www.vtshome.org/success-stories-gay-lundin

Mary VTS

Mary VTS 1

Video Day 1 (2)

Video Day 1

This week the grads took the boys from Ridgeway to the Dustin's families corn maze.

This was a well planned out trip to to farm for fun and for a learning experience.

The boys are doing VTS, readings, drawings and writings about Samurais. 

In our last meeting they had made very creative Samurai hats and done writings describing their hats and all of the symbols and special meaning each had.

For the trip to the maze, the boys wore their hats and were prepared to take a journey into the newly named, "writers maze". The boys were put into small groups of mixed ages to enter the maze and discover their mission. Inside the maze, at specific crossroads, the boys found special envelopes, hanging on a post, with notes inside describing a special task they needed to do and write about in their writers journals before they could continue on their path. This was fun and the boys were excited to open the envelopes to find their task. The first task was that of the Samurai Code of Bushido. This was the code that all Samurai and all people followed. The task was to write about one rule that they thought should be part of their writing club. The boys sat on the path to write and when done I asked them if they were all together, if they were prepared to travel on and if they were ready to practice their new mission while going onto the next. The boys got together and all replied they were ready with enthusiasm. The next mission they found was to "Stop", close their eyes and smell, they were to use their sense of smell, like to detect the smells of the trees, the damp soil from a near by creek, or the smoke from a possible enemy's campfire. This continued for three more missions. The boys seem to enjoy it yet they were also wanting to take off running through the maze just to see how windy and how long it was. The third mission for the boys was to "Stop" and close their eyes so that they could now Feel. They were to write about what they felt, such as the sun on their cheeks, the wind, the heaviness of their Samurai helmets. The last task was to use all their senses to imagine a great place of enchantment where Samurai's go for power. After the last writing, the boys continued on and when they turned the last corner, they came to a wooden bridge that they were to climb up. This was their place of power and at the top a Queen greeted each one with a mighty colorful sword, or pen in the shape of a sword, and she bestowed great power unto each  young Samurai as they passed. The boys were surprised by this and it added to the fun. Next the boys exited the maze and went inside the barn where they sat and got to witness the largest gum ball machine in the MidWest. They watched in excitement as a gum ball was carried up and set into motion through a moving, revolving, mechanical, musical machine. Their last task was to think of some kind of machine they would like to create then draw it and then explain what it was and what it did. Most of the boys were engaged and interested and had no problem with the prompts yet several seemed like they were too distracted and even though I tried to get them thinking of different ideas, they had no interest and refused to more then a scribble and a few words. Each boy got a gum-ball and so did the big kids and all were happy and had a great time at the corn maze.

Week 3, Oct. 3rd.

Today we started out with a VTS of two Sam. fighting on a rooftop.
it was interesting to have different interpretations of what the boys saw in this painting, such as women fighting, on a bed or a blanket.
Next I reminded the boys that artists use images (pictures) to communicate ideas and tell stories and writers use words to communicate ideas and tell stories and that the Boys Writer Club is about being both artists and writers.Then I finished reading where we left off about the Three Samurai Cats by, Eric Kimmel, and at one point I stoped and had the boys visualize, what the path that the Domyio took, and for them to visualize what it looked like, what was on the side of the path, who might he meet or was there any signs about Samurai for hire, or was there any places on the side for him to stop at, and what was inside? 
Some of the boys had no problem while others needed a few prompts to help them generate some ideas of how to draw a path, which I used other terms such as road, or street. I was asked can I put my house? or can there be stores on the road? I spoke to them about a general idea of what a road from long ago in a forest might look like and asked two of them if they had ever taken a walk in a big park or in the woods. They said "no" I asked if they ever walked to school or other friends houses in the neighborhood. They seem to be having problems visualizing a path and what might be on it or beside it. "Can there be a McDonalds?"

I did not want to tell them what to think or draw so I just told them about the story again and how the Damyio was hoping to find a new Samurai and would be riding on his horse back to talk to the Dosho. I told them to try to imagine they were the Damyio on his horse and told them to use their imaginations and create what-ever they thought they would see or who they might encounter. I noticed that a few did very maze like paths and others did straight street like roads with big buildings on both sides. This makes me think about how the development of vocabulary is easier to recall if it goes hand in hand with an image of the word. But then how to put an image with a concept or adjetive? I am thinking that some of the boys may have not had much exposure to picture books and possibly no one to read to them when younger. It is easy to watch movies and have memories of how things look but it can be difficult to visualize or imagine some place or space when there is no reference point. I wonder if giving the boys access to other books or images to flip through for ideas could help them when they are stuck. I have seen how one will copy off the other in some circumstances and that is to be expected yet it may just be out of frustration for not being able to come up with an idea on their own. I know it is easy for me to forget that just because I think the boys should know the meanings of simple words does not mean they do. If they are afraid to ask or admit that they dont know what a "path" or any other word is, they will have trouble from the get-go. 

I have decided to steal Derricks great idea and when speaking about the boys in these posts I will refer to them as follows:

B - Bryce

B2 - Bobby

B3 - Brayden

C - Cullen

C2 - Christian

J - Jaden

J2 - Jaidyn

O - Oliver

W - Will

copy right (Derrick the Man)

Going back into my notes I will start with the first day:

Being able to participate in this interesting research and learning opportunity with the boys writers club at Ridgeway has been such an enriching experience and I am looking forward to this new year with new lessons.

This year the boys group is meeting in the art room which of course, is a perfect place to be. The boys were given a great introduction by their commander and chief, Mr. Tilley. He gave the boys a quick power point to refresh their memories, help them to reconnect to the VTS process and get them excited to explore new images and stories. Mr. Tilley also presented a new secret, boys club pass-word which he projected as two images with a plus sign between them. The first being toes on a foot + a jar of jam. Mr. Tilley said someone had leaked out the old password and some girls told him what it was, so now they had to keep this new one secret. So 'Toe-Jam' it is and the beginning of boys writing club came to order once again with Mr. Tilley putting his hand to his forehead and saying aloud, "Toe-Jam" 

We started out with a VTS of a painting of a Japanese Samurai. The boys remembered what to do and instantly threw their hans up to speak about what they saw in the painting. We then gave the boys a paint can with white paper on it  and told them they could decorated it with symbolic stamps, japanese characters and letters to spell out their names. The boys got creative right away and enjoyed using the stamps and colored pencils to personalize their art containers.

After that our time was up but the boys had a good idea of what was to come and all seemed interested in the subject of Samurais.

The Way of the Samuri

While looking into stories of the Samurai I found the story of
The ultimate samurai warrior Miyamoto Musashi who started the two sword method and developed the deep psychological insight to defeat his opponent, what we term as, "psyching out"



The interesting thing is that :
Miyamoto Musashi was an artist

During his lifetime Musashi was as famous for his artwork as for his fighting skill. He created remarkable paintings, as well as work in clay, wood and metal, calligraphy, poems and songs. Some of his works have been declared National Treasures.
(http://www.kampaibudokai.org/MusashiArt.htm)

http://youtu.be/1NT1tPpkVMM