Blog Topic #12

Assessing, Reflecting, and Planning

Lesson #5: Teacher's Choice image

• With Yenawine's recommendations for image selection in mind, I do feel like this image was appropriate for my high school students. I thought the image of a car crash would snyc with their prior knowledge or experience...many of them being around driving age. The image provides a mysterious narrative that prompts the viewer to wonder what happened before, during, and after the scene. The media in this image is photography, which implies a "reality" or "truth"....making the subject matter even more interesting in my opinion. There is a lot to find and uncover within this image, making it a strong VTS selection. 

• I thought the image as appropriately challenging for this group of students. There was enough visual evidence to talk about, and there was a nice level of ambiguity that left room for various interpretations. In the discussion, there were multiple opinions about the female figure in the photo. Some thought she was the driver, and others thought she was a passenger or onlooker. 

• Students noticed: 
• The girl was a reckless driver (cause of the crash)
• The driver was in a hurry/driving fast which caused an accident
• The driver was going on a trip...a suitcase is on the ground with clothing scattered around it
• The female figure was not the driver...b/c she has no bruises/scrapes (not injured) 
• The setting is in a residential area (house in the background)
• The crash just happened...b/c there are no police or ambulances in the scene 
• The road is slick...the ground appears darker
• The people in the house are home...b/c the lights are on and there is a car parked out front 
• It is sunset or night time
• It is sunrise or morning 

• I was able to scaffold some vocabulary/descriptive language such as residential, suburban, gradation, etc. I was hoping that they would comment about the feeling or mood of the image, so that I could paraphrase with juxtaposition, somber, eerie, tranquil, serene, etc. However, those opportunities did not arise in the discussion. 

• The big surprise or curveball in my VTS lesson was that half of the students were asked to leave the class at the beginning of the discussion for a school related meeting. Because of that, I lost a lot of students who were frequent contributors. I think if they would've been present, the VTS discussion would've been longer and more in depth. It was unfortunate. 

• Even though the discussion wasn't as rich as I had envisioned, I would use this image again with a similar class. The reasons are mostly the same as I've stated above: I think this image is relatable, multi-layered, intriguing to this age group.