I have the
privilege of working this semester with Mary Franco’s 2nd and 3rd grade
art students at John Ridgeway Elementary School; aka Ridgeway. I will introduce you to her students in a
moment, but I feel that this unique coeducational school community also needs an introduction. Ridgeway
is an autonomous K-5 charter school with it’s own governing board. Parents within the Columbia school district who want their children to attend Ridgeway are placed on a lottery style waiting list. They structure themselves within the IGE
(Individually Guided Education) approach towards education by:
- Combing two grade levels at a time - K/1st, 2nd/3rd, and 4th/5th
- Having there teachers work in teams
- Offering a flexible grouping of students with 3 tracks of varying student needs per paired grade level
There are
nineteen students in Mary’s 2nd/3rd grade art class. She explained to me that there are some “small
behavioral problems within the group,” but in general her students can be categorized
as a “focused group of high achievers.” Excellent! I am very excited to work with them this semester, and I cannot
wait to see how implementing VTS will effect their aesthetic thinking. I feel that students who normally feel stressed about coming up with a correct answer and shy away from raising their hands might benefit greatly from implementing VTS's permission to wonder strategy. I look forward to watching these types of students grow more comfortable in sharing their perceptions out loud. It may also benefit those students who traditionally have a hard time with being patient with their classmates, because they already feel that they have the correct answer. This type of student may have more time to reflect, and will possibly
see their fellow peers in a different light.
