Learning: Making it Personal
Lise G. Mayne

“Personalized learning”. “Differentiated instruction”. These educational buzzwords send many teachers into a tailspin, fearing they must design program plans for each student. “How will I manage thirty different activities at once?” “How will I assess each student’s needs, develop strategies for each subject and then track and report individual progress?” The prospect seems daunting, the task, impossible. “Can’t I just have my old textbook back?”

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Artist’s Exemplar

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Line Drawing

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Demonstration of Technique

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Students hard at work

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Students hard at work

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Students hard at work

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Students’ Completed Paintings

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Students’ Completed Paintings

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Students’ Completed Paintings

The problem with such thinking is the focus on the role of the teacher, rather than the expected outcome for the learner. It is the learner who is obliged to integrate the knowledge and experience and develop a connection with the subject matter. To be learned, information must become embedded in the neural network of the brain. Ideally this process should be so satisfying as to seem almost effortless. When the teacher creates an environment where each student is enthusiastic about the material, with the internal drive to master the techniques or to understand the concepts, learning takes on a sense of urgency. The students don’t want to stop learning. Even thoughts of recess become secondary to the excitement of discovery and creation. Every teacher has experienced this, and thought, “Wow, I wish it were like this every day!” Of the hundreds of school hours, such moments are often seminal, inspiring students to explore their passion. They may suddenly love a subject and pursue it, or develop a talent they already possessed. But they must gain trust in their ability to solve problems when they arise. We know that unless students develop ongoing internal positive feedback, they make other choices, or simply drop out.

So, what are the essential components to setting up such an environment? As opposed to differentiated instruction, personalized learning suggests choice of time, materials and technique, and freedom for experimentation, discovery and problem solving. At the same time, outcomes must be clearly defined and demand persistence and attention to detail. The learner must really, really want to be successful. Therefore, the model must be challenging but attainable. The knowledge has to be seen by the student as useful. On completion, the student will be able to explain their understanding. By this time, it should be personal.

Sound complicated? Well, it depends upon the expertise and experience of the teacher, who sets up the conditions for optimal learning. As a former principal, I evaluated many teachers who achieved this. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit Monterey Park School in Calgary, for the purpose of observing my own husband! Jeremy Mayne has been an Artist in Residence in Alberta schools for many years. His students have ranged from Kindergarten to University and I have always been amazed at the quality of work they have achieved. Since I am currently on leave, I wanted to see exactly how he teaches. Sensitive to my personal bias, I donned my old “principal” glasses, and watched two grade four classes. I came away even more convinced that arts education is crucial. I also witnessed the essential components of personalization outlined in “Personalised Learning, A Practical Guide,“(DCSF Publications, Nottingham, NG, 2008). I hope the reader will trust that I assessed the learning environment objectively as I describe the process and results.
Jeremy is a professional artist with a Master of Fine Arts Degree. With thirty years of teaching experience, Jeremy is adamant that the arts not be the “handmaiden” of the curriculum, but rather taught as a discipline. However, observing and representing the world through visual media allows a myriad of concepts to be transmitted and integrated and so, by its very nature, art is inclusive of many subjects.

The day’s lesson illustrated how art instruction can accomplish numerous learning goals simultaneously. Calgary’s Glenbow Museum recently hosted an exhibit of work by Columbian artist Fernando Botero. Since many classes planned to visit, Jeremy worked with teachers to unpack the curriculum outcomes addressed through studying the artist’s work. While learning about the artist, students would copy his style to better understand light and shadow and the light spectrum, as well as gain descriptive words like “translucent”. Many of the students have English as their second language, but all students benefit from this vocabulary.

The artist Botero has much to say about the ills of society, and many of his paintings deal with violent subjects. Jeremy explained that they would focus on Botero’s still-life work and exaggerated style. Starting with a simple line drawing on manila tag, he showed how to mix colours on paper towel, without sullying the palette of primary colours plus white, which four students would share. He demonstrated techniques for cleaning and holding the brush. As he worked, he asked questions: What colour will I get if I mix blue and yellow? How do I make brown? Where is the light coming from? How does the level of light affect color? The students watched in fascination as the painting emerged. Jeremy said to paint carefully next to the line drawings, but to brush all different directions in the background. Therefore there was an appealing mix of precision and abandon. Anxious to begin, the children rushed to their desks, as the teacher reminded them that in a “right-brain” activity, voices are “off”. Soft music played while they worked quietly, diligently, excitedly for one hour. Each student chose their own fruit, jar style and colours, experimenting with shades. Sometimes they called for Jeremy, but they also problem-solved on their own, or helped each other. As the painting progressed, students could be heard whispering, “I love this colour”; “Look how real mine looks”; and asking questions: “What colour would go with the floor?” “How do you get turquoise?” “What if I don’t like the colour? (answer – let it dry and paint over it!)”.

Tempera paint dries quickly, so Jeremy did a second demonstration that revealed a specific technique to produce shadows. He explained how graphite “grabs” the dry paint surface, so when you draw a simple line where the shadow would be and smudge it with your little finger, “voila!” the object suddenly looks three dimensional. The shadow of the fruit is simply a dark oval shape next to its base. The students exclaimed that the process was easy, while Jeremy reinforced the ways in which artists “create” three dimensions. They couldn’t wait to put in their own shadows and make their paintings “pop”.
All students experienced success with this project. No one was given a different task. The students challenged themselves as they worked. The results met the goal, when compared to the model. The engaging learning atmosphere and achievement of the expected outcome developed through the following sequence:

1. Planning linked to science and art curriculum outcomes
2. A provocative introduction, stating objectives
3. Development of background knowledge
4. Introduction of vocabulary
5. Focused objectives, provided with step by step examples
6. Initial demonstration, questions, focus on observation of detail and methodology
7. Clear work expectations – freedom to talk quietly, to solve problems or share ideas, but focused engagement supported by music and teacher monitoring
8. Prior organization of materials and instruction in their use
9. Intrinsic motivation through a model, for reference and inspiration
10. Constant encouragement, feedback, questioning, problem-solving
11. Summary review of learning, through group “critique”
12. Bridging the task’s challenges and accomplishments to a more complex study

Students described their painting in terms of compositional qualities, colour choices, principles of light and shadow and artistic impact. When presented with the next challenge, drawing from three dimensional objects, they couldn’t wait to begin. One might argue that personalization is “easier” in art. That might be so: creativity requires voice, choice, persistence, skill, passion and total engagement. The key then, is to find these qualities in every subject and exploit them to maximum effect. Integrating artistic principles often makes the subject more appealing and the understandings more enduring, such as drawing birds and planes in a study of flight. Then again, it is also just nice to be able to draw more than a stick figure (which most people can’t), and to appreciate the role of art in society. But effective art practice does manage to kill more than one bird with a stone, as Leonardo DaVinci demonstrated. JC Couture, (ATA magazine, May 2010) stated that arts in education should be one of the top priorities for the future in Alberta schools (and probably all schools, I would add).

“Personalized learning” relates to the digital age. People self-select information when, how and where they want. Twenty years ago, could we have imagined a “smart” phone or “ipod” or any other miraculous invention we now take for granted? The DCSF Publication, 2008 asserts that “developing personalized learning in schools is critical in working toward a society where a child’s chances of success are not limited by their socio-economic background, gender, ethnicity or any disability”. Personalized learning actually capitalizes upon differences, to unleash creativity and advance understanding in unexpected ways. But hey, isn’t there an “app” for that?

References:
Personalised Learning, A Practical Guide,“(DCSF Publications, Nottingham, NG, 2008) on CBE website, Learning Innovations
Couture, JC. “The Next Big Questions in Learning For Alberta’s Teaching Profession”, ATA Magazine, May, 2010.
Thanks to: Theresa Lewis, Principal, and the staff and students of Monterey Park School, Calgary.