Personalized Learning How Does It Fit In Our World?
Part II: Defining Personalized Learning In The Music Room Megan Endicott Dolvin Elementary School, Georgia endicott@fultonschools.org
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o recap from our part one discussion on personalized learning in the music room, many questions were asked concerning the implementation of this new teaching strategy. In an ideal personalized learning classroom, teachers are moving from lecturers to facilitators while student learning is carefully crafted to the individual learner themselves. This style of learning moves away from the traditional “one size fits all” approach (O’Donoghue, 2010). This approach to teaching, allows students more choice in demonstrating learning and mastery of the standards while playing to their interests, strengths, and weaknesses (Basham et al., 2016). There are seven personalized learning principles adopted across the nation. Three of these principles were highlighted in the part one installment of this article. In this article, we will be focusing on voice and choice, mastery based assessments, flexible pacing, and co-plan learning.
Nearpod (nearpod.com) to discover if students would like to visit where Beethoven was born or where he lived. Nearpod is a technology tool that offers live instruction with real-time assessment features. Another important aspect of voice and choice is finding ways for each student’s voice to be heard. Offering ways for students to input information on a Padlet (padlet.com) wall, type short responses, or answer quick checks via formative assessments allows all students to be heard rather than the one student who is always raising their hand to answer. Some of the most wonderful comments have come from the quietest students whose voice may have never been heard without these resources. Padlet is a free, online resource, that transforms your board into a live interactive bulletin board that is updated in real-time.
Voice & Choice In today’s digital society, most students have constant access to the internet and can find the answers to any question at any given time of the day. Because of this constant access to knowledge, students want to know even more than ever, “why” and “how does this affect me?”. Finding ways for students to have a voice in their learning offers relevance to student learning and builds accountability, buy-in, and interest. “The term ‘Student Voice’ describes how students give their input to what happens within the school and classroom” (Palmer, 2013). I recognize that co-constructing knowledge with your students and straying from your lesson pacing chart is difficult, but here are some easy ways that I have included students’ voices in my lessons. “Poll” features are a great way to elicit students’ voices toward the direction that they would like to move through the lesson. Imagine that you are beginning a lesson on the history of Beethoven in preparation for a listening lesson on Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. You can run a quick poll at the beginning of a guided live lesson on JANUARY 2019
Mastery Based Assessments Mastery-based assessment is defined by the Fulton County School Personalized Learning Team as promoting “student progress through curriculum by showing mastery on assessments guided by proficiency and competency” (Mastery-based assessments). Included in the definition is ensuring teachers can bridge the gap between the student’s mastery of learning objectives with those of progress reports and report cards. One clear process for identifying student assessment is through continuous formative checks. Barry Zimmerman and Maria Dibenedetto from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York warn that large summative tasks with no formative checks or feedback along the way can cause low test scores and unmotivated students. They agree that these “limitations can be avoided by including formative assessment and an instructional component designed to enhance mastery learning” (Zimmerman & Dibenedetto, 2008). Fostering an environment that is mastery-based rather than the outdated psychometric approach measures individual student growth throughout the school year with a focus on the mastery of course objectives, rather than a comparison of student 33 TEMPO
