Personalized Learning:
How Does It Fit In Our World? Part I: Defining Personalized Learning In The Music Room
Megan Endicott
Dolvin Elementary School, Georgia
endicott@fultonschools.org
sure children are succeeding while encouraging students to set career paths to promote college and career readiness. Meanwhile, the fall of the “No Child Left Behind Act” paves the way for the newly adopted “Ev- ery Student Succeeds Act,” displac- ing the emphasis from the national government to the state government. Educators are consistently presented with the challenge of change in our field through new standards, cur- riculum, and laws while maintaining the charge of providing each individ- ual student with a quality education. Fortunately, with the rise of “Race to the Top,” the push for personal- ized learning is sweeping the nation. Through technology integration and authentic tasks, we are work- ing toward creating problem solvers, critical thinkers, and creative learn- ers, while reaching out to the global community to better equip our stu- dents for college and career readi- ness. Sir Ken Robinson, advocate for personalized learning, stated “per- sonalized learning is finding the best ways to engage with people with dif- ferent interests, passions, and ways of thinking. It’s what good teachers have always known: that their job is not to teach subjects, but to teach
I TEMPO
n today’s heavily academic world, instruction is driven by data and analysis to en-
students.” (DeWitt, 2013) However, questions remain: how are educators who are presented with the juxtapo- sition of personalized learning versus standardized testing properly able to plan instruction for their students while ensuring successful results on student achievement without sti- fling student creativity? Can there be a perfect balance between assessing grade level standards, personalizing learning, and music creation and performance? How does standard mastering and personalized learn- ing fit into our world in a way that makes sense without jeopardizing student learning while promoting student passion for the arts? Where do we start? Well, the best place to start is
in my room! If I can find a way to manage 700 students in a meaning- ful way that creates positive change in my classroom, I can model and demonstrate those changes with other classroom teachers. Serving as a music educator, I have the op- portunity to work with all elemen- tary school students from kinder- garten to fifth grade. This incredible task has really offered the challenge of finding out how to make these changes in our school in an efficient, functional way that is authentic and yet fun for both teachers and stu- dents. Teachers know that teaching
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to the strengths of each individual child is a must; however, determin- ing how to implement this is where the challenge begins. To help others understand how a classroom could function appropriately, how teachers could create content that is student- directed for each individual child in the classroom, and how to person- alize instruction without sacrificing music making, tough questions had to be answered and research and ex- perimental
implementation in my classroom. After began receiving
my master’s degree in Educational Technology and working toward my specialist’s degree in Instructional Technology, I fully believe that tech- nology is the driving factor in eas- ily tracking, assessing, collaborating, creating, and engaging students. I embrace technology as an enhance- ment in my classroom and push for proper integration in my school and district. In an ideal personalized learn-
ing 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 demon- strating learning and mastery of the
MAY 2018
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