One Size
Does Not
Fit All

Martha Savage

There was a time in my career when I distinguished myself by creating what I considered highly imaginative and instructive lessons and unit plans. Now I am convinced that one fantastic approach will not fit the needs of all students.

My goal these days is to gather several different lessons with common goals and package them together. The collection of lesson ideas aims to take into account the many learning styles, preferences, motivations and moods of students, some of which can vary from day to day in the same student.

Tessellations as an Example Recently, my middle school students and I engaged in an investigation of tessellations. After determining what I wanted my students to know and be able to do and how that would be assessed, I planned the learning activities. There are many types of tessellations and as many good ways to learn about them.

Presenting Choices Instead I presented choices: a hands-on way of creating an original tessellation, cutout template to trace, optical illusion tessellations to trace and color, a website with a program for creating tessellations, a website for playing with tessellations ( www.shmuzzles.com), and

Point of View

Considering the Diversity of Learners

This type of teaching and learning takes into account the diversity of learners by providing multiple pathways and choice to reach the same destination. In this example, understanding and demonstrating how art and mathematics connect was the goal.

There is the added benefit of a multifaceted view of the topic. Even when a student makes choice “a,” she or he can take a look around the room or over someone else’s shoulder at the variety of alternate activi-

ties, gaining an even richer picture.
A design for 100% student par-
ticipation seeks to decrease dis-
ciplinary problems. Students
who think they are “not good
at art” have a myriad of
pathways by which to take
part in the class, which
is far better than the one
where low confidence
leads to behavior that
spins out of control. In my
scenario, every student
can reach for a challenge
or play it safe. I observed
students taking an interest
in what others were doing in
addition to their chosen activ-
ity, trying more demanding activi-
ties, and even taking materials and
resources home along with websites
for further exploration.
Contributing to the success of
this plan was an understanding of
my students, a well-thought-out
orchestration of diverse activi-
ties, and compiling of interesting
resources. Like
a chain reac-
tion, students
unwittingly
motivated
each other
while engaged
in a diversity of purposeful artistic
pursuits seeking a common under-
standing.

Shmuzzle© puzzles (interlocking shapes informed by Escher’s reptiles) for manipulating identical puzzle pieces.

I also had coloring pages of M.C. Escher’s tessellations. There was a time I would find a coloring page abhorrent and the antithesis of creative learning. Now I try to be open-minded and unprejudiced. For some students on certain days, choosing color combinations and coloring inside the lines may be the only freely chosen portal. The point is to get everyone involved and eventu-

The shapes in a commercial hot pad make a tessellation.

ally confident enough to try other types of art experiences.

Over the course of several classes, a choice of media was available: opaque watercolors, markers, and colored pencils. I gave mini lessons on cutting out a tessellating shape and provided a handout. Students could work alone or with a partner. With these various activities, students decided how they would learn for that day. The activities were staged in an environment alive with Escher posters and examples of work from other classes.