A native of Pasadena, California, Darlene Goto grew up in Arizona and received both B.S. and M.F.A. degrees in Art from Arizona State University.
She began her career with the Maricopa Community Colleges teaching drawing and design at Mesa Community College and joined the faculty at Glendale Community College in 1970. As a member of the studio faculty in the Art Department, she has taught classes in drawing, figure drawing, painting, and watercolor and has served as chairperson of the Art Department from 1989 to 1991.
She is currently Art Coordinator to the Evening Student Government Association, a position which includes curator responsibilities for the care of the permanent art collection of Glendale Community College and the presentation of professional art exhibits on the college campus.
Her involvement with Multiple Intelligences/Learning for Understanding began approximately six years ago, when Dr. Diaz approached her with the idea of expanding the MI/LfU learning principles into the fine arts. An art component was developed, and she has been using multiple intelligences in drawing classes for six years.
She teaches Drawing 1 as her MI/LfU class. This is a semester length beginning level course in basic drawing and composition techniques. It is part of the required core class offerings for majors in the art program. One of the most significant benefits of the MI/LfU Program is that if offers educational choices to the student. Through the Learning Options presented, the student can individualize his/her learning methods to maximize understanding of course concepts. Since we are a drawing class, students select options not associated with studio projects. Instead, they are encouraged and challenged to research areas which may include writing, poetry, dance, mime, musical/rhythmic, or other Learning Options and relate their findings to art and creativity. They must follow-up this study with a written component in which they are asked to reflect upon and evaluate the experience. All enrolled students can potentially benefit from being involved with MI/LfU. In particular, the student who may struggle with the standardized educational formats of traditional classroom teaching may find that a multiple learning approach may unlock the blocks to learning and understanding.
When offered a choice of how to learn, students will search beyond
the expected. Choices of learning methods awaken imagination and
creativity, and I have found that the classroom "performance of understanding"
of each student's individualized journey into learning about the concepts
of the subject indicate to me that they do indeed learn and better yet,
retain the material. The students continuously surprise me with their
discoveries.
Darlene will be presenting the session, "Learning Beyond the Paintbrush: MI/LfU and the Fine Arts."