Chapter 12: MI

Chapter 12 discussed the ever popular method of students memorizing knowledge so that they can get a good grade on a test, and then forget it after because they don't think they will ever need that information again. As a teacher, MI states that we are responsible for helping students retain what they learn. The chapter explains that memory is intelligent specific. I believe this is true because some students memorize knowledge by putting it to a beat or making rhymes, others like myself benefit by relating the content to real life. If you can find the strengths of your students, than you have to tools to help them retain the knowledge that is being fed to them. Another method of helping students retain knowledge that works with MI is getting students to think and allowing them to come to a conclusion themselves. I can recall many experiences were a teacher made me think and find the answer myself, a method that I think worked very well for me and gave me greater appreciation for the material. The content or ideas that I understood on my own I never forgot, and my self-esteem was boosted along with my ability to think.

Chapter 11: MI

Multiple Intelligence's are found in every human being, including those with special needs. While they may experience difficulty in many areas, they also have a strength that can be related to a multiple intelligence. The example given by Armstrong in chapter 11 is that autistic kids, while having difficulty in interpersonal intelligence, are amazing interpersonal learners and may have an amazing aptitude for music, art, or mathematics. This is why as a teacher, it is important to find the strengths within all of your students. MI insists that this needs to be done at the instructional level and also at the assessment level. Those students will be motivated to learn and gain a higher self esteem. I read that in Europe, an autistic child walks around looking at buildings or famous pieces of art, and with only walking by them, can recreate them in amazing detail and ability. Helping students find what they are good at, will help them succeed in your classroom and later in life.

Chapter 8: MI

Chapter eight discuses many ways to manage your classroom. There are many little things a teacher can do that are meant to get the classes attention at the beginning of each lesson. This chapter gives some great examples of how to do this effectively, and how to use methods that involve one or more multiple intelligences. These are meant to be used during transitions that occur before instruction or when the class gets in to small groups, and before activities. Things such as turning the lights off when students get too loud or having some your own sort of thing to do to quiet a class down is helpful. In my experience it takes much more than words to get the full attention of a group of students.

Chapter 14:MI

This chapter focuses on the potential ninth intelligence, Existential. The first part of the chapter covers how the intelligence mostly fits the criteria the other intelligences fit into, but it seems to be hard to fully chart aspects of the intelligence or find a way to evaluate students work as existential work. However, the book reminds us that it's important to keep this intelligence in mind, despite certain difficulties. The book gives suggestions on how teachers can incorporate existential intelligence in the classroom.

Chapter 13:MI

Another way to teach to different intelligences is exhibited by Armstrong in this chapter. The author suggests using various software, and gives examples of a few of the many that exist that target specific learning intelligences. Another suggestion in this chapter is to give career counseling to students. I like this idea because explaining the different jobs allows kids to relate to their strongest intelligence and a possible future career they would be good at and can get excited about. This process would help students with their self-knowledge, especially at the adolescent stage, where the students are still trying to figure themselves out. Another message in this chapter is that culture and the environment around a student has an effect on intelligence. This is because different cultures nourish certain intelligences from a young age. I have never personally experienced how culture affects my intelligence, but it is something to keep in mind when I start teaching.

Chapter 7: MI

Armstrong goes deeper into his explanations of the eight multiple intelligences, and discusses how a teacher could use each one in different ways in the classroom. The chapter explains that just speaking does not necessarily work for a linguistic learner, because it matters how you say the words and the vocabulary that is used, because both have an effect on the meaning of what you say. The author offered the idea of creating different activity sections of the classroom that each target a different intelligence. This idea seemed a little elementary for a high school or middle school. Personally, I had this kind of set up kindergarten and first grade, and I feel as though that image would be conjured up by every high school student who walks into their classroom and sees this set up. The idea is interesting, but I find it hard to believe that it would work at a secondary level.

Chapter 5: MI

Chapter five outlined different tools and ideas for teaching to multiple intelligences. I took note that some of these ideas fit more easily into a classroom, in that they were basic ways of teaching, while others required more creativity. This made me wonder if my past teachers had all of this knowledge about multiple intelligences. I can't help but think that if my teachers had known and been more creative about incorporating different methods into their teaching that I would have been able to grasp some of the lessons I did not understand and never learned. The chapter begins by stating that children learn through experiences. In terms of myself as a learner, I find this to be true. In classes where I found meaning and was allowed to experience through projects or field trips I had more success. In other classes were teachers did not make an effort to create an experience for me I had difficulty. I aspire to be the teacher who creates experience and meaning for students.

Chapter 6: MI

This chapter stressed that methods that are successful with one group or class may not always be successful with another. It gave examples of lessons that are targeted to each specific intelligences. As a teacher if I take any one of the examples, that means that it will only reach a select group of students, while leaving others unengaged. The idea is to combine all the intelligences in one lesson, so all students stay engaged and learn most effectively. What I think would be useful would be examples of combining intelligences in the lesson ideas. I realize that reaching every single student in one lesson would be very hard to do. I would aim to be as creative as possible to reach out to as many intelligences in one lesson as I can, if that is possible. Rather than making each lesson target different students. Because of this, I feel strongly that as a teacher my job is to be as creative as possible to cater to as many of the intelligences as possible in each lesson so that success can be reached by each individual student.

Chapter 10: MI

Chapter 10 discussed ways to asses students with multiple intelligences. Research has shows in recent years that authentic methods of testing has proven to be a better way to gauge student's understanding as opposed to multiple choice and tests of the like. The best way arguably to assess a student is by observation. " Observing students solving problems or fashioning products in real-life contexts provide the best picture of student competencies in the range of subjects taught in school" (MI page 89). Documentation comes next as important components of assessing a students problem solving methods. There a several projects that have been put into place to create models of assessment that work with the philosophy of MI theory. Among them are Project Spectrum which consists of "rich and engaging activities forming an integral part of the spectrum curriculum"(MI page 92), and Key Learning Community in which an educator uses videotape in their assessment. As students work with MI projects documenting their learning can be done effectively by using MI portfolios. MI theory suggests expanding to include materials from each of the eight intelligences. The following quote sums up MI theory assessment very well: "Ultimately, MI theory provides an assessment framework within which students can have their rich and complex lives acknowledged, celebrated, and nurtured" (MI page 101).

Chapter 4 MI

Research shows that “children benefit from instructional approaches that help them reflect on their own learn processes.” When shown properly, students can discover proper techniques for problem solving. In order to help students discover which of the multiple intelligences they find their strongest, teaching the MI model in all eight intelligences is how a teacher should explain the model. There are many different way children of different intelligences can find which is their strongest. Taking field trips, reading biographies, experiential activities are just a few examples. Having students learn in each of the eight intelligences is a strategic way to help them discover which one works for them.

Chapter 3 MI

Finding the strongest intelligence a student has is very important for a teacher. The best way to asses the students strongest intelligences are simply by observation. Watching how they act towards others, how they spend their free time in school, and even how they misbehave are ways to find the intelligence. Discussing with other teachers what the students strengths and weaknesses are in other classes is a beneficial way a teacher can find out as well. Introducing multiple intelligences to students would be a great way to find out from the student themselves the best way they know how to learn. After all, they know how they learn best.

Chapter 2: MI

Chapter 2 began with an inventory on figuring out which intelligence the reader is dominant. There are many tests that show individuals intelligences which prove how difficult it is to accurately determine someone’s intelligences. There are ways to become stronger in other intelligence which is important for teachers to learn to do. It is important because every student is different and has different needs and ways to be effectively taught. Teachers can do things such as calling on a colleague’s expertise, or asking a student who may be more efficient in certain intelligences. Also using technology is a beneficial way to use tools to tap into other intelligences. Genetics, personal life experiences, and cultural background all have an influence on the development of the intelligences. “MI theory is a model that values nurture as much as, and probably more than, nature in accounting for the development on intelligences.” There are ways that intelligences can be activated and deactivated. They are two types of experiences called crystallizing experiences and paralyzing experiences. A crystallizing experience is a moment that sparks the start of an intelligence to mature. An example in the book was of a boy going to an orchestra performance and after wanting to play the violin. In opposition to that, a paralyzing experience is one where the experience is shut down, sometimes due to shame, guilt, fear or anger resulting from a bad exposure with a certain intelligence.

Chapter 1: MI

The basis of the first chapter in this book was primarily geared toward describing the eight intelligences as compliment of Howard Gardner. It was interesting to see that there are people who are very strong in one intelligence but have low levels of others. These people are called savants. Some intelligences like musical can be developed early in life and last until late in one’s life, while others like mathematical don’t develop as fast and stop developing generally by the age of 40. The development of certain intelligences is also based on the times. The example was used where about a hundred years ago emphasis was put on the naturalist intelligence when the majority of people lived rurally and relied on hunting, harvesting. Today a large percentage of the population becomes informed through computers and other forms of technology, where a strong spatial intelligence is developed.