Team 2- Chapter 7 MI

Abstract

How a classroom is arranged can aid or hinder the many different learners that are in there. Chapter seven of the Multiple Intelligences talks about one of the simplest ways to organize a class in order reach all of your students with the different intelligences; activity centers. Armstrong talks about the four different activity centers that a teacher could implement in his or her classroom; the permanent open-ended activity center, the temporary open-ended activity center, the permanent topic-specific activity center, and the temporary topic-specific activity center. The permanent open-ended center is a center that is in the classroom all year long, like a reading nook or art area. The temporary open-ended center is something resembling the permanent open-ended center but can be taken down and setup quickly. Games involving the multiple intelligences are the best ways to accomplish this activity. The most practical of the four centers is the temporary topic-specific centers. These centers change frequently as the unit or lessons change. These centers tend to be activities dealing with the eight intelligences that focus on a certain topic. The final center is the permanent topic-specific center. These centers are typically used in a classroom setting where there is a yearlong theme and the activities can change with the different lessons pertaining to the theme.

Synthesis

This chapter presented some ideas that most of us have never even thought of. The idea of the classroom arrangement had never occurred to many of us as an important aspect to teaching effectively. The activity centers were mentioned seem like excellent ways to use the environment of a class to encourage learning. Coming up with centers for a lesson could be difficult, but coming up with these centers is as easy as searching on the Internet for starter ideas.

MI Chapter 12

This chapter was mainly about the how students and people in general use the eight intelligences in their everyday cognitive behaviors. People use the multiple intelligences to memorize topics and to problem solve. I also found this idea fascinating. I never realized that I tend to lean towards the linguistic way of memorizing ideas by writing them out over and over again or repeatedly reading them. However, some other people learn better through songs or rhymes. I hope that as a teacher I will be able to come up with techniques for all of my students so that they will be able to memorize better. I just am not sure that I will be able to find these techniques for all eight of the intelligences.

MI Chapter 11

In this chapter, Armstrong discusses how learning disabilities can occur in all eight of the intelligences. I found it really interesting that if teachers taught more lessons to incorporate all of the multiple intelligences than fewer students would be referred to special education classes. I agree one hundred percent with this. Some of my peers had special education classes for only certain aspects of their lessons even though they knew the material. One person I thought of in particular when I was reading this chapter was a girl who was smart enough to do all the work; she just had a hard time reading. The school stuck her in special education for her reading disability, but if the teachers had taken a spatial approach with her, she would have learned easily. She was an artist and learned well with pictures. If teachers had known that she learned best that way, she would have been with all of her friends one hundred percent of the time in school.

MI Chapter 8

Classroom management is an important part of a teacher’s day. This chapter focuses on how to maintain a classroom and get the cooperation from all of your students. As we have read in previous chapters, every student has a more dominant of the eight intelligences. These students all learn in unique ways and learning classroom rules is not any different. I would have never guessed to introduce the class rules in all of those varieties. All of the ideas could be done on the first day of class as an introduction. I can see myself writing the rules out on for my class and having them come up with pictures, numbers, songs, animals, and gestures for each of the rules. This would get all of my students involved and it would help the students learn the rules because they are being taught in with the eight intelligences.

MI CHapter 14

Armstrong dedicates his last chapter to the eight and a half intelligence: the existential intelligence. I personally do not believe this should be completely used in a classroom. I know it is important to look into all the aspects that are in incorporated into this intelligence, but I think it would disrupt a classroom by using it. When my teachers used to talk about abortion and other current controversies, my classmates would go off on tirades to defend their point and the class would get completely out of hand. If the point in this intelligence is to have students think deeply about the world it should be dedicated to a separate class and not the typical classroom. This keeps those students, like myself, who do not care for debating out of that situation, but still allows those students who want to discuss those topics to have the opportunity to discuss them.

MI Chapter 13

This chapter is about everything that we talk about in Dr. Theresa’s class. Computers and technology are great ways to engage the eight different intelligences. The other part of the chapter that I enjoyed more was that of the career counseling. I would have never thought that showing jobs that involve the eight intelligences would actually be interesting to students. I wouldn’t have liked it, but maybe that is because I already knew what I wanted to be. I wish there were more ideas of how to incorporate all the different vocational opportunities into my classroom so I can encourage my students to find a job that they will love, because it deals with something they love.

MI Chapter 7

This chapter dealt mostly with the different types of activities stations a teacher could set up in their classroom for all eight of the intelligences. The activity station that I found the most interesting was the “Temporary Topic-Specific Activity Centers.” These seemed the most reasonable to implement in a classroom and the most fun from a student’s standpoint. The idea of taking a lesson and breaking it down into eight activities for the intelligences so that each student can learn through their best method seems perfect. The only issue is that every time a teacher does something like this, the students gravitate to the same station every time. I like the idea of making the students rotate through the stations. I do not think I would use this as an everyday activity, but instead as like a reward for the class. I would have loved to do different activities like the ones mentioned in the chapter. By making it a treat and not an everyday thing, students may actually appreciate the tasks that much more.

MI Chapter 6

Chapter six was dedicated to some of the ways that teachers can integrate the eight intelligences into their classrooms. Armstrong provides five examples for all eight of the intelligences. Some of the ideas mentioned I feel like are too distracting or unrealistic to incorporate into a classroom. Supermemory music was one of these examples. I cannot imagine allowing the students in my high school to lie on the floor and listen to music while a teacher was teaching. No one would have grasped the ideas and the class would have been useless. Then the one that I found unrealistic was a nature walk. I cannot see a class of twenty teenagers going outside and behaving enough to teach a lesson to them while walking outside. However, some of the ideas would have surely helped me while I was in school and I can only hope that I will be able to use some of all these intelligences in my class.

MI Chapter 5

I was shocked to realize how many different ways a teacher can teach the same material, yet with each strategy educate students with diverse multiple intelligences. Even a teacher standing at the front of the room lecturing can incorporate the variety of intelligences into his or her instruction. I was also surprised to find strategies for incorporating the multiple intelligences into my lesson plans. The MI planning sheet on page forty-seven was amazing. I would have never guessed that so many classroom activities could be done with punctuations. However, I am worried that I have to do all of these activities for every topic and that seems over ambitious. How is any teacher supposed to integrate all of those ideas into his or her classroom and still cover the necessary material to meet district standards?

MI Chapter 10

Chapter ten of the Multiple Intelligences deals with the assessments for those classrooms using the eight intelligences. It was said that in order to accurately assess the multiple intelligences a teacher must evaluate all the intelligences and not just the students’ logical and linguistic intelligences. This seems really difficult to accomplish. How can a teacher incorporate every learning style into an assessment? The ideas for giving student choices was interesting, especially the student sign-up sheet. It is nice to see that people believe that students should have some say in their assignments.

Team 2- Chapter 3 MI

Abstract:

Every student possesses some, all, none of the eight different intelligences. How does an educator teach every student effectively if he or she does not know the students’ predominant intelligence(s)? The simplest way for a teacher to accomplish this task is to observe his or her students. By watching how a child misbehaves in class or what the student enjoys doing outside of class, a teacher can ultimately find the major intelligence or intelligences of his or her student. Another way an educator can establish this information is to ask the student and the student’s parents what they believe this strongest learning style is. After discovering all this information, the teacher can record it all in a journal so that he or she has it for future reference.

Synthesis:

Teachers are worried about finding out ways to discover the students’ learning styles. One decent way of becoming aware of the students’ intelligences is to conduct a multiple intelligence test or survey in the class. This information will also tell the teacher if a student has more than one of the eight intelligences that dominates. Other concerns teachers may have is how to incorporate different intelligences than those that they are familiar with into their classroom. Asking students and colleagues is a way, but also using books and websites can help as well.

MI Chapter 4

I feel this chapter is meant for teachers who are teaching younger students, like those in middle school. Out of the advice given in the chapter I would only use the wall displays and the biographies in my classroom. The rest of them seem too childish for high school teenagers. I also do not think that high school students would react well to field trips and games based on the eight multiple intelligences. These are some ingenious ways to teach the multiple intelligences, I just don’t think they are the ways I should be using to teach high school students.

MI Chapter 3

Who knew it could be so easy to discover a student’s predominate multiple intelligences simply by observing him or her? It seems so easy to watch my students and see what technique they respond to more effectively. I think that talking with the students themselves is a better approach for the level that I want to be teaching. If a teacher would have asked me how I learned better I could have easily told them that I learn better from reading and then writing the information down. When I become a teacher I would use this technique, especially if a student was struggling in my class. It is easier to ask them then to assume.

Chapter 2: MI and Personal Development

After reading chapter two, I discovered that there is not an accurate test for determining one’s eight intelligence levels. This concerns me because if I cannot accurately test my students how am I going to know the absolute best way to teach to them. The inventory sheets give a mediocre idea of one’s intelligence level and I suppose that can be useful. Another interesting fact was to ask your students for ways to incorporate their learning style into the classroom. It is simple enough to do; I would have never thought to use that strategy. It is comforting to know that if I lack experience in an area that a student excels in that I can ask him or her for ideas.

Chapter 1: The Foundations of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences

This chapter added some interesting facts about the eight intelligences. I knew that each person had some of all the intelligences, however I did not know that that even if someone is predominantly spatial or kinesthetic that they also rely on pieces of the other seven. This will make teaching a variety of learners less difficult because the students are likely to have the same little pieces that help them learn. The information about the core operations will also be beneficial because I will know what abilities or talents that my students have that are unique compared to other students. These core operations will allow me to find ways to teach my students effectively. I can alter my lessons to fit their unique abilities for that they can retain the information better.