FIAE Chapter 7

All of these chapters about grading irritate me slightly. I mean if giving an A, B, C, etc. is so bad why are we using that system? The part that irritates me the most is that no “good” grading system is mentioned. They all say that grading is subjective and that is not right. I can see where they are coming from that grading shouldn’t focus on the other aspects, like participation or how well a student writes, but I feel grades are necessary. I know almost every student in my high school based how well he or she knew the material on what grade he or she received. Students, parents, and teachers alike have been using grades to express knowledge. If that’s not the best way to covey this information, what is?

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.

UbD DI Chapter 8

This whole chapter is about the most effective way to grade in a differentiated classroom. Tomlinson and McTighe talk about how there is no absolutely perfect way to grade in a differentiated setting because it is difficult to grade on knowledge. According to this chapter grades should be solely based on a student’s knowledge of the material and not on the extra factors. I can agree and disagree with this statement. Students should be graded on what they know and not how well they can complete a project. On the other hand, how does one grade what a student knows without some sort of evaluation? I do not understand how to grade my students the best for everyone.

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.