MI Chapter 13

Abstract:

There are other applications that can be utilized with the MI theory. The MI theory can be used in computer technology, cultural diversity, or career counseling. In computer technology a teacher can select computer programs that would apply to all eight intelligences or specific intelligences that could be developed by the student at a later date. Some examples of the software would be Word, Excel, GarageBand, and virtual games. The use of the internet could also be a very helpful tool not only to an intrapersonal learner but also can be used in groups. In cultural diversity the MI theory can be assigned with the greatest impact upon the curriculum. The United States is a melting pot of various cultures and it is important when teaching with the MI theory to integrate and respect all cultures. By allowing the students to bring their different cultures and customs and traditions it promotes and atmosphere of sharing and breaks barriers between students while allowing everyone to get to know each other better. MI theory also helps a student begin the journey towards a vocation. By appealing to the intelligences that are strong to each student this can teach the students what they might enjoy in a career or a job. Through the self assessment a student can know what they want to do when they grow up. Also through tests and assessments it can be determined what a student is tailor made for to go for a vocation.

Reflection:

The MI theory should be able to apply to more than just a classroom setting. This chapter was intriguing because of its wonderful ideas that were presented. While the theory is important in the classroom setting it is nice to know that other things that affect students can be utilized and implemented with the MI theory in mind. The diversity part of the chapter really helps bring the MI theory together in a way that is applicable to all students. Cultural backgrounds will effect the way a student learns and the way they behave in the classroom and applying the MI theory to that will help with many factors in a classroom. This chapter also had many good tips on using technology in the classroom. Multimedia can also be part of the package with technology and also updates the tool as a whole. The part about picking out appropriate computer software because it reminded me of using the program Oregon Trail but more importantly I believe that is the future. Vocation is what every student strives for and what they ask for help with. A vocation that tailors to the different intelligences that are strong suits in an individual will help them have a career they both love and will excel at.

MI Chapter 7

Abstract
This chapter talks about the involvement of Multiple Intelligences in a classroom. The idea of MI suggests that classroom ecology or environment needs to be fundamentally restructured to accommodate the needs of different types of learners. The chapter then details the eight multiple intelligences and raises questions on each intelligence about challenges that might arise due to lack of differentiated.. For example, for bodily kinesthetic learners, one of the questions that needed to be addresses was whether there are some sort of building material that allows students to “build, be tactile, or in other ways gain hands on experience”(Armstrong, 68) or is there an emphasis on not touching things in the classroom. For mathematic and logical learners, there was the issue of how time is structured. For linguistic learners how are words spoken and written around the room. Is there individual work for intrapersonal and group work for the interpersonal learners. The main way that the chapter offered to deal with these different learning styles were with Activity Centers(need to find something on secondary education centers). These centers can be permanent or temporary, and will help address one or more of the multiple intellegences. With kinesthetic learners for example, we can incorporate open areas for movement throughout the lessons. For the natural learners pets, open windows, or going outdoors can all help with a centers approach. These activity centers can help appeal to a students multiple intellegences. Some other options mentioned were the decorations, writing, and colors in a room. Also mentioned was the importance of a classroom set up of desks. The emphasis was avoiding the typical straight rows of desk facing the teacher in the front.
Reflection

This chapter has a lot of interesting ideas on how to approach teaching to multiple intelligences and focuses on learning centers as a way of addressing these styles. The information on the types of questions being addressed was helpful because it raised some questions that many of us might not have thought of myself, or would not know how to address in our own classrooms. For instance the whole section on auditory learners was interesting because there seemed to be an interesting balance between having noise that is helpful versus distracting. Also it seemed to matter what sounds were being played. I think that music is one of the hard issues to address. Music might help some learn but might distract others. What is appropriate to play? Classical music or some other? Keith and I liked the Beatles the other day but what if other did not? In terms of the learning centers, there is a lot that is valid in what they are talking about. Many of us liked the idea of the learning centers. Keith thought that centers were appealing to integrate “MI theory in the classroom.” Lydia thought that using centers might “bring the subject to life in many different ways.” Though the idea was good, most of the class had some sort of questions or reservations raised. Doyle was concerned that the idea of centers was not the most effect way to organize his class. Maria, Brandi and Joel raised concerns of not having enough space. Maria’s suggestion was to use space outside the class, while Joel suggested using 3-4 centers instead of all eight.

There were four of us in the class that raised serious concerns. Brandi, Nick, Emily and I all talked about how we felt the ideas of centers was geared towards a much younger audience. Brandi thought the idea reminder her of “primary school and kindergarten classrooms.” Emily thought that high schoolers want to be treated like adults and that if her high school had centers she would not have responded well. Nick expressed that he was still unsure about how to incorporate the centers into his classroom. One of the ideas that Maria, Brandi and I all disagreed with the book on was the idea of having an animal in the classroom. Maria said it would be nice but would provide more work as a teacher, to keep a pet alive, not even thinking about allergy issues and whatnot.

While the ideas of centers is something very intriguing, the problem is that the chapter was not very specific on what can be done with it in a secondary education classroom. The chapter is very helpful for a younger class but would not be practical for all environments.

Chapter 14

Chapter 14 really focused on the idea of the possible ninth intelligence. Existential intelligence is the half intelligence because it it not yet recognized as an actual intelligence. This half intelligence does night quite measure up to the other intelligences and is missing a few key components to considered an actual intelligence. It might not ever be recognized as an intelligence, but it is important to not ignore because there are going to be students who learn best with using this "half intelligence". These types of learners are very focused on questions like "why are we here?", "who are we?", or "what is the meaning of life?". Another thing that this chapter addresses is how to incorporate the half intelligence into the classroom along with the others. Some ways to do this is to talk about the history of mathematics instead of just teaching equations. Let the students do some deeper thinking about why mathematics works out like it does. Another example to incorporate it could be in geography and to encourage the students to think about how geographical boundaries came along and why.



There was a pretty decent amount of people in the class that agreed with the idea of incorporating the existential intelligence into the classroom along with a good group of people who felt that it seems a little too out there. Some people are wondering if this intelligence should be incorporated into the classroom and if it really is useful to try and accommodate this learning style. Although this idea may seem a little far fetched to some, most of us agree that it is probably something that should not be ignored. It is important to meet the needs of the students so that they can make better connections with the content that is being taught.

Chapter Four: Teaching Students About MI Theory

This chapter largely introduced us all to the concept of teaching the multiple intelligences in the classroom to the students themselves. Joel said it best when he described the author using the proverb, “Give me a fish and I eat for a day. Teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime,” as this chapter shows that this is a skill that instructors will be teaching students to last a lifetime. The chapter started off by stating that a classroom of second graders could be taught this theory of multiple intelligences in about five minutes if it is taught right. They suggest starting off by stating the eight intelligences using the Type I technology of drawing an MI pizza on a white board. It also suggests that in order to effectively explain what they mean the instructor should simplify the language. An few examples are: linguistic would be word smart, logical would be number smart, or interpersonal being people smart. After explaining the different intelligences the instructor should then apply them to the student themselves by asking questions that will elicit responses from the different intelligences. After all of this is done the student should be able to determine the different intelligences and should have learned about their different intelligences but there is more. There are many suggestions for the different intelligences and ways to back them up. The majority of the class wrote about taking a field trip. It is one of the few suggestions that applies to all the intelligences because you can design any field trip to tailor to one or many of the multiple intelligences. There were many other ways to integrate multiple intelligences in the classroom and reinforce them through activities. Some included, doing board games about MI, wall displays and shelf displays on the MI, or even designing a unit to go more in depth on the MI theory.

Most of the class believed that this chapter would be effective but also that it could not be effective for the grades that we will be teaching for those who want to teach high school. However, it was enlighten also to know at what age students can actually start to learn about how they learn. The MI pizza was a big hit also with it being an effective tool and also simplifying the terminology would also help. It is also not cool that a second grader could understand the MI theory quicker than the practicum block. The proverb to start the chapter also was very enlightening and also very good way of foreshadowing the chapter. It is very important that this theory is implemented at a young age for the students and also for the students to understand what it is about so they understand how they learn and are able to use it to their advantage and gain everything they need for success from their education. It is also a good way for them to appreciate the education they are receiving. Overall this application of teaching the multiple intelligences and this approach should be used in the lower levels and does not have much merit in the high/middle school setting except to show if the student had learned it in lower grades and recognize their learning styles.

Chapter 3-What Really Matters In Learning? (Content)

Abstract


The main point that this chapter was touching upon was the fact that there is a content overload. There is just too much to teach and not enough time to even come close to covering everything without tagging on several extra years of schooling. It has come to the point that teachers are having to decide what to cover and what to leave out with the time barrier. We have the MLR and NCLB to follow, but these have not helped to solve the problem. Also in this chapter, the idea of backward planning design is introduced. This was developed by McTighe and Wiggins. It is made up of three stages that will help with figuring out the desired results. In stage one of the backward planning design, the teachers need to make it clear as to what the students should learn and also essential questions. The second stage of this is when the teachers determine how they will know that they have met the standards or desired results. In the third and final stage, the teacher will do the actually planning of the lesson and have activities to help meet the objectives. This backward planning design is very helpful in providing structure for planning, teaching, and assessing. This is useful for not only the students, but the content as well. This helps to deal with two problems that often come up when trying to plan activities and lessons. These problems are that sometimes teachers are too focused on activities and have too many and that there are teachers that are too focused on covering the textbook. Textbooks are often too fixated on standards so they tend to have way too much information in them and it is just an overload for students to try and comprehend everything that is in a textbook. Template planning is also introduced in this chapter. This chapter makes a point about responsive teaching is important and to have desired understandings and questions. Also, it is important to make sure that the judging is the same all around. The idea of relating this backward planning design to a classroom with differentiation is also explained. This is incorporated by how you deal with assessment in your classroom. As mentioned above, the way that you grade and judge needs to remain the same, but there may be students in the classroom that need to do testing orally instead of written.


Reflection

Most people mentioned that they went into this reading with not much of an understanding about the idea behind the backward planning design. Everyone agreed that there really is just too much material to try and cover and not enough time to even come close to covering it all. Once people finished with this chapter they were able to have a much better understanding of the design and how content is really the major part of teaching. It all starts with content and what students will need to know at the end. Keeping the end result in mind was a key concept in this chapter. It was interesting in the beginning of the chapter with the findings that Robert Marzano and John Kendall had about how many extra hours we would need to have a half hour for every benchmark. This chapter helped to break down each of the stages in this design for a more clear idea of how this works. Most people could relate to the idea of having teachers that were too focused on covering the material in the textbook. This caused problems for everyone because they either could not comprehend everything in the textbook or missed out on certain things. There were plenty of times that things were left out because teachers were feeling rushed and students had to miss out on certain content areas. Many people can relate to the idea of backward planning design, especially those of us in college. We think about the end result first with deciding what we want to major in and what we want to do later in life. After that we have to decide what classes we have to take to be able to accomplish it. In the end we will have learned what we needed to learn to be able and do what we set a goal for. Once through this chapter, everyone was feeling much more confident with a better understanding of the design and are looking forward to using it in the classroom.

Chapter 4: What Really Matters in Planning for Student Success

Abstract:

This chapter relates to the Curriculum and its importance in the classroom. The chapter starts by talking about the importance of a good and successful curriculum. For a curriculum to be good and successful it must be compelling, clear and able to provide understanding. This ability is essential for an organized and successful classroom. A curriculum is not the only part of it. As Lydia mentioned, the most successful curriculum is useless if there is no adaption for the student we are teaching. A curriculum is essential but if curriculum were the only piece needed for a quality education, then teachers would be jobless. Our teaching abilities are as essential as a powerful curriculum. Kyle related curriculum to a foundation of education and teachers as a roof overhead. Without either the inside of the building is exposed and the changes that have been made can be wiped away. Teachers also need to balance how they teach and what they teach. If they rely solely on a curriculum and do not deviate from what is listed out on it, they risk being ineffective. They might not be reaching students. If they do not use the curriculum student may have fun and enjoy themselves, but they probably are not learning. Most of the class agreed that without some sort of adaption of the way a teacher instructs, the lessons and teacher are unsuccessful at educating the students. Because of the students different learning styles, backgrounds, and other differences, its helpful to include the Differentiated Instruction in a curriculum. Differentiated Instruction is a challenge for us because, for many teachers, there is not a model for which one can set up their own classroom. If there were more models to emulate, it would be more simple, and likely more common, to find examples of Differentiated Instruction. Another challenge, or fear mentioned by several class members were trying to include all the different ways to differentiate a classroom. Ultimately many came to the conclusion that teachers cannot truly teach in all of the different ways, but by including several they are adding to the numbers of people they are able to reach.
For Differentiated Instruction to be a success we need to establish what is successful about teachers who are already practicing DI. Some things mentioned in the book were that they were clear on curriculum goals, they take responsibility for the success of the learners, they create communities of respect in their classrooms and schools, they understand their students’ learning needs and what works well for each, they create management techniques which help foster success, they give students ownership of their own success, they are flexible in their teaching technique, they add to the methods they use while teaching, and they reflect on the progress of their students. All of these are essential to create a successful learning environment for students.

Reflections:

In regards to Differentiated Instruction, it is helpful for us as new learners, and future teachers to understand this concept now, so we can easily include it in our teaching styles. The scenarios listed were helpful for many of us in the class. They have ideas that we might not have thought of. Some of the ideas mentioned were the emphasize on a classroom environment that fosters respect. Also there was much conversation about the importance of including students in their learning, and making them more responsible for it. In relation to Differentiated Instruction, there seemed to be a new understanding and acceptance that not all students will learn the same because of their Multiple Intelligences. Marie mentioned that this was a helpful realization for her. Lydia and Joel both wrote that it doesn’t matter what route one takes to get to an understanding, as long as they understand it in the end.