Chapter 14

Wow. So the chapter starts off saying that we should take existential intelligence seriously, then goes right on to say how it should never be used in school. This chapter is a waste of time. It’s not an intelligence, and until it is, I’m not talking about it.

Chapter 13

Multiple Intelligences would be a good way run a career development class. We only had one career development class, and it sucked. I’m not sure if it sucked because it was just an unorganized class, because it didn’t seem to help any of us students, or because the teacher was a nut. He didn’t ask us for any input on careers we might want to pursue. Using MI to interest students would be helpful I believe.

Chapter 11

I heard a rough statistic the other day, that only the top 15% and bottom 15% of the student body is going to get the help it needs in high school. This is especially disturbing after being in the classroom and seeing that there are many students “undiagnosed” or “misdiagnosed” with special needs. These techniques should be used on any student who is have difficulties with the curriculum, not just children with learning disabilities. While I think the one-on-one help that some students with special needs get is wonderful, it’s a damn shame how we don’t think our energy is needed with students without special needs. I don’t know if MI works, I’m sure it does, but the way it’s presented in this book is completely ridiculous. The authors make it sound like it’s going to save the world, but in truth, I wonder if MI techniques themselves are just one way students can learn, and not the answer to all of our prayers as educators.

Chapter 9

I was most intrigued by The Key Learning Community’s view on classroom diversity. Just recently, I had a discussion with Geoff about tracking in high school and the pros and cons of it. He never had tracking in his own high school, and he said it worked out fine. This school seems to go a step further and actually place kids of different ages in classes together, not unlike my own elementary school where we had grades 1 and 2 mixed. I would be interested to learn more about this, and I wish they could have gone into more detail in the book. I think students could benefit from that specific kind of diversity.

Chapter 8

I would be really interested to know if these disciplinary methods actually work. I have a feeling that they wouldn’t. Once again, I feel like these techniques are too elementary for high school students. For me, the best kind of discipline if obviously none at all, but when it comes down to it, speaking to a high school student like an adult is what I find works best. If you respect them, they will respect you. Engaged students won’t be misbehaving in your classroom. Assess the student behavior, but also assess your own instructional strategies and what you can improve in the lesson before blaming a bored student.

MI - Chapter 6 - MI and Teaching Strategies

This chapter killed me. I think it really should have been teamed up with the last chapter. These are all really awesome examples, but it drives me crazy to read it all over again, chapter after chapter. Getting that rant out of the way, the most interesting example I found was the people sculpture under interpersonal intelligence. The idea of acting out different ideas and concepts is interesting, and I would enjoy trying it out in my own classroom.

MI - Chapter 5 - MI and Curriculum Development

I can honestly say that I have this chapter down-pat. Probably even before our presentation on Google Earth I could have given you plenty of ways to incorporate all the intelligences in almost any given lesson. I hate how we keep repeating theme between the books we’re reading, but I think it helps to get everything in our head and make it stay there. MI’s will DEFINITELY be included in my classroom. I feel like the nature part will be the hardest to incorporate. I plan on having as many classes outside of the classroom, actually outside and also in the community, as I can.

MI - Chapter 10 - MI and Assessment

Although we’ve been over the different types of assessment, and their pros and cons, I think this chapter showed many useful examples of how to use proper assessment. There are still a few I don’t quite agree with though. While I understand the reasoning behind videotaping students while they’re presenting projects, reports etc., I don’t believe it’s necessary to put the child through the potential anxiety of knowing that twice a year they will be videotaped, and that videotape will be placed in their permanent file. I have seen first hand how using assessments that appeal to the multiple intelligences really do work. My mentor teacher regularly includes questions that relate his students’ lives and they also do quite a bit of sketching.

MI - Chapter 4 - What Really Matters in Planning for Student Success

The nine attitudes and skills from this chapter would have made an excellent addition to our good teacher lists for Beth. I liked the section about accepting responsibility for learner success. The scenario where Mrs. Pasarella spent extra time with the advanced and struggling learners felt good to me. I would say that the only problem is the students in between who could be on the edge of being a struggling learner or have the potential to be an advanced learner. Where do they fit in? Mr. Alvarez has the right idea by keeping a tally of the number of time each student speaks. Making sure everyone is speaking is a big part of having an open and supportive environment to work in.

MI - Chapter 3 - What Really Matters in Learning (Content)

This chapter tackles that never ending question of “what’s important to teach?” I had no idea that some of teaching standards were so ridiculous, such as that one about the Indus River Valley and the Huang-He of China, but if you Google it, you’ll find that a lot of teachers decided not to mess around with skipping that particular content standard. The backward-design seems to only make sense to me. I would never teach a lesson without knowing ultimately what I want my students to get from it. I can see how going about the planning backwards would be more helpful though. Those templates look eerily familiar.

MI - Chapter 2 - MI and Personal Development

I like the idea of asking the students’ help to think of strategies for including more intelligences in the classroom. I don’t find fault in any teacher who asks opinions of their students. I want to be someone who can be trusted in my classroom and also flexible enough to change plans if something comes up, like an amazing trip to a local playground or park to sit in the shade and read or write. I’m glad the author encourages teachers to continue trying to grow their own intelligences; there’s always room for improvement when it comes to educating the youth of the nation.

MI - Chapter 1 - The Foundations of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences

This chapter was especially fascinating because none of these concepts are completely new to me because of my past classes at UMF and also high school. I scored highest on the intrapersonal intelligence during our class last week. That makes a lot of sense because tend to be very self sufficient when it comes to school and school work, whereas friends I know who get overwhelmed easily and take on more than they can handle in a semester. I’m not sure if I would necessarily consider this an intelligence so much as a personality trait, but I do recognize that my learning style would be different from other people’s styles based on this trait. I’m already excited to make lessons plans that are directed at each specific intelligence and to connect them together in lessons.