MI+B2+Chapter+5

Rachel Joiner
After reading everyone’s blog entries for Chapter 5 of the MI book, I gathered a lot of information that seemed to be common throughout everyone’s. For the most part everyone seemed to agree with the book and the others. The main idea from this chapter was all about working the multiple [|intelligences] into a lesson plan. This was the major common theme throughout; everyone seemed to talk about how important it is to incorporate all of the intelligences into the lesson. Every intelligence has tools within it, and as a teacher we need to know how to accesses these tools and use them in order to provide for our students. Everyone also really seemed to notice the idea of using these intelligences to make class fun and exciting. Everyone seemed to feel that it was their job to make class engaging for all students. One idea that almost everyone mentioned was to map out the lesson plan with the multiple intelligences. They suggested to put down the main objective, and then create branches stemming from this with each intelligence and idea of how they want to present that information. This can really help keep students engaged, and can fit in all their lesson plans. Another common theme throughout the posts was that everyone was mentioning to not talk “at” students. Everyone seemed to agree that in order to be an effective teacher, they must be open and engaging for the students. This will help the students focus and learn better. After reading how everyone felt about this chapter, there seemed to be a consensus for the most part. Some of the big things that were discussed was it was important to everyone to consider every [|student] and the type of learning style that best fits the students. For all of us it seemed that putting the students first and format most was the biggest things. Everyone seemed to agree that as teachers we should try to work in these intelligences. Everyone thought that while we may not be able to incorporate them into one lesson, it is important to make sure they show up at least once during the unit. Several people loved the idea of the activity center that was created. It was a great way to get students moving and thinking. As teachers, everyone thought it was our responsibility to make these intelligences work within in the classroom, and make sure they apply to the units. It is important to incorporate a variety of materials into the lesson. Someone also mentioned something that seemed to be very important, which was to gain a better understanding of their own intelligences before teaching students. By doing this, everyone felt that if we knew our own intelligences then we could better serve our students. No one from these entries agreed with the idea of lecturing to a class. Everyone thought that it was a bad idea to talk “at” a class. No one believed in lecturing or talking to a class, everyone felt it should be fun and engaging. Everyone seemed to enjoy these chapters, and gain a better understanding after them.

Alyssa Amari
The idea of teaching in a way that reaches all multiple intelligences is not a new concept; it has been around for many years; even since the eighteenth century. This may be true, but it has not become the //official// way of instructing for many teachers. Many teachers still simply talk at their students, and do not give any opportunities to engage each of their intelligences. MI teachers contrast deeply with traditional teachers; their teaching is much more engaging, involved, stimulating, and full of opportunities and experiences designed to target specific intelligences. There are several tools that are used in the realm of MI teaching these tool range from, teaching activities, teaching materials, instructional strategies, and sample activities. Each multiple intelligence has different tools within these essential tools. The best way to develop a curriculum is to learn how to translate the material from one intelligence to another. This can be done with the MI Planning Questions model (65). Basically you determine an objective, branch each intelligence off of the objective, then design tasks and instruction methods that can teach your objective within that multiple intelligence. This provides a clear map for instruction to each intelligence. This was interesting because it gave me some specific ideas to use for each intelligence that I can use when teaching mathematics. I also foud that the MI planning sheet was very helpful in seeing how I could plan my instruction for each intelligence individually. I think that this will help my students because they will engage in tasks that are planned for their intelligence. This could help them to continue to develop their intelligence as well as develop others.

Megan Millette
In this chapter of MI theory, Armstrong confers about how easy it is to incorporate MI theory into your curriculum. He tells us that MI theory provides a way to keep your students engaged through a variety of curricula. In order to be an efficient MI teacher one must be willing to think of all the intelligences as well as incorporate them into the unit at least once. In this chapter, it lists a wide variety of ways to do this as well as gives educators a basic diagram to help gather their thoughts and incorporate ideas for each. The trick to this diagram is just to write everything down that applies to the idea. MI has the ability to be found in any skill, content area, or a theme a teacher wants to address as well as be used in any of the eight intelligences the educator wants to use. Armstrong describes MI and thematic instruction as a way in which “themes cut through traditional curricular boundaries, weave together subjects and skills that are found naturally in life, and provide students with opportunities to use their multiple intelligences” (Pg. 67). Here he is saying that when using MI theory with theme it is able to explore many different areas and allows a student a new way to look at the theme with the multiple intelligences being used. When he talks about how certain learning styles such as language don’t have to be just specifically linguistic learning but can actually use the multiple intelligences; I was challenged to think about ways I could possibly incorporate the intelligences into my class. I can find myself using some of his method brought forward in this chapter as ways to make sure I am incorporating all the intelligences into my lessons.

Lauren Scheidegger
Chapter five of “Multiple Intelligences” by Thomas Armstrong goes into creating lesson plans that incorporate the multiple intelligences in them. In the beginning there are very helpful graphs and lists that teachers can use as a valuable resource. When a teacher creates a lesson plan oriented toward all intelligences, they need to think about how to “translate” the information from one intelligence to another. This chapter offers a seven step plan to do so. The first is to pick a clear and focused objective. This helps keep the teacher on course. Next be sure to ask key questions. For the third step the graphs and lists at the beginning of the chapter are very helpful. The third step is all about considering possibilities. Then brainstorm. After brainstorming the teacher picks appropriate activities that seem doable in their classroom. After activities have been selected a plan must be made, then finally the plan is put into action. This includes getting all the materials and going through the lesson.

These instructions seem like an easy way to create activities and a lesson plan able to cater to any intelligence. While I may not follow these instructions for my entire career they provide a great starting point to work off of. I believe that being able to offer projects and learning opportunities that appeal to students that favor any and all of the intelligences is essential. A teacher must teach all students and learning about each student’s learning preferences and then working from that seems to be the most effective way to do so.

Kevin Lind
The one part of this chapter that really sticks out in my mind is the imagery of a traditional teacher versus a teacher focused on the multiple intelligences. The book points out that a teacher who doesn’t use the multiple intelligences will mainly focus on lecturing. The teacher who does use multiple intelligences, on the other hand, changes methods throughout the class. I can think of multiple examples of each from my past, and I can easily say that the teachers who focused on multiple intelligences were much more engaging.

The idea that teachers using multiple intelligences can positively affect their curriculums makes sense to me. It would be fairly easy for most teachers to add projects to the curriculum that would target different intelligences. To do this correctly, teachers have to be able to use new and original ideas to impact every student. For me, this means that I will have to think of some way to connect numbers to government. It would be difficult, but I am willing to figure it out for my students.

Another piece of this chapter that stood out was how long the theory of multiple intelligences has been around. I was a little shocked to find out that Plato mentioned it in his writings. This is an important thing for teachers to keep in mind because it shows the power of this kind of teaching. If the theory can really last as long as it has, then there must be some kind of potential to using it.

Lauren Breton
As an aspiring teacher, I hope to be able to incorporate all students’ eight intelligences into my classroom. It concerns me, however, that I have never had a teacher whom I feel has been an MI teacher. This chapter of the __Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom__ was able to provide me with an example of what an MI teacher does in order to classify them as an MI teacher. One of my major concerns was that the traditional teaching techniques that I have been exposed to (such as lecturing and writing on the board in front of the classroom) would not be techniques that an MI teacher would use. This chapter was able to make me understand that it is certainly acceptable to teach using traditional methods, but it is simply not acceptable to use only those teaching methods. Also, this chapter showed me how to stimulate all eight intelligences within traditional teaching methods.

Although I was reassured that I would be able to use traditional methods in teaching, I was also inspired by this chapter to incorporate other methods and materials of MI teaching into my classroom. The charts and lists provided allowed me to see dozens of different activities that involve certain intelligences that I could use in my classroom. For example, in my English class, I could use journal keeping (linguistic), Socratic questioning (logical-mathematical), idea sketching (spatial), classroom theater (bodily-kinesthetic), mood music (musical) cross-age tutoring (interpersonal), one-minute reflections (intrapersonal), and plants as props (naturalist). These are all valid suggestions that could certainly be incorporated into any English class that will incorporate all eight of my students’ intelligences. I plan to incorporate these methods, among others that are listed within the book, into all of my classes throughout my teaching career.

T.J. Hebert
The Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory suggests to teachers that they need to expand their techniques, tools and strategies beyond the traditional linguistic and logical techniques most commonly used. The strategies involved in MI are not new; they are just better defined and written. The most effective teachers from the past have always taught in that manner: by teaching beyond the text and the blackboard. The MI theory describes eight intelligence types and suggest that by learning each student’s type, they can teach more effectively to the students. There are several ways for a teacher to develop lesson plans based on MI: create questions for each MI category, determine specific strategies that may be used in each MI category, brainstorm about different approaches for each intelligence (I think this would be effective to do with the students input as well). These things should help the teacher select appropriate activities and set up a plan to implement.

One thing that I will do prior to any of the above when I have my own classroom is to have each student take the MI test in order for me to better understand their different intelligences. It will help me differentiate right from the start and create assignments that will be effective for my students. I may have to create different things for all of my classes which is fine with me, I want to do whatever I can to ensure that the students receive the education they deserve. By doing this, I may also open other students up to other intelligences and perhaps they can expand on “weaker” areas of intelligence. By doing different activities or assignments that demonstrate the different intelligences, it exposes the students to the other intelligences and can help them become more balanced.

Rachel Joiner
While reading this chapter I discovered some interesting and frightening information. According to John Goodlad’s project, “A Study of Schooling” nearly seventy percent of classroom time is consumed by teaches talking. This could include directions, or lecturing. The next method of teaching that was used the most was students doing writing assignments. I found this to be shocking, because students may learn from this way; they should not always be learning this way. As a learner myself, I know I would not benefit from almost constant lecturing and writing assignments. I think that students need a variety of methods in order to fully learn and understand the content. This was an important statistic for me as a teacher, because I would not want to be doing this to my students. Now that I have seen this, I am going to be more aware of how I spend my time, and how varied my lessons are as a teacher. I really enjoyed the examples for each intelligence; I thought this was helpful as a teacher, because it gave me ideas on how to fit each intelligence into my lesson in a way that would be beneficial to that learner. I thought the seven-step lesson plan using the MI Theory was great. I found it extremely helpful and something that I would use in my classroom. As a teacher, I think this is great, because it provides examples and hints on how to use it in the classroom. This would be helpful to my students, because I would be targeting all of their various learning styles. I thought this chapter was extremely helpful in terms of working the various intelligences into the classroom.

Samy Tracy
This chapter focuses mainly on how teachers can form their lesson plans to fit the students personal multiple intelligence. Throughout the chapter, the author focuses on the difference between the MI teacher and one that is found most common. Armstrong also expresses how important it is to become an MI teacher because it is the one that gets and keeps students engaged. It also meets students needs by shifting from intelligence to intelligence because they are constantly getting new instruction and are not just sitting there listening to students talk 70% of their class time (which is the normal amount that is taught today). The text also provides examples of how to meet all of the intelligences because it can be hard to find ways to incorporate nature and linguistic and musical all into one unit. Just because it is harder though, does not mean that it is impossible. The ideas mentioned in this chapter is one I am definitely going to integrate into my classroom because I know that when I was a student I would be annoyed by the fact that all a teacher did was just talk at me. It seemed rather impersonal and I really did not find those teachers a few of the greats because of their boring and dull curriculum. Turning these ideas into a lesson plan seems like hard work and Armstrong also provides ways to shape your lesson plans too. This is especially important for beginning teachers and then after awhile, you can come up with new ideas on your own because you have gotten into the routine of using the MI theory effectively.

Matt Roy
This chapter focuses on how to implement Multiple Intelligence theory into a lesson plan (be it for one day or a full year). Too often teachers lecture at the class or have their backs turned while writing on a white board, these teaching methods (while legitimate in their ability to stimulate linguistic intelligences) has become far too overused. Sadly, our educational system has become so standards based that teachers find themselves teaching to a test and lecturing just so happens to be the most effective means of ensuring that all the material is at least covered (even if it is not quite understood). Enter the MI teacher. The MI teacher is introduced in this chapter as the educator who takes the time to be sure they are integrating all 8 intelligences into their curriculum to ensure that all of their students are engaged and stimulated for at least some of the time. This chapter does a great job of giving hints and suggestions as to how teachers can best go about including all of the intelligences. Finally, there is even a nice little cheat-sheet at the end that gives suggestions as to how we might mix intelligences together.

Throughout this course, it has become painfully evident that we will need to take special care to ensure that all of our students are being engaged in our classroom. If our students are not engaged then it most likely is an indicator that we are not reaching them. However, this chapter also makes the important point that it is irrational (if not impossible) to expect that we will be able to engage all of the intelligences 100% of the time, so we must remain realistic.

Patrick Hurley
Avoid talking at students. You need to get the class involved and keep them engaged. Multimodal teaching has been around for quite some time. Plato and Rousseau wrote of multiple intelligences in some of their works. Teachers need to reach beyond the textbooks and awaken student’s minds. A teacher in an MI classroom will be constantly shifting their style, whether it be linguistic or auditory or kinesthetic, while keeping their educational goals in mind. There are seven steps to create lesson plans using MI theory, they are: focus on a specific object or topic, ask key MI questions, consider the possibilities, brainstorm, select appropriate activities, set up a sequential plan, implement the plan. Having themes in your teaching helps give the students chances to use their multiple intelligences. One of the big things teachers have to do is create lesson plans. I found the different steps very helpful. I am going to have to make a lot of different lesson plans, and having a little guide on how to do that using the MI theory is very helpful. I will have to be sure to teach to all the different intelligences, which will be quite a challenge. I will have to get creative with the lessons so that I keep students engaged. I also found it interesting that educators have been talking about MI for hundreds of years. = =

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Simone Thiry
Chapter five focuses on the connection between MI Theory and Curriculum Development. There are eight modes of teaching, that each connect to the eight intelligences, and it is our responsibility as teachers of differentiated classrooms to try to utilize aspects of all the different modes. This chapter provided some resources, such as a chart and a list, to help show us what types of activities we should be incorporating in order to teach to all the intelligences. One of the most useful diagrams to me was the web of MI Planning Questions. By putting the objective that is being addressed in the center of the web, and answering the key planning questions for each intelligence, we can find ways to work in the different intelligences to lessons that may seem to only target a few intelligences. The chapter also discussed the growing popularity of thematic instruction, which goes across subject boundaries to provide more real-life connections and allow students to perform in the classroom similarly to how they will perform in the outside world, calling on multiple abilities at a time. In the list of MI teaching strategies, I had difficulty understanding some of the strategies just by the listed word, but I also saw some strategies in each intelligence that could be useful in a secondary mathematics classroom. I also noticed that I already have tendencies to use several intelligences at a time in my lesson plans (for example, my Supplemental Instruction lesson plans), but I rarely incorporate bodily-kinesthetic, musical and natural abilities in my examples. I hope to continue focusing on developing ways to incorporate these intelligences for the rest of my time at UMF, so that I can have a better understanding of how to use them in my future classroom.

Mike Kahler
This chapter is about being a MI teacher, and learning the tools required to teach and design lessons for the eight multiple intelligences. There are several tools offered for each of the intelligences, and this chapter lists a bunch of options for each intelligence. Using reading, writing and speaking activities triggers the linguistic intelligence. Using scientific method, calculations, and categorization trigger the logical intelligence. Using pictures, colors, and symbols is helpful to special intelligence learners. Using rhythmic speaking, singing songs, and background music is helpful for musical learners. Using cooperative groups, and group sharing help interpersonal learners, and choice time and personal connections is beneficial to intrapersonal learners. Outside activities, like nature walks, and keeping a pet in the classroom proves to be beneficial for naturalist learners. Now, these all must be incorporated into your lesson plans (or at least 6). While planning your lessons you need to establish the end goals for the unit, and make lessons that will teach students the material while at the same time showing differentiating your lessons to touch on as many intelligences as possible. This will work its way into my classroom everyday hopefully. AS someone with very distinctive preferences when learning I understand that everyone has different needs, and I would like all of my students to be able to have fun and be successful. By incorporating props, movement, pictures, and discussion into my plans I will be able to be a great MI teacher. After establishing my unit goal I will create innovative lessons and assessments that will teach my students in a very effective way.

Morgan Ware
Teachers need to expand their teaching methods and tools/strategies in order to fully teach every type of student. This chapter talks about different ways to incorporate MI Theory into curriculum and teaching. John I. Goodlad says that the “MI Theory provides a broad range of stimulating curricula to ‘awaken’ the slumbering brains” (page 55). MI Theory gives teachers the tools to take the material from the blackboard and present it in a way that every type of learner can understand. MI Theory also allows teachers to reflect on their teaching styles and how they either work for their students or how they do not work for their students. Also teachers can broaden their collection of teaching materials, to include a range of methods, materials, and techniques to be able to reach a diverse group of learners. This chapter also talks about the MI Teacher. The MI Teacher keeps what needs to be taught in mind while changing the presentation to meet the needs of all the intelligences in a creative way. The book has charts and lists as resources to help me understand how to create a curriculum that touches all of the eight intelligences. This chapter also talks about how to create lessons that incorporate the MI Theory. Teachers need to focus on the specific topic, ask MI questions, consider the possibilities, and brainstorm. On page 65 there is a chart that explains how to ask the right questions to create MI lessons. This chapter gave me the tools and examples on how to create lessons and how to incorporate the multiple intelligences into my lessons and curriculum.

Emily McGee
Armstrong explicates the importance for teachers to gain a vast collection of teaching techniques, tools, materials, and methods. He advises teacher to make their curriculum stimulating by teaching through experience-based learning adventures, not just lecture alone. He articulates the importance of getting students involved in their learning through activity and using personal interests and experiences to relate to content. Armstrong also talks about the need to continually reassess teaching methods and effectiveness and make necessary changes where needed. He gives a brief description of how to create an MI lesson plan and integrating thematic learning instruction. As I design my curriculum over the next several years and beyond, I believe it is important to take into consideration the learning needs of every student. Because everyone learns different and has a varying range of proclivities, instruction should attempt to stimulate all learners through their various understanding abilities. While one cannot teach in all 8 intelligences at once or even in any given lesson, all should be included throughout any given unit to give all learners the highest chance for success possible. I believe that experience-based learning is far more powerful than any rote memorization because it is longer lasting (isn’t that the goal?). I like the idea of using learning activity centers, focusing on different proclivities for students to chose from (or circulate through) for hands-on (or ears-on, eyes-on, body-on) learning. I believe students should be encouraged to seek out information that suits their learning style and use that method to help them be successful. Of course one cannot ignore the importance of learning in all 8 intelligences not just proclivities.