MI+B2+Chapter+7



Synthesis and Abstract- Matt Roy
Chapter 7 of Multiple Intelligences focuses on how the overall classroom setting can be used to address all of the multiple intelligences that will inevitably be found in our classrooms. The defining feature of this chapter is definitely the idea of [|activity centers] and how they can best be utilized in the classroom to engage all of the intelligences in the material. Activity centers are split into four different categories: Permanent Open-Ended, Temporary Topic-Specific, Temporary Open Ended and Permanent Topic Specific (shifting). Armstrong even goes into giving examples for how each intelligence could be engaged at each category. At a permanent open-ended Activity Center, naturalist learners can be engaged by having an aquarium set up. Temporary Topic-Specific Activity Centers can engage kinesthetic learners by having a building center where students can build models. Temporary Open Ended Centers can engage Logical/Mathematical learners by having //Monopoly// set up. Finally, Permanent Topic Specific Centers can engage musical learners by prompting them to write a song on a particular topic.

Overall, everyone seemed very excited about the idea of activity centers, some of us even went so far as to wish we had had experience with them while we were in school. Ultimately, I was just excited that the chapter focused on how the [|classroom]itself can have a significant effect on how we learn. toc

Megan Millette
This chapter discusses making the classroom environment a place for all eight intelligences. Armstrong first has the reader evaluate the basic questions to help them understand how to incorporate the intelligences into classroom environments. He then goes on to describe a system that could work at including the intelligences. This idea would be the idea of the MI activity centers. This thought deals with organizing the class into separated areas designed specifically for each of the eight intelligences. Armstrong then gives the reader many possibilities to choose from. There were quadrants 1,2,3, and 4. Quadrant 1 was called permanent open-ended activity center while quadrant 2 was called temporary open-ended activity center. These two were easily modified with no prearranged end. The other quadrants were quadrant 3, which was named temporary topic-specific activity centers while quadrant 4 was permanent topic-specific activity center. These are where they rotate but the topic of each table is different. When given this choice of which station to pick students would naturally move to the table that represented their strongest intelligence. As they are at groups I found the idea of rotating from time to time to be very useful for students to learn all the intelligences and ways in which to participate in them. I believe it would also be advantageous to have tables that incorporated a few of the multiple intelligences in them at any given time. I believe this would be exciting and a good learning experience for my students. This exercise of intelligence activity tables would be a good first week activity to help you understand their intelligences.

Lauren Breton
This chapter of the text emphasizes the importance of incorporating the MI theory into the classroom environment. The text encourages the incorporation of posters, plants, words, ways to get students moving, and music as a means to incorporate all of the eight different intelligences into the classroom environment. One of the recommended means to create such an environment is to incorporate the use of MI activity centers. These centers could either be permanent or temporary, and could be topic-specific or open-ended. I would seriously consider incorporating temporary topic-specific activity centers into my future classrooms. These types of activity centers are frequently changed but are focused on a theme or subject. If my class was reading a novel, for example, they could alternate through the different stations and experience the novel through all eight of their intelligences. For example, students could write about the novel (linguistic), create a soundtrack for the novel (musical), discuss the novel (interpersonal), relate the novel to their own life (intrapersonal), draw a picture that represents the novel (spatial), act out their favorite scene from the novel (bodily-kinesthetic), do experiments to see if aspects of the novel are plausible (logical-mathematical), and look at pictures/videos of the animals and plants that were described within the novel (naturalist). This plan would only work, however, if I were able to choose a novel that lends itself well to the incorporation of all eight of the intelligences. Also, my other concern would be whether or not this would be plausible to include for all of the novels that were studied throughout the year. Even if this does not turn out to be something that I can do for every piece of literature that my students read, it is an idea that I would certainly like to be able to incorporate into my future classroom because it would allow my future students to use all eight of their intelligences in my classroom.

Emily McGee
Armstrong describes the importance of using the eight intelligences in every aspect of the classroom to enhance the environment for all learners. By understanding MI Theory, teachers can implement it’s teaching into every part of their classroom, in curriculum and instruction, but design as well. Armstrong exemplifies many ways each intelligence can show in classroom setup, ranging from aquariums to music labs to colorful, linguistic posters. He expresses the importance of “intelligence-friendly areas” or activity centers designed with meaningful, engaging activities for students to pursue during down time in class or for lab. He attests to the practicality of using this theory in class, by means of how it can positively effect the learning process of students with academic, emotional, or cognitive difficulties, along with every other learner in the class.

I think Armstrong presents a very good idea revolving the practice of MI Theory in the classroom— it should integrate itself into the entire classroom, not just curriculum, instruction, and assessment. I never considered why teachers choose the posters, seating arrangement, common areas, lab set ups, etc. that they do. But I see now that there is great weight on how it is done. Perhaps students may benefit hugely from being given the choice in down time activities related to the content, while other students are engaged in on-to-one discussion or instruction with the teacher. Or when student’s finish early they can engage themselves in activity centers that further their knowledge of the topic and may provide meaningful experiences.

Lauren Scheidegger
Chapter seven of __Multiple Intelligence in the Classroom__ by Thomas Armstrong is all about the classroom environment. The chapter goes over ways to incorporate activities for learners of all intelligences. A graph containing the points “open-ended”, “temporary”, “Topic-Specific”, and “permanent” with the corresponding mix of the two points in between was placed in this chapter. This is to encourage activities of all sorts. Within those categories they say to include one for each of the eight intelligences. They list many examples for each option. One example of a temporary and open-ended activity for someone with a high linguistic intelligence might be scrabble; one for a logical/mathematical intelligence might be monopoly. One for a linguistics learner that was permanent and open-ended was a language lab or writing area, and one for an interpersonal learner was a group discussion or social area. All the options can be very inspiring for teachers and they seem like they would encourage teachers to incorporate a more diverse collection of activities. The chapter also pushed teachers to allow students to have some choice in the classroom. After reading this chapter I have gained more options and activity ideas for my classroom. While a lot of the activities seemed to be oriented to a very young audience, they still worked as spring boards to create activities for older audiences and students. I want to be able to have as many hands on and engaging activities and lessons as possible in my future classroom and I feel as though this chapter helped give me a head start.

T.J. Hebert
This chapter discusses classroom settings and how they relate to the eight intelligences. After doing a brief review of the eight intelligences there are a few questions that arise in relation to the classroom setting, for instance, how time is structured is important to logical-mathematical intelligence, how classroom furniture is arranged is important to spatial intelligence, having the opportunity to get up and move around is important to bodily-kinesthetic. Varying the classroom settings will help appeal to all of the intelligences and can aid in a positive learning environment. One method of classroom arrangement is by setting up activity centers that incorporate all intelligences. The classroom can be divided into sections such as a book area for linguistic learners, open space for movement for the bodily-kinesthetic, round tables for discussion for the interpersonal, or an area with plants or gardening materials for the naturalist.

I think activity centers is an amazing idea, this is one of my favorite things I have heard yet in any book and is something that I will surely use at some point in every unit that I teach for every class. I wish that this is something that I could have experienced when I was in school. One thing that I will do is allow the students to choose what center they would like to start in and throughout the unit challenge the students to move to different centers to experience different intelligences and perhaps discover an area of strength or new interest. This seems like a great way to help students expand on their intelligences and become a more balanced learner.

Alyssa Amari
Not only must you teach in a way to reach each intelligence, but you must design classroom environments that connect to each intelligence as well. For linguistic learners consider how students are exposed to writing (posters, books, quotations. For Logical Mathematical, consider how the tie is structured in your classroom in relation to making use of student’s time and having consistency. For spatial intelligences consider the furniture arrangement, visual experiences, room colors, and spaciousness. For kinesthetic learners consider the amount of time students spend sitting, or have materials that involve building and manipulating. For the musical learners consider whether the auditory environment promotes your teaching and how you use your voice. For interpersonal learners consider the atmosphere of belonging and trust, or mediating conflicts, and interacting opportunities with other students. For Intrapersonal, are students provided with opportunities to share feelings or heighten their self esteem? Finally the naturalists, consider allowing students to go outside, or having plants in the classroom. Chapter seven addresses these possibilities with the idea of an activity center with four quadrants. One with permanent open-ended activity centers where students have a range of open-ended experiences for each intelligence. Another quadrant with temporary topic specific activities where the centers are changed frequently but geared toward a certain theme. Or the temporary open ended activity center where students can play game related to their intelligence. Lastly the permanent topic specific activity center which are activities composed of a combination of quadrant one and quadrant three activities geared toward year long themes. I like these ideas because they are fun and flexible toward unit goals. I would like to integrate some of these techniques into my teaching because I feel like they would help to open up the learning environment for all intelligences. This will benefit all students because they will be provided with the opportunity to engage in activities specifically designed for their intelliegence.

Samy Tracy
Armstrong describes in this chapter all about classroom ecology, or the classroom environment. He tells the reader that teachers can arrange their classrooms to suit the specific intelligences that each class would possess. This is also another idea to help show how teachers can explain multiple intelligences and each particular one to their students. The book gives four ways to design your classroom as little MI Activity Centers that are advantageous to students. One thing that I did not particularly like was the fact that the book once again focused primarily on elementary school classrooms rather than high school. These activities were mostly suited for younger children because it explained how these activity centers could be used during recess or break times. In high school though, students do not get these certain times because they are hustling to other classes throughout the day. Any feedback on how to incorporate it into high school classrooms would be awesome! These activity centers were focused on either two parts; ongoing and permanent or topic-specific and temporary). The topic-specific and temporary centers are valuable when it comes to themes in the classroom or units being covered at that specific time. An example was to have them based on particular seasons where they write poems, work in groups, create representation of a season using your body, etc. These help students figure out their intelligence while also finding out more information about other intelligences, which is both very important to the learning process whether it relates to the subject or not.

Rachel Joiner
This chapter had many interesting ideas and tips on using the multiple intelligences in a classroom environment way. I thought this was different, because I never thought of using and understanding the MI Theory and applying it to the environment in such a way. I found the questions broken down by each section about the environment that could help or hinder students’ progress to be helpful. Some of the questions posed were things I would not normally think about as a teacher. A few of these questions were about the vocabulary that the teacher uses, if it is at the same level of the student’s understandings, or higher or lower. As a teacher, I feel like I could get carried away with the topic, and forget my students need me to explain key vocabulary words or events. This is something that I will need to remember and work on as a teacher. A few other things that I would have never realized as a teacher were when activities were planned for morning or afternoon. The book suggests doing work that is more academic in the morning and more hands on in the afternoon. This is something about my students that I would not have considered when making lessons plans and it could be helpful in the classroom environment. I really loved the idea of doing the various activity centers for each intelligence. I thought this was a wonderful idea that would really help students. I thought the chapter offered great tips about different games or products that could be set up at each table. At the end of the chapter, it mentions using the activity centers for when students finish work and have extra time. I think this is a great idea because it challenges students and gives them something to fall back on when they are bored, or done with their work. This is a strategy that I would like to use in my classroom.

Kevin Lind
One of the ideas in this chapter that really stuck in my head was the idea of having activity centers in the classroom to focus on each of the multiple intelligences. This is a really cool idea, but I don’t think it is realistic in most classrooms. Due to many budget cuts, it seems highly unlikely that any superintendent would actually approve a “music lab” in the classroom. If there is a way that I could establish a classroom like this, I would be incredibly happy.

Open ended activity centers seem like a more realistic idea that could be very useful in the classroom. These areas can definitely help show teachers specifically what intelligences their students favor. This information is crucial for deciding how to assess each student. Also, it could effectively show teachers the best way to teach each of their students individually. The only issue I would see with using this is that high school probably is not the best environment for this idea; it is clearly suited for younger students.

Similarly, student choice activity centers could easily show educators how their students prefer to learn. But, it is also mainly geared towards young learners. Activities like these are not very effective in high schools, since students could easily leave a classroom and go to the library to read instead of finding a good location in one room. Personally, I think these ideas are very interesting. But to be realistic, I could never actually see myself using either of these in a classroom. =

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Mike Kahler
This chapter outlines how MI theory can be incorporated into the classroom environment. Factors in the classroom can inhibit or encourage different learners in each of the intelligences. For example the utilization of good linguistics in the classroom will benefit linguistic learners, but busy work and work that isn’t engaging can seriously inhibit their progress. The basic organization of the classroom can also encourage the multiple intelligences to grow. One idea presented in the chapter entails splitting up the classroom into different stations that encourage growth in the eight intelligences. These intelligence stations can encourage students to better themselves in all of the different areas. One example of an intelligence specific station in the linguistic area is a place set aside in the classroom with comfortable seating for reading. This area is a very simple thing to set up, and the growth in the linguistic intelligence that it will encourage cannot be matched. Another example of one of these learning stations is a hands-on center for kinesthetic learners. This area could include modeling clay or blocks to encourage the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. These centers are a good idea in the classroom, and could encourage growth of all the intelligences over the course of a school year. At the same time it strike me as difficult to utilize them on a regular basis. Although I can see myself using them for specific lessons I cannot see myself using them on an everyday basis. It just doesn’t seem efficient.

Matt Roy
Multiple Intelligences Chapter 7 focuses on how the classroom environment can be influenced and geared towards each intelligence. Furthermore, it examines the classroom environment as a tool towards stimulating learning and making our teaching practices more effective for each of our students. The chapter focuses mainly on the idea of activity centers. Activity centers are split into four different categories: Permanent Open-Ended, Temporary Topic-Specific, Temporary Open Ended and Permanent Topic Specific (shifting). These are all designed to expose students to experiences in all of the multiple intelligences. These activity centers are all geared towards engaging students in the classroom. By creating these activity centers in our classrooms we can introduce students to the theory behind multiple intelligences while also inevitably engaging them in their proclivity (preferred intelligence).

I enjoyed this chapter because it encourages us pre-service teachers to think of our classroom dynamic/environment as a tool for reaching our students. Many people don’t realize that the nature of the classroom layout can even influence the way our students take in and work with the material. In high school all of my classrooms were set up in some circular fashion (whether around a circular table or arranging the desks in a semi circle). These class layouts seemed to encourage more conversation with the material as all students were on the frontlines and no one has the luxury of hiding in the back. Rows however can allow for students to get lost in the crowd and shy away from participating. Often we don’t think of something this simple as having such a large impact on the way we learn.

Simone Thiry
A truly effective MI classroom is evident in the classroom environment, or ecology, not just in the way teachers teach and students learn. The seventh chapter addressed how to ensure that the classroom environment is comfortable for students with all different proclivities, while also providing avenues for students to explore other intelligences. The section of the chapter that was most helpful to me as a future teacher was the list of questions for teachers. By evaluating the eight intelligences, the authors came up with a list of questions for each to help determine whether or not a classroom environment is welcoming to individuals with each proclivity. Several ideas from these lists were new to me, and it is interesting to think about how environmental components that may not impact me as a learner could potentially impact my students (both positively and negatively). I had never considered illumination, auditory environment, and the presence of living organisms as major components of my future classroom, but now I understand how the presence and quality of these components could have a profound effect on students who are centered in those intelligences. I felt that the second section of the chapter was more geared towards a younger audience, in an interdisciplinary classroom. While a few of the activity centers and quadrants may apply to my field of secondary math education, there were many that I could not visualize being successful and supportive of my subject area and content. I do fancy the idea of temporary activity centers, and I think that I may be able to incorporate those more easily into lesson plans, particularly as I build a library of resources for multiple intelligences.

Patrick Hurley
You will have to restructure the ecology of your classroom to fit different intelligences. You have to look at each type of intelligences and ask yourself key questions about each one to make sure you are addressing each intelligence in the classroom. You can also make areas in your classroom that focus on certain intelligences. You can do this by using permanent open-ended activity centers, which split the class up so everyone gets a variety of questions from each type of intelligence so they get some experience in each. You can also use temporary topic-specific activity centers, temporary open-ended activity centers, and permanent topic-specific activity centers. Each one of these are designed to target different intelligences. The permanent ones stay in the class all year while the temporary one can be taken down or changed easily each class. You can give the students some choice in picking which stations they go to, but assigning the groups for them is generally best so they get a well-rounded experience. I can use these different stations in my classroom to help differentiate instruction. Using these stations is a good way to get everyone thinking in different intelligences. This method will help them be well-rounded learners. I will have to make sure I have a good mix of intelligences in each group so they can also learn from each others different learning styles.

Morgan Ware
This chapter talks about how to use the multiple intelligences in the set up of the classroom environment. The chapter talks about incorporating quotations, plants, posters, routines, artwork on the walls, background music, hands on activities, and many others to use the MI Theory to make a classroom more welcoming to people with different intelligences. One of the ways to incorporate the MI Theory in the classroom is through the use of activity centers. Teachers would set up the room in four quadrants. Each quadrant would have a specific activity that is either permanent/temporary open-ended activities or permanent/temporary topic-specific activity centers. For Linguistic, I would put historical novels along with writing centers so they can work on their papers or homework. For Spatial learners I would put paints and other hands on arts and crafts so they can paint maps and recreate famous paintings. Teachers can also give students the choice on what they want to do for an activity. This will also give the teacher an idea of what type of learner their students are. This will allow me to better understand my students for them to succeed academically.