MI+B1+Chapter+11

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Kristen
The use of MI theory would help the special education student tremendously in that the student would then be able to develop and use their strengths to their advantage rather than be constantly reminded of his or her 'disability.' Currently there is large amount of time spent on what a student has difficulty with rather than what a student can do well. A lot of people have disabilities and many may go undiagnosed because they are in the less taught-to of the eight intelligences. Conversely, students who have disabilities also go undiagnosed as "exceptionally gifted" (p. 151) in one or more of the eight intelligences. MI theory education would reduce the amount of children recommended to special education because each would find his/her strengths in the other intelligences. This would also require the special education teacher to be more of a supplementary teacher or something like the curriculum brokers that were mentioned in chapter 9 who assist teachers in planning instruction for students and assist students determine what to take. Children would have better self esteem with this method of teaching because they would all know what they do well instead of what they do poorly and additionally they would appreciate each other and each others differences much more which would create fewer discipline problems in the classroom.

Amanda Martemucci
MI-Chapter 11: Chapter 11 discusses the benefits of using MI theory with special education. Too often, students who have disabilities are often targeted by their weaknesses. Teachers focus on improving those weaknesses without noticing students’ strengths. MI theory suggests that just like other students, students with disabilities have strong and weak intelligences. Using a strong intelligence to help a student with a disability succeed in the area/subject they struggle with can help significantly. Working in this way with special education students can enable them to work more in the regular classroom as the regular classroom focuses on the strong intelligences as well. A student’s self-esteem will also rise, as the teacher no longer focuses on the student’s weaknesses. The student is known for his or her strengths to help him or her learn. I never thought of this perspective before until reading this chapter. As a teacher I will definitely take this into consideration, as I am sure to have at least one student with a disability. I want the student(s) to feel as welcomed in the classroom as any other student, and let them realize that they do have strengths, not just weaknesses in their learning abilities.

Bridget
Chapter 11: MI and Special Education Special education sadly tends to focus on what students //can’t// do instead of what they //can// do. Being lower functioning than average in one intelligence does not mean that a student isn’t going to be well versed in another intelligence. MI theory supports the idea that forcing students who have disabilities or difficulties to focus only on what they struggle with and rarely let them explore the intelligences they excel at is no way to teach. A dyslexic student might struggle with reading, but be a brilliant spatial and bodily-kinesthetic learner. MI suggests that rather than try to work on reading in a linguistic sense, work on it in the intelligences the student excels at. Students in special education with IEPs need to be taught in all the intelligences, just like students in mainstream classrooms. Everyone is smart in different combinations of intelligences, and special education students are no different: we just need to learn to teach to them in a style they understand. I am currently in an Alternative Education classroom at Mt. Blue and the way my mentor teacher handles students with learning disabilities, behavioral problems and “at risk” home lives is MI theory at it’s best. I hope to continue learning from her different ways to teach students who may not have the set of intelligences teachers are used to.

Chelsea
MI theory can provide an overview of students that have special needs as it allows you to discover the multiple abilities of students. MI theory allows you to focus on what these students can do and not what they cannot do. MI theory allows teachers to find the unique abilities of students. It becomes possible when using MI theory to use assistive technology in the classroom as a way to help students with special needs. IEP’s can benefit from MI theory as they allow the plan to be more tailored to match specific abilities of students. If MI were implemented in every classroom there would be fewer referrals because teachers would be focusing on all the intelligences of students and just not linguistic and mathematical. MI theory would also create a deeper understanding of differences between students. MI in special education can be a very powerful tool.

Christina
Chapter eleven discusses the MI Theory and how it relates to special education. A major point of this chapter was how educators have had the tendency to focus on the negatives, rather than the positives. By applying the MI theory, educators can begin to understand that a student might have a learning disability in one intelligence, but excel in another. As teachers, it is our job to focus on the intelligence that helps the students learn effectively. If there is a widespread use of the MI theory for special education, then there will be fewer students who are deemed to be fit for special education classes because their strengths will be recognized. In my classroom, I will place emphasis on identifying what a student does well, instead of what a student does not do well.

Jesika
This chapter is all about recognizing that teachers need to stop seeing the deficit in special needs students and start focusing on what they are particularly good at. The idea that the student’s IEP will be less involved with catering to their deficits and more involved with emphasizing their talents. If teachers start seeing special needs students through the Growth Paradigm (pg151, fig.11.1) there will be fewer special education referrals, special needs students will gain more self confidence because their strengths are being emphasized.

This subject is very near to my heart and will definitely be implemented in my classroom. Special education is not supposed to lock special needs students away from their peers. That damages their ability to develop socially. Special needs students belong in the “normal” classroom. They can learn from the typical students and the typical students can learn form them.

Moe
Wow. I wouldn’t have thought about special education and the effect that the multiple intelligences has on it, until this chapter. I found it extremely helpful though. The author encourages us to use our lessons as “MI strength detectives”, especially when developing IEPs. A side note, I relearned what an IEP was and how the MIs can be used within their IEPs. The book noted that the plans typically focus on the student’s weakness rather then their MI strength. I think that this would be easy to incorporate these things into a student’s IEP, because it makes sense to play to their strengths then the weaknesses.

Kevin
This chapter relates Multiple Intelligence theory to special education. Recognizing that even learning disabled students have a range of talents will help to move the focus away from simply what an individual can’t do to what they can. The author provides an interesting idea that most people have never thought about and that is that learning disabilities can occur in any of the eight intelligences. The chart on page 152 I think could be a great way for students to see how many people are affected by a multitude of disabilities but that need not stop them from doing great things. Another idea is to use MI theory when developing an IEP so that a students strengths can be utilized as a means by which to improve the areas that the student may have difficulty.