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Chapter three in the MI book focused on the importance of uncovering each student’s intelligences. Teachers must also understand that a student normally has more than one intelligence strength. It is not a good idea to keep a tunnel vision on a student’s //single// intelligence strength. We now know that other intelligences can grow and develop. It is also true that already strong intelligences can become stronger. There are many recommended ways to uncover a student’s intelligences. Kid watching is a viable teaching method. Observing misbehavior for example, provides a window into a students learning style. Look at those behaviors as “cries for help” and incorporate lessons that will satisfy those compulsions. Fidgety students may be telling you that they need to move around a little. Journaling is a great way to keep a record of student behavior, successes, failures, ways of socializing, etc. Journals provide a longitudinal view of a student’s behavior. Asking former teachers is another good way to get information from someone who has, “been there, done that,” with a student. Healthy [|Parent-teacher communications] are yet another great source of information. Parents are an obvious choice to gain insight since they spend the most time with the child. At least they spend the most time where the child is more unguarded and in their own element. Information on hobbies, outside of class activities, special talents may give valuable insights on possible intelligence strength and aid lesson planning.

Most everyone agreed that the key to effective teaching is to uncover each student’s multiple intelligences. Nearly everyone recalled that student’s have more than one learning intelligence. A good teacher will uncover those intelligences and help students utilize them. Only then will it be feasible to develop effective lesson plans that help each student learn. Since students have several intelligence strengths, it is better to promote learning through a wide variety of lesson types. The most agreed upon form of information gathering was from journals, or note taking. [|Journals] could include teacher journals or student journals. By giving regular feedback in their student journals, teachers can identify strengths and weaknesses. This source of information gives a solid snapshot of student strengths. It also provides a private and safe dialogue between student and teacher. A teacher will also be providing a plethora of information for the next teacher. In this way, teachers are also learning about student learning styles from other teachers.

Diana Quinlan
This chapter is all about ways to find out what intelligences students have. It is important to remember that each student has more than one main intelligence. Often times their different intelligences work side by side to make them the individual they are. For example, if a student is a musical learner than they are probably a very special learner as well because in order to play and memorize music you have to be able to see the notes in your mind. There are several good ways to find what type of intelligences students have. The first is simple observation. Sometimes the best way to get to know a student is by observing how they, behave, misbehave, and spend their free time. Observing ones misbehavior didn’t seem like a reasonable way to identify intelligences at first, but the more I thought about it the more sense it made. By misbehaving my students will be telling me exactly what they need, and what I am not giving them. Another good way to get to my students intelligences is by looking at their school records. If they have higher grades in certain subjects than others then it is clear that those classes are geared more to that students needs. Parents are also a great resource when it comes to identifying intelligences. A student’s parents know them better that any teacher could ever hope to, so it only makes sense to find out what the parents have to say about their child’s learning style. I think that the best way to find out how a student learns though is by asking that student. After all they will have been learning in their own unique ways for at least seven years before I get to know them. I think that a lot of times teachers forget that students are not just objects we profess our knowledge onto. They are quite capable of giving us their input on a whole variety of subjects, not just their multiple intelligences.

Sarah McGinley
Multiple Intelligences Chapter 3: Describing Intelligences in Students 1/26/10

It was interesting for me to read about how all students obtain all eight intelligences, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and Naturalist, throughout their school careers. One of the things about the intelligences that teachers should be working on is identifying what intelligences work best for each student but where there is not one specific exam to take, this is not an easy task to complete. Even though there is no real way of identifying the intelligences in students, one of the best ways to try is through observation. A teacher can make educated guesses about the student’s intelligences based on the student’s actions in class or through the student’s academic history. Once I have made an educated guess to assess the students, I believe that this new found knowledge would be beneficial to me when I start making my lesson plans. I would like to know what lesson would work best for which students and I am hoping with every lesson plan I construct, I am able to touch a large portion of the class at a time. I would like to be able to teach to all of my students every time but sometimes it does not work out that way.

Alicia Kenison
Franklin’s quote at the beginning really emphasizes an MI; one would not hide who they really are, just like it is pointless to put a sundial in the shade. We need to find out who our students are and let them shine. I’m going to take the idea of keeping a journal with me so I can truly know who my students are. Some of Armstrong’s points I felt were an invasion of space, like looking at school records and taking pictures of students. Some students, like me, are introverts. We like to keep to ourselves, maybe once you get to know the student it would be alright to invade space and ask questions, take pictures, etc., but at first let everyone reach a sense of comfort. As a teacher I might assign a journal as an informal way to get to know my students and during parent-teacher conferences, maybe ask questions about their child’s MI. I don’t want to be too straightforward and pushy as Armstrong seemed in some of his examples, after all, we are supposed to be looked up to and thought about as role models. I wouldn’t want my role model sneaking through my personal records.

Mike Lawson
In chapter three of Thomas Armstrong’s Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, Armstrong goes in depth on how to actually see which one of the eight intelligences is the most predominant in my students. By doing this I will be able to teach more effectively and be able to let my students submerge themselves in my curriculum. Keeping a notebook sounds pretty interesting. Keeping a log of how my kids learn and maybe any changes in their intelligences would be a great resource for future classes I will have with them or even seeing intelligences in future students. The check list, which is often used in this book, has some really good points. I believe that within the next few years intelligence test will become a standardized test and students will come into my class with a label. However, I think that would be a terrible idea. I would rather keep myself occupied in class and use this book and any other strategies I develop to try and learn for myself how to teach my own students.

Scott Bowden
I found a lot of useful information in this chapter. The information here can help me to teach students more effectively by tapping into their specific intelligence. I agree with the observation and note-taking on troublesome students and figure out how they are misbehaving and attempting to associate it to how they learn and what they need from me in the classroom. I would like to be able to target as many of the intelligences as possible in my teaching, but it would help me first to understand how my students learn as individuals so I can prepare lessons that work well with those students. The tactics discussed for dealing with other intelligences never appeared to me as possible because of student privacy rights. I was unaware that I could discuss my students and what I saw of them with other teachers, the administration, and their parents. I thought it was up to me to figure out what to do myself and execute it. With these other resources, I think that I can deal with students who think using different intelligences than mine in a more collaborative way, so that all the student’s teachers can benefit from it.

Jason Malbon
In order to identify and describe multiple intelligences in children, it is important to realize that they may show different intelligences. An educator should never pigeon-hole a child into one intelligence category. That being the case, Howard Gardner indicates that each individual has proclivities toward a specific intelligence. A clever way to identify a child's intelligence is to observe how they misbehave. A student who is constantly talking may be showing linguistic needs toward learning. A spatial student may be constantly doodling. An educator’s job is to uncover learning needs and provide proper instruction to fulfill those needs. A teacher will over time, learn to uncover a child's intelligence style in a myriad ways. Collecting documents, talking with other teachers, parents, and other classmates are all ways a teacher can uncover a child's intelligence.

Jared Merrifield
Chapter 3: Describing Intelligences in Students The first part of this chapter is directly related to what we did in class last week - that is, identifying our proclivities, but also our "runner-up" intelligences, other intelligences that we use but just not quite as often. I can just begin to imagine what a classroom without multiple intelligences would be like: if all the students have the same proclivity, then teaching would be far too easy and perhaps even boring; but if all students had different intelligences, teaching would be impossible. The chances of teaching a classroom without a reasonable balance of multiple intelligences is quite slim, or so I have observed. I enjoyed and chuckled at Armstrong's examples of misbehaving children and how it pertains to their learning style... but what makes it so darn funny is that it is true! For example, when I was younger, I often talked out of turn, usually with friends (I even received a detention for it once), and I consider myself to be a highly linguistic and interpersonal learner. The methods that Armstrong lists for determining a student's strongest intelligence are obvious, but that is because they are indeed effective - tried and true, if I may say that. However, I think the most effective method (although not the most universally accepted, for obvious reasons) is talking to the student's parents. As is usually the case especially with older students (seventh grade and onward), the way a student behaves in the classroom with a teacher present may be drastically different than how he or she behaves among friends and/or family. After all, who can know a child better than their parents, other than the child him/herself? This may sound stereotypical on my part, but the parents are more likely to be honest and revealing than the student, unless the student is truly dedicated to his or her success in the classroom.

Sarah Robinson
Through out this chapter of //Describing Intelligence in Students//, I have found that there are many different ways to find out what of the eight multiple intelligences do students have strengths in. Although it is important to realize that many students have many different strengths with several multiple intelligences. It is stated that watching how students misbehave in class will show which multiple intelligences they do not agree with. There is although many different ways of realizing which multiple intelligences students have strengths in because this will help you teach your classroom. One way is observing how students spend their time out of school because they will be drawn to things that they enjoy, which usually falls under their strengths in multiple intelligences. This chapter has influenced me in the way that I know want to collect documents and take notes in order to figure my students strengths. Reading through students school records is said to be very beneficial to helping students get the best out of their learning experience in schools. Finally this chapter has impacted me in the way that I realize that I would like to talk to other teachers and parents of my students in order to figure out my students strengths in multiple intelligences, therefore bring them a great learning experience.

Amanda Fitzpatrick
At times, when I read this book I feel as though I've read it all before. (Maybe the two books overlap on some topics?) However, as much as I felt that for this chapter, I did learn some tactics that I plan on using in the classroom. Although I think it may be awkward to take pictures of students doing various MI activities during class, I do like the idea of writing journal entries about students--seeing which traits come out the most dependent on what activities they are doing. Another idea I really appreciated was that of speaking to parents during conferences and learning more about the home life of the child--does he or she spend their afternoons drawing? Would they rather be playing pass in the backyard rather than doing homework? Those are indicators for MI (just like the "misbehaving" anecdote at the beginning of the chapter, which I thought was quite humorous and true!) that come from someone who knows the child best--their parents (and what a more effective way to spend conference time, rather than "Billy is doing fantastic..." and twiddling fingers for the remainder of the conference. This chapter had some interesting ideas on how to reach children on a deeper level, and to do that first one must understand how they think.

Jared Boghosian
When gathering information on students with the Multiple Intelligence Theory, I have learned that it is important to avoid focusing on just the one major intelligence that any one student exhibits. Get students involved in all intelligences because just as teachers should develop their intelligences so should the students. If you are having trouble identifying a student's strongest intelligences you should consult other teachers who have that student in class, find out how they are doing and see if there is any sparks in at least one or two of the intelligences. I like the notebook idea, keeping track of a few students who are harder to peg for intelligences and just watch them and use the checklist in the chapter (figure 3.2). Observation will be my greatest tool in the classroom, especially when identifying a student's potential intelligences.

Eric Cole
The basic message of this chapter is that in order for us to teach well we first need to know what type of intelligence our students have. As this book describes, there are several ways to find this information out. I think the best way to do it is the first way they mention: simply learn to carefully observe your students. Students know what they want out of school. We often forget that because teachers are supposed to be wise. Teachers are supposed to know what is best for their students. After all, they are just simple-minded teenagers. What could they possibly know about what is best for them!? Well, they actually know a lot more than we give them credit for. They know how they learn best. They have been going through school for the last 10, 11, 12 years. They know if they like to write essays, or if they like to do projects. Students will let us know this information too. They want us to know. That is a key thing to keep in mind. Students want us to know how they learn best. They have more fun when they are doing what they want, and they learn more. Students will send out the signs, but it is up to us to see them, and recognize them for what they are.

Susanna Cooper
Chapter three went over different ways that I as a teacher can identify my students best learning styles. There were 4 ways of doing this processes that caught my eye or that I agreed with. The most obvious way to learn about your students is to observe them in your class each day. What I found very interesting though, was that some teachers take notes, pages worth, of each student they have. Another way I agree with is to ask other teachers about the student(s), even the music, art, or gym teachers. We should all be working together and sharing enough info back and forth to benefit the student the best way we can. I also know that another good way to know the students learning styles is to assign a project where the students get to choose how they want to do the assignment. This really allows them to branch off and show originality. But my favorite way was looking back at previous years and grades. I never thought of this as a strategy, yet it can be really effective. You can see patterns, changes, and you can immediately see the student’s strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes I feel that a bad teacher gives the next year’s teacher a bad impression, by having multiple years, you can see the bigger picture. I hope to utilize all 4 of these strategies and more when getting to know my students. By taking the extra effort to know how they learn, it will be easier for me to make the lesson plans for that school year and the students can grow more, and faster. I did not like the idea of taking my students pictures all the time. I would feel uncomfortable and I feel there are so many other ways to get to know your students besides taking pictures all the time.