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Jared Boghosian: Abstract
This chapter is all about ways you can improve your [|classroom management] skills by incorporating the eight intelligences. Sometimes a traditional lecture based style of teaching does not supply the best environment for learning. Why not try approaches to management such as developing visual ques in the form of objects or hand gestures? Even sound cues like making a sudden loud noise or making no noise at all could be effective tools in maintaining order and learning in a classroom. There is also a nice bit about sectioning out your classroom into stations that represent different aspects of learning.

Jared Boghosian: Synthesis
Nearly all of my colleagues agreed that they really want to learn how to tame a classroom and feel that is just as daunting a task as actually teaching. Like myself they liked the wide range of things you can do to gain the attention of the students, quick examples are the above visual and physical cues you can use. As for creating "multiple intelligence groups" I would have to agree with my friends that it seems rather childish for a middle and high school setting. And on top of the concept being a little immature, the physical limitations are also a big problem. Having one good classroom configuration is hard enough without having to juggle up to [|seven] of them.

Sarah McGinley
Multiple Intelligences Chapter 8: MI Theory and Classroom Management 2/23/10

This chapter focuses on classroom management through the use of multiple intelligences. The classroom expectations about the rules of the classroom can be told to students in many different ways. They could be written for students who are linguistic learners or they can be given in specific gestures for the students who are bodily kinesthetic or visual learners. Multiple intelligences can be used in many different ways. If all or most of the students are engaged in the assignment or activity currently going on then the students have no time to misbehave. This is just one of the many reasons I would like to incorporate all or most of the intelligences. I like the idea of keeping everyone engaged and that helps the idea of keeping everyone in line. There are different ways of getting the students’ attention if the class does get out of control. The teacher could write on the board what she/he would like the students to do or the teacher could give the students a signal that means to pay attention. There are many other different ways of getting the students attention through the use of the different intelligences.

This chapter discusses different classroom management techniques. When talking about classroom management it is important to use the eight different intelligences. Trying to get a class’s attention in a linguistic manor is not always going to work because not all students are linguistic learners. The book offers several examples of ways to gain the attention of a class using different intelligences. I plan to use the silent example in my classroom. Over the years I have found that if a teacher is standing silently at the front of the room students tend to notice and tell their classmates that it is time to pay attention. I also like the stop watch suggestion. This is when the teacher uses a stopwatch to keep track of how much time has been wasted. This chapter also discusses the importance of rule in the classroom. Rules need to be communicated to students using the eight different intelligences as well. This way they are more likely to be followed. Likewise it is important to address infractions of the rules using the different intelligences as well. Although the suggestions given for communicating and dealing with infractions of the rules are a bit elementary, I plan on altering them slightly so they will be effective tools in my classroom.

Sarah Robinson
As a future teacher, the thought of managing a classroom is one of the scariest thoughts to imagine. Although this chapter brings that fear to an end it gives great ideas of how to manage a class room for all eight multiple intelligences. This chapter has given me the great idea of getting the student’s attention for musical learners, which would be clapping your hands until students clap back. This chapter also gives great ideas for all of the eight multiple intelligences to the attention of students. When students have transitions during this chapter gives the idea of having hand gestures for bodily-kinesthetic learners for transitions. When communication classroom rules teachers need to make sure that they use different techniques to make sure that all kinds of students with multiple learning intelligences can communicate the rules of the classroom with easily. One that I found very helpful for my classroom will be for naturalist learners, and that would be to have a different animal for each rule of the classroom. The most important part of this chapter would be how to manage a student that has behavior problems, and this chapter gives some great ideas for this matter. One that I found very important to use would be for bodily-kinesthetic learners and that would be to have them role-play the correct behavior. This chapter is great for new teachers to use to make sure that their classroom is managed as best as possible.

Jason Malbon
Getting student’s attention and keeping it is a common fear and one I personally share. The book refers to several strategies that seem to be geared more for elementary students than secondary level students. I can’t imagine whispering into a senior students ear, “class has started, pass it on.” I am more likely to believe that a classroom run in the MI style of thinking will be less subject to misbehavior. I did like the idea of forming groups for the naturalist. The visualization of a sheep, pig, and cow exercise is clever and I’d be curious to see the results every time it was used. I also like the idea of using MI theory in handling one on one issues with students. The student who can sit still or focus can be given the task of handing back assignments, handing out papers, or writing something on the whiteboard for the teacher. Good for the kinesthetic learner. I think this area is best left for individual educators to experiment. Over time each teacher will have a different “tool box”, to refer to when the need arises.

Mike Lawson
Classroom management seems to be one of the most feared and complicated elements a teacher must..maybe not master, but be pretty good at. Without classroom management a teacher would not be able to hold a job. The kids would be unruly and disruptive to a point of pure madness. I never though of using the MI theory to try and control my classroom, then I read this chapter and realized that classroom management isn't so much controlling the students attitudes and emotions, but controlling their interest level. A teacher must keep kids engaged in the learning and the information that is being taught. The chapter gave plenty of examples on how to keep attention depending upon which intelligence you want to focus on. Some of them seemed a little childish for a high school classroom, but I have a strange feeling that I will eventually be using all of them in an attempt to keep my class focused. Another aspect of the chapter that I liked was asking the students to help create classroom rules. Too many times have I walked into my first day of class and been presented with a set of rules that were made either by the teacher or maybe even administration. In my classroom everyone will have a say in what rules they will be abiding by.

Alicia Kenison
 In this chapter, Armstrong emphasized the ways to keep a classroom in order and gain attention. I feel as if some of his suggestions were made for elementary aged students like shutting off the lights to get the class to be quiet or even putting your finger to your mouth. MI can be used to keep order, make transitions easier, form groups, and communicate classroom rules. We can bend some of Armstrong’s suggestions to work for the level we wish to teach as well. There is always room for flexibility in MI. It is important that throughout the year we work with all the different intelligences because teaching and learning is a very valuable tool to take in and learn how to manipulate. I liked the thought of focusing on one student for the day to get used to his/her learning styles. This theory also accommodates to those students with behavioral issues.

Jared Merrifield
Chapter 8: MI Theory and Classroom Management

This chapter describes how teachers can use multiple intelligences to maintain order and good behavior in the classroom. Armstrong uses the age-old example of a teach yelling at her students (SHUT UP!!!!), and he describes this as a purely linguistic approach, and also the least effective way to get students’ attention. I never thought about maintenance methods in terms of MI before, so this was insightful and helpful. The methods he used are ones I have actually encountered; when I was in, I believe, third or fourth grade, I had a teacher who would flick the lights on and off to call for attention, which almost always worked. Many of the methods Armstrong mentions would be most effective on younger students, but with a few tweaks, I’m sure I could incorporate more mature versions in my classroom. The transitions are altogether a little immature for, say, an eighth-grade classroom (although I did enjoy reading them), but although the universal transition for periods in a traditional school is the ringing of the bell, perhaps I could get my students a little more excited using some of these methods. Most of the other methods mentioned are specifically designed for a younger audience and are unlikely to catch to appeal of young adults, but there are several good ideas in this chapter. As I said before, most of them could be reworked for access to a more mature classroom.

Eric Cole
To me, classroom management is probably the most important skill a teacher needs to develop in order to successfully teach in a classroom because you can know your content area better than anyone else in the world, but if your students won’t listen to you teach it then you are not going to do very well. That is why I found this chapter so fascinating because it has a whole bunch of different methods that you can use as a teacher to connect with your students, and get them to pay attention in your classroom. I suppose the section I enjoyed the most was the very first section on how to gain your students attention because to me first impressions are everything. If you come raging into the classroom telling everyone to “SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!” then your students are never going to respect you or listen to you. On the other hand, if you come into the classroom and seem meek and feeble then students are just going to walk over you. It is a fine balance that a teacher needs to reach where students will respect you enough to do what you want them to do without you ever having to say a word. It is a balance that, in my opinion, is very difficult to master.

Scott A. Bowden
This chapter was unique as it brought the classroom management aspect of the Block into question. I really liked all the different methods and I think I can try to incorporate many different intelligences in my cues to change. I like the idea as I've seen many of these aspects used (some in conjunction with others) and they were relatively effective in calming the chaos. I think that all of these can be best used but only in moderation. Many of these techniques seem "elementary" in nature and I question the effectiveness of many of them. Students, I feel, might be most motivated by the lights being turned off. As a high school student, it would be both a spacial and an intrapersonal method of maintaining order (since high school students hate thinking that the teacher is treating them like they are children). I think I can use some of these in my classroom, but most of them would be better set for an elementary class. But, as they say, no guts no glory. I'll give it a shot.

Susanna Cooper
I loved how this chapter started. The first few sentences were screaming “Use a HOOK!” I like how this chapter reinforced what we have discussed in class about effective ways to pull students into class. As the chapter says, you can’t just stand up there and say “class, pay attention!” A teacher must find more creative ways to grab the students attention instead of telling them to pay attention. A lot of the ideas the book suggested seemed for younger children, such as rubbing their tummy when ready for lunch. And most middle or high schoolers don’t get an official recesses time. But I plan to use the main idea presented here: use the 8 MI to created different and new hooks to get the class focused and created effective classroom management. I think one way I would do this is by quietly going around the room and handing out little slips of paper. Something would be on the paper, and once everyone has a piece I will instruct the students to stand up. By standing up the students will now be curious and focused on me. I also thought that it is a really good idea for the students to create their own “classroom rules”. I would still be right there to confirm whether the rules would work. But by having the students come up with rules in creative ways, they enjoy the processes, think deeply about the rules at hand, and will be more likely to remember and respect the rules that are created. This system probably works much more that just commanding the class to follow the rules I have created.

Jared Boghosian
I have to say that I am really impressed with this book. This is probably my second favorite chapter, classroom management using MI theory is a fantastic idea. This chapter proved that you can have a multi-faceted classroom and still have elements of order. I have been in many classrooms myself where a teacher's linguistic calls are often ignored by students. However, by using hand gestures (bodily-kinesthetic) or pictures (Spatial-Visual) to get the attention of the classroom. There are also a lot of good information on transitioning the classroom and communicating class rules. I don't know how I feel about individual student management, that is something I will need to work on. The thing I really took to heart and will hopefully be able to implement early on in my teaching career is the idea of heterogeneous group mixing. This is something that is very important to the learning process, because the different learning styles will reveal different ideas and creativity styles.

Amanda Fitzpatrick
When I started to read this chapter, at first I thought that it made since. Students who are engaged because their intelligence is being used will be less likely to be disruptive in the classroom. It is true that if students are engaged they will be less likely to be disruptive because they will be something to do. However, once I started to read the chapter, it seemed unlikely that I would use some of the suggestions that they mentioned in an actual classroom- secondary or no. Many of the things that they said, such as "ask an aggressive student what sort of animal he feels like and how he can learn to "tame" it" (page 119) not only seems ridiculous in the classroom, I honestly could not see how it could actually help a student who is actually aggressive. I feel that if you were to ask your student this (and perhaps is geared towards a much younger audience) not only would they feel embarrassed in front of their peers, but they would also negatively react, and become more violent and aggressive than before.

In my reading however, I did find some clues that could be useful. Many of the items I knew before, whether it be from experience or other readings (such as raising one's hand when they want the classroom to quiet down) but I highlighted as reminders of things that I could possibly use in my classroom.