MI+B2+Chapter+5

toc Abstract (by Jared Merrifield)
Multiple intelligence theory is essential for [|curriculum development] and is helping to make standardized testing a thing of the past by incorporating more intelligences to student preferences. Many people recognized the importance of multiple intelligences far back to the times of Plato, and his ideas were expanded by famous philosophers and reformers throughout the ages, specifically Jean Jacques Rousseau and Friedrich Froebel. They all believed that students learn most effectively with a more hands-on approach and a better variety of activities. The MI teacher doesn't always try to incorporate every intelligence into all aspects of the curriculum, but s/he will make small changes such as playing soft music (musical) or allowing his/her students to stretch (bodily). Little things like this can make a big difference to intellectual growth. This chapter features several helpful lists of special medium that can be incorporated into the lesson and that apply to at least one of the intelligences: journal keeping for linguistic learners, scientific thinking for logical students, etc... Developing an MI lesson plan can be difficult, but there are some helpful steps to consider: focus on a specific topic, ask key MI questions, consider the possibilities, brainstorm, select appropriate activities, set up a sequential plan, and implement the plan. Several educators believe that lessons should be more practical and applicable in the real world, and almost all the time, MI theory is able to do that!

Synthesis (by Jared Merrifield)
Everyone was in agreement with the central focus of the chapter, and that was an MI classroom is an effective classroom. Several even said that after reading this chapter they could not even imagine teaching any other way, although not everybody completely omitted the [|"tried and true" techniques] of the past. A few students commented on how early back multiple intelligence theory was first in development, and they all seemed quite impressed with what they read. Most of them also mentioned the steps for creating an effective lesson plan, and a few seemed to be reminded of their backwards instruction assignments. Most students praised the extensive list of suggested medium for the various intelligences, and a few went into detail about how they could be used in their classroom.

Mike Lawson
Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom: Chapter 5

This chapter was filled with useful information about how to create a lesson plan based upon the principals of all eight intelligences. Armstrong suggests that “teachers need to expand their repertoire techniques” (p. 54) when teaching. No longer can classrooms be held down by the tyranny of typical teaching styles (and the alliteration accompanied by it). It is interesting to think about long differentiated teaching has been suggested. Even Plato refers to education as a form of amusement. Throughout the years many philosophers and psychologists have argued for serving different intelligences. I would love for one of these figures to critique a lesson plan. Looking at the comparison between the two different teachers really shows you how much of a difference there is. After reading about “the MI teacher” I couldn’t even imagine not having a MI classroom, which I suppose is the goal of Practicum. It’s nice to know that traditional linguistic teaching is still acceptable as long as there’s still stimulation of the different intelligences. My favorite quote from this chapter was “In this sense, MI theory represents a model of instruction that has no distinct rules other than the demands imposed by the cognitive components of the intelligences themselves and the specific need of the domain in which they are teaching” (p. 64). Although it is a pretty long quote it lets future teachers know that they can think outside the box. In fact we should think outside the box when making lesson plans. I think that is why some of us had a difficult time finding what we wanted to do in Stage 1 and Stage 2, because we didn’t realize just what we could make up and still make it educational.

Jason Malbon
As a future teacher, I want to make sure I have enough of a teaching repertoire to reach all students. The old way of teaching through lecture and chalk-talk is not always the best way to teach. That is not to say that it is totally unacceptable. Still, the majority of instruction comes from teacher talk and written assignments. Not much Type II learning seems to be happening in classrooms even today. Class activities that are outside the box are numerous. Suffice it say, any activity that provides hands on experience, self-reflection, and chances to relate material with personal experience is a welcome change. The authors give some great ideas for teaching to specific learning styles. For example, a bodily-kinesthetic learner can benefit from; field trips, various messy activities such as cooking, tactile materials and experiences and body maps. A kinesthetic learner would likely love a game of charades or pictionary. I enjoyed the description of a planning map where an objective is placed in the middle and intelligences are placed around the perimeter. The teacher answers “how” questions under each intelligence to help plan lessons. This is a great way to brainstorm ideas.

Sarah McGinley
Multiple Intelligences Chapter 5: MI Theory and Curriculum Development 2/4/10

When someone talks about multiple intelligences in the classroom this usually suggests that teachers need to incorporate different intelligences in their techniques, tools, and strategies in teaching. Students do not learn very much when they are told to sit behind a desk all day and stare at the front of the room, usually at the teacher who is giving a lecture. Students need to be involved in their learning, such as doing some hands-on activities or work in groups. A teacher who understands multiple intelligences will do these activities and will avoid the boring lecture altogether. They believe in using all eight intelligences in their lesson plan so the students will absorb more information and learn more in the end. This is why I want to become one of these multiple intelligence teachers. I had the boring lecturing teacher before when I was in high school and to this day all I can remember from the class was that we, the students, could never do anything fun. We were not even allowed to work in groups. I want to make learning fun and more exciting for my students and when they leave my class they will be able to put the knowledge they learned from me to good use in the future.

S arah Robinson
This chapter has taught me that lesson plans made with the framework of multiple intelligences has been around for a very long time, but it needs to be used more often today. By using the multiple intelligences theory to build a lesson plan teachers are able to awaken students from their sleep of boring teaching. One of the best things I have learned from this chapter is the fact that there are not really any strict guidelines to follow when making a lesson plan using multiple intelligences theory, and this allows room for creativity from the teacher to student. This chapter gives a great example of how to a lesson plan through multiple intelligences theory, first thing I learned and what will impact my future classroom is I need to remember to think how I am going to translate my material in my lesson plan to be taught by any of the eight intelligences. One the steps that this chapter talked about to making a good lesson plan was brainstorming which I know I will be using when I make a lesson plan. I want to make sure I get all my ideas out and use other teachers to get even more ideas to benefit my students learning. This chapter has given me great organization skills to help making a lesson plan easy. The step that involves setting up the sequential plan is something I know I will have trouble doing, but this chapter has given me great ideas. This chapter has taught me over all that there are many ways to incorporate multiple intelligences theory into lesson plans, and a teacher should have fun finding some of the many ways.

Diana Quinlan
I am surprised to know that the MI theory has been around (indirectly) since the Plato’s time. Other important men have also supported the MI theory throughout time. The famous Rousseau even stated that students should learn through actions rather than words. It has been proven that in most classrooms teachers spend about 70% of the time lecturing. The only place in which this is not true is in a kindergarten classroom. Kindergarten caters perfectly to the MI theory because students are always coloring, singing, listening to stories, playing games, or singing songs. Kindergarten is where all eight of the multiple intelligences are addressed the most. The most important thing I learned from this chapter is that there are seven steps to creating a decent lesson plan. The first step is to pick an objective. After the objective is stated I must ask myself how I address the objective using all the different intelligences. The next step would be to answer that question. After that, I need to brainstorm lesson plans. Once I have a full list of ideas I can choose the ones I think will work best for my students. All that’s left do after that is gather the necessary materials and get started. The most important thing to keep in mind though while doing this process is that students need to be connected to the real world. Therefore I need to make sure my lessons have some connection with the lives of my students.

Jared Merrifield
Chapter 5: MI Theory and Curriculum Development

This chapter was full of welcome tips on how to incorporate multiple intelligences into lesson plans, rather than carry on with the same, dull, confined lectures and standardized tests. I enjoyed the reference to the film //Stand and Deliver//, for it is one of my favorite films inspired by true events. Still, being an English teacher, my focus should perhaps be more so toward //Dead Poets Society//, a film I have yet to see. I just hope that I can have as much of an impact on at least one single student as Escalante and Keating had with a whole class. The way that Armstrong describes the MI teacher makes it seem rather simple, even considering the extensiveness of the list, but I’m sure that finding original and engaging ways to implement all the intelligences into my lessons will be a chore, but a rewarding one. For instance, the idea of “translating” the lesson into a different intelligence may prove to be tricky, especially considering I am studying a subject that (at first glance) revolves around one single intelligence (linguistic). Still, I have had plenty of experience with many of these techniques, which should give me proper inspiration.

Amanda Fitzpatrick
This chapter dove into how to effectively use the Multiple Intelligences Theory in various lesson plans. This is crucial because by doing this one really reaches **all** learners, by either directly teaching to their learning style or by the students themselves taking little pieces of various lesson plans and figuring out what is really happening on their own. This chapter was so full of information on how to incorporate different intelligences into everyday learning--all with little effort. I can also see how the concept map would be very beneficial as it lays out tons of ideas for different subjects and lessons- a tool I'll have to use when brainstorming for lesson plans. I'm also planning on watching //Dead Poets Society//, I've heard that its a great example on how to engage various learners by various people. Definitely on my "to see" list.

Susanna Cooper
Chapter 5- It’s amazing that statistics show that on average 70% of class time is spent with the teacher talking at students. That’s a lot. I would think that teachers would run out of things to say, let alone lose the students attention! There are definitely other ways of teaching students besides just talking to them, as we are learning. I like how this chapter presented the traditional teacher first and how he/ she teaches before presenting the MI teacher and their way of teaching students. I feel that by the chapter presenting the traditional teacher first, the reader can associate their own experiences, or past teachers who taught in those ways. Then, when presenting the MI teacher, the reader can better grasp and understand what the traditional teacher was doing wrong. I felt like it helped me relate to and remember better what the differences were then if it had been the other way around, or just the MI teacher information. I also really love the special intelligence that one teacher used. I think students will really remember punctuation and grammar rules the way this teacher had presented them. For instance, how cool is it to relate a question mark to a hook since “questions hook us into finding an answer” or a comma being referred to as a break pedal. I never would have thought of some of these, but they seem like they would be so effective on the students.

This chapter discussed how to bring MI into lessons. It gave many charts on how to incorporate the different intelligences into all subjects so it was really relevant to me. I want to be able to integrate the different (and more difficult) intelligences into my math classes and teach in a way that engages students of varied intelligences. I think these charts are useful and a good resource to give me a starting point. I can definitely bring these into my classroom in some way, shape, or form. This chapter, however, seemed to be more high-school aimed, and less elementary aimed. I can see how they are discussing the materials in a high-school setting because they target specific subject areas instead of learning as a whole entity.

Eric Cole
This chapter is all about how to make good lesson plans using MI Theory. There are two methods/words of advice that this chapter had that really stood out to me. The first is to remember to make lesson plans that are inclusive of all learning styles. Do not just stand up at the blackboard and lecture all day. I know from experience that teachers who do this never ever connect with their students, and actually teach them because the students are too busy day dreaming. Lecture based classes are, quite simply, boring, and are not to be modeled after. Conversely, don’t just give out handouts. Some things need to be explained before an activity can be done on them, so take the time to explain. I can’t tell you the number of times where I got a handout of some kind, and had no idea what to do with it because the teacher never took the time to explain. The second item of note is to make sure that you connect your lesson plan to the real world. As a teacher, this is something that I will strive for because if you make a connection then you engage students minds, and get them listening. I don’t care what they are learning, as long as my students are learning and bettering themselves, I will be a happy teacher.

Jared Boghosian
The Multiple Intelligence theory is not only a new way to teach it is also a wide variety of tools and tricks a teacher can use to reach a wider range of students. While a traditional teacher will stand in front of the class and pontificate for an hour or so, while a teacher who uses Multiple Intelligence theory uses various methods in their lectures. I found the chart showing the eight different ways of teaching to be bookmark worthy and has been highlighted. I have starred the lists of the copious amounts of multiple intelligence activities and will find use in quite a few of them for sure.

Alicia Kenison
 Armstrong allows us to explore the intelligences at its growth. MI is hardly a new concept, but it is constantly growing and improving. MI is meant to be fun, creative and interactive. I wish my teachers would have incorporated MI into their lessons instead of just lecturing. In this chapter we were able to see how to create a lesson in seven steps on MI by asking questions, brainstorming and more. Setting up an MI lesson plan is not an easy task, it takes time and work. After awhile, most teachers feel it comes natural, I hope I will be able to incorporate MI learning to all my student’s needs and individual learning styles.