Chapter 8 UbD and Chapters 8, 11, 12 MI

Chapter 8 of UbD discusses the upsides and downsides of the grading and reporting system used in schools today and how to use them with backwards design and differentiated instruction.  I thought it was interesting that the chapter pointed out the need to grade on content rather than the extraneous “fog” often considered in a student’s grade.  I remember many of my papers would get marked down if I forgot my name or other methods of communicating my work rather than just simply the content I covered in the assignment.  I hope in my future classroom to design assignments that encourage the successful communication (and the writing of names) of the material while only grading or evaluating the content.  The rest of the chapter seemed to focus on how evaluating students can be more effective with more assignments and less dependency on the average of scores.  The average does not provide a great means of evaluating a student.  The book suggests putting more stock in the final assignments after students have built up a mastery rather than initial assignment grades due to the student still gaining mastery.

Chapter 8 of MI discusses various methods for classroom management and how to incorporate the MI’s into management explanation.  I think the most critical part of the chapter for me was the discussion on how to match the strategy for each student.  To express and idea to a student does not necessarily need to focus on his or her strongest intelligence.  Sometimes a student will learn or understand material better if it comes from their weaker intelligence and will benefit while developing the intelligence.

Chapter 11 on MI discusses the use of MI with learning disabilities and how disabilities are viewed in the society today.  The critical point to take from this chapter is to focus on the positive strengths that those with learning disabilities have and expand from there.  Too often do we as teachers and as humans focus on the negative and try to improve it.  The MI says that a far more effective and moralizing method is to use the strengths and positives each of us possess and use them in class.  The MI method of teaching would be a huge benefit because it would cause teachers to find alternative methods of assignment and assessment to evaluate and teach those with learning disabilities.

In chapter 12 in MI, the discussion revolves around the use of MI in memory.  Teachers should teach different methods of memorization based on a student’s strength in a particular intelligence.  I think this can be critical for the early stages of learning in a classroom.  Memorizing information rapidly can be useful but it needs to be reinforced with application.  The chapter encourages this idea with the merging of MI theory with Bloom’s Taxonomy.  Memorization is only the first stage in the process (knowledge).  Later stages take the information memorized and apply them to class activities and projects.

Chapters 7, 9, 13, and 14 MI

When I think about classroom environment I think of how a classroom is set up physically.  Chapter 7 takes the concept in a completely different direction.  Classroom environment does not just concern itself with how a room is set up but the atmosphere as well.  The chapter focuses on linguistic as an example.  As a teacher if I am talking at too high or low of a vocabulary level, students could be put off (feel discouraged, intimidated, bored etc.).  As a teacher I need to take the time to create a working environment for the student that is appealing to all the different intelligences.  One helpful way to encourage the different intelligences is to set up activity stations.  Although this may be a little more difficult in a secondary education setting, I could use stations as a way to give students multiple choices on what classwork to complete.  I could group them according to their intelligence preference and assign a quadrant of the room to several different intelligences.

Sometimes working on the MIs in the classroom is not enough. Chapter 9 discusses methods that can be used school wide to improve the learning conditions outside of linguistic and logical.  The students would have specialists who would help direct projects or help them find resources specific to their intelligence preference.  However, the book encourages the idea that each student is exposed to all forms of intelligence and not kept to their strengths.  In my future school I hope to be able to encourage the school to introduce some of these methods if they are not already in place.

Chapter 13 deals with three areas of interest not yet covered in the book.  Computer technology is an area that has potential for any of the intelligences.  The book stresses that computers are intelligence neutral which means that anyone has the potential to use them and are not relegated to “nerds.”  The chapter also discusses the cultural diversity of the classroom and how this diversity can be a point of discussion about different ways intelligences are valued in other cultures.  The chapter makes the point that as educators we should be wary of specifying intelligences for other cultures as each culture has strengths in all intelligences.  The last section involves introducing career choices for students.  The key for the earlier stage is to let the students come up with what they want to pursue rather than dictating a career for them based on their intelligence strengths.  The book suggests brining students on field trips to expose but not direct their choice for a career.

Despite existential intelligence not being classified as a full intelligence, I will still work with it in the classroom.  The goal of multiple intelligence is to build each student’s strength and weaknesses while being adaptable to each student’s needs.  There is enough of a foundation for the existential intelligence to create some class activities around it.  Even if the intelligence may be overshadowed by the others, it can only help the students to be exposed to other ideas.

Chapter 6 and 7 UbD, 5 and 6 MI

Chapter 6 in UbD discusses how a teacher should have reactive lesson plans. The chapter explains that secondary education teachers could expect around or over 160 different students a year (multiple classes) which means meeting the individual needs of each student would be daunting. To ease the stress that might come from facing the challenge, the chapter suggests looking for patterns in the classroom. An example could be multiple students each year who have trouble reading. Having a back-up lesson plan that helps those students could be used each year and would solve multiple student problems in one go. I like the analogy the chapter uses to discuss unintended solutions from one problem solving. The book hints that if I come up with a plan to help students who have difficulty reading, the same strategy might also help students with difficulty hearing or students whose first language is not English.
Chapter 7 in UbD discusses how to engage students in learning and lead them into class discussions or deeper thought. As a teacher I should ask questions that would point them in the direction or goal of the information I am providing them with. This can be both helpful to students who need direction or prompting to answer questions and cover material quicker in the classroom while providing in depth thought. The chapter also discusses WHERETO framework which will be helpful in future classrooms. The main principle of the WHERETO framework is to encourage teachers to think like a learner.
Chapter 5 in MI discusses once again the importance of escaping the linguistic and logical only classroom structure and branching out into the different intelligences. The chapter details a seven step process that will create lesson plans for each type of intelligence. There are no set rules to how to create an MI lesson plan other than to provide a meaningful and structured lecture or activity. Overall I felt the chapter did not differentiate much from previous chapter readings. However, it gave a huge number of activity examples or suggestions to use with each intelligence.
Chapter 6 in MI expands on the previous chapter and develops teaching strategies for each of the intelligences. Instead of using generic ideas for linguistic, the author chooses different ideas like storytelling or brainstorming that are often neglected in the classroom. I believe the author is trying to push teachers into exploring new ideas and strategies in the classroom. As a teacher we should not be bound by the wall of No Child Left Behind and focus only on standards and tests. At the same time we do not need to come up with super complex and overt strategies for the class. A classroom theater activity might be a little elaborate for daily use but picture metaphors could be a simple activity used in the class to help the spatial intelligence students out. And worst case scenario is the activity is not used again if it does not benefit the students.

Chapter 10 MI

Chapter 10 focuses on how to us Multiple Intelligence to assess student learning.  MI quickly turns its back on standardized testing.  MI focuses more on student growth compared to themselves rather than those around them and the nation as a whole.  The chapter also puts emphasis on gathering any information a teacher can on a student and their performance inside and outside of class. I like this approach to assessing a student and it seems similar to the portfolio idea that FIAE and UbD push.  Several of the assessment projects brought up in the reading are used across multiple grades.  This seems like a great idea for teachers to better track student growth as well as familiarize themselves with their students.  I know for me this might have been difficult due to frequent school changes.  However, with the way the communication between schools is increasing, the projects might be more doable across the nation.  Using MI to assess also means that requiring a student to sit at a desk and write a paper is not necessary.  While some students may prefer the traditional method, the chapter gives several suggestions to assess a student using their personal MI.  With all the talk about portfolios in multiple areas I had not thought about how portfolios only currently cover mostly linguistic and logical intelligences.  I hope that in the future classroom ideas for other intelligence portfolios will have surfaced or I can come up with some of my own to broaden my assessment.

Chapter 4 MI

As with almost all of the other chapters read so far, chapter four discusses ways to incorporate multiple or all intelligences in the classroom.  As opposed to chapter three that talks about homing in on a single strong intelligence, chapter four discusses balanced or overlapping methods to teach the different intelligences.  The chapter talks about how teaching multiple intelligences to students can be beneficial for them and for you.  It helps the students realize how they figure out problems best and how to improve in other areas.  After explaining to the students about multiple intelligences, it is suggested to reinforce that idea by doing various activities that focus on different intelligences.  Career day is one suggested approach as the teacher can bring in a variety of jobs that fill in all the categories.  In addition some of those jobs require different intelligences.  Students would see the intelligences used to effect while providing a learning opportunity.  This chapter showcases some of the ways the backwards planning can work.  The goal would be for students to understand how multiple intelligence works and maybe how strong their different intelligences are.  The evidence would be how the intelligences work and function and some of the possible activities are listed throughout the chapter.  This could be an activity used early on in the school year to help plan future lesson plans.  In addition it might help suggest ways for students to study, take notes, or learn from the lessons given in class.

Chapter 3 MI

Chapter three initiates with the discussion of finding a student’s strongest intelligence and basing the content around that intelligence.  The book indicates that it may be easier to identify the strongest intelligence based on how a student misbehaves because it will be a “cry for help” in a manner that they are comfortable with.  In addition to misbehavior, the book suggests seeing what students do during free time. From the reading I can see observing the student would be helpful in all areas based on watching what they choose to do.  As a teacher I should be watching (in non-stalker manner) the after school activities they join, preferences for assigned homework, etc.  The chapter encourages this by looking at grades, talking with other teachers or parents, and looking over the work the students have submitted.  I think the biggest impact this chapter has on my classroom is to work on observation skills.  This ties in with the theme of the class paying attention to all of our senses.  By tailoring our classroom lectures and activities to each student’s favored intelligence, we can better educate different learning styles.  I think that some of this observation of students is a little disconcerting.  Looking over the checklist I would feel a little uncomfortable if my teacher noticed that I hum occasionally to myself or that I put my hands all over something I have just seen.  I guess in terms of setting up the perfect learning environment could be worth it but it seems a little excessive.