MI+Chapter+10+Block+1

Abstract:
Chapter 10 of Armstrong’s //Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom// goes over the various assessment techniques you could do once using the MI theory in the classroom. Armstrong iterates that not only instruction should include multiple intelligences differentiation, but assessment should as well.

Synthesis:
Everyone seemed to be on board with the multiple intelligence assessment. Along with that was the idea of alternative testing. As Jordan said, students can have the “right steps but have the wrong final answer.” This can easily be countered by using the test as an [|informal assessment.] To go along with this informal assessment idea is [|authentic assessment], which, Sam pointed out, is a great way to keep the top students continually engaged and learning, opposed to just “being smart.” There is more than just logical and linguistic assessment strategies, and that is mainly what system relies on. Almost everyone loved[| portfolios] because, as Liz says perfectly, it hits all intelligences easily. Cidney also loved the idea of using all intelligences and enjoyed the part of reading which suggested combining the intelligences together in order to strengthen them all. To really engage a student, even when it comes to assessment, people pointed out different things. Ethan suggested to continue using real world ideas in class even during the assessment part, and Alex tells us to always accommodate to the learner’s needs. To do this, Spencer suggested letting the student choose the assessment. If it’s the student’s choice, the growth will be much easier to identify. Emily says individual assessment worked for her. The only bad thing about these various assessments suggested by Armstrong and the class is the comparing. And, as Karina said, you “can’t compare results as easy without the same test.”

Synthesized by Colby Hill

Ethan Guthrie Herrell
Multiple Intelligences: Chapter 10

This chapter focuses on exploring assessments that are as accurate as possible (with the theory of multiple intelligences in mind, of course). One potent and original criticism of standardized tests require that children do not talk during the test, and resources are restricted so that the answer is not easy to find. Thinking on, it is rather ridiculous, isn’t it? In what real world situation is one told to get a job done and “Oh, by the way, you can’t ask for help or look back at anything you’ve written to remind yourself of how deal with any issues that may come up. If you do, you’re fired.” That is simply absurd. Standardized tests often do all the interpreting for you and expecting that you obediently repeat this back to them. It is apparently not possible that they are, you know, wrong.

The constant focus of the chapter is to test students in the same way the world will test them, which usually means testing them in multiple ways, because the world rarely affords us such a luxury of being able to meet the same academic challenge everyday. toc

Alex Randall
MI Chapter 10 Like the other books, this chapter's approach on assessment looks for a less standardize approach. It also talks about how observing kids in real life situations provide the best image of students' understandings of what they learn. The chapter then presents ideas as to how to assess students using anecdotal records, work samples, student journals, informal use of standardized tests, checklists, and calendar records. The rest is basically the same as the other readings. It talks about the benefits of assessing students in the right ways (in more accurate ways) as opposed to forcing them to memorize stuff and then spit it out onto a test. The chapter is also split up into MI assessment projects, eight different ways to assess students, ways to assess context, and creating MI portfolios. I agree that students should be assessed on their intelligences, but not just the one that they specialize in. I think that students should be encouraged to go outside of their comfort zones, though not too quickly, and grow using other intelligences. If a student is assessed in several different intelligences, a teacher will get a better idea of what they should expect from the student or even how to help push them into a different direction. Being able to assess kids using several different sources of work and experiences is the way to go. I have said this is past posts on assessment, but it crucial that we educators know how our kids learn so we can accommodate for their individual needs.

Sam Leal
Chapter 10: MI Theory and Assessment

In reading chapter 10 of Multiple Intelligences, I learned of a new method of testing students, authentic assessment. This is a very interesting idea and one that’s completely new to me. Authentic assessment is assessing the individual, whereas standardized assessment is assessing everyone against each other. What it means to assess the individual is that you adjust to where they are as a learner and assess from the point what they’ve learned. What is most important about this to me is that it gives every student an opportunity of success. Student can strive for improvement and know that if they are learning they will do well. It creates a competition for themselves and a motivation to learn. The top students will have to be challenged even more to continue to learn and not just settle at being smart. The chapter also discusses how if students are taught by teachers trying to address all eight different intelligences it should make sense to try and assess students using the eight multiple intelligences. For example they use is that a standardized test is very controlled and the students must be quiet, remain seated, and everything like that. Not all students do well in that setting and that doesn’t mean they haven’t learned as much as the other students who do well in that type of testing environment. This chapter gave me a lot to think about and I agree with many of the statements they made. I’m not sure how yet I’ll apply this to my classroom, but its gives me something to think about and that teachers out there are doing this.

Cidney
This chapter places a lot of emphasis on assessing a learner in context as opposed to giving a student a standardized test and measuring their learning progress in a non-contextual environment. Observation is a good way to gauge how students are learning and applying information while they are in context. After observation, it is important to document student progress so that the teacher can have a record and create a more accurate assessment. Keeping a collection of artifacts on or by each student will create a more wholesome picture of the student as an individual. Using student work samples, video, student journals, and informal assessments are just a few of the methods that a teacher can use. Providing students with access to many different methods of presentation and expression through assessments that are project and thematically based will allow for students to grow in intelligences they may have less experience in, as well as improve already strong intelligences. By combining multiple intelligences in assessment, students can have increased exposure while using intelligences they are strong in.

In my classroom I plan on using the combined intelligence method of assessment in context to expose students to intelligences they are unfamiliar with as well as allow them to use the intelligences they are already strong in. The chart (10.4) on page 141-142 is a great model of how to structure an assessment that does both of these things, and I plan on using the chart in my own assessments.

**Colby Hill**
One thing that absolutely irks me is right in the beginning of this chapter, and it’s a thought present in any educator’s mind: standardized tests. The chapter begins with how it is hypocritical to use these standardized tests, which I agree, but it also seems to blame teachers for this too. Either way, I liked and disliked the various assessments throughout the chapter.

I agree: the most authentic assessment is observation. The only thing is a principal coming in and sitting at the back of the class sees a different classroom than normal. I think it would be okay to have a camera in the classroom. This does seem scary (as far as privacy issues go), but if the teacher has nothing to hide and the students shouldn’t either, it is a public place at all, schools can really see classrooms in their completely natural habitat.

Other assessments that I think could be effective is the idea of work samples, student journals, informal assessments, and student interviews. The idea of photography could work, but it could also be a hassle. Classroom maps seem pretty lame and using the calendar record strategy is asking for trouble. Students would probably forget to write their activities down and all of a sudden they are a week behind and making up the activities they have completed.

Page 141 includes a list of assessment contexts, many of which I could see myself using. This list was a great help for me. I keep reading about incorporating all of the various intelligences, and this chart gives fun examples of the different choices that could be used. Hopefully, with this chart, “assessment experiences and instructional experiences should begin to appear virtually indistinguishable” (148).

Elizabeth Sargent
Chapter 10 of my //Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom// textbook talked a lot about assessment through multiple intelligences. While in previous chapters this book talked about finding out students varied multiple intelligences, this chapter focused on creating ways to assess learning through the eight multiple intelligences.

Students should not just be tested through logical and linguistic methods. If we are teaching students to learn through the eight multiple intelligences then they should be assessed through them as well. While there are eight different intelligences that doesn’t mean that there are eight different ways to assess a students work. Portfolios have been a strategic tool in showing how a student has developed over the years. They are also a great tool for showing the progression of a students multiple intelligences, along with their growing mastery of the curriculum. As a teacher, it will be important for me to consider how to assess my students using all eight intelligences in new and interesting ways so that students do not fear assessments but look forward to them. A good portfolio checklist to use from this chapter on page 144, would help not only me but my students as well to recognize what could go in an MI portfolio. This chart not only talks about the different ways to document, but it organizes the documents under the individual intelligences. This would help myself as a teacher, and my students, organize our work according to what intelligence was used to accomplish the work. I agree that assessment of these tasks should focus on student self-evaluation and the comparison of past student work.

Jordan Hale
The author Thomas Armstrong makes a correlation between the MI theory of teaching and the assessment process of teaching. If you are going to teach in eight different intelligences, than why not assess in eight different intelligences. Chapter ten covers everything a learning teacher would want to know about different types assessments. The readers have everything from work samples of students to audio files to show a students success in their classroom. Having teachers drive away from standardized testing will help evaluate the students better because they will be presenting their knowledge the best way //the students// know how. MI Portfolios are another way of tracking a students learning that the book suggests. Mr. Armstrong gives us his “Five C’s of Portfolio Development”. They are celebration, cognition, communication, cooperation and competency. On page 133, Thomas Armstrong explores informal uses of standardized tests. Before I read this, I tried and think of how I would use them. I would look at them for homework problems or use them as a //very// loose guide to the material I cover. Then I read it. Mr. Armstrong’s idea to use the test as a stimulus is a great idea. My students could take the test as an informal assessment to check for understanding. If a student gets an answer wrong on the test, you can have a conversation with the student as to how they were thinking. Sometimes, the student was doing the right steps but got the wrong final answer.

Karina Sprague
The main idea of this chapter is to administer tests based on students multiple intelligences. I think the author made a good point when he said “[e]ducators would clearly be sending a double message to students and to the wider community ‘Learning in eight ways is fun, but when it comes to our bottom line […] we’ve got to get serious again and test the way we’ve always tested’” (Armstrong, 130). I strongly believe that teachers should test students in other ways than just standardized, written tests. However, I do think they are useful when comparing students, or measuring a student’s growth or change. If you always test in different ways, there is not really a stable guideline to build off of. In other words, if you keep testing in different ways, you cannot really compare the test results because the tests are different. You can assess and compare comprehension, but you cannot really compare anything else.

I really like some of the ideas that the book listed for alternative testing. I like the idea of students keeping a record of their work. We did a similar thing at my high school. We would keep records of all of our most important work in a big binder. These benchmarks were used at the end of the year as a self-reflection tool. We could go back and see what we did well, what worked well, and what we should work on in the future. I think this was very important for self evaluation, but the teachers never did anything with them. I would like to explore how these benchmarks could be used by a teacher to assess students.

Spencer
In chapter ten of MI Theory, it focuses on the need to assess students using the Multiple Intelligence theory if they are learning by it. Due to current laws we cannot escape the use of standardized tests; however, as teacher we can ensure that our classes avoid merely assessing through linguistic and logical ways. Also, using authentic assessments that incorporate the differing intelligences pushes students to have a deeper understanding of the material. Two ways to do this is by having the students do projects that either allows them to choose what they want to do or require them to use of all the various intelligences. For the interpersonal learners, there could be the option to form groups. Various examples of different ways of assessing using the MI theory were given, but one particular idea focuses on having Multiple Intelligence portfolios that demonstrates all the intelligences rather than just writing or math.

I agree that standardized tests should not be the only measure of student growth and intelligence, and just the idea of the “one size fits all model” and “teaching for the test” gives me the willies. I believe it’s important to use MI theory to assess students; however, it is more important to use methods that are practical in a school setting. By giving students various choices for projects, they will be able to choose projects that best suit their specific learning style or intelligence. If I can give students the opportunity to express what they have learned in the best way for them, then I will be able to gather the information necessary to determine whether or not they have reached the essential goals.

Emily Haskell
Chapter 10: MI Theory and Assessment

In this chapter I liked that the author suggested that students be assessed as individuals rather than as group. I think that because we are so different we should not be compared to one another. It makes much more sense to track one student’s progress over a period of time. We used to do something like this in my high school. In our English classes we were always given some kind of usage test at the beginning of the year and then given the same test at the end of the year. This way we and our teachers could see how we had progressed and what we had learned throughout the course of the year.

Later in the chapter the author also notes that there are different kinds of assessment strategies. I find it may be very hard to keep a folder for each of the children, but it may be nice to have them keep a journal on their own, even if only for their own gain. As a future teacher I would love to have my students do something like this simply because it would be simple to assess the progression of a student without taking up too much time or putting to much effort in. Because the fact of the matter is, a teacher can have around 200 students a day. A journal would be a simple way to keep tabs on the kids without spending too much time on a relatively small part of the class.