MI+Chapter+3+Block+1

Abstract and Synthesis
Chapter 3 of Thomas Armstrong's //Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom// focused on identifying the different intelligences in your classroom and how to accomodate these intelligences. An overview of [|Howard Gardner's MI Theory] would definitely be a useful tool for educators to have access to. Luckily, it's easy to find, short, and simple to understand. Anyway, this chapter focuses on assessing students' intelligences - what intelligences are their strong suits, which ones aren't, etc. - using checklists, collecting examples of things that show how students act in class at different times or in different situations. One recommendation was for the use of a camera to take snapshots of kids in different situations, which I find creepy, so that might not be the greatestto do. Looking at school records, talking with other teachers, and talking with parents were also some of the examples given in chapter 3. When thinking about assessing kids' intelligences, I sought Google's aid and found [|this nifty little survey.] Something as simple and quick as a survey could really help a teacher understand what they have to work with.

While reading my classmate's overviews of this chapter, I found that they all got pretty much the same things out of the chapter. We all understood that everyone learns in different ways, but that we also have some strength in other intelligence areas. I do have to say that Emily shined a different light on the subject because she's from such a large school. Naturally, getting to know everyone's intelligences is already a tough task, let alone getting to know even more. But, in the end, knowing even a little bit more about your students can pay off in useful ways.

Synthesized by Alex Randall

Sam Leal
Chapter 3: Describing Intelligences in Students

In Chapter 3 of the book Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, by Thomas Armstrong, is a hit kind of reading for me. It really grabbed my interest because I enjoy learning about how different students learn. The chapter discusses how all students have the eight intelligences and can work at each of them. It’s just that even at a young age, students have proclivities or preferences. One thing I really like from the chapter that teaches me a lot is about observing the misbehaviors of the students in the classroom. I think this is really cool, because it’s amazing how accurate it is. The student fidgeting is a kinesthetic learner, the student socializing is an interpersonal learner, the spatial student is doodle, and the person who loves to talk is the linguistic student. A classroom is filled with so many different learning styles. The chapter describes many ways for the teacher to also find out more about what a student’s learning style is. Observing what they do in their free time is definitely one of them too. Multiple intelligences will impact every classroom I teach. There will be so many varying students out there. This chapter is very good at giving tips on how to find out more about each student. I’ll try different things in the classroom, trying to address the styles of intelligences in the classroom. See which things work best and learn from colleagues of things that have been successful for them.

Ethan Guthrie Herrell
toc Multiple Intelligences: Chapter 3

A useful tip found in this chapter was keeping a ledger or journal in which a teacher can take notes about their students and what skill sets they seem to have. I personally would combine that with a file of all the students best work so that I can have a clear view of who they are as learners. For me, the next step would be to develop a way to graph the number of learners in each category, while also factoring at least the second-most used intelligence. Then I could have a clear idea of any modifications to my unit that I might need to make.

One can also talk to other teachers about a student and compare observations. I would not want this to become cooperative psychoanalyzing, nor a gossip fest, but I have faith my professionalism and the professionalism of any teacher I would want to do this with. Grades, too, while seeming arbitrary, are still very good indicators of interests or talents. While some call them inauthentic extrinsic motivators, I was genuinely proud of my grades in school, and we have to have some way to let kids know how they are doing (At least, that is my idea).

Talking with parents is risky, but can be very rewarding. They have a lot of knowledge about their child, quite naturally, but I would always be on the lookout for possible for hyperbole.

And “six-hour retarded child”? That is just disrespectful.

Emily Haskell
MI: Chapter 3 I come from a very large city. It is a suburb of Boston and in a school of nearly two thousand kids, the main focus is on funding and test scores rather than the quality of education that the students deserve. In order to monitor behavior and ensure “quick,” “efficient” learning, students are placed in stiff rows of desks and presented with information in a drill-like manner. There were always those students who were yelled at for talking (even to themselves) and those who couldn’t help but fidget. However, those students were seen as problem students and were sometimes even made fun of by other kids.

I find this extremely sad simple because if teachers had understood the idea of multiple intelligences and how to teach to the strengths of others, these students may have had a much better education and experience.

The section about reviewing the school records was interesting and stood out to me to say the least. Though it seems helpful to look through what other teachers have said, it also seems entirely impractical. I do support the idea of learning about your students’ multiple intelligences, there are simpler, more practical ways to go about it (such as a survey similar to the one we saw in chapter one).

Karina Sprague
This chapter focused on how to determine what types of intelligences your students use. The chapter said that the best ways to determine which intelligences the students use is by observing, asking the students or the parents, and by looking at their records and grades. I thought it was very interesting that a lot of the examples were about younger children in kindergarten. It makes sense to me to use younger kids because they show their intelligences naturally. It was interesting to think about what I did during “choose time” in Kindergarten. I usually played house, build with the blocks, or played with the bean table. All of these pointed to me being a kinesthetic learner, which I was throughout most of my younger years. Eventually, though, I began to grow into a linguistic and naturalistic learner, so I do not think that teachers should ever use the kindergarten teacher’s notes as the only resource for determining student’s intelligences. I think that I will use observation to determine my student’s intelligences. I think that observing them in the class room, as well as seeing which classes they excel in, will be the best indicators of intelligences. I also really liked that this chapter talked a little bit about how students have multiple intelligences, and they should not be labeled by just one intelligence. I think it is important for teachers to remember that students use multiple intelligences, and their intelligences change throughout their life. If a teacher assigns one intelligence to a student, and only teaches that students based on that one intelligence, it might not be beneficial to the student because they might prefer to learn a different way. I think that teachers should observe, take notes, and ask the students how they prefer to learn. That way the student is being taught the best way possible.

Spencer Hodge
In chapter three of Multiple Intelligences, Armstrong talks about the various ways teachers can figure out what kinds of learners their students are, based on multiple intelligences. It is key to have a strong teacher to student relationship; this helps you more easily determine a student's learning style whereas having a weaker relationship can make it hard to truly understand your students. According to Armstrong the three most helpful ways for a teacher to figure out a student's intelligence is look at any misbehavior in the classroom, look at your colleague’s previous experience with specific students, and having good communication with the student's parents. Communication and observation is extremely important when deciding what a student's preferred learning style is.

As an educator I really want to use the methods suggested in this chapter so I can gain a better understanding of my student's learning styles and their strengths. Feeling comfortable and confident in the classroom is one goal I have for my students. Quick communications and finding an overall understanding of my students will help achieve that goal. After realizing my student's distinct learning styles I would like to keep track of my student's personal growth. Perhaps I can achieve this by making simple notes on each student progress, and from there I can put more focus on the students who are struggling to develop. This information could also be used as a tool for other teacher who may have the students in the future. Being a CA (community assistant) it helps to keep tabs on my residents using a socio-gram, and say if a new CA took my spot on my floor they could already have an understanding on how my residents process by viewing the socio-gram.

Colby Hill
MI Chapter 3

Sticking with the idea that people are intelligent in all kinds of ways, it seems irrational to say that if someone is a verbal learner, that is **it.** That is how the person learns, and the only way. Even though I think that this is //almost// common knowledge, it’s probably a good point for the book to bring up at the beginning of chapter 3, and Armstrong relays the message that there should be no “pigeon-holing” of the intelligences (32). I also liked Armstrong’s ideas regarding the examination of a child’s misbehavior. Often, and this happened in many of my classes, students get in trouble for //being// themselves. Students were constantly in trouble for doodling, socializing, and being a blabber-mouth when that is truly a part of that person. As a teacher I hope to find the balance between being themselves and disrupting the class (if there is a balance). Keeping observations of my students in a notebook or a diary seems borderline crazy. The book even says that this may be difficult. I do not see myself keeping a physical diary or anything like that, it would be mental notes. A journal for each specific kid seems… unnbearable. Looking at school records, however, seems much better. There is time to at least skim over a student’s past grades and records before the school year begins. I wanted to do this before I read the chapter, anyway, just so I could get a feel of what each student could potentially bring to the class.

Cidney Mayes
Identifying students’ proclivities in intelligences can lead to targeting their learning needs. The author suggests that paying attention to how a student “misbehaves” in class can be a clue into which intelligences students have proclivities for. For example, if a student talks in class a lot, they may have a highly developed linguistic intelligence. the student who doodles during lecture may have a highly developed spatial intelligence. It is a good idea to record observations on students that you have trouble reaching, so that you can figure out new strategies for teaching them based on which intelligences you observe them being developed in. Tapping into the intelligences of students allows the teacher to know which methods work best for each student, and will allow them to help the student achieve all learning goals. In my classroom I will be sure to take a survey of each students’ intelligence during the first class. That way I will have time to analyze the data I collect, and as I get to know my students, be able to target their learning needs. I will also keep a notebook or other system of recording the ‘misbehaviors’ of those students that I am having trouble reaching. By taking the time to recognize each student’s talents and proclivities, I hope to create an engaging learning environment for all my students.

Jordan Hale
MI Chapter 3: Describing Intelligences in Students Assessing students’ multiple intelligences will help aid your teaching. Chapter 3 is all about certain ways to help spot your students’ more powerful intelligences. One point that stuck with me in this chapter is to help spot student’s particular learning intelligences, it would help to observe them when the //misbehave// in class. The way in which they //misbehave// should point you in the right direction. For instance, if students wont sit still, then chances are that one of the stronger intelligences of the students is kinesthetic. If a student is never paying attention because they are doodling, then they are probably more a visual learner than anything else. I had another ‘duh’ moment while reading this chapter. When they talked about how to learn more about your students learning styles, the authors suggested to (with permission) look at the student’s kindergarten records and look at the comments. They will tell you how the student learns the best by comments like ‘loves finger painting’ could point you to more hands on activities with that student and maybe some art opportunities. I plan on definitely observing my students in different outside of the classroom to get a better sense of who they are, and in turn, learn more about how they learn. I plan on coaching soccer and maybe hockey or basketball when I become a teacher. I hope my coaching will help me connect better with the students. This will teach me about how my players learn and I can utilize that in class.

Elizabeth Sargent
MI Chapter 3: Describing Intelligences in Students

After reading the third chapter from my multiple intelligence textbook, I found myself thinking about my own intelligences, and which I thought were developed or weak. Yet the only way I can ever come to realize what my levels of intelligence are is through observation over an extended period of time. Observing the way I learn best and when learning is enjoyable to me is a good assessment tool. This technique would be a good addition to any teacher’s repertoire as a tool to notice my students learning styles as well. There are many different ways to assess my students multiple intelligences such as: collecting documents, keeping a journal, recording evidence of multiple intelligence, grades, and talking with them and the people that know them the best. Having a big enough amount of evidence amounted over a period of time will help me to see patterns and trends that I may not have otherwise. In the classroom, it is important to think of activities that show my students intelligences. This will help me create lessons plans according to my students learning styles. I believe that using the model where I have a lesson on the first day of school that uses all eight intelligences is very beneficial. In the classroom it would help their learning styles and this method would help me realize my students individual potential right off. The idea of activity centers seems like a wonderful method that lets me see when a student is actually learning and intrigued by what they are learning.

Alex Randall
MI Chapter 3 This chapter talks a lot about observing students to help figure out how they learn. Sometimes, tests can be the easiest and quickest way to get information, but it’s often not the most accurate way. I like Thomas Armstrong’s point of using a student’s // misbehaviors // as indicators as to how they learn most efficiently. Some students are capable of learning in several different ways because they have skills in several of the intelligences. But observing students and recording them, as Armstrong points out, can be very difficult or, sometimes, impossible because there’s simply too much going on and no time to write something down about how a student behaves. Something that I found interesting (which is something that I’ve never though of) is reading the kindergarten teacher’s reports in a student’s records. Since kids develop their learning styles and strengthen their intelligences at early ages, it’s safe to assume that they will show up in reports and records. Other than actually observing your students, another really good indirect way to get to know how your students work is by talking to their other teachers. Even asking the students out-right will help develop a better understanding of how to address their needs.