MI+Chapter+2+Block+1

**Abstract**
Chapter two, Theory and Personal Development, of Thomas Armstrong’s book //Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom//, goes in depth on the importance of each of Howard Gardner’s eight intelligences of his [|Multiple Intelligence Theory]. This chapter emphasizes observing one’s own intelligences in depth in order to assess how they affect the classroom. It also assesses where you could be underdeveloped or overdeveloped due to crystallizing or paralyzing life experiences; which either enhance or hinder one’s intelligences respectively.

Synthesis
The most common idea within all of the reflections was undoubtedly learning about ones own intelligences. It was also important to strengthen the intelligences that were found to be weaker. A common way seen to do this was to ask the students and other colleagues to use their developed intelligences to help fill in the gaps. Colleagues were seen as one of the most underused yet beneficial advisers to collaborate with. Learning things from colleagues about your students can help a teacher figure out Multiple Intelligences for their students that they might not have seen in their own classroom. Another way you could observe and learn your students intelligences would be through planned [|activities] and[| surveys]. This would help teachers create better lesson plans that would be planned accordingly, to fit every learning style that was found with colleagues and student input. Asking the students for help was seen as beneficial in many ways. Collectively, the common idea from the reflections was to ask students about how they wanted their class and learning to run. Asking the student not only creates a responsive and respected student/teacher bond, it also gives the students freedom of choice and expression.

Synthesized by Elizabeth Sargent.

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Karina Sprague
The first thing that stood out to me in chapter two was the notion that the multiple intelligence tests only analyzed part of your learning ability. No test can tell you what intelligence you possess the most, and I think that is an important point to make. A lot of teacher’s base their student’s intelligences off the highest scores on their MI tests. However if a student learns with multiple intelligences that were only slightly less than their highest score, the teacher will not know that if they only care about the highest score. I think that teachers should generally plan their assignments to fit any learning style, and give students which option they would like to use. I think students are a better judge at their intelligences than a test is because the students know how they feel about using different styles, and they know what styles work for them. I generally disagree with the MI tests, and I think that students should figure out what style they prefer by experience. I am hoping to learn more about the scientific evidence behind the tests, and I would like to get some input from other people who have taken a test. I think that my opinion’s might stem from the fact that a lot of my MI tests have label me incorrectly. My tests have usually labeled me as a linguistic learner, but I know from experience that kinesthetic learning works the best for me, followed by naturalist, logical, and then linguistics.

Emily Haskell
MI Chapter 2 In this chapter I was very intrigued by the thought that “multiple intelligences has broad implications for team teaching” (26). In chapter 1 the author suggested that a person can build upon their intelligences until they reach a moderate competency level, but the author never really suggested that the teacher work or collaborate with others in any way. It seems to me that this would be an ideal easy way to build upon our intelligences that aren’t as strong as others. I was also very impressed by the thought that students have the ability to contribute just as much as other teachers or adults do.

Unfortunately not many teachers acknowledge or even accept this fact. They believe that they know best and that the students are there only to learn and not to teach. However, I have been lucky enough to see what can happen when a teacher sees the students as informed and educated “citizens” of the classroom. In my freshman year of high school my English teacher started the class by handing out a blank piece of paper to every student. The directions were simple. We were asked to write down what we wanted the class to look like. She asked us what we thought the grading policy should be, what we thought would be fair and useful major assignments, and though she did not guarantee anything, she took our comments to heart. She used our ideas in the classroom and together we created our own syllabus.

In a future classroom I hope to have a very similar activity. This strengthened the connection between the students and between the teacher and the students as well. We respected our teacher and quite honestly, took the class a little more seriously.

Sam Leal
Chapter 2 MI Theory and Personal Development

In this chapter it first talks about the importance of indentifying my own intelligences. As a student I know myself pretty well by now and understand that I’m a very bodily-kinesthetic learner, as well as a logical-mathematical and interpersonal learner. Becoming a teacher I will have to practice my weaknesses so that I can address and teach well to students whose my weaknesses maybe their strengths. I need to broaden myself to become more well rounded. One way the chapter talks about is to learn from colleagues, they are all going to be very different from myself and will have their own strengths and weaknesses. In teaching this is a vital aspect, being a teacher does not mean you’re a know it all, there are so many things you’ll learn from your peers and students everyday. The chapter also talks about how intelligences can be activated or they just rest and are never addressed if they are avoided. This is much like anything, to become better or learn more you need to practice. Repetition as well as just touching upon things will help activate different intelligences you need to. Variety is always good with anything. I believe the most important thing I pulled from this chapter is that it highlights the importance of using your peers. I know and understand this, but having it highlighted and reiterated is important, because as a young and inexperienced professor I see myself looking to do things on my own too often, when there is so much for me to learn from my peers.

Colby Hill
MI Chapter 2

Although what I said in the essential belief statement was that I was unsure if my teaching style would differ at all, after the beginning few pages of this chapter I guess I can see why. If I do not favor pictures, why would I use little doodles in lectures? If I do not favor music while I learn or study, why would I allow it in the classroom? It’s those question that I have started to think about. And Armstrong is right; I should definitely tap into resources to help people with the intelligences that I not strong in. And, god forbid, asking the students for help is always something that I believe teachers should do, and is something I plan on doing.

Ethan Guthrie Herrell
Multiple Intelligences: Chapter 2

An idea in this chapter that I rather like the sound of is using a students’ skills to make up for one’s own. Not an artistic person? Ask the your friendly classroom artist to draw some great scene from history or a map of Asia.

I could conceivably use the checklist in my classroom, and ask my students to fill it out, but I would to revise it, particularly for middle school students, into language that can more easily understand and relate to. I do not want to intimidate them right off the bat.

I also took note of the idea that there is differentiation within the intelligences. For example, while I love to explore the forests outside my home, and new places in general, I am not much a botanist, nor am I very animal friendly. Similarly, I looking at maps, being able to look at words on the page rather than hear them, and just visualizing things is always helpful to me, but I am not a good artist. This acknowledgment of many distinctions among different learners can only be helpful. Mistaking a group for being auditory learners just because they like music could have disastrous results.

I cannot think of any moment in my past which I would call a “crystallizing experience.” It is almost as if I was //born// enjoying the social studies, especially history. But I agree with Gardner’s contention that you can nurture the intelligences to a high level. My family was always at least tolerant of my obsession with history, and often supportive. They gave me illustrated histories of World War II, the Civil War, espionage weapons, and Borders gift cards. I think they made the difference between a simple liking and a passion.

Cidney
Chapter Two emphasizes the importance of understanding one’s own multiple intelligences in order to asses how they are performing in the classroom. For example, a teacher who does not have a well developed visual/spatial intelligence may avoid using graphics when teaching, which could be beneficial to students who have a more developed visual/spatial intelligence or are visual learners. It seems fitting to compare MI theory to learning styles because there are many ways that knowledge of different intelligences could help a teacher target a specific learning style and tap into the interests of their students. In order to address all intelligences, there are several approaches one could use, including asking the students to provide information or examples, using available technology to access material that uses different intelligences, and consulting another colleague on the best way to bring in a “foreign” intelligence into the classroom. One of the key factors that determines the level of development in the intelligences, and may provide reasoning for a certain proficiency or lack of knowledge in a certain intelligence, are crystalizing and paralyzing life experiences. Crystalizing experiences are positive occurrences that inspire an individual to explore a certain intelligence. Paralyzing experiences are negative events that may have deterred and individual from exploring an intelligence

Elizabeth Sargent
MI Chapter 2 After reading the second chapter from the book //Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom//, by Thomas Armstrong, I found myself connecting some aspects of multiple intelligence into how I want my future classroom to be. In my future classroom I expect a friendly atmosphere where students are not judged for the things they do wrong, that they only learn from their mistakes. After reading about paralyzing experiences from this chapter I now see why this is a good thing to have in my classroom. As a teacher, I cannot humiliate any of my students because of a learning style they have developed. For example, if I yelled at a student for touching things all over the classroom, I might be hindering or paralyzing their bodily-kinesthetic intelligence from developing toward maturity. From the chapter, I also learned some aspects of maturity in my own intelligences from the Multiple Intelligence inventory for adults. While I know this is no indication of actual intelligence, it leads me in the right direction. Discovering my own intelligences will help me provide active support to my students who have those same intelligences in my classroom. It will also help me to find which intelligences I need to develop more. I also learned that there is no way to appraise my own intelligences other than through performing tasks specific to each intelligence or having experiences associated with a specific intelligence. Over the years, I will come to recognize which of the multiple intelligences I am more developed in. I am also sure that over time I will be able to recognize which of my students has developed intelligences.

Spencer Hodge
In chapter two of Multiple Intelligences, Armstrong makes it clear that it’s very important to get to know what areas of intelligences I as the teacher am proficient in, as well as which ones I struggle in. He also suggests that instead of avoiding the intelligences that I struggle in, I should seek advice from my colleagues on how to incorporate these intelligences into my lessons.. As a teacher, I should be careful about criticizing the work of students as a simple negative comment about a picture or an argument might shut off a certain intelligence that will never flourish, and any potential that area had will crumble. I should instead encourage all of these areas of intelligences and help my students develop them further. I think if a teacher candidate develops the eight intelligences and mentions they have numerous strategies to develop them in their students to a school looking to hire, they will be seen as a stronger candidate. Also important, unless we apply MI to ourselves, we are unlikely to use it with students as we won’t have an understanding of personalizing content. In my mind, the goal of an educator is to reach as many students as possible, and this can be done through not only knowing about, but experiencing multiple intelligences firsthand.

Jordan Hale
Chapter two helped clarify what obstructions could be between your students and their connection to your curriculum. Things like a personal barrier, identity, a learning problem and an idiosyncratic learning need all could be infringing upon the students learning. One story that stuck out was the story of an idiosyncratic learning need by a student named Noah. In his early life, he was deemed “bad” as a student because he couldn’t sit still. One day he realized that when he gets up and moves around, paces almost, is when he is thinking the best. Now that he knows that, teachers have embraced it and allow him to get up and move around. This story was a perfect example of how your curriculum could be fantastic, but if the student who learns and thinks best by pacing cant pace then you are wasting your time.

Later on in the chapter the authors discuss basic approaches to responsive teaching. One approach that caught my eye was to incorporate small-group teaching into daily or weekly teaching routines. The fact that you could have three small student-lead small groups so you could give some struggling students some one on one time makes so much sense. It was one of those times I like to call a ‘Duh Moment’. A ‘Duh Moment’ is a moment when after you do or read something, you say to yourself //duh.// This student-lead group teaching idea was so simple yet, if used correctly, sounds like it could be really beneficial to both the student and the teacher.

Alex Randall
MI Chapter 2 Chapter two talks a lot about how to understanding how you (as the teacher) teach and learn. The way a teacher learns is often the learning style that they focus on when teaching a class. Reading through, I felt that I already had a lot of this information figured out, but the chapter presented ideas and ways to get help expanding your own intelligences. It was nice to know that, even if someone is a master in one or two intelligences, someone could still learn more about the other intelligences to make it easier to accommodate for all of their students. I though that seeking help from other teachers for ideas was a pretty well-known aspect of teaching, but I never thought that it could be used to help learn how to strengthen your other intelligences. Even getting help from the students seems like a pretty good idea. As a teacher gets to know their students, it will definitely be easier to figure out what intelligences they need to work with the most and in what classes. Developing your own intelligences will not only make you a more productive teacher, but make your students more productive learners.