Multiple Intelligences Chapter 4

Chapter four of Multiple Intelligences goes even deeper down the rabbit hole of giving practical instructions on how to implement MI theory. It offers what appear to be a variety of “getting to know each other” activities, each geared toward getting to an understanding of what each student’s aptitudes are. From this chapter, I feel I learned a bit more about what the goal of MI theory actually is. I had been approaching this as though it were a theory about how the brain works, and how to apply that knowledge to teaching; I now feel that it is not. The purpose it does serve, however, is the purpose of getting us to understand how some students feel unintelligent and therefore worthless, and how we might help them to realize that they are just as intelligent as the people around them. By supporting students in this way, I feel like these students will have more success in school.

Multiple Intelligences Chapter 3

Chapter three of Multiple Intelligences, like chapter four of Understanding by Design, attempts to make the ideas more practical. In this case, however, I didn’t feel as much of a connection to the content. That may be because I remain to be convinced that the ideas have enough merit to warrant this much attention. I feel like some of the things the author says about the intelligences are a bit of a stretch, and I don’t like the way he talks about them as though they were discrete. I understand that he addressed that, saying that that was for ease of understanding, but I believe talking about the intelligences in such a way that it’s clear that they come packaged together most of the time would be valuable.

Understanding by Design Chapter 4

Chapter four of DI/UbD is my favorite thus far. This is a chapter where I feel the book has begun to hit on not just concepts which are theoretically important for teachers, but which are in fact important on a practical, day-to-day basis. Early on, one paragraph that caught my eye was part of that aforementioned theoretical knowledge. It had to do with the way curriculum and instruction both feed off each other. If you have one without the other, it may only serve one side of the teacher-student equation. However, when you have both, teachers and students both benefit, and more than they would on their own. After that, the chapter moves quickly into a set of “attitudes and skills” which are important for teachers to have. I could see myself flipping back to this chapter as I begin my career, and am looking for good ideas of how to implement good practices in my classroom.

Understanding by Design Chapter 3

Chapter three of DI/UbD tells us about content. The biggest thing I learned from this chapter was with regards to the way the authors suggest teachers prepare content. I had heard about “planning backward” from the assignment to read chapters later on in the book, and I had intimated some rudimentary knowledge of what it was, but it was nice to see it addressed here. Essentially, it tells you to do something fairly intuitive: Plan your curriculum with the endgame in mind. Thinking about it, it seems silly to do it any other way. What are they expecting us to do, look at ways we have of assessing progress and then decide what we want to teach based on that? Regardless, it is good information to know.

Multiple Intelligences Chapter 2

Chapter two of Multiple Intelligences talks about how to apply MI theory to oneself before applying it to one’s students. It includes a resource for readers to discover for themselves which intelligences have developed in them. One of the parts that I can see affecting my future classroom is the one that talks about what teachers can do when they wish to engage a certain ability in the classroom for which they have no aptitude. I am a big proponent of communication within schools, so I could see myself at some point in my career asking an artistically or musically talented colleague to help me with a project, or even just asking questions of somebody who has had different life experiences than I have.

Multiple Intelligences Chapter 1

Chapter one of Multiple Intelligences is an introduction to Howard Gardner’s idea of Multiple Intelligences. Certainly, the most important thing I gained from this chapter was an understanding of how Gardner’s intelligences operate. I don’t know that I agree with it yet. I feel like he has unnecessarily applied the word “intelligence” to this concept in order to make a point. His “intelligences” seem indistinguishable from “talents,” “abilities,” or “aptitudes.” Rather than proposing a sweeping change to how we see the human brain – a change that doesn’t seem adequately supported by the science – I would have preferred it had he simply suggested that educators should gear their content toward the different skills and interests that students have. However, I did appreciate the acknowledgment that a person with adequate skill at perseverance can develop any of the intelligences.

Understanding by Design Chapter 2

Chapter two of Differentiated Instruction/Understanding by Design focuses on the students. Specifically, it talks about how teachers can interact with students in a way that fosters learning. One thing in this chapter particularly has changed the way I perceive my future in giving instruction. On page 19 the authors write that “classroom teachers can work to the benefit of many more students by implementing patterns of instruction likely to serve multiple needs.” This has helped me to further my understanding of how curriculum is put together. Before, I thought curriculum would be designed to catch the most apparent group of students. Now, I realize that curriculum can be patterned to fit a large majority of students, making everybody’s jobs easier.

Understanding by Design Chapter 1

Chapter one of Differentiated Instruction/Understanding by Design focuses on explaining why they are important concepts for educators to understand. It also explains why the two should be taken as a pair, rather than on their own, for most effective implementation. Interestingly enough, I didn’t feel like enough time was taken to defining these concepts on a practical level. Examples were given as part of a list of axioms and corollaries, but if definitions of “Understanding by Design” and “Differentiated Instruction” were ever provided, they were embedded so deep in the text that they bypassed me completely. If I were writing a shiny book about my educational theory, I wouldn’t bury the lead, but I digress. From chapter one, I learned the most from the example, featuring Mr. Axelt’s efforts to teach his class about the United States constitution. Perhaps by necessity, the axioms and corollaries themselves tended to be wordy, and the narrative style of the scenario helped me to work out what the authors were really trying to say. The examples, especially of the application of differentiated instruction, will help me to apply those ideas in my own classroom.