MI+B2+Chapter+3

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 * 1) [[image:MI_3.jpg width="800" height="516"]]

Abstract and Synthesis: Will L.
In the third chapter of //Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom,// it discusses the ideas of assessing and discovering one’s [|multiple intelligences]. The chapter highlights the idea that all students, at any time, can and will exhibit all eight of the intelligences. It is just a fact that people are mainly driven by one or two intelligences. They cannot be defined as “weak” or “strong” either, as that is discriminatory towards the students. It is important to observe how students act in the classroom, as they often give tell-tale signs of which of the multiple intelligences they are associated with. When students misbehave, it’s probably because their particular intelligence is being neglected. It is important for teachers to make notes on certain tics that students may have, as it is relevant to how they learn. Evaluating students this way is very important in how students will be treated and assessed in the classroom.
 * Abstract**:

The relevance of student’s “misbehavior” was a key fact that is not to be overlooked. When a student feels neglected, subtle hints are noticeable through their actions. It is the teacher’s job to learn about that student’s intelligence and how their learning is being affected in the classroom. This includes knowing their own __[|intelligences]__. When teachers are able to understand their own intelligences, they'll have a keen insight on how to read their students in the classroom.
 * Synthesis:**

Tyler
Chapter three talks about how to observe and discover a student’s stronger intelligences. Asking parents, the students themselves, or taking notes on what you see them do in class can yield quite a good description of the students and which methods of learning they favor, and those that they don’t d as well on. Quite honestly, I would feel bad doing that. I would of course make mental notes, but I think in most cases it should be fairly obvious which methods each student prefers. If I find that a mental dossier on each student isn’t good enough, I might take one or two notes. = =

Tiarra
Now that we know about each of the multiple intelligences we can begin working to identify how they present themselves in our students. While everybody posses all eight intelligences students usually develop an inclination towards one or two of them. Despite what the book may say I have my doubts that a teacher consciously says to themselves, “hmmm, I wonder what Johnny in the third row’s intellectual proficiency is; I should observe his behavior and make a checklist so that I might best suit my teaching methods to his learning style.” However, I do believe that good teachers observe their students and pay attention to their interests, doodles, pen clicking’s, behaviors and misbehaviors to figure out how to adjust their plans so that the students are actively participating in class. The chapter includes several strategies by which a teacher could learn more about each individual student, such as talking with other teachers, parents and the students themselves which will make that students academic preferences and habits apparent.

Justin C.
In this chapter, it talked about ways to describe which of the eight intelligences students tended to exhibit the most. One way that it suggested learning about students ways of learning was to keep an eye on a select few students, since being a middle or high school teacher, seeing over a hundred kids a day could be common, and record their actions in class. Record how they respond to different ways of instruction. The text itself says to “observe how they //misbehave// in class” (34). When a student is misbehaving in class, it may be that they are not able to focus since the teaching style is not one that they are able to learn best from. This was a statement by the book that I am going to take into my own classroom. Before I assume that a student is misbehaving, I want to get a handle on how they learn best. They may want to learn but the teacher is not reaching out to them in a way that works well for them.

Grace K.
Chapter 3 acknowledges the fact that teachers may find it difficult to identify MI strengths in their students and offers ways to do that. Many of the suggestions seemed like common sense measures, such as observing the students or soliciting input from the students themselves as well as parents and other teachers. Others, however, might not have been resources I would have thought of right away. Armstrong recommends reviewing old school records to look for patterns of strength or weakness in certain intelligences, as well as saving documentation of work students have done in their current class and seeing what instruction methods seem to be working best for that student. The most interesting idea, to me, was the suggestion that teachers should use a student’s misbehavior to identify their natural MI inclination. Examples included were that a student with highly developed interpersonal intelligence would most likely misbehave by socializing, while a student with high spatial intelligence might be doodling. This was definitely something I had not considered, and I think it’s a good tool for teachers to utilize. For one, a misbehaving student is probably showing some of their least-filtered behavior, so it could be a good window into their most natural intelligence. Additionally, it may make misbehavior easier for a teacher to handle if she can train herself to see it as a tool.

Jen R.
Throughout chapter three, the idea of MI is discussed and suggestions to assessing individual students multiple intelligences are introduced. Also highlighted in chapter three is the theory that most children, at a very early age, develop tendencies favoring toward one intelligence or another. I learned that young children possess the eight MI’s to a degree of reasonable understanding, but once they have made progress towards a specialized intelligence, they are likely to continue these traits for life. I also learned helpful tips on how to collect assessment information about students multiple intelligences, a few examples of those are: look at school records, talk with other teachers, meet with parent, set up specialized activities and etc. When I consider reading this chapter as if I were a teacher working with children, it impacted me to find a genuine interest in discovering the talents and specialties of my students. As a teacher, with this knowledge, I learned to remained focused on the positive aspects of each student and focus my attention on creating an environment in which they will benefit and learn the most.

Chris D.
Chapter 3 of Multiple Intelligences was about figuring out the different types of learners the students in your classroom are. Remembering that everyone has a different combination of the eight different learning styles, every student will exhibit different combinations of these learning styles. Armstrong described some different methods of figuring this out. The most obvious, but not necessarily the easiest, is by observation. Armstrong, although joking, suggests to teachers “that one good way to identify students’ most highly developed intelligences is to observe how they misbehave in class” (34). In all honesty, I don’t see this as a bad method for determining my students’ different intelligences. I’ll most likely be able to identify who is a spatial learner by who is daydreaming or drawing in class, the linguistic learners will be talking out of turn, and the interpersonal learners will be socializing. Another really good method of determining a student’s multiple intelligences is to look at pervious school records (with permission of course). It will most likely be the case that the logical-mathematical students will have high grades in science and math classes, the linguistic students will have good grades in English and history classes, the spatial students will have good grades in art and design classes, and so on. By understanding the different types of intelligences my students possess, I will be able to teach to their strengths and make them successful rather than have a linear approach to teaching.

Jonathan B.
Chapter three deals with identifying and evaluating student intelligences. The author suggests observing how a child //misbehaves// in order to pinpoint an intelligence. There are several resources available to teachers who want to discover more about their students' multiple intelligences. For example, a teacher could talk to the parents, a teacher could talk with other teachers, or even consider reviewing an academic record. Consultation of all of these resources should give a teacher a good idea of a particular student's “proclivities.” I would use these resources as an educator at the beginning of the semester or school year so as to get a feel for what kind of dominant multiple intelligences there were in the class. This means that my teaching might be tailored a little differently from semester to semester, in order to increase efficacy.

Danny K.
In chapter three the author discusses the importance of trying to find out the multiple intelligences of your students. In this chapter it also gives suggestions on how to evaluate your students multiple intelligences. What stuck out to me in this chapter is the way teachers could look at a misbehavior as a tool that could help a student learn. Teachers can benefit from looking at past student records to help try to find out their students MIs. If I realize I am having trouble reaching a student I would make sure to look at their past records and I would talk to their past teachers. I would try to find ways of teaching that did and didn’t work for that particular student.

Kaitlin T.
The first point I took note of in chapter three of Armstrong’s book Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom is that “students have strengths in several areas.” Teachers should challenge themselves to discover which of the multiple intelligences students most commonly work with. Educators should avoid placing, or “pigeonholing” a child in only one of the eight intelligence. Like Tomlinson, Armstrong advises teachers to observe their students: “Every teacher should consider keeping a notebook, diary, or journal handy in a desk for recording observations,” (34). He suggests concentrating a teacher’s attention on two or three of the more “puzzling” of the students. Most importantly, students need to be taught about the MI theory and allowed to discuss which intelligence(s) suite(s) them best. After all, “students are the ultimate experts on their multiple intelligences,” (42).

Dan B.
Chapter three in //Multiple Intelligences// talks about how a teacher can determine what kind of intelligence or intelligences a student has. They offer a variety of different ideas; you can collect documents of students work and see if they write papers well (verbal intelligence), or if they build things really well (spatial intelligence). A teacher could also look at school records to see what a students file says about their former projects in by some of their old teachers. You could also ask the students parents because they know the student very well. You could also have all kinds of different activities that focus on the all 8 of the different intelligences and see what the student does best. I think this will impact my classroom quite a bit because I had never thought of doing any of these approaches before, the only thing that I had thought of that could help me determine a students intelligence was giving them surveys to fill out. Now that I know of these techniques I will use some of them to help me determine students intelligences because this will help me to better teach students in my classroom.

Will L.
In this chapter, it goes over that fact that there is no surefire way to test someone to find out one’s stronger/favored intelligences. Although, there are things to look out for in the way students act during class. If a student acts out in class, it’s probably because the way the lesson is being taught isn’t playing towards their favored intelligence. The chapter points to other places that might have insight towards a student’s intelligence. These include talking with parents, looking at the student’s portfolio/record, speaking with fellow teachers, or simply speak with the student or their friends.

Grady B.
What I initially took away from this chapter was the reaffirmation of the fact that all students are capable of learning in all eight of the multiple intelligences, but that a particular student will naturally learn in one or a couple of ways better than others. I liked that this chapter addressed the tendency that some educators might have in “pigeonholing” a student into one intelligence, when trying to apply this concept to their classrooms (pg. 32). I feel that I will have to maintain a balance in my future classroom between playing to students’ strengths and putting my students into a box, academically. Giving students choices in the types of work that they do, I feel, will help to ameliorate this issue. I also see how the tactics that a teacher would employ in order to get a better understanding of a student’s learning style described in this chapter would ease the process of establishing a student’s strengths. The novel concept of actually asking the //student// seems like it would be especially beneficial to this process.