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Synthesis~ Tiarra

 * Abstract~** In chapter 12 of //Multiple Intelligences,// we learn how MI theory helps us as educators, make sense of students cognitive skills. Teachers have become dependent on a very narrow strategy in order to achieve student retention, frequently relying on more traditional methods that cater to linguistic and logical-mathematical learners. However, MI theory suggests that memory and retention are intelligence specific and students are more likely to remember material when they learn it through a method that is familiar to them. It is the job of the teacher to help students associate what they are learning with the intelligence that would best suit their specific needs, that way they can develop strategies that will help them work independently and ensure that actual learning is taking place. This chapter also emphasizes the importance of teaching students to question naïve beliefs and invite multiple perspectives in order to help them develop a higher level of understanding through their multiple intelligences. Multiple Intelligence Theory provides students with opportunities to develop a broad range of complex cognitive tasks that prepare them for life and allows them to dispel any cognitive dissonance that may hinder them as an adult.


 * Synthesis Reflection~** I can see clearly by reading through our responses that as teachers we all value authentic learning that fosters a deep understanding and mastery of our subject matter, and even more importantly, of the connections our subject matter have in the real world. There were many stories in our writing of times when our teachers taught us useful strategies for[| memorization]and [|problem solving] that we still remember today. It is important that we as teacher continue developing our own multiple intelligences so that we may gain new perspectives and strategies to offer our students. By offering students a way of learning that is comfortable to them, we give them the tools to solve not only school work but personal problems as well. When we ask our students thought provoking questions we are ultimately broadening their world view and ensuring authentic mastery and understanding that will allow them to apply existing knowledge to new situations.

Tiarra
Chapter 12 provides a range of MI activities to enhance student’s memory and problem solving skills. MI is a tool for teachers to help a student achieve to the best of their abilities and this chapter emphasizes that. The chapter also talks about using MI theory to incorporate the higher levels of cognitive complexity in student learning. It is important that students are participating in challenging high level work as opposed to heavily linguistic, lower order thinking activities such as the busy work we have all encountered at one point or another. I can easily see myself using several of the ideas presented in this chapter in my own classroom, helping my students to develop intelligences they may not have even known about.

Justin C.
This chapter talks about ways in which teachers can use the multiple intelligences to spark the cognitive processes of their students. One cognitive process that can be influence by the intelligences is memory. Using different intelligences to get students to remember any portion of content, they are more likely to remember if the content was presented in a fashion that they are comfortable with. If a student is able to remember through verbally hearing content, writing it on the board may not be the best course of action. The eight intelligences also have effects on problem solving. Some people can problem solve best through talking it out or by keeping it to themselves to think over. As teachers, it will be important to remember that if we want students to get the most out of their education, it is required of us to touch all of the intelligences. It is also important to remember that it is not necessary to have all eight intelligences used perfectly. As long as throughout a unit, we’re able to incorporate the intelligences at some point, then we have succeeded in attempting to include all of our students in learning.

Grady B.
As I was reading this chapter, I was amused with the description of “Christopherian Encounters,” as I had just read a book over the summer that puts forth the argument that, indeed, there were a number of people in Europe with a specific knowledge that there was another continent to the West, and that the ignorance of the New World extended little farther than parts of Europe. Regardless, I do like the notion that it is the job of the teacher to facilitate the addressing of these very common misconceptions, and to force students to reconcile what they understand to be true, and what they simply accept to be fact. Additionally, I believe that this chapter hits an important point, that educators have become too stuck on a very narrow strategy in order to achieve student retention. Just as with any other part of the educational process, this book emphasizes that teachers must tune memorization to the specific strengths of each student. Time has proven that simply teaching anything in one way will not reach a majority of students, and the methods described in this chapter could go a long way to aiding teachers in ensuring that deep understanding is not left to only the students that are strong in verbal-logical intelligences.

Danny K.
Armstrong covers cognitive skills in chapter twelve. Armstrong covers many different types of strategies for the eight different intelligences for helping students enhance their memory and help students with problem solving. Students with the musical intelligence can use words in a song to help them remember how to spell words or remember certain words in order of what they need them. I still remember in first grade I had trouble remembering how to spell the word “three.” My mom who is a Kindergarten teacher taught me a rhyme on how to remember how to spell “three” and I aced my next spelling test. I will use many of these multiple intelligences strategies to help my students remember content/make connections and do problem solving.

Grace K.
Chapter 12 investigates the relationship between multiple intelligences and cognitive skills. The first section focused on the issue of memory/retention of information, and how to best utilize MI theory to achieve this. The general idea of this chapter was much the same as other chapters in the book: that MI theory offers effective tools to relate learning directly to your students. What I enjoyed about this chapter was the investigation Armstrong made into teaching at a deeper level, i.e. utilizing Bloom’s taxonomy and making sure students have more than a surface knowledge of topics. This is definitely something I hope to accomplish in my future classroom and I can see MI theory being very useful for this topic.

Will L.
Chapter twelve focuses on the various elements of how MI theory and cognitive skills coincide with one another. The first part of the chapter reflects on how students can utilize the multiple intelligences to memorize and retain specific information as a part of their learning. As each student has a different set of intelligences, they will be able to retain information better if the teacher is able implement instruction using student’s particular intelligences. As a future educator, I believe helping students make insightful connections to their learning through their intelligence is key to helping them learn the material. I will try my hardest to ensure that this very thing happens in my classroom in the future.

Jen R.
Chapter twelve of MI focuses Multiple Intelligences in relation to cognitive skills. Throughout the chapter, Armstrong identifies various methods that utilize the eight MI to enhance problem solving within the classroom. Another area discussed within chapter twelve is memory. Memory is a cognitive skill that can be easily influenced when using the MI theories. In addition to this, Armstrong goes on to discuss that students are more likely to remember material when they learn it through a method that is familiar to them. For example, a student who is a visual learner would be more likely to remember vocabulary if learned through a flash-card method, rather than discussing them within class. Overall, this chapter provided some very good tips and strategies I will look forward to using in my future classroom.

Dan B.
This chapter talked about how you can help students retain the things that they are taught. One of the biggest goals of teaching is to make sure that students do not only learn the material, but that they also remember it for a long time to come; they simply do not learn it for a test and then forget it as soon as unit is over. A way that you can make sure that students retain more material is to teach using the multiple intelligences. If a student learns the material in a way that is interesting to them then they will be more likely to retain it. As a teacher I will teach things in a variety of ways so that my students will not only learn things, they will remember them for a long time to come as well.

Kaitlin T.
Thus far in her book Tomlinson discusses multiple intelligences in regards to learning. In this chapter, "MI Theory and Cognitive Skills," readers begin to understand how each student retains information differently. For example, if students are asked to memorize vocabulary, the teacher could use each word in several different ways, gearing each example towards a different intelligence. The word would then be more relevant, easier, and more meaningful for a student to remember. Using motions to describe words might be a way to target kinesthetic learners. The information presented in chapter 12 is important because what's the use of teaching if my students aren't able to retain any of what I've tried to teach them.

Jonathan B.
Chapter twelve applies MI theory to thinking and cognitive skills like memory and problem solving. Aspects of MI translate directly into cognitive skills. For example, memory can be categorized based on the multiple intelligences. Memorization of materials for all subjects should be applied in a way that triggers all eight of the intelligences, or in the case, “memories.” For multiple “memories,” the teacher must be able to help students connect the content with their preferred intelligences. The chapter give some suggestions for this in regards to spelling words. Problem solving is similar to memorization in that each intelligence goes about the task differently, and require different tools and stimuli to be fully engaged. This is largely personalized, people all have different conceptions of what an understanding, or a problem solving process “looks” like (or sounds, feels, tastes, etc.) in their own mind. I will use these concepts in class by providing different resources and means to committing content to memory so as to appeal to all eight intelligences.

Chris D.
Chapter 12 of Multiple Intelligences talks about the different ways that students think. Personally, I believe that a student shouldn’t think in only one specific way. They should have the ability and choice to think in as many intelligences that they can and want to. Also, as we’ve learned throughout this book, students should have the opportunity to learn in a way that best suits them. For example, if a math problem is read aloud to the class, a spatial learner will have a difficult time trying to decipher what was just said and put it in a context in which they can understand it. What I would do in that situation is, while I’m reading the problem out loud, I would also write the important aspects of the problem on the board so those learners can follow along as well and not be left behind. Another aspect that was mentioned in this chapter was the concept of cognitive memory incorporated with the eight different intelligences. It seems sort of an obvious thing, but it’s rather important for teachers to know. If their student has a preferred method of learning, then they will also have a preferred method of memorizing. I feel that this plays a very big role in mathematics because there are a lot of concepts that come up a lot, and memorizing them is crucial. Therefore having students memorize in a way that is comfortable to them (as long as it’s appropriate) will be something I strive to allow in my classroom.