MI+B2+Chapter+8

Synthesis - Danny Kane
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Chapter eight of Multiple Intelligences covered how to use the eight intelligences in managing your classroom. The author brings up a good point about the importance of gaining and holding the student’s attention throughout the whole class period. The best way to gain and hold the attention of your students is by connecting with them through their own preferred learning style. The chapter also talked about having [|class rules], creating group assignments, and preparing students for transitions through lessons. There are [|many types of ways to gain the attention] of your students, and it is up to you as a teacher to find out what works best for the students that you have.

=Synthesis Reflection= Everyone mentioned the importance of gaining and holding the attention of their student’s. Many of our responses mentioned the importance of using our student’s multiple intelligences to our advantage while trying to get/hold their attention. Also it is important to gain the attention of your students right at the start of class. You do not want to waste important class time because it took you too long to get your students’ attention. Some responses did not like this chapter because they felt it was geared more towards elementary classes and did not feel these practices would help in the high school level classes. Some have had experiences in summer jobs where these strategies did not help them. However, everyone agreed it is important for you to gain and hold the attention of your students; it’s just a matter of finding out how to do so.

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Tiarra
As a future teacher I cannot deny that I worry about classroom management. Chapter 8 of MI works on developing strategies of classroom management and establishing class rules in a way that will most effectively convey their meaning to students of Multiple Intelligences. While I think that many of the ideas given in this chapter are fun, creative, unique and interesting I have a lot of doubt that they would actually work in the classroom, especially at the high school level. I believe that the best technique for keeping a classroom under control is to maintain student interest which is what MI teaching strategies is all about. However, once a classroom has spiraled out of control I believe more traditional methods are more effective than say writing “silence class” on the board or playing a game of telephone. The tips I found the most interesting and effective were the suggestions made under the categories “Forming Groups” and “Managing Individual Behavior,” and I can definitely see myself using those fun and engaging techniques in my future classroom where necessary.

Danny K.
Chapter eight of Multiple Intelligences covered the MI theory and classroom management. Armstrong talks about how to gain student’s attention. It is important for teachers to gain their student’s attention at the beginning of a new class or a new learning activity. Some of the techniques Armstrong suggests include using music to start a class and help students settle down (this targets students with the musical intelligence), play a recording of sounds that come from nature (this targets students with the naturalist intelligence), and write on the board directions (this targets students with the linguistic intelligence). I will try many of these different techniques to help grab the attention of my students throughout my teaching career. It is also important to communicate class rules, which Armstrong describes and talks about how the different intelligences can be met. = =

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Justin C.
Chapter 8 talks about ways of managing the classroom using the eight intelligences. The big idea that this chapter wants to get across is that the typical “Ok, let’s get started” way of getting the class’ attention is not the best way to get the attention of our students. Tapping into our knowledge of the multiple intelligences, we can use one, or several of them to bring our students together. It also mentions that allowing our students to have input into the way the classroom is run increases the likelihood that they will adhere to the rules. When the students help to put the rules together, students will have a better knowledge of what is expected of them behavior wise, and they will have an easier time focusing. Also, when it comes to disciplinary actions for those students who do not follow the rules, it is good to know that how we discipline one student will not necessarily work for the next student. Customizing discipline to each individual student will help us in maintaining control of our classroom.

Grady B.
While reading this chapter, I came across some issues that I had not yet thought about having to deal with: how to utilize MI into classroom management practices. Looking back at my own experiences in school, I would have to say that I had only experienced either linguistic or intrapersonal methods during my high school years, though when I was younger, students would often have to raise their hands when the teacher raised her hand, signaling that they were paying attention. While I found the ideas about how to regain control of a class potentially useful, I did not find the section on preparing for transitions on pages 114 and 115 to be as helpful, as I have never witnessed a class having an issue transitioning from one part of a day to the next. However, should the necessity arise, I am sure that these tactics would work well toward the purpose. All in all, while I did not see the immediate use of all of the methods laid out in this chapter, it succeeded in making me consider how I can integrate MI into an area of the classroom that I had yet to think about. The key, I feel, will be knowing when to challenge students to develop underdeveloped intelligences, or when to allow students to play toward their strengths.

Grace K.
Chapter 8 addresses one of what I consider the most daunting tasks of a teacher: classroom management. In particular, the chapter discussed how MI theory can be used to improve classroom management as well as gain and hold students’ attention. Again, some of the suggestions in the book seemed geared more towards elementary age students (indeed, they use “Respectful Rabbit” and “Quiet Coyote” at my daughter’s preschool), but the roots of Armstrong’s ideas could be adapted for high school education. The biggest lesson to be gleaned from this chapter is a simple one: The best way to get and hold your students’ attention is to connect to them through their own preferred learning style. What is not so easily explained is how to use the tactics in this chapter to manage 20 students all at once, so that is something that I think will simply require on-your-feet creative thinking once we’re out in the classroom.

Dan B.
This chapter talked about classroom management using the Multiple Intelligence Theory. I really liked the section on how you can start a lesson when the class is noisy an disruptive. They provided many examples of how to start a class. For example to catch the attention of verbal learners you could write "silence" up on the board, or for bodily-kinesthetic learners you could put your hands to your lips to signal them to be quiet, for interpersonal learners you could whisper "it's time to start, pass it on" in their ears, or for intrapersonal you could just start the lesson and leave it up to the students to pay attention. There were many other examples, but these were some of my favorites. As a teacher I will use these to help gain the attention of my class.

Will L.
Chapter eight of MI focused on implemented the multiple intelligences in the classroom, but not through assessment. Instead, it focused on classroom management, like setting up class rules, creating groups for assignments, and preparing your students for transitions through lessons. There are multiple examples for each of these things, in relation to each of the multiple intelligences. A lot of the ideas, however, seem really elementary to me, similar to the things in chapter seven. But, as this chapter focuses on classroom management, it relates more things to discipline than anything else.

Jen R.
As a teacher, classroom management and control is a necessity. Throughout chapter 8 of MI, Armstrong introduces several methods to seek control throughout your classroom. Armstrong stresses the importance of gaining your students attention at the beginning of the class or lecture. In addition to this, Armstrong also listed suggestions on how to begin a lesson when dealing with a disruptive classroom. This chapter also discusses the importance of rule in the classroom. Rules need to be communicated to students using the eight different intelligences as well. This way they are more likely to be understood and followed by children with all different MI and learning styles. Overall, this chapter serves as a great resource for new teachers to use to make sure that their classroom is managed to the best of their ability.

Tyler S
I found this chapter to be particularly annoying to me. The chapter talks about a number of ways to manage a classroom using the eight different intelligences. Personally I think that by the high school level, almost any student should be able to understand quite clearly a spoken rule. When a classroom is disruptive, I don't think it has anything to do with management of any certain intelligence. If students respect a teacher, they will not be disruptive, or disruptions will be minimal. Perhaps you get them to respect them by working with them closely, or with their intelligence type, and they develop a closer student teacher relationship because of that. However, if a classroom is being disruptive day after day, writing 'silence' on the board is not going to have a different result than the teacher telling everyone to be quiet. I honestly think that most, if not all disruptive classrooms have more to do with a lack of respect for the teacher than anything else.

Kaitlin T.
Tomlinson, in her chapter entitled "MI Theory and Classroom Management," discusses how to incorporate the multiple intelligences while managing the classroom, obviously. Teachers should try to get into the habit of using a signal on a regular basis such as rhythmical clapping that's students can repeat, a hand gesture, a bell, etc. This signal can be used to get their attention. Teachers should also understand the MI theory can be helpful in classroom transitions. Teachers should also allow students to have input into the classroom rules. As a teacher, I'll have a few of my own critical rules that I expect students to adhere to, but I want them to have input as to what rules they believe should be incorporated into the classroom. A portion of the time from the first or second class would be used to create a list of rules that everyone can agree as important will be placed somewhere in the classroom.

Jonathan B.
Chapter eight deals with applying MI theory to classroom management. The classic way to direct class is through verbal instruction. Sometimes, this is not the most effective way of getting students to do what they are supposed to. In the example of getting the class to be quiet, the author provides several alternatives to verbal instruction differentiated to multiple intelligences. The author follows this process of providing examples for a number of other classroom management tasks. These include preparing for transitions, communicating class rules, forming groups, and managing individual behaviors. Each scenario require a different set of tools. I would utilize the strategies in my classroom by not relying on a single type of strategy for classroom instruction. I will not rely entirely on verbal instruction.

Chris D.
Chapter 8 of Multiple Intelligences talked about different classroom management techniques using the MI theory. The areas that it talked about were: Gaining students’ attention, preparing for transitions, communicating class rules, forming groups, and managing individual behaviors. For the most part, all of these suggestions seemed that they wouldn’t be effective in a high school environment. A lot of the ways that Armstrong suggests using I use with K-2 kids during my summer job as a camp councilor. With the older kids (middle school), none of these strategies seem to work with them, so this is why I have a feeling that it wouldn’t work with high school students. The only thing that I liked in this chapter was using different methods on how to choose groups. One that I liked was the logical-mathematical way where students would hold up a number of fingers (1-5) and find 2 other people so that their sum number of fingers held up was an odd number. I definitely liked that strategy the most, with the kinesthetic and spatial approach as well.