MI+B1+Chapter+7



tocAbstract:In this chapter the book discusses how it is possible to set up your classroom to optimize the learning for the students. In this chapter teachers learn that they should set up a section in the class for each learning style. Each section should either be a year long section or there for a certain unit. For example reading classroom's should have comfortable place in the class all year for the students to relax and read in solitude. During each unit a section of the classroom should be set up for students to be able to see what they can use it for in the real world.

[|Synthesis Zack]
As the class we all decided that classroom setup is key to maintaining an effective classroom learning style. We agreed that we need to allow students the ability to use all of the [|classroom] resources to their fullest potential. Students should be allowed access in the classroom to their intelligence, even if that means we have to do alot more work than oringinally planned. As teachers we need to plan the [|classroom] to tailor to all students, therefore our extra time in planning the classroom set up is actually vital for many of our students.

AmyCH. 7
Does the classroom environment have any effect on how and what a student absorbs during a lecture, discussion, or activity? According to “Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom”, everything from the setup of the classroom to how the teacher speaks impacts the learning environment. A fundamental system for classroom setup is described throughout chapter seven, and provides teachers with an enhanced view into what makes a regular classroom a learnable classroom. Using each of the intelligences highlighted within the previous chapters, teachers are provided with examples of how to incorporate those intelligences into the classroom using displays, posters, colors, etc. The atmosphere should encompass bits and pieces from linguistic to musical, to kinesthetic to visual-spatial, for students, so they can focus more easily because they are in their comfort zone. It is not just the layout of the actual classroom that is critical, but also the allowances for group and individual work based upon what the student prefers. It might work well to combine all of the musical learners in one group, and all of the logical-mathematical learners in a separate group for a project. However, it might also be beneficial for students to experience being with dissimilar learning groups to expand their ways of learning. Either way, students should be involved in that decision, because it affects them.

Jennifer
Not only must I apply MI to my lessons, but to my classroom environment as well. From the way I talk to how the room looks physically, all affect students learning. The questions for each intelligence really helped me to look at different aspects of the environment in a classroom and see how I can use the MI theory. I think it would be difficult in a normal size classroom to have the MI activity centers. I could incorporate some into my classes, like the temporary open-ended activity centers, and the temporary topic specific activity centers. I do like the idea of the centers, which allows students to become engaged in their learning. Also depending on the lesson topic, I think it would be a good idea to let students choose some of the activities so that they are actually interested in what is going on in the centers.

Andy
The idea of activity centers is a real neat idea. Creating these centers either within the school or your own classroom could/would be very helpful and fun for your students. The book does a great job in describing all four of them. The first one is permanent open-ended which are centers designed to provide your students a wide range of open-ended experiences. Second is the temporary topic-specific centers which are centers that will frequently change and are geared toward a particular concept or theme at the time. Third is a temporary open-ended center. In this one the centers can easily be set up or taken down real quick in the classroom setting. Games are great in this one. Last is permanent topic-specific centers. These are centers that stay around for months at a time or all year long, but within each one they will have revolving material that will change with the topic or concept that is being discussed in class at the time.

Darren
What this book is really good at is lists. The seventh chapter of Armstrong's "Multiple Intelligences" asks teachers to apply the eight intelligences in their classroom. A large list of questions for each separate intelligence asks whether or not the classroom a teacher has designed fits with the MI model. The belief behind this is that an environment should engage students at their highest level of thinking so that they can complete tasks at the same plane. It makes each student comfortable in a classroom right off the bat, which is nice in classes focused on discussion or difficult subjects. When I reflected on this chapter, I realized that not one of my teachers in high school had a single plant in the classroom. This strikes me as really, really weird. But it is also something I wouldn't notice until it was pointed out to me because I am not a naturalist as far as learning is concerned. However, placing plants in a classroom may be one very simple way to engage kids that enjoy the outdoors. Animals are a bit more questionable because of allergies and fright and things of that nature (no pun intended). It is nice to look over this list in chapter seven and realize the little things that I could do to engage different types of learners before class even begins.

Cassandra
This chapter addressed the environment of the classroom. It's not just important to have inviting and engaging lessons and to assess the students in a fair manner. The classroom can either be a comfortable place to gather and learn or it can be an office. Most of the classes I've seen are much like an office. There are a few teachers here and there that put decorations in the classroom- I had to put the decorations in to my mentors class; even his plant was dying. Color schemes alone have been known to affect people's moods. If your classroom is warm and inviting then students may want to be there more than the cold too-white room down the hall. Even the white colored brick just screams COLD. Naturalists and any student really, responds to the outdoors in a big way. My suggestion is that you use your classroom like a second living room: decorate and hang plants! Don't just show up to school and teach. The classroom is associated with the teacher.

Dan
I think the coolest thing about chapter seven were the activity centers. I truly hope I have my own classroom when teaching and don't have to use the cart. (haha) In fact, I wouldn't mind at all if I had like a portable. After reading the chapter I really want to set up these activity centers to give my students a different mind frame on what a classroom should look like. Being a health teacher it may be easy to set up different stations using health topics. I could have a Linguistic center with all sorts of physical activity work-outs, nutrition logs, and empty of the previous two so students can fill in their own. My math center may be a little more tricky, but students can use math to figure out the amount of calories they should take in, what their BMI is, weight, all sorts of gadgets. My Spatial center could have videos and magazines (for collages), and have all sorts of arts from my students on the wall. My body kinesthetic center will have bosu balls, low pound weights, and yoga mats. Musical center will be another tough one to implement, but the idea of stethoscopes or instruments students can use to make songs or study health sounds very fun. My intrapersonal Center will be a social area used for discussion or team work with health related jobs. Intrapersonal centers will be for students who wish to get work done or study on their own. And my naturalist station will be a vegetable garden center where my classes will get to choose what they want to plant and get the veggies afterwards. These learning centers are so very exciting.

Ethan
It is important to create an environment in the classroom that allows everyone to learn. In this section the idea of Activity Centers is introduced. This is the idea of sharing information between not only teacher and student, but student to student. Group discussions and also yearlong school clubs or departments are mentioned. Language labs are mentioned for helping linguistic learners, math labs and science centers for logical learners. They also talk about generating discussion in the classroom through open ended topic s that allows students to draw information from each other. I feel some parts of this chapter would be hard to apply to my math class, but giving students the math or science labs to benefit from is something I would strongly push for in my school. Creating a yearlong math lab would be something of great interest to me.

Brian
Everything around us, how we feel, who were with, what’s being taught, how it’s being taught, everything, everywhere effects how people learn. So the question that lies is; how do we use the eight different intelligences to __positively__ affect learning. We can do lots of things, one of which would be to provide a safe comfortable environment for all to learn in. ‘For all to learn’ is best categorized, at this point in time, as the eight intelligences. So by organizing our classrooms, decorating it with posters, plants, books, colors, art work, project displays, stress balls, and anything else you can think of that could be used effectively in teaching any level of one of the eight intelligences. By providing a comfortable environment for students to learn, we are encouraging participation, and both independent and cooperative studying; all vastly important to the success of students, and all impacted by the MI theory.

George
Chapter 7 started off with another look at the multiple intelligences and how these can be applicable to a classroom set up. It next took the majority of the chapter to talk about MI activity centers which would be parts of the classroom that would be dedicated to doing work in each of the intelligences. It talked about permanent and temporary centers. It is my belief that having these centers set up permanently would be better suited to grade school especially in schools that have one room and one teacher to a grade, which was my experience. The one that better pertains to us would be the temporary one because in high school and middle school you can't have 8 separate spaces set away all the time in tiny rooms, it just wouldn't work well. However, having the temporary ones that can can be set up quick and easy would be best.

Josh
Armstrong goes deeper into his explanations of the eight multiple intelligences, and discusses how a teacher could use each one in different ways in the classroom. The chapter explains that just speaking does not necessarily work for a linguistic learner, because it matters how you say the words and the vocabulary that is used, because both have an effect on the meaning of what you say. The author offered the idea of creating different activity sections of the classroom that each target a different intelligence. This idea seemed a little elementary for a high school or middle school. Personally, I had this kind of set up kindergarten and first grade, and I feel as though that image would be conjured up by every high school student who walks into their classroom and sees this set up. The idea is interesting, but I find it hard to believe that it would work at a secondary level.

Damian
It has long been known that environment affects the one who is in it. Darwin didn’t have to be the one to tell us that if the world were covered in deluge that we’d all be fish. Hospitals paint their walls in colors that have been shown to have soothing qualities, such as taupe or beige. Physical therapists utilize animals such as dogs or cats as part of their treatments to encourage good feelings among the patients. Colors are associated with emotions, fauna are said to encourage learning because they increase the amount of oxygen in the air. All of this being said, how do we use the information to make a classroom more effective? What is comfortable for one may not be for another. You may never cater to everyone’s aesthetic tastes, but you can show that you care about the details, which every student will recognize. Not to mention, won’t you as an educator be more comfortable in an environment that you set up for comfort based on a personal form of pseudo feng shui?

Sean
This chapter discusses how students can learn from each other. They suggest students working together, which teachers should be doing already anyway. Students have a different perspective than a teacher, but one that most students can relate to, so they can gain that much more from each other. Plus, it taps into the Interpersonal learners intelligence. Each of the groups can be based into each of the intelligences as well, except intrapersonal. But each group can be used to target each of the intelligences, and some groups can be designed specifically for the one that whatever people are more proficient in

Zack
This chapter discussed how I could set up my classroom in an effective manner so that I am able to teach students with all the different MI's the most effectively. The more options that I leave open to the children in the room, the greater the chance that they will be able to learn in their most effecient manner. To effectively set up my room I must be willing to set aside space for students that are different learning types. For example I could leeave a part of my room open for students to be able to see and touch objects in the world that are mathematical in nature, but are also found in nature. Doing things such as this opens the minds of my students to be willing to learn more information than before. I must be willing to allow the space in my room to be more than just empty, or under used space, I must allow it to open the minds of my students to new way of thinking about the subject at hand.

Liz
This chapter really is about the classroom set up. I had not previously thought about it very much but now I realize how the set up of the classroom helps the different intelligences. This made me think of previous classrooms I’ve been in. In high school, for most, it is about the structure and times but not often about WHEN things occur just that they fit into a schedule. I do recall though that different classes went better in the morning then during years when they were at a different time of day. One spatial classroom that I recall very vividly was a history classroom where different historical items were painted on the ceiling tiles. This made the classroom unique and it was similar to the classroom that had the walls painted with historical scenes or people. The students enjoyed it and it livened up the class area. Much of the questions raised in this section is about how a teacher makes the learning environment better and how they can make it different for each intelligence.