MI+B1+Chapter+12

Abstract
This chapter discusses the way to apply the MI theory to developing students’ thinking strategies. Right away the author says, “//How// students think has become almost more important than //what// they think about.” The four main points they bring up are the importance of memory, problem solving, promoting Christopherian encounters, and Bloom’s level of cognitive complexity. People will say at times that they do not have a good memory, but what they should really say is that they do not have a good memory in one of the intelligences. Providing the means for students to learn in the other intelligences will allow them to remember things in an intelligence they might better operate in. The problem solving portion of this chapter discusses the fact that it takes some people many other ways to come to an answer or conclusion that may not be in the realm of what the problem exist. When it comes to promoting the Christopherian encounters the teacher is responsible for taking the student, “…‘over the edge’ and into areas there they must confront the contradictions and disjunctions in their own thinking.” When it comes to Bloom’s taxonomy understanding the six levels, knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, it can help take students to a high level of learning.

Synthesis
The general consensus of the class was that there are some good ideas in this chapter on how help your students remember the things you are attempting to teach them. There are couple of my peers who disagree with this and that it has nothing to do with what intelligence you learn best in, but that is perfectly ok. Everyone one of us has been told to memorize something in a class they have been taking at many different times in their lives. Depending on the subject and your preferred learning style it has come easy or it has been difficult. Having this chapter as a resource will be a very good thing for some of us, while others will never look back at this chapter. Another point that was brought up was Bloom's Taxonomy. In his work he has come up with six facets that will help a student not only remember but retain information on a more meaniful basis. The student will be able to make a connection to what he/she is learning in different ways for a different understanding each time. Having a real life connection to the content will help promote meaningful, long term knowledge retaintion.

**Amy**
CH. 12 One of the most puzzling notions educators have, concerns students’ memories. Often teachers ask the question, “ they knew it yesterday after we went over it, but today it’s gone and I don’t know why” (MI 112). The theory of Multiple Intelligences suggests that, each child’s memory might specialize in one or more areas of intelligence. If a teacher expects students to remember facts, dates, people, and ideas, it might be most effective to offer options for remembering. One example given was, “ to help students study spelling words, it might be effective to teach students the words using sing-song, or draw the word out. Any way a student learns can be helpful in determining how that same student prefers to remember material. Problem solving can be done using the same strategies, which incorporate the way students learn with methods of MI theory.

Brian
This chapter focuses mainly on memorization techniques. Many students memory is limited by the way the information is delivered to them. By using the MI theory we can produce fun and exciting ways to memorize otherwise boring and dry facts or processes. For example we can use certain movements, smells, rhymes, pictures, and so on to further imbed the date, fact, or process into our students’ memories. By developing a successful lesson plan, that encourages improvisation toward all eight intelligences we can encompass all of our students memory abilities.

Darren
This chapter provides another good example of the previous two assignments in the MI book. As the chapters before addressed classroom management and disabilities, the beginning of this novel revolves around memory and the idea that there is no such thing as **good or bad** memory. In fact, memory--according to Howard Gardner--"is intelligence-specific" (112). The author's example is that one can be good with faces but have a hard time with names and dates. I know for a fact that I do very well remembering lyrics and quotes from movies, but I have a hard time keeping track of smaller events in novels. This could be because the former two are presented to me musically and visually, while the last one is given to me in black-and-white writing. The problem with "bad" memory in school is the same problem that children with dyslexia face: kids with "bad" memory for words and number struggle the most in class because those are the most frequently used as tools for teaching content. It is important to present material to students in a variation of ways so that each child can have a fair chance to learn the same content and remember it beyond the 80 minutes of class.

George
This chapter looked at students thinking processes and how it can relate to how make information “stick” with students. Some of the students who have an issue trying to remember information that was taught to them are not strong in the two main intelligences applied in school which are the logical and linguistic intelligences. The key to to try and tap the other 6 to help information stay with a student. The book had several examples of some of our most brilliant minds in human history and how they were able to “think outside the box”, and it's relation to MI. Once again it displays that it is important to display information in a variety of ways to best “get” to a student.

Cassandra
Bloom's taxonomy deals with helping kids not memorize, but understand the work. If students understand what you are teaching them and don't just memorize the answer for the test then later down the road they will be able to use that understanding to solve new or old problems. This theory isn't just for long term knowledge, it can also be used for short term knowledge when kids have cognitive conditions. If students can understand the basics then they will surely remember the answers, especially if they are freshly solving them from long term understandings.

Andy
This chapter, at first, was going to be interesting since MI theory deals with cognitive skills in the first place I did not know where they were going to with it. They did and one point popped out to me right away. I have never heard of the Christopherian Encounters before. This concept is that teachers are suppose to promote students to challenge what they are being taught; to go and prove the teachers or the “man” wrong. Just like how Christopher Columbus challenged the widely known fact that the world was “flat.” The teachers are suppose to challenge their students by taking them “over the edge” and see how they react and what questions they may bring up. I think this is a great way to teach. I would like to attempt this with many of my lessons. This will give the students to not only come to understand the topic at hand, but look further into and ever challenge what they were taught. This will help reinforce the knowledge they have gained!

Zack
I personally completely disagree with this chapter, I do not believe that memory is intelligence specific if this was the case I could remember numbers. It is virtually impossible for me to remember numbers no matter how many times I try to memorize them. Personally I believe this came about not because it matters whether you memerize it or not but it is easier to memerize if you have an interest in something. This does not make your memory better or not it makes it so that in the end a person whos likes something will have an easier time memerizing it rather than something they do not like. Students are not going to memerize it easier if I give it to them in their intelligence, I must actually readapt the material to their intelligence specifically. Memory is a difficult subject, an intelligence may easily go into short term memory but to turn it into long term memory is not based on your intelligence.

Sean
This chapter really hit home for me. I always had a problem remembering homework, from grade school right into college. The strange thing is, while I forget the work assigned two days ago, I can clearly remember what my old house looked like when I was six just before we moved to Winthrop around that same time. I can remember aspects of life clear as a bell, but homework is always elusive. And it's not just homework, but stuff covered in class too. Teachers would just lecture, never drawing my interest, so there was always a lack of understanding, which led to a lack of intrigue, which led to me forgetting I was even there. I personally believe that memory is not so much triggered by what intelligence it triggers so much as it is by what senses it triggers. People have a tendency to remember smells extremely well, as well as the events that go along with these smell-memories. Certain sounds or songs can trigger memories, or tastes can make us recall certain things. Memory is more tapped by interaction with ones senses than their intelligences.

Dan
Chapter 12 brings front one of the bigger problems in schools today. The thought of memorization for learning. The catch 22 that I dont understand is that if we use songs or puzzles or any other technique to help with memorization are we really helping the student. We need to get away from the memorization, not give students tools to memorize to help them memorize. These techniques have helped me in the past with tests, quizzes, plays, everything. As a catcher I used tricks to help me memorize batters tendencies, because without the use of these techniques I'd be lost. The moral here is that if they are memorizing for something we need to hit upon their intelligence to help them remember, but not for summative purposes, for life purposes.

Liz
In reading this book it really never occurred to me that MI would affect the way you remember things! I now understand how and why it does. This chapter discusses some techniques to make learning last by attaching it to the students Multiple Intelligence. This can be in a variety of ways and by doing so the students will have a better chance of submitting the content to memory. It is also a chapter, briefly, about content and how students know the very basics of misconceptions. This is that students can pass all the tests but still just weeks or days later spout out the knowledge they came in with that is incorrect. Gardner says that it is about "taking them over the edge"(MI pg 116) It is all about memory in this chapter and how teachers can help students remember and forget at the same time through the students multiple intelligences.

Ethan
I found this chapter to be especially interesting because I myself lack short term memory skills. I found it interesting that the MI theory can apply to memorization. Finding different ways for students to memorize things like through rhymes, songs, or even physical movement is important. Cognitive skills like memorization and problem solving need to be taught to the multiple intelligences. Giving students multiple ways to solve problems is included in ways to help with cognitive skills. I feel this is extra important for math because problem solving and memory skills are very important. I will be using what I learning in this chapter to help me help the students in a more MI friendly way. When helping a student problem solve or remember math skills I will remember to use my knowledge of the MI theory.

Jennifer
MI theory not only can be applied but should be applied to the cognitive approach to learning: memory, problem solving and other forms of thinking. Asking students to sit down and memorize lists of facts, words, or numbers will never work. You must tap into their intelligences to help them remember, for example if they are musically inclined, have them sing the spelling of a word to a common tune like "Twinkle Twinkle little star". Another idea that I liked from this chapter was the "Chistopherian Encounters" (pg. 116). The idea that teachers must not only teach surface-level material, but go more in depth. The MI theory can also be applied to this, for example with linguistic intelligence, move students beyond the literal interpretation of a story (which is something I am doing in my lessons!) Bloom's Taxonomy was discussed in this chapter as well. With these six levels, we can better instruct our students and assess them, and if we use the multiple intelligences for each level, we will have even more success with our students.

Josh
Chapter 12 discussed the ever popular method of students memorizing knowledge so that they can get a good grade on a test, and then forget it after because they don't think they will ever need that information again. As a teacher, MI states that we are responsible for helping students retain what they learn. The chapter explains that memory is intelligent specific. I believe this is true because some students memorize knowledge by putting it to a beat or making rhymes, others like myself benefit by relating the content to real life. If you can find the strengths of your students, than you have to tools to help them retain the knowledge that is being fed to them. Another method of helping students retain knowledge that works with MI is getting students to think and allowing them to come to a conclusion themselves. I can recall many experiences were a teacher made me think and find the answer myself, a method that I think worked very well for me and gave me greater appreciation for the material. The content or ideas that I understood on my own I never forgot, and my self-esteem was boosted along with my ability to think.

Damian
Memorization is not that mysterious a field. We all are able to recall things that others aren’t as easily able to. Why is this? It’s because every person’s brain builds neural pathways in different ways. Though the process of dendrite construction is the same chemically, the provocation for construction differs from person to person. Using the eight intelligences to help a students remember is a great start, but don’t limit yourself to just those methods, you may get lucky and target a student’s learning method but you may not. Instead, why not ask your students to list 5 powerful memories they have and look for commonalities in those memories. If one student’s memories have unanimous ties to scents then you know that that student will memorize facts better with an olfactory cue.