MI+B2+Chapter+5

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Abstract
Students are not meant to sit at a desk all day and listen to lectures. Students benefit from hands-on and active learning. The MI teacher understands this and does everything in his or her power to avoid a boring lecture. MI teachers embrace all eight intelligences and incorporate them into each unit. There is a seven-step process that can be used for any teacher to translate their lesson into an MI lesson. Some of these steps include brainstorming, setting up a sequential plan, focusing on a specific topic, and implementing the plan (45). By translating the lessons into MI lessons, the teacher is ensuring that all of the students are being taught the material in a way they learn best.

[|Synthesis Brittany]
As a class, we agreed that using [|MI lesson plans] in the classroom is a positive thing to implement. Taking the steps to learn how to incorporate multiple intelligences into the classroom from the beginning can prove to be beneficial to all the students in the classroom. It is important to provide [|hands-on activities] so that the students can learn through experience. Hands-on [|activities] like this can help to target many intelligences at once. Everyone seemed to love the idea of using the seven-step process to translate lesson plans into MI lesson plans. It was unanimous that each of the eight intelligences should be targeted in a classroom. This provides a level learning field for all of the students.

I thought the best and most helpful section of this chapter was the one on what an MI teacher is. The list of what a MI teacher does (makes students interact in different ways, plans for self-reflection, creates oppurtunities for learning in the natural world, etc.) gave me a good picture of what the classroom itself would look like and run. The lists of ways to work the different intelligences into a lesson was great. That, along with how to write a MI lesson plan really shows me how I can play to each student's strengths as well as helping them work on their weaker intelligences.

Jordan
In this chapter, Armstrong evaluates how the MI theory can be used to create a classroom that provides a balanced use of all eight intelligences. I learned that the “MI theory offers a means of building daily lesson plans, weekly units, or monthly or year-long themes” (Armstrong 44) and that it help teachers design curriculum that appeals to the various intelligences. I was unaware of the impact that MI has in effective lesson planning; teachers are capable of creating a whole unit centered on a theme and the eight intelligences. By using MI to design lessons, they are able to focus on students’ intelligences at least some of the time. Integrating the intelligences into the classroom does require focus, planning, and brainstorming and this is the reason that students rarely see variation in the classroom. Each of the intelligences can be applied effectively to math, science, reading, writing, and social studies with some creative brainstorming. I was amazed to learn how the eight intelligences can be applied because my experiences in the classroom offered little variation in how a teacher instructs a lesson. This information has made me aware of all of the possibilities that the eight intelligences offer me in the classroom and I hope to use this information to become a MI teacher.

**Leah**
The quote provided by Jean Jacques about children not learning through books but through "the book of life" really struck me. When you sit at a high school graduation, or hear inspirational speeches they often talk about life experience, and how life experience can teach you more than sitting in any classroom can. As a teacher I hope to use MI theory to make my classroom more authentic and provide experiences that tap into my student's multiple intelligences. Chapter five offers a seven step procedure to incorporating MI into lesson plans. I'm excited to incorporate MI into my classroom because it provides an opportunity for my students to be creative and build their multiple intelligences, but since there "are no standard guidlines to follow" it also gives me as a teacher a chance to be creative.

Mykayla
I was shocked to realize how many different ways a teacher can teach the same material, yet with each strategy educate students with diverse multiple intelligences. Even a teacher standing at the front of the room lecturing can incorporate the variety of intelligences into his or her instruction. I was also surprised to find strategies for incorporating the multiple intelligences into my lesson plans. The MI planning sheet on page forty-seven was amazing. I would have never guessed that so many classroom activities could be done with punctuations. However, I am worried that I have to do all of these activities for every topic and that seems over ambitious. How is any teacher supposed to integrate all of those ideas into his or her classroom and still cover the necessary material to meet district standards?

Ryan Snowman
This chapter describes how the MI teacher differs from the “everyday” teacher and discusses how to create MI lesson plans. One criticism of the traditional classroom teacher is that the teacher talks “at” the students too much. The MI teacher provides hands – on experiences, often combining one or more of the intelligences to supplement her lesson plan. As a teacher, I think it is very important to change my method of presentation in order to teach all of the intelligences. Being able to teach to the intelligences is important, but just as important is creating lesson plans that target the intelligences. When approaching curriculum development that uses the MI theory, the best way is usually “by thinking about how we can translate the material to be taught from one intelligence to another” (p. 44). For example, how can I teach something that is musical, not in another musical fashion, but in a spatial or linguistic fashion? This is the difficulty surrounding MI theory. However, by thinking about how the material transfers across intelligences, it gives teachers plenty of time to brainstorm creatively how it can be done.

Corinne
Different tools and ideas are listed in this chapter for teaching to multiple intelligences. I noticed that some of these ideas fit more easily into a classroom, in that they were basic ways of teaching, while others required more creativity to incorporate in the classroom. This made me wonder if my past teachers had all of this knowledge about multiple intelligences and how to teach to all of the students learning types. Also, if they did why did they not get more creative and use some of these tools in the classroom. I can't help but think that if my teachers had known and been more creative about incorporating different methods into their teaching, that I would have been able to grasp some of the lessons I did not understand and never learned. The chapter also opens with the claim that children learn through experiences. I find this in my past to be true. In classes where I found meaning and was allowed to experience through projects or field trips, I had more success. In other classes were teachers did not make an effort to create an experience for me, I struggled. I would like to be the teacher who creates experience and meaning for students.

Scott
This chapter seems to reiterate a lot of what we have already learned. Part of what MI theory is what good teachers have been doing for ages, the methods should go beyond what students see in the textbooks and the blackboards and cause the awakening of students' minds. Instead of using a flavor injector to insert herbs into parts of the Turkey, heat the bird up so it can acquire the flavors of its surroundings. Pages 40-43 provide more examples of required elements of teaching to different intelligences. After we find what the desired goals for our students are, we should think about lesson plans and units as ways to translate our content into something that can be understood by students who possess all intelligences. A procedure, that looks simple to follow is presented in chapter five. Hopefully I will be able to remember to refer back to this when I begin my lesson plans.

Jennie
In this chapter, it is explained that we have to involve each of the intelligences into our lesson plans. Some of this information has been suggested to us in previously read chapters and in class, but there is some new information. As well as an overview of the history of Multiple intelligence theory, the chapter also gives us ideas for the organization of our ideas so that we can figure out what we want to use in our lessons, and how we want to incorporate all of the intelligences into our lessons. They give us an example of a graphic organizer that could help some people figure out what they want to do and lay it out in front of them. This particular organizer doesn't really work for me but having something like that to organize my ideas before I start planning would be helpful for me to have.

Ryan
This chapter discusses all the ways that a teacher can incorporate multiple intelligences into a lesson plan with never even leaving the front of the room. The ideas that were given in this chapter in order to allow for different learning styles to be taught were playing of music, drawing examples, and watching a film in order to get a lesson that was taught. It was shocking to me that a teacher can lecture and still incorporate ways to stimulate multiple intelligences through directions. However, it seemed that this chapter was a little repetitive and shared a lot of the same information in previous chapters. The incorporating in multiple intelligences will be something I incorporate into my classroom.

Brittany
Teaching to the different intelligences in a classroom requires teachers to bring out their creative side. Since the intelligences in the classroom will vary, many different kinds of activities will be needed throughout a unit to teach to every student’s strength. When creating a lesson plan, there are certain steps that the teacher can take to translate the plan to a multiple intelligences unit. “Focusing on specific topics, asking key questions, and selecting activities” are all examples of ways to start adapting the unit plan (44). By using these steps when I am creating my future lesson plans, I can help to target the intelligences of all my students. Another important aspect when creating a multiple intelligences lesson is to keep the information engaging and close to real world experiences. In doing this, the students are more likely to pay attention to the lesson at hand.

Drew
Chapter five seems to go over a lot of previous information. That is one of the main issues that I have with this text is the way it seems to touch on prior reading constantly. It's different if there is a magic interconnection between a couple different texts but when a text seems to do this often to itself, it tends to break down the interest side of my brain. With that aside, lets discuss the chapters main points.

My personal favorite part of the chapter that I will later reference for use in my classroom is the diagram figure 5.2 on page 45 which provides a great template for planning to incorporate MI. They are all very good questions in terms of considering MI for any lesson and having them out front of me right now as I type this is helping me consider what I would do to meet certain needs. Similarly, page 49 provides figure 5.6 which is based on bringing MI to life on a theme. Although the thought of inventions as a theme doesn't necessarily help me right now, it could help me brainstorm equal or better ideas for my own themes that I work through with students down the road.

**Sarah**
If there is one thing I enjoy about this book, it is the clear development of ideas. I love being able to open the book, read and comprehend the main argument of the piece in a limited number of pages. With that being said, I found chapter five to be just as highly beneficial as, if not more than, its predecessors. The chapter summarized, yet again, the eight different learning types and gave examples of how to approach each different learner with new material or when assessing. Then it went on to answer the biggest question I have had while reading the book; how does one create a multiple intelligence based lesson plan? The book provided an extraordinary step by step break down with several supporting tables to really equip its readers with the necessary tools to be successful differentiated instructors. I can tell right now that this is a chapter I will refer back to when making my own lesson plans.

Tim
Chapter five reiterated to me much of the information I have already learned about Multiple Intelligences in the classroom. The chapter gave a plethora of examples of ways a teacher could teach using all the intelligences within the classroom, while still using traditional teaching techniques. (Lecturing and chalk talk.) With the Multiple Intelligence theory, Armstrong says the best way to approach curriculum development is by thinking about how to translate the material that will be taught from one intelligence to the next. Armstrong then goes on to explain a solid seven step process to create a Multiple Intelligence lesson plan. I could integrate this chapter into my classroom by using some of the examples of teaching in-front of the class while still being able to incorporate all of the intelligences.

Cara
MI theory makes it necessary for a teacher to use many different teaching techniques and strategies in the classroom. I liked that philosophers like Plato and Rousseau were mentioned because it shows that even back during their time they understood that everyone learns differently. The figure that showed the different activities, strategies, and activities a teacher can use for each intelligence caught my attention because it has some good information in it. The chapter explains how to create a MI lesson plan and goes into detail with each of the eight intelligences.

Rachel
This chapter continues to talk about teaching to all learning styles in the classroom and expands this idea to include incorporating them into the curriculum. I feel that I am a creative, unoriginal learner and I benefit well from unconventional learning techniques. This is why I can really relate to this chapter. It makes me look back on past classes I’ve had and strategies that my teachers have used to help me learn and many of them aren’t “normal” teaching techniques. I don’t learn well from tests and presentations and I will have students that are the same way. At the same time, I’ll have students who do learn well through this way. My job as a teacher is to incorporate this all into my lessons. 