B1+Chapters+6,7+UbD+and+5,6+MI

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Abstract:
Dealing with diverse classrooms was the main point in this collection of chapters. The framework laid out by the two books was that as educators we should first look at whom we have in the seats in front of us. Are the students from different backgrounds, do they speak different languages, do they have religious obligations, etc. The next step in the process of looking at one’s classroom is to figure out the enduring understanding that will best fit the group of kids in the classroom; this is the what section of the model. Thirdly, we as teachers must ask how we are going to best convey this information to our students. Finally, we must figure out some methods that can assess the students in a series of fair and differentiated ways. All of the above mentioned steps are laid out in these two books in order to provide ideas and guidelines for differentiation. Without differentiation, the students are being put at a grave disadvantage, which is fundamentally wrong, because the students must be central to our efforts.  Once we have answered all four questions above, we should begin to really uncover the information for our students. We should relate the work that we are making them do to their lives and we should use all of the MIs in the process in order to help our students grasp the concepts quicker. Diverse presentation within the classroom is everything because our students are always looking for multiple stimuli in order to grow and ultimately be able to apply our lessons to the world in which they reside.

Synthesis:
One common factor that appeared among the responses was the essential questions and the importance of having the right essential question. Many of the members of this class elaborated on this by pointing out that you need to have differentiation, the Multiple Intelligences, [|__backwards design__] and knowledge of your students, such as their [|__readiness,__]  in order to create an effective essential question.  As a class we roughly came to an agreement that these chapters are about knowing who is in your classroom in order to be an effective teacher that can conduct the previous listings effectively for your students.  Several people expressed a feeling of anxiety due to the fact that teaching to all eight intelligences seems like a daunting task. However, these same people also noted that these chapters (particularly chapter six of __Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom__ ) proved to be exceptional resources when it comes to incorporating the MI’s while teaching. Another key concept that pertains directly to the differentiating instruction is the idea that teachers can use a wide variety of [|__educational tools__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__technologies__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> to utilize the intelligences and to help students to learn information through a variety of routes. A final overarching <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">topic detailed in this section was the use of WHERETO when it comes to <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__designing a lesson__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Several individuals in this class expressed the belief that this method of planning would be exceptionally useful when it comes to creating and delivering lessons that meet the needs of all the students. This method allows a teacher to ensure that a lesson plan contains all of the necessary elements and will incorporate as many of the MI’s as possible.

Leigh Welch
The chapters in Multiple Intelligences talked about differentiating your lessons so that all learners had a chance and become involved. These chapters also gave specific examples on certain activities that you could do to fulfill the needs of all your students learning styles. The chapters in Understanding by Design are talking about student’s readiness to the material and the Essential questions they will be answering in the class. These chapters do tie together in that they are all about the learner. Even in the seventh chapter of Understanding by Design, which is largely looking at the structure of essential questions. This ties into the student because you have to know what and whom you are working with in order to get the most out of what you are doing. These chapters talk about preparing your lessons with the students in mind. You have to work on knowing what intelligences you have present in your classroom and what you need to do with your lessons in order to work with those intelligences. You can use combinations of different examples given in chapter six of Multiple Intelligences, you can assess the readiness of your students to the topic or content like they talked about in chapter six of Understanding by Design. From these things you will need to develop your essential questions for the unit, which is discussed in chapter seven of Understanding by Design. Overall these chapters are close to the foundation you are going to need. You need to know whom you have in your room in order to work with and get through to them. These chapters provide you with means of doing just that. These chapters really helped when looking at how a lot of this information comes together. I noticed first that Multiple Intelligences chapter five and six were directly related because one talked about differentiating lessons with the multiple intelligences in mind, and then the next chapter gave you specific examples and activities that you exactly what was described in the previous chapter. The other two chapters were harder to combine, only because the first was about assessing readiness, which goes back to the student. The seventh chapter was about essential questions and how you ask them and why you ask them. These do directly affect the students because they will have to think about them for the unit and then reflect on them at the end of the unit, but it was difficult to think about them affecting the students in a more abstract way. Then it hit me, you have to know what you can and cannot ask, what is too deep and what is too easy? These are factors you have to keep in mind when you are creating essential question for any one class. These chapters were helpful because they brought together a fair chuck of assessment and lesson planning. I liked that you could feel the flow of the concepts with multiple intelligences and creating lessons and assessments in a universal way.

Paul Santamore
Chapter six of Ubd talks about how to think about teaching when you have a diverse classroom, which everyone does, they just may not know it. There are four guidelines laid on the table in this chapter. The first is to ask the question, whom am I teaching? This allows for reflection by the educator and is necessary because each student is different and has different needs. Second, the educator must look at the group of students that they have and ask, what should I teach them? Third is the question of how best to deliver the lessons and fourth is assessment. Chapter seven tells us how to get the students of a diverse classroom to actually understand the material. This is the most important part of education to me because if I can make my students understand and remember what I have taught them, I am having great success. Ubd wants us teachers to “uncover” the content by making it real to the students and stripping it down to mean something tangible to them. Using essential questions is also necessary, because it gives the students and the teacher an end goal and a final task or understanding that must be assessed. The six facets of understanding are something that we have used in the planning of our own lesson and they come up as the main tool for designing lessons and getting the information across to students in a way that makes it stick. Chapter five of MI discusses the incorporation of MI teaching into the classroom by developing MI centered curriculum. The chapter discusses lesson planning with MI theory as well as providing many examples of products and ideas that suit all eight MIs during instruction. MI is so vital in each classroom and each lesson because if we as teachers do not vary our lesson, kids will not learn the material, as they need to. It is difficult and time consuming to plan all of these different lessons and activities, but it is our job, and in the long run, the benefits will begin to bring themselves to the forefront in our students. Chapter six of MI covers the topic of MI theory in teaching strategies, and although this sounds identical to the last chapter in MI there is a difference. This chapter focuses on the actual delivery of information and gives some examples of how to deliver the information to a student from all eight of the MIs. All four of these chapters relate to helping your students learn the material that is being taught as well as what material you should teach them. Curriculum was of central focus along with many ideas on how to deliver that curriculum. Students ultimately come first and although it is a very difficult task to plan for all eight of the MIs, you must do it. MIs affect the ways in which students retain and reuse the information that you are teaching them and without quality instruction and methods you will be putting your kids at a disadvantage.

Mel Christensen
It is essential for teachers to come to school prepared with plans and strategies to guide students in learning. These plans range from curriculum down to simple classroom management and instructional strategies that help keep students focused and engaged. The four chapters assigned for class 7 all addressed the need for teachers to carefully plan their instruction so that they are prepared to reach out and respond to a range of learning needs. In a given classroom there may be gifted students and students with learning disabilities, English speaking students and English language learners, and students who learn spatially and students who learn kinesthetically. Realistically, even the best laid plans are likely to be adapted as the teacher begins to see how students respond to the material and instruction, but a teacher should always start off with a thoughtful strategy aimed at incorporating the needs of different learners. Preplanning and troubleshooting before hand should save time and help to ensure that the students’ time in class is being used efficiently for meaningful learning that addresses the needs of the students. Teachers can plan units so that each of the intelligences will be incorporated into a lesson or assignment to ensure that students will have the opportunity to access the content in different ways. Instructional strategies such as RAFTs can be incorporated to anticipate differentiation for students working at different levels and accommodate for student interest. Teachers who plan to actively differentiate throughout the year can also discuss classroom policies for independent work time so that students can work constructively while the teacher works with small groups. Students and teachers can also work together to set up the classroom in a way that give students a flexible workspace to meet with groups and work independently with minimal distraction.

It is important to make sure the big ideas and essential questions of a unit are the focal point for all students, regardless of learning style or level of achievement. In a differentiated classroom that caters to many different learning styles and needs students and instructors may get distracted from the universal end goal. Teachers should make sure students know what the expectations of a unit, lesson, or assignment are and have all students working towards the same expectations, regardless of the path they take to get there. The essential questions of the unit should be a focus for everyone in the classroom. The teacher should plan the essential questions so that they are accessible to all students in the class. This means making sure they are clear and concise, and making sure all students have the background and vocabulary to unpack these questions and begin to uncover the answers. Students should have the opportunity to begin to test themselves and access the essential questions by applying their knowledge regardless of their level of achievement. Even if students have not completely mastered basic skills or understandings they can use the skills and knowledge they have to begin asking questions and engage in discussions with other students.

Bianca Stoutamyer
All of the chapters in this section of reading all have to do with teaching to a diverse classroom and meeting the needs of all of the students in your classroom. UBD/DI chapter 6 talks about keeping the classroom a learning environment for all students whether that means letting the students who need to get up and move around do that or the students who need peace and quiet to wear headphones while working on a project or homework. I would implement the use of both of these tactics in my classroom if the students need it to learn. If they don’t it may be distracting for them and I would have to find a different way to create the environment those students need. In chapter 7 of UBD/DI the use of essential questions jumped out as something that I would use in my classroom without having to be told. Leaving questions open ended and having no “right” or correct answer allows the students to deeply think about their work. My mentor likes to have students answer questions that ask what they think would happen or how they would do something to not only gather information about their knowledge but also about the way they think about a problem given to them in class. I would also ask questions like this in my classroom not only because there is more than one way to solve a problem but you can also learn so much about a person by how they solve a problem. Chapter 5 of Multiple Intelligences is about teaching to multiple intelligences. The lists given in the chapter about different activities for each intelligence is very useful for me as a teacher because there are some places where the intelligences may blend together and you can hit two or more intelligences with one activity “killing two birds with one stone” so to speak. Teaching to all of the different intelligences and personalities seems daunting but the amount of tables and diagrams given in these four chapters allows for me to brainstorm ideas that would come in handy for practically any lesson. Some teaching strategies given in chapter 6 of Multiple Intelligences seem somewhat childish to me. For instance story telling to middle school and high school students seems insulting to the students intelligences not productive for them. Though I did not like the idea of storytelling I did like the idea of having the students brainstorming ideas as a class about project ideas or ideas about a lesson. My favorite idea that I will eventually find a way to integrate into my classroom was the board games suggestion. Playing Jeopardy to study for an upcoming test was the highlight of my day when I was in high school and I will carry this into my own classroom because you can also reward students for how well they do during the game and it is an incentive for students to learn the material. These four chapters all gave me ideas for my classroom and teaching to the different students I will likely have in the future.

Allison Reynolds
Teaching is more than just presenting information to the class. It relies heavily on how teachers present it. What tools, techniques, and strategies do teachers use in order to get the information to the students in a learning fashion? There are a variety of ways to do it, but what matters the most is that the students can connect to the information. Although it can be very confusing, what matters is that I stay focused on what I need to uncover with my students. One thing I took away from this section is that we need to ask the essential questions to ourselves. These essential questions keep me focused on what needs to be done in order to succeed in the classroom. Just by having these questions I feel like can be more confident in finding what to teach students and how to do it. Another overall theme for this section is to have the students know the objective of the lesson or unit in the beginning. This way, students can know what is expected of them before starting but also what needs to be learned by the end of the lesson or unit. So many students complain they don’t know why they are doing something. Students do this constantly in math classes. Just by establishing what your goal is as a teacher, they can better understand what their goal is as a student. The WHERETO concept is a great one to have in order to hit all points in a lesson plan. You have to have the hook to get students, the plan of what you are going to teach, and the organization to execute it. I think that this framework is something that I would use in my classroom and my planning processes. I would want to have something this structured for when I am planning. My thoughts tend to run when I am planning something, especially if I want it to be engaging. Multiple Intelligences talked about how to make sure to focus on what you are teaching as well as hitting most of the intelligences. The planning process in MI is very similar to UbD/DI, which makes the method seem like it would work even more. My favorite part of this section though was having the 40 strategies for teaching that reaches the other intelligences. I am very excited to use multiple intelligences in my classroom. The more resources and ideas I have to implement these the better. Sometimes, for me, it is hard to get out of my own intelligences so having these resources and lists really does help me. One strategy that I want to use is the Supermemory music. Just being able to gives students a break from sitting and let them lie on the ground and listen. They can take in what I am saying but feel in control of themselves because they can’t let themselves fall asleep. Many of my teenagers in my classes feel tired and get even more tired when someone drones at them. If I use music to calm them or help them learn, I am sure they would be more reactive and take more in than before.

Ashton Carmichael
The author of Multiple Intelligences gives concrete examples of people in the past who thought of teaching students with more than just lectures: Rousseau, Plato, Montessori, and Dewey. Armstrong says that, “In the MI classroom, while keeping her educational objectives firmly in mind, the teacher continually shifts her method of presentation from linguistic to spatial to musical and so on, often combining intelligences in creative ways” (56). I firmly agree with this. In a successful classroom, the teacher needs to include all her students. He stresses the idea that MI is essential in the classroom. The author asks simply, “How can we take a linguistic system, such as the English language, and translate the it … into the languages of other intelligences, namely pictures, physical or musical expressions,, logical symbols or concepts, social interactions, intrapersonal connections, and naturalistic associations?” (64). Armstrong gives a series of examples, on pages 60-64, on how to incorporate each of the multiple intelligences into different lessons. In chapter six, Armstrong heads sections as the MI's and under each he elaborates in paragraphs some of the examples he gave in chapter five pages 60-64. We have to differentiate our lessons to make sure we are using all the intelligences, not just for the sake of using them, but to target each student's learning abilities. The author of //Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design// refers to teachers as coaches on page 85. He uses the example of coaches having students run sideline drills under the understanding that it will help the grand scheme of the game. He said that the same idea can be applied to teaching in the classroom. That is, having low level students doing practices with the basic stuff until they can get to the higher level work. I did not fully grasp his analogy because when a coach sees a student is not performing well with one task, he will make a student run it continuously until the student does. The author is suggesting that we not do this with students, but instead ask low level students to work on high level work too. Then, in chapter six Tomlinson and McTighe suggest planning for groups of students instead of planning for individual learners, they suggest tiering the lesson so that we are not planning twenty different differentiated lessons. The authors state that, “A goal of differentiated instruction is providing opportunity and support for the success of far more students than is possible in one-size fits all approaches to teaching and learning” (100). One of the ways to do this is to use multiple intelligences in our lessons. Armstrong lists a seven step guide that educators can use to make sure they are addressing all the needs of their students: Focus on a specific objective or topic, Ask key MI questions, Consider the possibilities, Brainstorm, Select appropriate activities, Set up a sequential plan, and Implement the plan. The authors of Ub/Di also suggest RAFT assignments to adress “readiness, interest, and learning profile simultaneously” (98).

Carinne Haigis
One of the common concepts that I identified as running through each one of these chapters is the idea of how to actually bring differentiated instruction, understanding by design, and multiple intelligences into the classroom to meet the needs of various learners and how to keep these important topics in mind while developing curriculum. In chapter five of __Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom__, Armstrong discusses the importance of a teacher developing a rich curriculum. Of this, he states: “ Although…teaching of isolated chunks of knowledge may provide students with competencies or background information that can prove useful to them in their further education, such instruction often fails to connect students to the real world” (Armstrong 67). Other educational practices have not been effective in the past because they often failed to connect content material to the world beyond school. Each particular student has something that he or she cares deeply about and if a teacher is able to connect the material to this outside interest the student has, he or she is much more likely to want to know more and to remember the material for use later on in life. Teaching using only the “isolated chunks of knowledge” that Armstrong describes in the previously quoted passage may be effective for some students and does have some merits, but it is necessary to differentiate and to keep the multiple intelligences in mind while teaching in order to ensure that each and every student receives the best education possible. In the following chapter of this book, Armstrong discusses how to bring alive in the classroom the curriculum that the teacher has meticulously planned. He gives ideas of different ways to teach and different methods that can be used in a classroom that will hold the interest of students using the multiple intelligences. This is an excellent resource chapter when it comes to lesson planning as it has many ideas as to how to engage a variety of students. One of my favorites was the suggestion to use “publishing” in a classroom. When a student has put in time and effort into crafting an essay or any other written work, it deserves to be shown to others and kept somewhere safe. Having the practice of publishing works in a classroom gets students excited about writing and sharing their ideas with others and allows students to be proud of their work. Having pride in one’s work is definitely something I believe that there needs to be more of in schools. In chapters 6 and 7 of __Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design__, the authors discuss how to teach responsively (chapter 6) and how to teach for understanding (chapter 7). Responsive teaching emphasizes the need to center teaching around the students and their learning needs (as discussed in the chapters of __Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom__). Teaching for understanding involves, as the authors discuss on page 310, ‘uncovering’ content rather than ‘covering’ it. It is important to peel back the layers of a subject and really examine everything from every angle rather than merely glazing over it so as to move on to other subject matter.

Kellie Sanborn
The most prevalent common theme, I think, in the four readings is that we as educators must take the strengths of our students and not only differentiate instructions to meet each of their needs, but use those strengths to our (and their) advantage in order to create a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the content. The MI chapters both discussed different specific strategies and lesson plan ideas for reaching different kinds of learners in the best way possible. Likewise, chapter 7 of the UbD/DI book discussed specific ideas for differing types of learners, but by using the six facets of learning with a focus on essential questions. Chapter 6 of the UbD/DI book focused more on the classroom setup of a responsive differentiated classroom, giving ideas on how to implement strategies when they are needed. The four of these chapters combined work incredibly well with one another, as they compliment each other by focusing on different aspects.

The “MI Theory and Curriculum Development” chapter of the MI book was very interesting since it gave a lot of examples of specific strategies for each of the multiple intelligences that could easily be built into lesson plans. I really liked the idea that it gave of creating a web with each of the MIs and ideas for the specific lesson/unit for each MI. I think that it would be a great way to be sure to consider each and every student before even getting to sequence of the lessons. It also connects well with the UbD/DI chapter 7, since the first thing to consider is what it is that we would like students to learn from the lesson/unit. An essential question must first be established, then we can move to finding activities that would help each type of learner understand the answers to that question. Likewise, the chapter links very well to UbD/DI chapter 6; by identifying activities which would work for each MI, responsive teaching becomes incredibly easy. All that one must do is recognize what strategies from the web are needed based on student activity, and then they can be easily implemented.

By using the strategies from the MI chapters and the structures suggested in the UbD/DI book, educators are easily able to create not only knowledge, but understanding and application ability in each student, regardless of their learning style. Everyone learns differently, and therefore learning must be differentiated. Students are all different from one another and their reactions to different lessons and teaching styles can be unpredictable, so it is absolutely crucial that educators have the ability to teach responsively to each and every student, regardless of his or her needs. By using essential questions and designing backward from these using teaching strategies based around all eight multiple intelligences, teachers become far more effective in teaching for understanding.

Chris Whitney
Chapter five of the Multiple Intelligences book talks about how teachers can incorporate different MI activities within one unit and even within one lesson. Not every activity has to have every MI intelligence used, infact it would be pretty hard to do. However it is important for teachers to always try their best to provide different ways for students to learn. It was very helpful for me to see a list of activities to do that will help improve each MI. This is a good reference for teachers who are aware of the eight MI’S but are not sure how to bring them into the classroom. It was really interesting to read and find out that even just bringing in an object for them to pass around will help them to better grasp the concepts of the lesson plan. This is a good example that any little thing can help trigger learning. After all most of teaching is trying to connect with students. As I have already been in the classroom and had a lot of time to observe the classroom setting, I see how some of these activities are done and I can use them or modify them to use in my classroom some day.

Chapter six of the Multiple Intelligences book is similar to chapter five in the way that it talks about how to integrate different MI activities can be used in the classroom. However this chapter went much further in-depth with certain activities that could be taken and used in the classroom. One activity that I thought would be really interesting to use in a history class was a story telling activity. People say that history is one big story, and with a good plot and characters, a story could be useful to describe battles or different even history events to students. Another activity that works a different activity that would be good for history is acting out an event in some sort of theater. With the right instructions students could put themselves into the roles of characters of history to better connect with them and the time period they are studying. When you have to act, you really try to put yourself in whosever shoes you’re in. Students will be able to internalize the information instead of just memorizing it for a test. If done correctly it will be able to use a few different MI’s while also using higher levels of Blooms Taxonomy as students gain a better understanding the content.

**Jason Bragg**
The common theme that I spotted among these chapters is differentiation in the classroom. It is important that the whole class becomes engaged in a teacher’s lesson. Since a class is made up of students with different learning styles, a teacher must differentiate his or her lesson. It is important for teachers to plan ahead as well. Once a teacher knows the student’s intelligences, the teacher can plan his or he lesson with the multiple intelligences in mind so that all students will benefit from the lesson. For example, a teacher could plan a unit keeping in the back of their minds that they have a class full of musical and kinesthetic learners. For the final project, this teacher could have his students do an interpretive dance. Teachers also need to be reflective thinkers. It is important that teachers ask themselves questions such as, “What should my students have gotten out of this lesson?” or “How did I use differentiated instruction to get my point across to all of my students?” When teachers ask themselves question like these, they are essentially asking themselves, “What can I do better next time?” As a teacher, it is always important to improve and learn new things. The WHERETO is a great way for teachers to stay organized and it is also a wonderful tool for incorporating multiple intelligences into the classroom. It maps out exactly where the teacher wants the students to be and it tells the teacher how the class is going to do it. It is also a good idea for the teacher to map out to the students what they will be working on. Students should be on the same page as the teacher in terms of assignments and projects and it can be helpful to the student if the teacher tells them ahead of time what they will be working on. Teachers should have the whole class working towards the same expectation rather than having a different expectation for each student depending on their understanding. One of my favorite activities when I was in school was to play a game before the test. The game would relate to the material one way or another, and it always kept me engaged. Based on student participation, the teacher could get a rough idea of who is struggling with the material, and who needed help. From there, the teacher could get the student who needed help some help before the test so that they are more prepared to take the exam. It is also important to ask student specific questions. Teacher need to get an understanding of what the student knows, and so if the teacher didn’t play a game to observe their students from, then they would need to ask the students specific questions so that the students could communicate with the teacher about what they do and do not understand. The classroom is mostly about communication, and there are a variety of ways that the teacher can setup good communication between the students and themselves. = =

Kaite Bukauskas
The UbD text explores the ideas of responsive teaching and meeting the needs of an academically diverse classroom. When creating a curriculum it is important to factor in both the core beliefs about education as well as the needs of the students to have opportunities to apply their gained knowledge in a context that is meaningful to each individual. To address the concern of balancing student learning with teacher guidance along with core beliefs about curriculum, the chapter describes a process that sounds very much like the Meaningful Engaged Learning ideas that we are currently studying in Dr.Theresa’s class. The author suggests using elements of the classroom as tools that can be utilized to differentiate learning to meet various needs. One way the physical classroom can be used as a tool for meeting student needs as described by the text is by taking a section of the room and designating it as a ‘quiet zone’ of the room in which students could use as a learning area with less distractions. For an educator to avoid feeling overwhelmed, ‘anticipatory planning’ can be a useful way to be proactive about student needs. A teacher can utilize resources early on in the curriculum to determine the learning styles of his or her students so that he or she can anticipate what types of needs will need to be met in the upcoming lessons. By doing so, a teacher can look back to these results when planning a unit to predict and factor in ways to help with specific needs such as reading or vocabulary. The Multiple Intelligence chapters follows this theme by going in depth at the various ways in which a teacher can incorporate specific student needs into his or her classroom. This author describes a traditional teacher as a contrast to this approach, stating that a traditional teacher would be one who stands in front of a class, lectures, and writes on a blackboard. As opposed to a traditional teacher, a teacher who is mindful of the multiple intelligences would at times perform these tasks but would also incorporate ways to reach specific student needs. To meet the needs of linguistic students, a teacher familiar with multiple intelligences may use books, manuals, storytelling, and word games in the classroom. Logical-mathmatic students can use logic puzzles, games, and codes in the learning process. Spatial learners may require charts, graphs, photography, videos, visual patterns, and other forms of visualization to attach meaning to information. Body maps, crafts, and field trips could benefit bodily-kinesthetic learners. Interpersonal learners may enjoy board games, community involvement, cooperative group learning, and peer sharing to bounce ideas off one another. Intrapersonal learners may prefer goal setting, independent study, and self-paced instruction, while students who learn better in naturalist settings may enjoy gardening, nature studying tools, and nature-oriented software or visualization of outdoor scenerios. For a teacher to create a lesson involving multiple intelligence involvement, he or she would focus on the topic, consider the upcoming needs of the students (similar to the UbD idea of anticipatory planning), and brainstorm possibilities to consider what could be done with the above mentioned strategies to engage everyone in the lesson. = =

Megan Hoffman
These chapters focus on preparing the classroom for a diverse group of learners. The state of Maine is a little behind the ethnicity curve, but slowly we are starting to see more ethnically and culturally diverse population. Chapter 5 of the MI book discusses how to develop your tools of teaching to suit the needs of the multiple intelligences, especially when developing curriculum. It gives many ways to teach to each type of learner. For example one suggestion for the ever-so tricky bodily-kinesthetic learner, the book suggests things like field trips, manipulatives, and charades. For the visual learner it suggests videos, pictures and 3d construction kit. Chapter 6 of MI discusses strategies to teach all of the multiple intelligences. One suggestion that the book made for logical intelligent people is Socratic Seminars. I have recently become aware of this concept as a part of my mentor teacher’s class. He often uses these series of question based discussion to gauge his students’ views on a topic, I find it fascinating and hope to use this method in my classroom someday. Another suggestion the book makes for musical learners is making discographies. This is especially prevalent in social studies because all throughout history, music has been an ever changing medium and many youth were inspired by the music of their times. In the history classroom, you can have your musical learner compile a music CD of important music of a certain era and listen to it to set the mood for the day. Chapter 6 and 7 of Ubd talks about how to be aware of your diverse learning environment and how to teach accordingly. In the beginning of chapter 6, it analyzes four essential questions in relation to academically diverse students. One big question to ask yourself as a teacher is who are my students? This is so important as an educator because kids want to know that you care about both their learning styles and the kids themselves. The first thing a teacher should do, in my opinion, is an MI activity so they can learn first thing what kind of mixture they are dealing with. Second, the educator must reflect upon the diverse learning group and ask what is important for this group to learn? Kids won’t respond well to material that they feel is irrelevant to their life. Many kids hate history for this reason, but they don’t realize is that the actions of the past dictate how we live today. If the Civil War hadn’t happened or if the Confederacy won, we might even still have slavery today. Third is the question of how to teach this group so they all benefit from the class and learn more about the content area. In order to have a successful classroom, the teacher must address every student’s needs. By developing your lesson plans to include different learning styles, the whole class will benefit. Fourth is how to properly check for knowledge and mastery skills. You can do this by simply holding discussions with your class to get a feel for what they have understood and asking essential questions to push them to reflect on their new-found knowledge.