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Paul Santamore
The first chapter of MI was quite interesting, although we had previously covered most of the material in class. I did learn new things from the chapter, but mostly it was just refreshment as to what the MI are and why Gardner believes in what he does. I found this reading to be more of a drilling into my braining for an implanting of the information, which I believe is why I understand it much better now than directly following our first class. Gardner was extremely effective in his descriptions of the MI theory because he was always able to make connections between subsections of it. He was not closed-minded, but he always attempted to prove that the student or learner has many wonderful attributes and should not be defined as concrete. These various attributes that Gardner speaks of are my biggest take away from this chapter. He never pins a learner down into one specific "intelligence" and I will do the same in my classroom. Although a child may be verbally sharp for example, that child should still be challenged in other areas in order to further develop as an individual learner. Gardner understood that no single person’s brain can be locked or stop developing. I agree that there is no finite solution to intelligence and this chapter has inspired me to put the time in and find out how my students learn best. Once I have found their strengths I will let them work with those, but I will also challenge them and help them to develop aptitude in some other areas as well. By doing these two things, I believe that my students will benefit greatly, because as I have learned throughout my career as a student and citizen, nothing is finite.

Carinne Haigis
The theory of multiple intelligences is something that I have heard referenced quite often in the past. However, before beginning this class, I didn’t really have a firm grasp of what the theory was really all about. After the last class and after this reading, I found myself beginning to be able to pull together all of the little pieces of the puzzle that I had gathered over time and make sense of what multiple intelligences really are. When I was reading this particular chapter, I found myself reminded of a quote by Albert Einstein in which he said, “Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”. The idea of Multiple Intelligences is so wonderful because it acknowledges a variety of definitions of the term “smart”. In the past, it was believed that if a person tested low on standardized tests that they were of low intelligence. This way of thinking, as Albert Einstein said, is not at all a correct way of thinking. Multiple Intelligences, on the other hand, acknowledges that everybody has a least one area that they excel in. In teaching, it is extremely important to understand this concept and to know how to use this information. A classroom is not going to be filled with students who all do well in the same aspects of life. It is the responsibility of the teacher to get to know his or her students so that he or she might teach them in a manner that best fits their needs and interests in order to educate them in the best possible manner.

Megan Hoffman
The first chapter of __Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom__ basically explained the whole idea of the MI theory created by a psychologist named Howard Gardner. He broke down the notion of intelligence to include 8 different facets of functionality. The eight intelligences are; Linguistic, Logical-mathematical, Spatial, Bodily-kinesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal and Naturalist. One thing that intrigued me is that Gardner challenged the common right-brain/left-brain ideology to say that there are many ways of being smart; each person is unique as to which intelligences are more elevated than others. Gardner’s way of determining intelligence makes much more sense to me and my philosophy of teaching than most other “standardized” methods. I believe each child is unique in their own way; teachers can’t throw a blanket test at them and expect each child to succeed. That is why I strongly oppose standardized tests, because of the multiple intelligences theory. My personal example of this is the difference between my husband and I. Rick is a smart man, he can carry an intelligent conversation and understand complex processes, but because of his difficulty concentrating and slow learning was labeled in school as a “special-ed” student. Where he lacked in conventional learning, he has an outstanding intelligence in the field of mechanics and is extremely talented and successful in his trade. I, on the other hand, have a high proficiency in the so-called “book smarts”. But if you put me under the hood of a car, I wouldn’t know a single thing. I often apply the understanding that I have of the differences between my spouse and myself to my classroom ideology. I treat every child different and find out how they are smart rather than how smart they are.

Mel Christensen
The explanation of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence theory offered in the first chapter stressed the connectedness of all the intelligences in cognition and in the way we use our intelligences in everyday activities. This theory of cognition seems as though it can be exceptionally useful in education in two ways. By integrating tasks or activities that appeal to a certain intelligence it gives students who excel in that intelligence a unique opportunity to access the material being taught, but it also allows for student who may not have developed that intelligence as much to practice those skills and way of thinking. Knowing which students excel in which intelligences would be very helpful as a teacher and for the students when working together on group assignments. I think it is also important for teachers to give students the opportunity to develop underused intelligences by giving them tasks that require them to use a range of intelligence so that they can practice new ways of understanding without being completely out of their comfort zone. Students who have developed all of their intelligences are likely to have an easier time accessing material given to them in school because they are more open to a range of teaching methods and modes of understanding. Multiple Intelligence theory offers educators a method to increase the potential for academic success in their students by developing their intelligences and giving them a well rounded approach to understanding. It also gives educators a tool for finding ways to engage students who may be struggling by appealing to the intelligences they are strong in.

Jason B Chapter 1
Multiple Intelligences is the idea that some people are intelligent in different ways. For example, the book mentions the phrase, “He’s not very intelligent, but he is very good at music.” Rather than saying that he is not very intelligent, the Multiple Intelligence theory would say that he is more proficient with music than any other category. It is also possible to make yourself more proficient in other intelligence categories by practicing. Multiple intelligence Theory can be used in the classroom by noting that every student has his or her own interests. This can be a powerful tool because once a teacher knows their student’s interests, they can relate their material to that interest. The student is more likely to understand the course material when it is related to something that the student is interested in. For example, in my math classes, I will be sure to link math with music and nature, as they do have a lot in common. Each person has all eight intelligences, however they could just be more proficient in one than another. This means that all students may have interests in the same category. It is up to the teacher to find a common ground so that they don’t have to relate their material to a hundred things. An example of this is how intelligences can work together. When making a meal, a person must read the recipe, and possibly double the recipe. This is combining linguistic and logical. Therefore, intelligences can work together.

Leigh W.
The first chapter of this book is basically introducing the eight intelligences that Howard Gardner listed in his Multiple Intelligences Theory. These are the same intelligences that we tested in our first class. I liked looking deeper into these intelligences because it really brought that whole activity we did in class together. The book also talked about how Gardner chose the different intelligences. He had eight different criteria that the intelligences had to meet and without meeting all of them the proposed idea would not join the list of intelligences. When reading the list of criteria I basically knew what they meant, more or less, and then the chapter went into detail giving examples that really helped to clarify parts that might have been a little fuzzy. One of the elements of this chapter that I found really cool was that you could be good a one part of the intelligence but bad at the other and still have a high proficiency in that intelligence. For example, I am really good at writing, I like writing a lot and if comes easy to me, but I am not a fast reader and sometimes I have to reread parts of chapters because I do not comprehend it the first time. I still have a relatively high proficiency in linguistics, but I only do well in half of the elements. I also thought it was interesting that someone can excel in a single intelligence and have all the other intelligences working at a much lower level, like savants. It is very interesting that all the intelligences have to work together yet you can have one functioning at a much higher level than the others.

**Kellie S.**
I will be the first to admit that I was, at first, very skeptical of the eight different categories of intelligence when we worked with them in class. After reading this chapter, however, I am much more convinced. At first, these categories made very little sense, but the justification brought a lot more logic to it. I am still very curious and interested as to how these intelligences will be incorporated into use in the classroom. I do not think that I would be able to, say, make a lesson musical for someone who was musically intelligent but not otherwise. I can, however, understand why it would be important to have a student who is kinetically intelligent move around the room during class. The only one of the intelligences that I still have a hard time believing as its own category is the naturalist. I understand that there are people who are particularly understanding of nature and animals, but I think that that intelligence could be a sub-category of a kinetic, spacial, or even possibly verbal intelligence. I think that there are plenty of other different kinds of talent which do not have their own intelligence categories, but are grouped in with one of the other seven, and the same could be done with nature. While I found the chapter to be very interesting and thought-provoking, I am very confused as to how it will, overall, be related to the “in the classroom” part of the book. I could certainly see myself using some of the intelligence categories to aid in the differentiating of my curriculum to help my future students, but some of them I am still very puzzled by.

Bianca Stoutamyer
The thought of multiple intelligences is not something I personally would have thought of without the use of the classroom exercise done during class 2 and the book assigned to us to read. With a further look at the actual intelligences themselves it is easier for me to assign them to my own life and see the relevance of them daily. I especially liked the section on brain damage and savants. As a future science teacher I can relate the lobes of the brain and the brain injuries to the functions they perform and understand how that would affect a specific intelligence, for example how a stroke can affect linguistic and bodily/kinesthetic intelligences by cutting off oxygen to a specific part of the brain. The evidence of savants and prodigies intrigued me because there may come a time when I have a student in my science classroom that is musically or artistically well developed but they cannot logically reason in the classroom. As a teacher I could use their intelligences to help them understand a concept they may not understand by logic or linguistic. For instance if the student has trouble expressing them selves orally or in writing yet are artistically able to convey their thoughts and understandings the student could always draw instead of writing or speaking and I could use that as their assessment instead. This also could help the student develop the logical and linguistic intelligences due to the fact they can see how to connect intelligences together to achieve and to learn in the classroom.

Chris Whitney

 * Chapter 1** of the MI book talks mostly about the 8 intelligences that help show how people learn best. While also providing in depth analysis’s of each of Gardner’s intelligences, the chapter also discussing why the are even called intelligences. The author states how after an accident, one of the intelligences could suffer damage, while leaving the others intact. Also,I learned more about what factors help make a certain attribute an intelligence as it needs factors such as potential isolation of brain damage, an evolutionary time line and support from experimental psychological tasks. I found it very useful to get more data concerning the eight intelligences because although I have heard of them before, the meanings had always been vague. Or I would just gather what I could from taking intelligence tests myself. This chapter gave specific thinking processes associated with the different intelligences that helped me understand them better. In the early going of Practicum there has been a stress to know how students learn to better be able to reach them. Being able to describe the multiple intelligences and knowing my strengths and weaknesses as a learner will help my students understand me, and help me to understand what I should work on to become a better teacher. I liked that we did a MI test on the first day of class because I feel the teacher is trying to learn more about me and take care of me as a student and know she will do her best to accommodate my learning style.

Allison Reynolds
This chapter was not only a reminder of what we learned in class about multiple intelligence, but it also shines new light on certain topics I had not though about. I found it interesting that in some intelligences, the age in which it is mastered varies. It is interesting how mathematical thinkers will find they think like this very early, it reaches that peak earlier, but linguistic intelligences will really grow into that intelligence much later in life. This information is something I will carry to the classroom because it helps show where students are in their intelligences. Some students may be weak in all areas, but strong enough to have a general idea. Some students maybe incredibly strong in one intelligence and can’t even function in another. These are things I will need to know as a teacher in order to reach a student in how they learn.

I also learned that all students have all intelligences, but those cannot be linked to the learning style of the student. Gardner said it best when he said on page 17, “’The concept of style designates a general approach….an intelligence is a capacity’”. I want to link how I learn with what I am “smart” in because I feel like they do connect. I am a clipboard, organized, logical, and a step-by-step thinker, and I am also strong logical intelligence. Still, the two don’t connect. I found that interesting, that you may be capable in something, but still can learn more efficiently with something completely different. That isn’t so true for me, so that is why I want to see the connection for intelligence and learning styles with students in my classroom.

Ashton Carmichael
Catering to multiple intelligences are a very good way to directly inspire and get students to learn. However, I do not think that it would be possible to cater to each intelligence in every lesson. Maybe alternate between the different intelligences from lesson to lesson, but including all eight intelligences in every lesson would make it really difficult for both the students and the teacher as the students are jumping around and the teacher is flailing at the front of the room. Granted all students possess some capacities from all eight intelligences, there are a couple that will stand out above the rest in each individual; it will not be easy to design each lesson to cater all eight intelligences. The author makes a note about how people can develop all eight intelligences to a high standard. I do not think that we, as teachers, should be promoting one more so than the others, but instead fluctuating and mix matching all eight intelligences into our lessons. This is will allow the students to develop the skills as a unit and not one by one. By incorporating all eight intelligences into various lessons throughout a unit, the students are forces to use all components of their mind to problem solve. We use more than one of these intelligences at a time, so presenting information and giving assignments that incorporate more than one of these intelligences makes sense.

Kaite Bukauskas
The multiple intelligence theory is the idea that the intelligence of an individual is not a single measurement of his or her mental ability but a collection of his or her abilities over eight identifiable fields. Linguistic intelligence is the ability of an individual to express his or her self through words. Logical-mathematical intelligence involves one’s problem-solving abilities as well as his or her’s ability to use numbers effectively. Spatial intelligence involves the perception of the visual-spacial world. Bodily-kinesthetic is the individual’s usage of his or her whole body to express his or her self. Musical intelligence involves the perception, transform, and expression of music and rhythm. Interpersonal ability involves social involvements with others. Interpersonal involves being personally connected with ones own mood and acting independently on it. The naturalist intelligence involves one’s involvement with the environment around him or her. Identifying and researching the multiple intelligences is a useful tool for a teacher because it provides an outlet for the teacher to identify ways in which a student can improve his or hear learning and academic success. Identifying a student’s strengths by acknowledging the areas of intelligence in which he or she is stronger in can help a teacher to prepare a curriculum or an assignment that is supportive in the ways in which that student is seeking to gain information.