B2+Chapters+6,7+UbD+and+5,6+MI

Abstract
All four chapters relate to one another through idea of teaching to accommodate all learning styles and diverse students. MI was more directed towards addressing different MI learning styles and the activities that incorporate them. UbD portrays the same idea but instead of teaching lesson towards the individual learning style, it provides different ways to approach a class as a whole but at the same time ensuring to communicate with all learning styles while doing so. In all of the chapters, many different figures were given that give examples on how to incorporate all the learning styles into your teaching without becoming that “all talk” teacher. A large figure that was given in chapter 6 of UbD broke down classroom strategies from managing your time in the classroom to organizing and distributing materials. Some examples of strategies are “move slowly, take one area at a time, provide and use signals for noise reduction, and designate a independent working area in the classroom for students who need to make up work” (Figure 6.5, pg. 102-103, Tomlinson). As a new teacher with goals to reach all MI learning styles, one can become very overwhelmed with all the different ways a single lesson can be taught. Chapter 6 talks about clustering the learner needs and mentions “anticipatory” planning. Looking for patterns and certain signs that students may need extra practice in a certain subject area. “Anticipatory” planning gives a teacher the upper hand when adjusting to learning needs. Chapter 5 of MI gives specific [|teaching strategies for all the different learning styles]. Figure 5.1 of this chapter gives a small summary of teaching towards the eight multiple intelligences. It lists [|diverse methods of instructing] and portraying information to unique students. For example, to target a linguistic learner, a teacher could assign writing activities. For logical-mathematical, one could play puzzles or logical games that promote critical thinking. Spatial learners could construct 3D kits and use videos and movies for receiving information. For bodily kinesthetic, field trips or hands on activities could be useful to them. Musical learners could link music to different concepts or use background music during a lesson. An interpersonal learner could use board games or community involvement to create an environment for students who enjoy being social. An intrapersonal learner would enjoy one-minute reflection period or private spaces to study. Lastly, a naturalist would enjoy nature-oriented software or going on nature walks. After this, chapter 6 goes on to take topics such as the ones listed in the previous chapter and gives ways to provide said opportunities. Chapter 7 covered teaching for understanding in diverse classrooms. A large topic that was focused on, related to students “uncovering” the content versus a teacher covering it. It allows for a teacher to go below the surface of the content and look for a deeper meaning in specific areas versus just skimming the surface of every topic. Using essential questions allow a student to dive deeper into the content and fully understand what’s being discussed.

Synthesis
The most common theme throughout the class’s blog entries was about incorporating different learning styles and challenging/pushing students to really learn. Hopefully they will take an interest in the information being covered. Many people said that critical thinking and meaning-driven curriculum should be used for // all // students. It is very important to have clear goals for your students. If we as teachers do not present their goals in a clear organized fashion then they will not be set up for success. Rubrics are one good way to set achievable goals for our students. Rubrics are even more effective if we incorporate the **[|six facets of undetstanding.]** into them. By incorporating these facets, our students are more apt to thoroughly learn the content and remember it. The majority of the class also talked about how it is important to cover less concentration subjects but cover a few thoroughly. An example of this can be seen in the units we are making in class. Jacquie made a good point saying “Even if we think they are low performers they should still take part in the rich significant curriculum.” All students deserve a chance to succeed so we need to provide equal opportunities for students to learn and then be assessed using their strongest MIs. Many of us commented on their weaker intelligences and liked how the chapters gave many ideas on how to work with those MIs in their classroom. Just because we don’t poses certain intelligences, does not mean that we cannot teach them to our students. Tyler could not believe the study that found that teachers spend up to 70% of the day just talking. This includes giving instructions and lecturing the students. Teachers should not spend the entire day talking, they need to have the students interacting and learning from each other. Students only remember 10% of what they hear. The best way to do this is by using **[|differentiated instruction.]** and MI lesson plans. This is where using MI lesson plans comes into use. By using the MI lesson plans we are more likely to capture all of our students attention. When using the MI strategy, teachers are going to spend a lot less time just lecturing the students and a lot more time helping the students to look deeper into the material and gain significant knowledge of the subject. Another way to help out with this is to use essential questions to get students more excited about the subject and to help them figure out their goals for the upcoming unit. A few people talked about the importance of making sure the students didn’t just learn the information, but also that they can actually apply the information that they learn. This goes hand in hand with covering and uncovering the information. It is important for students to learn how to learn and not just what we say. The class also mentioned that we can use the classroom organization to more effectively teach our students.

Cameron B.
The first UbD chapter talks about responsive teaching. The concept of this is to have an effective learning environment for all students in the class. This could be simple things like having textbooks of various difficulties so that all students can find one that suits their reading levels. One that I particularly like is the idea of having the students negotiate with the teacher for deadlines on assignments. Some students will work very hard and may need more time than what is originally given. This allows all of the students to put in the desired time. Another good idea as a teacher is to group students into small groups to have small discussions with them about the content. This will allow the teacher to address problems that the students are having in a more personable way allowing for better understanding. The second UbD chapter discusses how important it is to ask the essential questions in class. These are the questions that will help the students learn the importance of the content and can help them relate it to the real world. These questions will make students think outside of the box and use their critical thinking skills. Next the Six Facets of Understanding were discussed and how they should be used in designing lesson plans. The facets allow students to explore the content in various ways which can lead to a deeper more concrete understanding. This chapter connects to the previous one by talking about how important it is to be prepared with how content will be taught and how every student will be given the fair opportunity to succeed. In MI the fifth chapter discusses the multiple intelligences and designing a lesson plan that utilizes them. There is a step by step plan given for designing the lesson plan. The main concept is to focus on an objective and try to design a lesson that can reach each learning style for the students. As many lessons as possible should be listed. Then the best lessons are selected, put in an order, and presented to the class. This is how one becomes an effective MI teacher. This connects to the previous chapters because it is being based on the whole idea of successful lesson plans and how to incorporate the different learning styles. Chapter six of MI expands on the lesson plan designing of the multiple intelligences stated in chapter five. This chapter shows possible lessons that could be taught for each intelligence. An example for spatial learners could be doing sketches or picture metaphors. For linguistics a teacher could do storytelling or journals. There are various strategies listed. The best thing about all of these chapters is how they connect. The main focus is the successful lesson plan. What is even better is how well it is all broken down. Every teacher should be reading these strategies and using them in their class. It will make them a better teacher, but more importantly it will make successful students. I will make sure that I personally am doing this in my classroom.

Andrew C
MI Chapter five provided a good explanation and many examples of how to use the MI theory while creating lesson plans. It is really interesting to see how using the MI method can give you such varied lesson plans. Some of the teacher’s ideas that I really liked were using sorting tasks and color-coding to catch the spatial learners. Those were the two best ones that I had not thought about using in a classroom before. There are lots of matching games that I could create for my history class and color coding flash cards with certain events would also be a great idea to help kids study. MI Chapter 6 pointed out that it is important to remember that just because a lesson plan worked for one group of __#|students__ doesn’t mean it will work for another because they might have different MIs. This is important to remember when creating a lesson plan.

Chapter 6 UbD covers the importance of making sure the students didn’t just learn the information, but also that they can actually apply the information that they learn. The chapter stated that it comes down to who the students are that I’m teaching, the curriculum and instruction that I give. Many of the chapters we have previously read have touched upon all of these topics individually but this chapter really focuses on the importance of thinking about them all together. They all link into each other and have __#|major__ effects on the student’s success.

UbD chapter 6 also talked about the different types of tools we have in the classroom. Teachers can use almost any aspect of the classroom to help engage all students. It talked about organizing the classroom a certain way in order to keep some students in special areas or closer to the __#|teacher__. It also talked about how getting to know all of your students can be overwhelming but is manageable. All of these chapters touch upon why teachers have to know their students in order to engage them. MI Chapter 6 really focuses on the different strategies that we can use to get to know our students while they learn. By giving our students different strategies while working we can see which one works for them the best. For example we could use Socratic circles, brain storming, and journals all in one class this way we be sure to touch upon most of the students preferred learning styles and then by looking in their journals we can see what strategy worked the best for them. Last but not least Chapter 7 UbD explained that teachers should not talk about covering the content, it should be about uncovering it. Teachers need to use essential questions when uncovering the content; this way students can look at and interpret the information for them selves. I plan on using essential questions in my lessons because they prompt the students into really learning the content not just memorizing it.

Nicole C.
Chapters six and seven in the UbD/DI book and chapters five and six in the MI book all had an overarching theme: how to teach classes/elicit understanding where the students are both academically diverse and diverse in their interests outside of the classroom. The chapters in the UbD book focused more on teaching strategies that involve differentiation at all levels of instruction, while the MI book of course focused on instructional strategies that incorporated each of the eight intelligences. Together, differentiated instruction and MI theory can be combined to create a very powerful unit.

From this section of reading, I learned that critical thinking and meaning-driven curriculum should be used for //all// students. Just because a student may not have all of the “basic skills” down does not mean that they are stuck in that “ladder rung” – as the MI book referred to it. The UbD book also emphasized that fact, urging teachers to make sure that some students aren’t constantly “on the side lines” – that they all get multiple opportunities to “play the game.” Experience, after all, is the best way to learn. Reflecting on experiences deepens understanding for all students.

Another thing I learned from this reading is the importance of the design element called WHERETO, which was discussed in detail in the UbD/DI book. Each letter stands for a larger idea in the planning process – **W**hat they will be learning and why, how to **h**ook students and get them engaged in learning, what **e**xperiences will help to deepen understanding, how to get students to **r**evise their work, how to promote self-**e**valuation and reflection, how to **t**ailor instruction to academically diverse students, and finally, how to **o**rganize all of these plans effectively. I will definitely be referring back to this model in the future, to make sure I have tackled all of the steps listed. I am fairly confident on the W, the H, and the R, but I would like to have a little more practice with the other sections to make sure I am doing them in a way that will truly benefit my students.

Perhaps the most exciting part of this reading for me (aside from the //Dead Poet’s Society// reference) was the section on MI teaching strategies. There were just so many good examples – I want to have the two chapters from the MI book in my future classroom to refer back to every time I am planning a lesson. The section that helped me out the most was the section on how to teach to the “logical/mathematical” minds, since that is the intelligence where I have the least proclivity //and// which is the hardest to bring into the English classroom. Ideas such as Venn diagrams, time lines, 5W organizers, Socratic discussion, and reading science fiction are all ideas that I will try out in an effort to reach these students.

Both the MI book and the UbD/DI book had a lot of good ideas on how to teach a wide variety of students. With the factual information from the UbD/DI chapters and the real-life suggestions from the MI book, I think I can create strong lessons and units that students from all kinds of academic backgrounds and proclivities can gain understanding from. Hopefully I’ll get to try some of these ideas out in the field!

Jackie B.
We see in the UbD/DI that they focus more on differentiated instruction and challenging the students rather than hand hold them through the lessons that they don’t understand where as MI focuses on the various types of lessons and strategies that can be seen in the classroom and what I can do as a teacher to help those who don’t quite understand the content learn better using a method that would help them and fit in with their learning needs.

Chapter six begins by listing four different beliefs that would help shape the classroom. The first talks about how all students should be treated equally. Even if we think they are low performers they should still take part in the “rich significant curriculum.” The basics, though they are important are not enough. Another belief that was listed was that we should build on the basics. Though they are important, they are not sufficient. We need to give our kids opportunities to apply the basics in meaningful ways. Ways that will expand upon what they already know. A belief that follows this one is that teacher’s needs to understand the balance in letting the students derive meaning for themselves and when to step in and assist. As a teacher I know it’s my job to help kids that are struggling but it’s also my job not to coddle them and hold their hand every step of the way.

Chapter five in MI offers up some great ways on how to challenge the students but still ensure that in the end they understand. We can use multiple intelligences and introduce a challenging concept in their learning style. I intend to challenge my students; there is no question about it. I want to challenge them though in a way that in the end I know that they will succeed and I think that by incorporating their individual learning styles I’ll have that success rate I’m looking for.

In Chapter seven we learn about “uncovering” the content and teaching it in a way that everyone understands. This chapter makes a really good comparison between an iceberg and the content in which we are to teach. With an iceberg you only see the tippy top portion but below the water there is a plethora of ice. This is like content, we as teachers can choose to skim the top or we can dive below the surface and uncover more information. Chapter six in MI offers us strategies that can help uncover the material we need to and do it in a way that everyone can understand. Will it be possible to help everyone understand it perfectly in one shot? No, but this chapter offers us different strategies that are similar that will help us succeed in teaching our students. Chapter seven talks about essential questions and this would be a great learning strategy that pushes the students to think The teacher can ask various questions for various levels, pushing his or her students to really think. They can get into small groups and discuss answers and grow off of one another. The teacher could then have each group write down their answers and those learners who learn best through words would be learning through what they are writing down. It’s all about incorporating different learning styles and challenging/pushing students to really learn and hopefully take an interest in the information.

= =

Tyler R.
Chapter six of UbD went over teaching in academically diverse classrooms. One thing that I learned from chapter six of UbD was that there were studies done that examined students that are considered to be low performers. These students actually increased their grasp of advanced skills at least as much as their high-achieving counterparts when both experience instruction aimed at meaning and understanding was applied to them. This was remarkable to me. If there are studies that are done and that prove that this is an effect method for teaching, then why aren’t more teachers actively using meaning and understanding? As a future teacher, I will be sure to use all available resources that I find or learn while being a student here or even as a teacher in the future in order to meet and be ready to exceed the learning needs of my students. If I see studies with numbers to back it up that prove that doing a certain something will make my students learn better and become more successful, then I will certainly do these things without hesitation.

Something that was mentioned in chapter seven was introducing content in the form of questions. I really like this and have liked this ever since I had learned about it. Even back in high school it was always more interesting when a teacher led off a lesson with leading questions. Even if the students don’t know the answers to the questions, at the very least it is getting their brains moving and thinking, not to mention that it is also getting their attention and interest.

Something that I learned in chapter five of Multiple Intelligences really shocked me. Apparently a study was done to see how much time a teacher takes up just simply talking, lecturing, or giving instructions in the classroom. Somehow the researchers came up with the number seventy-percent. Somehow seventy-percent of the time in a classroom on any given day, the teacher is talking. Although I know it is very important for a teacher to actually be able to teach and convey information, where is the student supposed to have time to ask questions if things are not clear? This is especially true since the next greatest percentage of time was students doing writing assignments. As a future teacher I will make sure that I won’t spend the entire class period talking. I’m sure there will be times when I need to take up the majority of the class period delivering important information that is crucial to the lesson, but I will be sure to make sure it’s not every single day. I believe it is very important to leave time for students to work amongst themselves as well as leave time for questions that any of the students may have. This is still not mentioning the fact that when a teacher is simply lecturing the entire class, student involvement goes down obviously and when student involvement goes down, surely student interest, motivation, and success will fall with it.

Ali P
Chapter six in Understanding by Design encourages teachers to break their habits and begin teaching to the student more then to the content. The chapter said that all of the work students are assigned and taught needs to apply to the real world. Application inspires students to learn and gets them engaged. The chapter also stated that students need to know the basics before they learn anything else. This is very true because students cannot build on their knowledge with out first establishing a base. The chapter gave four questions that teachers should always keep in mind. They were, Who are the students I will teach? What matters most for the students to learn here? How must I teach to ensure that each student grows systematically toward attainment of the goal? And How will I know who is successful and who is not successful in attaining my goals? I feel that these four questions are related to the content in chapter five in Multiple Intelligences. Chapter five encouraged teachers to always relate their teaching to the eight MIs. Each lesson should at least touch upon each of the intelligences. The chapter focused on planning lessons that used the intelligences and suggested making a weekly schedule that focused on one each day. If you look back to the four questions stated in UbD, they all relate to the students learning. A teacher discovers a students learning methods by studying their intelligences. By keeping in mind the four questions and the multiple intelligences when planning a lesson, it should educate all students equally. Chapter seven in Understanding by Design talks about using essential questions to form a lesson. The chapter says it is up to the teacher to not just teach students the content, but to teach them how to understand the content as well. It is useless if teachers just spit out information, but if they help their students to understand it, they will accomplish a lot. Chapter seven in Multiple Intelligences gives us specific techniques and lessons to use the intelligences in our curriculum. The techniques teach understanding to the students, not just information.

I enjoyed these four chapters. I felt that they really began to teach us techniques to teach. The more I learn about the multiple intelligences the more I realize how much my school used them in its curriculum. I always felt really connected with my schools curriculum. I felt that it was personal to me and my learning style. I think my teachers created this personal feeling by using so many different intelligences in their lessons. When I was reading through the lesson examples in chapter seven, I realized that my high school teachers actually used a lot of them in their lessons. When I become a teacher I want to use lesson techniques such as these ones to help engage my students. I always question the amount of freedom high schools give teachers to do lessons such as these. The reason I have always wanted to be a Waldorf teacher is because I wanted the freedom in what I teach. Either way, I want to create a class that is organized and catered towards the students and not towards the content.

= =

Phillip C.
The main theme in all of the chapters we read was that teachers need to differentiate instruction to __#|incorporate__ all intelligences and to be responsive to student needs. I think from what we have been learning and practicing so far it would be impossible to disagree with these ideas.

These ideas of differentiated instruction have been around forever, going back to Plato’s ideas. Learning that this was the case in the MI book really surprised me. I figured that this idea must be fairly new in the grand scheme of things because of how much sense it makes and how little it is utilized in today’s classrooms. I do however realize that if I were taught to teach the “traditional” way it would be hard to change to this approach. That is why I am thankful that I am being taught this way from the beginning and I hope I will be able to grasp all these concepts and utilize them in my future classroom.

Both MI chapters gave copious examples of how to incorporate the eight intelligences into lessons or adapt lessons to fit one of those intelligences. Explaining which ones I liked would take up the word limit of my blog and more but I will definitely use those chapters as resources when I’m in the classroom.

I liked how in the UbD chapter 6 they went over some core beliefs of curriculum. I was particularly fond of the example comparing learning the basics and applying them in meaningful ways to sports. I am a very sports oriented person and this analogy really worked for me. All of the core beliefs were very important concepts that teachers who want to be successful will need to be familiar with. The one that I hadn’t thought about before, but really became clear when doing our stage one and two packets was providing students with the learning goals so they can know what they are expected to learn. I didn’t have this in my schools that often and in retrospect I can see how it would have been really helpful. I also think this ties in really well with the rubrics we have created.

Another part of the readings that stuck out to me was in chapter seven of UbD. It explained how teachers shouldn’t cover the material for their students, but rather uncover it for them. The students should also uncover some of the material themselves through engaging projects. The WHERETO Framework from this chapter was also a very cool tool. The acronym took a while to explain but was worth it because of the information it provided. W= What will the students learn; Why is it worth learning; What evidence will show students learned what was taught. H= Hook and engage learners. E=Equip students to succeed; what experiences will deepen understandings. R= Rethink previous learnings; encourage revision and refinement. E=Self-Evaluation and reflection T=Tailoring teaching to student needs O=Organize experiences to maximize learning

While this definition of the acronym is incredibly shorthanded it was useful enough that I wanted to include it in my entry. Overall I thought these chapters, because they covered what to do when planning and executing lessons, were the most useful ones I have read so far.

Brittany R.
Ubd Chapter 6 talked about teaching diverse students. The chapter made four important points that were the core of teaching; making information meaningful, learning the basics, opportunities for high level thinking, and knowing the learning goals of the lesson. I feel that a lot of these points have been mentioned in past readings and Dr. Theresa’s class but the one that I felt I could relate to the most was the point about having a student be knowledgeable in the basics. I have encountered so many of my peers that have hated math since they were very young. If a student doesn’t feel comfortable with the basics of mathematics, moving onto the next progression is difficult. When a student gets stuck at a certain milestone, it’s hard for someone to not form a dislike for a certain subject. Chapter 7 of UbD also talked about teaching diverse students but teaching for understanding. Many people can just regurgitate information and call themselves teachers but it takes skill for one to ensure a students understanding and teaching them how to take in the information. The chapter also mentions, “uncovering” content and one definition it gives is “One means of “uncovering” content, therefore, is to frame the content as the answers to questions or the solutions to problems” (p. 110). Once content is learned, students should be able to answer questions presented by their instructor if the material was presented correctly. I feel that teachers should relay information to students so well that they don’t need to ask why they are learning the material. This chapter also talked about WHERETO. **W**hat will my students be learning? How will I **h**ook the learners? How will I **e**quip my students to master the material? How will I encourage my learners to **r**ethink their learning? How will I promote students’ self-**e**valuation? How will the learning experiences **b**e organized? Chapter 5 of the MI book talks about creating lessons that reached all eight of the multiple intelligences. There was a nice chart on page 58 and 59 that broke down each learning style and gave different ideas on how to utilize them. Also, there were many different ideas for lessons and activities. I hope to refer back to this chapter in the future because I found it never interesting and potentially useful. Chapter 6, of MI, talked about using the lessons from the previous chapter and then starting to teach to all the MI’s using those lessons. This chapter explained many different ideas in grave detail as to why they worked for a certain MI and how it could be beneficial to the learner. I liked the section that talked about Classifications and Quantifications because I am a Logical-Mathematical learner. I was putting myself in that mind set and how I organize everything I see. If something is out of order or “messed up” it bothers me. Granted this is borderline OCD but I’m going to go with the theory that is just the way I prefer to learn. Organizing and categorizing as an activity would be ideal for me as well as other learners like myself.

**Jackson F.**
In the assigned readings the common topic was how to design effective curriculums for diverse classrooms. Part of being a teacher means also being flexible during the creation of curriculums. Developing lesson plans is an essential part of curriculum building, however what separates the good curriculums from the bad ones is the flexibility of the teacher. If a teacher understands the diversity of his/her students then the teacher can take the necessary steps forward to bending the curriculum in a way that will benefit the students most. Looking more into the diversity of the students and the way they learn it is important not to take the ladder model approach. Students need to be challenged and do not always need to master the very basics of an idea to move onto the more abstract parts. Responsive teachers also know the most effective ways for their students need to learn. In MI chapter 6 they write about many strategies that a teacher could use MI in their classroom. When developing innovative techniques to teach classes it is important to take time to effectively plan out how to implement the new strategy to teach students. In one of the chapters they describe curriculums as ice bergs. The author describes it like that because teacher sometimes skim through lessons and not diving deep into the rich content that can be used. The chapter then suggests that when creating a curriculum to stick with a couple big ideas and really cover all the prosperous knowledge that can be learned from it. These chapters really got me thinking about how many times previous teachers have skimmed through lessons and left me and my classmates confused or wanting more knowledge to dive deeper into the content and form ideas of my own. I also see how teachers can be flexible from year to year due to the diversity of different classrooms. What I really liked about these chapters were the ideas it gave me to incorporate into my own lesson planning. The books are great references and resources to go back to when in need of a new idea to differentiate the classroom. As a teacher I want to incorporate the idea of using a couple main topics in which can be more widely covered. I also would like to use some of the ideas given in the books to help differentiate my classroom and keep lessons fresh. Other then actual things taken from the book, I also have a new perspective on curriculum. I realize that no curriculum is perfect and that a curriculum may need to be changed year to year to accommodate different students in the classroom.

Clayton P.
MI Chapters 5 and 6 deal with developing curriculum to accommodate MI as well as specific activities and assignments for the students’ respective MIs. These were very helpful chapters because they illustrated exactly how MI can be accommodated in almost any classroom environment. Chapter 5 deals more with the historical context and the positive impact of teaching through MI. The author uses such examples as the character portrayed by Robin Williams in the film “Dead Poets Society.” In the film, Robin Williams plays a teacher named John Keating who teaches literature to his students in what were then unorthodox fashions. Today, such methods are stellar examples of MI. Chapter 5 also demonstrates how to write an MI lesson plan with a conveniently illustrated example. Chapter 6 gives specific examples of how to best use MI in the classroom. It gives forty examples, five for each type of intelligence. Suggested strategies for linguistic intelligence included storytelling, brainstorming, journal writing, tape recording and publishing. The logical-mathematical category included expected strategies such as calculations, quantifications and categorizations. But one strategy I did not expect from this category is one which I found fascinating, and upon reflection, is one which I have experienced first-hand when I was in high school: Socratic questioning. I always associated this more with philosophy than logic, but after reading the author’s description of it, I realized it’s a very good way to right the wrongs in students’ logic without offending them. It adds to the idea of critical thinking: being able to make a clear, concise argument while maintaining factual information and not allowing emotion to get in the way. UbD Chapters 6 and 7 deal with responsive teaching, and teaching for understanding. Responsive teaching, as described in Chapter 6, refers to having a flexible classroom designed to make sure every student’s needs are met. This goes back to the idea of differentiated instruction: learning to differentiate from the normal lesson plan to accommodate certain student needs. In a way, this also goes back to MI theory, seeing as it requires DI to make room for everyone’s different intelligences. The chapter ends by saying that teachers have to make sure that they don’t develop teaching habits, and to always make sure their classroom accommodates a constantly changing group of students. Chapter 7 deals with an issue we’ve talked about before in class. It stresses the need to teach students a subject until they completely understand it, as opposed to covering as large a content area as possible in a given amount of time. It is a very common complaint among teachers that they cannot teach as large a content area in as much detail as they would like. This is made all the more frustrating by constantly changing content standards among other things. This chapter also talks about what it refers to as “essential questions” with examples given for various content areas. These questions make it easier to determine exactly what it is teachers need their students to understand about a content area to determine whether or not they actually know the subject.

 Joe S.
These chapters focus heavily on teaching strategies. They range from incorporating MI theory into lesson plans to ensuring that each student receives attention according to their direct needs, and all strive to encourage a deep understanding with many personal connections, which is the goal of teaching. Furthermore, they address concerns teachers might have in regards to their classrooms and students, as well as offering ideas to incorporate different learning styles and keep different types of students engaged.

If I had to put these chapters in a particular order, it would probably be Teaching for Understanding, MI Theory and Curriculum Development, Responsive Teaching, and MI Theory and Teaching Strategies. Doing this would best allow the concepts to interact with each other. If a teacher were to follow them in order they would first consider essential questions that the students should understand after the unit, and create a week of lesson plans which address the WHERETO model and would implement MI theory, targeting all learners and their strengths. Then, by having a rough plan, the teacher would be able to be responsive and account for students making exemplary progress as well as those struggling with the material. As students went about their work, the responsive teacher could determine which students are completing assignments easily and which need assistance, which could utilize the different MI teaching strategies. To do this, instructors could suggest different options to tier their lessons, offering some easier assignments along with some more challenging ones for students with grasps on the subject matter. Finally, teaching could consider having students with mastery of subject in one intelligence work on the material using a different area, one that they may not have such proficiency at.

One of the sections I appreciated in this reading was the chart illustrating concerns teachers should consider when it comes to classroom and student management, especially Figure 6.5. I have many of these concerns personally, and it is helpful to consider an expert’s insight into what they would do in certain situations. Also, Figure 6.3 offers suggestions in helping students struggling with a course for certain reasons, and incorporates the MI theory, which helps students feel engaged.

When building the lessons plans discussed earlier, one could refer to chapter 5 in the MI book, which details many examples of student preferences in regards to the multiple intelligences. Using these ideas, teachers can create outlines of what lessons should include, and vary individual assignments as needed, tiering as applicable. As the individual lessons are in progress, instructors can focus on being responsive to students displaying hardships with material using suggestions from chapter 6 in the MI book, which go into further detail about activities using each of the multiple intelligences.

Finally, one of the most important parts of this passage is the introduction to the WHERETO framework, which is a useful organizer to help ensure lessons conform to students’ needs. It stands for What will students learn, How with I Hook, or engage, the learner, what learning Experiences will develop deep understanding of important ideas, how will I encourage learners to Rethink previous learning, how will I Promote self-evaluation, how will I Tailor to specific learning needs, and how will learning experiences be Organized? This framework will help design lessons and keeps the teacher’s thinking organized.

Meng H.
Chapter six in UbD is about teaching with UbD responsively to academically diverse student populations. The analogy between coaching a sports team and teaching a class caught my attention, because there are so many similarities between these two jobs. Also there are a lot of techniques a teacher can learn from a coach. Practice and drills are important for athletes’ top performance, and the athletes are only willing to do the practice when they know they will be playing in a real game. The ideas are the same in a classroom, especially for mathematics. If the teacher fails to show the students the big picture or let them try out their skills in real-world simulation problems, the students will have no motivation to do the practice and drills to learn the basic math. This applies to every student, not just lower-achieving, but also right-on-pace, and advanced students. Real-life application, and it could be very basic, as long as it relates to the essential goal of the lesson will give students insights and incentive of learning the basics.

Chapter seven in UbD is about teaching for understanding. In this chapter the author stresses that teaching should be “uncovering” instead of “covering” the content. For teachers to “uncovering” the content, we can use essential questions to form open-ended questions for students to find their own answers with the guidance and support they receive from us. In the process of thinking, listening to lectures, gathering information, questioning, analyzing, discussing with peers, and self-reflecting, the students learn the course materials form their own answers to the questions the teacher had for them. In last chapter, chapter six, the author references to another book and mentions that “roles for teachers” should be “direct instructor, facilitator, and coach.”(p.86) I think a teacher should give a lecture on basic information using differentiated instruction. Then the teacher could step back and become the facilitator and coach to lead and support students on their journey of learning and self-discovery. Learning happened this way which is through students’ own tried and error resides with them and becomes long-term memories. The knowledge, skills and confidence gained along the way will benefit the students later on in life and learning. Let students take charge and be responsible in their own learning is empowering for them. The end result will be drastically different from if the students are studying to score well on standardized tests.

Chapter five in MI is about curriculum development. This chapter includes a lot of methods and techniques based on the eight MI. I find the part of creating MI lesson plans very helpful. The way to use the graphic organizer just to brainstorm and plan out the lesson is visual and I think it will be useful when we start on Stage 3 in this class.

Chapter six is more detailed examples on MI techniques and examples for the MI. I find this informative and I would like to try them out in my classroom and when I plan Stage 3 in Dr. Grace’s class.

Emily H.
These chapters have a variety of topics, ranging from UbD in an academic classroom to MI teaching. The topics really go together in my opinion, and it is all valuable things to know as a teacher. The UbD/DI chapter focuses on having a diverse classroom and using UbD in the classroom. Not every classroom is going to be the same when it comes to the students. As teachers we need to realize this and plan activities and lessons accordingly. Students should clearly know what the goal is of the lesson or unit to be successful in learning. If I do not provide this for my students with a clear goal then they will not get anything out of my teaching. I do not want this to be the case, since I have had teachers who did not provide a clear goal. When the goal wasn’t presented it is hard to students to grasp why they are learning about the unit. Chapter 7 focuses on the WHERETO framework. This framework used for teacher to consider their lesson from the view of the students. Each letter in WHERETO stands for a different thing for the teacher to examine as if they were a student. For example the W in WHERETO stands for communicating the relevance of the assignment but stating and restating what they are going and why they are doing it. Each letter is important to planning stage 3 of lesson planning. As a teacher it is helpful to have something easy to remember like WHERETO. The chapters in the MI book focus on MI curriculum development and teaching styles. To understand your students in WHERETO you must understand how the students think when it comes to MI. No students have the same MI so we should not plan lessons as if all students are the same. Teachers tend to talk at the students instead of finding new and creative ways to get the curriculum and units across. This being said chapter 6 of the MI book gives examples of activities that can be done in the classroom for each MI. For example, for kinesthetic learners an activity like Hands-On Thinking would be a good choice. This gives students the ability to manipulate a material while thinking. As a kinesthetic learner myself, I would have loved to have a change to think while using my hands. It would have made it easier to think clearly about a topic or listening to a lecture then to sit there and think about how much I wanted to just get up and move. I want to be able to give my students an environment that they feel like they can work in despite their MI. No one in my classroom should feel like they are different just because they learn in a certain way. Using all chapters from UbD/DI and MI we can gain a better-rounded view on planning lessons for our students.