Chapters 7-10 FIAE

These for chapters discuss grading more intensely. The discuss when to grade,  what to grade, how to grade, and give us thinks to avoid when grading. Some of the key things I learned were whether to grade participation, homework and behavior or not. More or less the book supports the idea of not grading these areas, because in some students these areas may not be necessary in assessing the students mastery of the unit. For instance, some students may be capable of not completing their homework simply because the in-class lecture and lesson was enough for them to grasp the needed concept in order to pass the formative assessments and summative assessments, should this student be penalized for his learning style and ability? No. It is hard however to not feel some need to reward a student for completing all areas of practice-work, even if it wasn’t entirely needed for him/her, but this should always be avoided. Furthermore, as far as participation goes the book had good ideas, although they were all self-explanatory if you have a knowledge of MI theory already. Student are always going to be more likely to participate largely in their stronger areas of intelligence. A teacher can’t always expect an introverted intelligent student to speak out in fron of the class all the time in the same way that a teacher can’t expect an athlete to come in front of the class and play a song. Teachers always need to heed students areas of intelligence, ALWAYS. This isn’t just with lessons or grading formative and summative assessments, it comes with grading participation and homework as well. Also, the book discussed on whether a well-behaved student should receive bonus points or extra marks than a not-so-well behaved student. Although a misbehaving student may disrupt class if he shows mastery of all areas you intended in the unit, how can you justify penalizing him for earlier sarcastic comments? All misbehavior has some roots, students do no simply misbehave and act out for no reason and it is the job of the teacher to try to become aware of these outside circumstances.
All of these ideas are going to be useful in a future classroom of mine. I was never sure if grading on participation was a good idea or not. I always felt like it shouldn’t come to play if you demonstrate a great mastery, but I assumed that since so many of my past teachers and professors have included this grade in their curriculum I was unsure. However, I have always had firm belief that homework and behavior should never come into play when receiving grades ( having been a firm believer of misbehaving and not doing homework in high school, while still attaining acceptable and exceeding marks) because as stated above students may still be able to perform wonderfully without homework, and even though their misbehaving may say they are uninterested, it is much more likely some other issue they have been dealing with causing them to act out.

Chapter 8 UBD Chapters 8,11,12 MI

The over-arching theme of this grouping of chapters was that MI theory can generally apply everywhere in life. It can apply to assessments, it can apply to careers after school, it can apply to classroom management and discipline, and it can certainly apply to teaching students with special needs. All of these areas can benefit when MI theory is applied to them, as workers and students both work better under conditions that apply to their specific areas of intelligence.
For instance, a few of the chapters dealt with how to assess students differently. Differently seems to be the main key word in all of the chapters and articles we read. It talks about doing away with the standardized testing format that only appeals to linguists and logical learners, and finding more differentiated ways to test our students, tests that can cater to their way of understanding things. How can you accurately test a student if not only were you not teaching them in a way that they understood things, but weren’t testing them in that way either? Or even if you were teaching them in an MI way, it would almost be a waste to not grade them in the same format.
When speaking of discipline and classroom management the chapters gave much advice on how appealing to different intelligences could help to keep students behaving and paying attention to the lesson, in turn limiting class disruptions. First of all, in preventive measure, sometimes a student becomes disruptive because s/he is not engaged by the teaching methods, so engage them! Furthermore, it could be emotional, behavioral, or other outside classroom factors that have set the student on edge. Often, trying to reach them and telling them that what they are doing is disruptive in a way that appeals to their intelligence is more beneficial, and generally more effective in getting them to calm down. These include bodily-kinesthetic methods such as breathing exercises, calming music for music, calming oneself down by speaking for verbal, and a number of other examples.
When speaking of students who have disabilites, MI theory stresses the point to look at the students ONLY as individuals and what they can do, not what they cannot do. If a student with disabilities is taught with lessons that cater to their stronger intelligences it will be a more beneficial lesson to him just as it would be with a student who didn’t share similar disabilities. Every student has the capacity to learn, every student.
In my future classroom I want to apply everything I learned in these chapters. I want to make sure that all of my students are assessed just like how they were taught, in a way that caters to their own strengths. I want to make sure all of my students are viewed as equals, are taught as equals, assessed as equals, and certainly grades as equals. Every student deserves a chance to be taught and get graded in a  way that suits their intelligence, and to not do just that would be doing a “disservice” to them as MI says.

Chapters 7, 9, 13, 14 MI

In these four chapters the focus was on applying MI aesthetically in school wide ways, the classrooms, the hallways, and even outside of school. Some of the main points talk about having activity centers within the classroom, each of which may cater to a different intelligence. Not only do these centers improve the students learning and overall good experience in the classroom, but they also serve as a way for a teacher to assess the students stronger ( and less strong) intelligences. 

Furthermore as stated it discusses making an entire school cater to MI, where not just the classroom is fostered to MI needs, but let me iterate one more time, the entire school. Some examples were that each year the school would have particular themes that each classroom would work towards, as well as having different areas in the school that served as centers for particular intelligences ( just like the class activity centers, except in areas throughout the school).

The next two chapters focused on ways that MI could work outside of the classroom like with computers, future careers, and cultural diversity. It also talked of existential intelligence, the intelligence that is not yet included on the list.

Overall the general theme of this grouping of chapters was how to apply MI in not just your teaching methods but in every interaction your learners may have. The first three chapters certainly cater to that idea of a theme, but the fourth, the one dealing with existential intelligence is a little harder to link entirely to that theme. Luckily, Armstrong gives us some lovely reading on how he thinks that existential intelligence can link with other areas of the curriculum, which in turn links it to MI theory.

These chapters gave some useful information on how to make your classroom more geared to cater to every type of learner you may find in your classroom. Some of my favorite ideas were the different ideas of posters and other things around the room that different learners may find stimulating to look at, which in turn would keep them awake. Furthermore, I really enjoyed the idea about having different centers in the classroom that work with each intelligence. Whether the students are allowed to use these centers in their free time or all the time while learning is something I will have to work out with myself as I continue to learn more about how I am going to teach, but I certainly see the value in having areas where students can go in their downtime to increase their usage of each intelligence area. Also, any chance to view my students own interests and what draws them intellectually is always great, especially when I can assess what areas on intelligence they may find interesting. I am not quite sure how to relate existential theory deeply with the rest of the intelligences, or with how it matches the themes of the other three chapters, but personally I view that intelligence as something that would be great to include in my classroom. Any classroom where students feel free to ask questions is a good one, and what is more though provoking than existential questions?

Chapters 6, 7 UbD/DI and Chapters 5, 6 MI

The two chapters in MI focus on a MI teacher, as well as MI theory and teaching strategies that exhibit its use. It goes into what exactly a MI teacher’s classroom would look like, as well as some of the strategies that the MI teacher would use. It also discusses some different work-activites to make a classroom MI friendly as well as lesson plans that are MI friendly. It also talks about the importance of combining MI theory with thematic instruction. The book says “themes cut through traditional curricular boundaries, eave together subjects and skills that are found naturally in life and provide students with opportunities to use their multiple intelligences in practical ways” (67).

In UBD and DI the two chapters focus on a differentiated curriculum as well as how to teach in an academically diverse classroom. Firstly, it talks about teaching students fundamentals and making sure they reach the “big ideas” of each unit. All of the content isn’t as important as them drawing the fundamentals and finding the big idea. The second chapter focuses once again on how to work with a diverse classroom, and different strategies that may be used to make that sort of classroom click. It talks of the importance of using essential questions, as well as giving examples in each multiple intelligence of what essential questions would be. It also discusses the importance of doing a sort of “anticipatory” style of planning. As in planning your lesson plans to the common trends of students you have seen in past classrooms in order to hopefully fit your new classroom to meet the needs of many students. This gets rid of some of the pressure to immediately know all of your students and their needs, as it may cover some of theirs already. Finally it goes into talking of the stage 3 WHERETO method. The WHERETO method is a series of questions that are designed to make the teacher think from the perspective of the learner, which is important because that should be the center of the lesson plan/
Through these chapters I have learned a few good strategies and ideas for lesson plans that I could use in my future classroom. Along with those, I have also learned how to phrase questions to appeal to students specific multiple intelligences, as well as the importance of making sure that each student gains an understanding for “the big idea” even if they cannot grasp all of the content in the unit. I particularly enjoyed a specific piece that compared teachers to musicians, it read “ that teacher is always aware of the melody - the curriculum goals- but finds many different ways to the melody” (89). A teacher needs to have different routes to reach the same goal, because not at all students can follow a singular path, some may need different tools than others. These are some of the ideas I would like to apply in my future ( hopefully universally designed and differentiated) classroom.

FiAE Chapter 6

   Chapter 6 of FiAE goes into how a teacher can make a test that works in a differentiated classroom, and also adequately tests a students knowing of the content, not just what they think they want the teacher to hear. It discusses the value of mixing both traditional ( multiple choice, matching, true false etc) and non-traditional ( diagrams, drawings, real life applications) in a quiz. It also discusses some areas on how to make the test clearer for both you and students, as well as not making students too nervous before a test, such as having them circle "true or false" not using double negatives in questions, making the writing prompts clear, and including something that may seem as fun to students.
    This chapter reinforced some of my ideas about test-making, as well as giving me some new ones. I always new that a variety of different questions appealed to students, simply from my own experiences with quizzes, as well as feedback from my own peers to our teachers. I also always remember being aggravated when seeing a poorly worded question, and the teacher being unable to explain because " I can't help you with the test." Also, when I noticed a teacher may include a joke or two in quiz question, it de-stressed me a lot, which often helps a student in their test-taking abilities. This chapter gave a great overview on how to make a great test for students.

FiAE Chapter 5

    In chapter 5 the writers discuss how to "tier" a students assessments or problems to that particular student's readiness level. This is something that goes two ways. It does no only mean toning something down for someone who isn't quite at the expected readiness level, it also means toning it up for those who are past it, that way everyone can be nurtured and no one gets left behind, or doesn't get to meet their full potential. The book goes into detail on how to do both of these, while avoiding some of the pitfalls that could come with. It also goes into learning contracts, a tool where the teacher can set the standards of what they want the student to meet, but the student gets the opportunity to negotiate due dates, and things of that nature. It goes into many other styles of tiering as well.
    I particularly enjoyed this chapter because I always new that I would have to find a way to make sure that students who were not as ready as other students could still learn and perform well in my class, as well as cater to those students who were ready to move behind the normal class average. This chapter gave me some useful tips and strategies so that I will be able to do so.

FIAE Chapter 4

    Chapter 4 discusses some of the most important types of assessment ( at least according to this book.) It discusses the benefits of portfolios, rubrics, and student- self assessment. Some of the benefits of a portfolio is that it is "an excellent way to determine accurate grades for students in differentiated classes." It gives students an opportunity to view their own work throughout a particular class, as well as giving the teacher an accurate view of the student's gained masteries throughout the work period. Rubrics are important because it is a way to put our goals of assessment down on paper, in a clear concise way that a student can understand.  Student self- assessment is important because it gives a student a chance to look at how they view their own progress, as well as give teacher feedback on what may have been hard for the student to understand about their lessons, as well as what worked well.
    In a future classroom I will definitely be including all three of these important assessment types. before I had even read this chapter I knew how helpful these could be, and certainly afterwards I feel even more so. What could be more helpful than gaining feedback from what students feel their own shortcomings may have been ( although they wouldn't have been their shortcomings, but my own failures as a teacher), or having all of a students work conveniently places in one binder so I could see the extent of a students growth throughout my class?