Chapter 10 MI

The entire purpose of Multiple Intelligence in the Classroom is to integrate the eight intelligences into the classroom. This can not be done with a typical standardized test. These tests emphasize linguistic & logical/mathematical skills and typically disregard the rest. The book proposes several examples of assessing students using the multiple intelligence method. Work samples, audio files, photos, and other methods serve as ways to assess student of a given subject. Project Spectrum & Key Learning Community were some of the programs geared towards accommodating various intelligence types. The Five C’s of Portfolio Development also provides guidelines to evaluating each student’s portfolio. Celebration, Cognition, Communication, Cooperation, & Competency serve as steps to evaluating a portfolio and comparing it to a standard.  

            The Eight Ways Method is an interesting way of assessing various students. This method provides eight prompts. Each prompt is geared towards a given intelligence. This allows students to demonstrate their creativity and unconsciously align with their preferred intelligence. A previous teacher used such a method to a degree. When he would assign a project we could “Make a powerpoint, write a paper, write a song, or do an interpretive dance.” At the time, the last two seemed absurd, but I also remember several very entertaining songs and dances. Another example would be during my first 3 week rotation in the schools. Each student was tasked with creating a 1 minute podcast to their home, incorporating noncopyright music. To get around the copyright rule, one of my students asked “Can I just make my own music?” Without missing a beat, I replied “Absolutely!”

            In my classroom, I hope to allow students to create project best suited for their intelligence. Similarly to the way my old Social Studies teacher did.