One
of the points that really resonated with me in these chapters was the opening
of Understanding by Design: Chapter
8, I think it adequately states the internal battle I have with trying to play
both the role of advocate and judge. Additionally the topic of grading has
really made me reflect on myself as a student, specifically how my experiences
as a student will/are influencing my decisions as a teacher. I, like many, fall
into the category of “grade hungry” student; I work only for that A. Last week
in the midst of discussion on assessment Dr. Grace made reference to the fact
that we as teachers should abstain from grading formative assessments, I
thought at the time that I was surly misunderstanding. As a teacher I could not
think of any assignment or task that I would assign and not link some numerical
value to. While my drive for A’s has lead to me acquiring a respectable GPA it
has in-turn created a learning atmosphere that lacks much comfort and is
riddled with stress. I need to remain cognizant of my actions in the classroom
and make sure they reflect a new age of learning; my goal as a teacher is not
to give my students the same learning experience as I had, but a better one.
The
chapter 8 goes on to really dissect the meaning grades and how past practices
have contributed to a distorted image of what the letter actually stands for. For
the indicator to sufficiently answer the question of mastery, which is at the
core of what is to be gauged, it must be void of arbitrary contributions, such
as zeros from missing work when the assignment itself was to help educate on a
matter that they later showed mastery in.
Chapter
11 of Multiple Intelligences brings to light such an important topic, the state
of special education. This is a subject that has been often left out of the
dialogue when discussing education. This is in part due to the fact that the
topics of education that do arise are often pertinent to what is taking place
inside the walls of classrooms, while students with disabilities are located
outside of these perimeters, sealed away in their own rooms. The positive light
the MI growth paradigm brings to the topic of special education is refreshing,
but sadly far overdue. The special education field, much like mainstream
education, has narrowed its focus on student’s inabilities opposed to abilities
due to a locked view of intelligence in the realm of verbal and logical
intelligence. I think the MI theory really comes to life, and brings validity
to the theory, through its use with students that have IEPs and learning
disabilities. It is here, through the achieving of success by students previously
labeled incapable, that you find your best examples of how intelligence is a
spectrum not a linear scale. The cherry on top of this design is that because
as teachers we should already be implementing Differentiated Instruction on our
classrooms we can re-open the doors to those students who were previously shut
out.
While
chapter 11of MI does well to offer a broad range of examples of how DI can be
used in the classroom, it still seems at moments overwhelming, as if thirty activities
need to be going on consistently to meet all your student’s needs. Chapter 8 of
MI does well to offer many quick and easy manners in which to use the
intelligences to solve everyday classroom management issues. In particular I
found the group pairing suggestions to be creative and engaging. I find much of
their value in the opportunity it allows for students to move and take a break
from the content while still completing a task.
Chapter
12 of MI does well to wrap the chapters up, examining the use of MI to purse a
higher level of thinking, as outlined in Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning
objectives. While the general approach of learning is in the hands of the
teacher, what takes place inside our student’s heads is mainly out of sight,
that does not mean that it should be out of mind. The need to advice our
student’s analytical skills is a generally new theme in the field of the
education, while memorization use to be the end-all goal, the ability to use
information in context to life situations has grown to shown more value. Chapter
12 does well to bring to light the gap teachers need to be aware of between the
classroom and the mind, it is relatively useless for us to supply information
in a method that suits their preferred intelligences if they are not in
possession of the ability to carry that information further.
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