Celebrating Every Learner: Activities and Strategies for Creating a Multiple Intelligences Classroom

Introduction

BY THOMAS R. HOERR

THE EVOLUTION OF MI

Howard Gardner spoke to human potential when he wrote Frames of Mind in 1983. He was a lone voice making a case that there were many different ways to be smart. To be sure, a few psychologists had speculated on multiple forms of intellect before Gardner, but none did so with his sense of definition and flair. Despite the initial resistance to

MI, it has become more and more commonly accepted among educators. Psychologists and psychometricans, those who make their living (or maintain their self-concept) by relying on g—a single definition of intelligence—still resist MI, but educators who work in schools recognize its possibilities because they see MI in their students.

Since the publication of Frames of Mind, many others have argued that intelligence is more than a unidimensional quality. Robert Sternberg developed the triarchic theory of intelligence, and Daniel Goleman identified emotional intelligence. Other writers, such as Daniel Pink and Tony Wagner, have argued that success in the real world relies on more than just school smarts. I have also written about the distributed intelligence—that is, the notion that intellect is not limited to what is inside one’s skin.

Enthusiasm for MI has grown and spread. For example, MI Around the World, edited by Jie-Qi Chen, Seana Moran, and Howard Gardner, depicts how MI is implemented in China, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Australia, Norway, Denmark, England, Ireland, Scotland, Romania, Turkey, Argentina, Colombia, and the United States. Today, although there remain critics and naysayers, MI is seen as a valid and valuable tool for teaching children. The assessment mantra in the United States has made it more challenging for educators to bring MI into their schools and classrooms, but this, too, shall pass. As we see the changing and more challenging shape of the world described by Thomas Friedman (The World Is Flat) and Ted Fishman (China, Inc.), it becomes clearer and clearer that we need to capitalize on all of children’s intelligences.

THIS BOOK

There has been a spate of books about MI in the past fifteen to twenty years. There are MI books that offer curriculum plans, those that suggest assessment techniques, and some that contain philosophical ruminations. To our knowledge, however, no other MI book has been written by an entire faculty, and no other MI book encompasses all of these aspects of MI. Our book is a valuable resource in several ways. First, the voices of eighteen New City School faculty members are presented in articles written about MI implementation. They speak from their experience and perspective as grade level teachers, specialist teachers, and administrators. Second, all forty-six faculty members were involved in the creation of our sixty-four lesson plans, which address purpose, procedure, assessment, and MI extensions. Finally, our book includes an administrative thrust and addresses student assessment, collegiality, and communication with parents. These factors are relevant to all teachers, whether MI is implemented in a classroom or on a school-wide basis.

We have tried to make this book as user-friendly as possible. It is organized by intelligence and by grade level group (preprimary, primary, and intermediate). Preprimary includes three-year-olds through kindergarteners. Our primary classes are grades one, two, and three. Our intermediate classes are grades four, five, and six. Graphics are used so that the reader can either peruse the pages looking at all of the lessons for a particular age or grade of child or focus on lessons designed for specific intelligences, regardless of the age of the child. Each lesson contains MI extension ideas for all of the intelligences. Of course, just as the intelligences are not totally distinct from one another, so too, despite their major focus, each of the lessons uses a variety of intelligences.

The following icons provide quick reference to the intelligence being discussed:

Interpersonal

Intrapersonal

Bodily-Kinesthetic

Linguistic

Logical-Mathematical

Musical

Spatial

Naturalist

A graphic designation on each lesson plan will help you to quickly see how it fits into your curriculum. The following example signifies an interpersonal activity for the primary grades (1, 2, and 3) in the area of science.

INTERPERSONAL

PRIMARY

SCIENCE

Each intelligence chapter begins with an article about that intelligence. We also include articles in Part II that explain different aspects of our MI implementation in some depth.

NEW CITY SCHOOL

The New City School is not a typical school. Prior to our discovery of MI, we were a school that valued the arts, experiential learning, and human diversity. As I noted in my book Becoming a Multiple Intelligences School, implementing MI seemed natural to us. Our work with MI helped us achieve what Roland Barth describes in Improving Schools from Within as faculty collegiality: if children are to learn and grow, their teachers must learn and grow.

We began using MI in 1988 (and were the second school to do so, after the Key School in Indianapolis). Our work with MI has evolved, and we are a different school than we were fifteen years ago when we wrote our initial MI book. We have hosted four MI conferences and are visited by hundreds of educators each year. We opened the world’s first MI library in 2005. I facilitate the ASCD MI Network and distribute four on-line newsletters, Intelligence Connections. (Send me an e-mail if you would like a free subscription.) But our work with pursuing and investigating MI is not finished. We continue to seek the best ways to bring MI into our classrooms, to work at finding the necessary balance between traditional, skill-based instruction and using MI.

New City is a unique independent school. We strive to be a diverse school in every way. This means that our students come to us from a variety of neighborhoods, representing a range of incomes (a third of our students receive need-based financial aid); 35 percent of our students are students of color, and our students represent a range of MI profiles. Some of our students excel in the scholastic intelligences (linguistic and logical-mathematical) and some do not. We like that mix! We administer a standardized achievement test each spring, and our students do very well, as they should; they come from homes where education is valued.

We hope that you find this book useful and interesting. Please feel free to send me an e-mail if you have any questions or comments. And if you can make it to St. Louis, we’d love to have you visit New City School (www.newcityschool.org).

Thomas R. Hoerr, Head of School

[email protected]

Part 1

The Multiple Intelligences

1

The Interpersonal Intelligence

But an important variable in leadership seems to be the ability to sense, to be aware of, what is going on in oneself as well as what is happening in the group or organization.

—JOSEPH LUFT

Web of the Interpersonal Intelligence

Student Quotes

"Having a strong Interpersonal Intelligence is not only about interacting with others, but also thinking for and about others."

" I’m Interpersonal because I get along with people. I share my markers with my brother and my games with my sister."

" I’m Interpesonal because I like to work in groups and hear someone else’s point of view and what they are thinking."

" I love to be around people, and I like to figure things out by talking with others."

Characteristics

• Enjoys cooperative games, demonstrates empathy toward others, has lots of friends, is admired by peers, displays leadership skills, prefers group problem solving, can mediate conflicts, understand and recognizes stereotypes and prejudices

Famous People

BARACK OBAMA is the forty-fourth president of the United States and the first African American to hold that office.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT advocated for social reforms that helped the disadvantaged.

OPRAH WINFREY is the host of an internationally syndicated talk show and considered one of the most influential women in the world.

MAHATMA GANDHI was the preeminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement.

Adult Quotes

" The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up."

—MARK TWAIN

" Emotional intelligence emerges as a much stronger predictor of who will be most successful, because it is how we handle ourselves in our relationships that determines how well we do once we are in a given job."

—DANIEL GOLEMAN

The Interpersonal Intelligence

BY LAURIE FALK

In understanding the development of children, there has long been a debate of nature versus nurture. How much comes with a child on the day of birth? How much can we teach? By and large, the answer to the nature/nurture debate is that both matter. This is true for all of the intelligences, including the Interpersonal Intelligence—the ability to understand people and relationships. We, as educators, belong to the set of nurturers in a child’s life, and the school setting offers a prime location for development of the Interpersonal Intelligence—a very important intelligence indeed!

When babies are born, they are by necessity egocentric creatures. Before long, though, they embark on interactions with parents and caregivers that begin their interpersonal journey. Throughout their development, children are constantly learning about themselves and how they are connected to the outside world. This interplay between the developing Intrapersonal and Interpersonal intelligences and relationships with self and with others continues throughout life, but its foundations are set in childhood. We are social animals, and a sense of belonging is critical to our emotional health and well-being. However, the rules, norms, and expectations of social interactions are very complex. Add innate temperament, varied family backgrounds, and cultural diversity to the mix and the task of teaching the Interpersonal Intelligence can seem almost overwhelming. But this need not be the case.

We, as educators, belong to the set of nurturers in a child’s life, and the school setting offers a prime location for development of the Interpersonal Intelligence—a very important intelligence indeed!

There are some important facts about the development of the Interpersonal Intelligence to keep in mind. First, much of this happens organically as human beings constantly interact with each other in many settings throughout life. This development of social learning is obvious with younger children. For example, one expects very young children to learn that verbal expression is more appropriate than physical aggression. One need only to watch a group of four year-olds and their teachers to see this skill being taught and progress being made. This kind of teaching is critical to the development of social skills. The school setting gives the adults a chance to intervene and use those teachable moments when interpersonal interactions are not going according to standards of acceptable behavior. It is imperative that we attend to child-to-child and child-to-adult interactions and use the opportunities that present themselves to teach children appropriate behaviors in real time. However, it is not just young children whose social interactions need to be observed and corrected—the fourth grade student who makes fun of another student needs adult intervention just as much as the four-year-old does. This experiential teaching tool is invaluable; it can seem time-consuming, but it is time well spent. Regardless of a student’s age, we need to intervene when the opportunity presents itself; after all, we are also teaching when we ignore inappropriate behaviors.

It is imperative that we attend to child-to-child and child-to-adult interactions and use the opportunities that present themselves to teach children appropriate behaviors in real time.

In addition to using teachable moments, the development of an Interpersonal Intelligence should also be taught from a planned curriculum. Specific interpersonal lessons are no different than math or linguistic lessons. If something needs to be learned, it must be consciously taught and reinforced. For example, a teamwork lesson would include instruction on the rationale for working together in groups, the specific steps to doing so successfully, and explanations of the interactive process. Then there would be a practice activity on teamwork. But this is not a one-time lesson or practice session. Teachers must give students many opportunities to practice all the skills needed for successful teamwork and acknowledge the students when they are using these skills appropriately. Additionally, they must allocate time for student reflection. If students are to learn from their experiences, it is important that they consciously think about what happened and their role in it.

If something needs to be learned, it must be consciously taught and reinforced. If students are to learn from their experiences, it is important that they consciously think about what happened and their role in it.

Just as in teaching mathematics or history, reflection is best if it is done in different ways. Certainly there are times when a group discussion provides students with the chance to process the lesson together and to engage in a group activity where insights can be shared. At other times, however, individual reflection can take place by writing in journals or by reflecting on a few questions during quiet time allocated for thinking about what the lesson means to them. Reflection should happen often so that it becomes automatic and so that students develop the habit of evaluating their feelings, behavior, motivation, and performance. This process gives students the means to internalize their experiences and connect their Interpersonal and Intrapersonal intelligences.

The combination of specifically teaching the Interpersonal Intelligence through lessons that address interpersonal skills and using teachable moments to educate in real time is powerful and effective.

The number and variety of interpersonal skills to be mastered are significant and complex. Respect, cooperation, empathy, compromise, caring, assertiveness, negotiation—these are but of few of the interpersonal skills we need to teach. And if they are to be internalized and learned, they cannot be taught and practiced just once. There is a critical need to teach the skills multiple times with increasing complexity as children develop. The combination of specifically teaching the Interpersonal Intelligence through lessons that address interpersonal skills and using teachable moments to educate in real time is powerful and effective. We must continuously recognize and reinforce these skills. Often, this is a simple statement said privately to a student—I noticed you were willing to compromise when the group wanted to go with someone else’s idea. These observations and comments can be tailored to a student’s temperament, strengths, and challenges. A shy student can be noticed being more assertive and an argumentative student can be reinforced for efforts to get along with others. Reinforcing positive behavior helps to build the Interpersonal skills that don’t come as easily to some individuals as they do to others. Of course, these teachable moments also need to be used when the behavior does not meet with expectations, but the same kind of simple, private statement can be used—I see that your group can’t decide on a plan and you’re the only one who wants it your way. Do you think you can compromise? A key component of this technique is to keep the teacher language nonjudgmental and unemotional. The student should be self-motivated to do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do, not because it pleases others. This requires teachers to observe constantly and comment often, but it will solidify the development of Interpersonal skills in a meaningful and permanent way.

Success is measured in many ways in school and in life. Real success, though, comes with a sense of happiness and satisfaction. Human beings need human interaction and relationships. The goal in all schools should be to recognize the value of the Interpersonal Intelligence and to teach and encourage its development in every student.

The goal in all schools should be to recognize the value of the Interpersonal Intelligence and to teach and encourage its development in every student.

Picture This!

INTERPERSONAL

PRIMARY

SOCIAL STUDIES

PURPOSE:

Cooperation, compromise, and communication are directly taught as small groups work together to draw pictures. Over the course of four days, the groups are required to make more decisions to complete the pictures.

MATERIALS:

Four large sheets of paper per group, markers, task sheet, chart paper, rating sheet

PROCEDURE:

1. Children work in the same group of three or four children throughout the activity. Each day, as a warm-up, the groups are given a question upon which they must reach consensus:

If you could change one thing about our class, what would it be?

What is a chore at home you dislike doing?

If you had to eat one food for lunch for a week, what would it be?

What is a book you all like?

If you could learn a new musical instrument, what would it be?

After the groups reach consensus, have a brief check-in and ask questions, such as Who had to compromise? What was hard? and What made it easy?

2. Explain that each group works together to draw a picture. Discuss what problems might arise. Tell the class you will be circulating and jotting down notes of things you see and hear that indicate people are working cooperatively. Ask the children to give examples of what you might hear and see.

3. Give each group the first task sheet. Before they begin to draw, encourage the groups to make a plan and talk about how they will divide the tasks.

4. Walk around and record things you hear, such as OK, What do you think? That is a good idea! Is it OK if I . . . , and How about . . . ?

5. When the pictures are completed, gather the class and share some of the things you heard and saw, recording them on a chart to display.

6. Ask the class how things went in their groups. Children should offer comments without mentioning specific names. Ask questions such as What might you do differently the next day? Is everyone having the chance to offer ideas? Is anyone taking over? Did anyone have to compromise?

7. Each child privately fills out a rating sheet showing how their group cooperated and then gives a one to five rating, with one being uncooperative and five being very cooperative, to each member of the group including him or herself.

8. Follow the same procedure on each of the next three days with tasks 2, 3, and 4. Start each day with a consensus-building question, then go over the charts and talk about what behaviors they want to improve. On the last day, children reflect and share the ways they improved their ability to cooperate, compromise, and communicate during the process.

9. Create a permanent chart based on what cooperation looks and sounds like. Children sign the chart to show they will use the ideas on the chart. Hang the chart up for future reference.

ASSESSMENT/REFLECTION:

Using a class checklist, record whether the children were able to decide what to draw the last day in an appropriate amount of time and with thought and consideration for everyone in the group. Specific behaviors to note include details from the class chart that show cooperation, communication, and the ability to compromise.

MI EXTENSIONS:

The Spatial Intelligence was also used in this lesson.

Linguistic: Under the headings Cooperative Words and Uncooperative Words, children sort phrases, such as Good idea, I should go first, and Give it to me!

Bodily-Kinesthetic: Children pantomime situations of cooperation for other children to guess. For example, they might pantomime sharing materials. These ideas could be generated by the children or the teacher. The children share what would be heard in this situation.

Logical-Mathematical: Wearing badges that say Cooperation Detectives, the class stands quietly in the back of various classrooms and jots down examples of people working cooperatively. Note words heard, body language, and things seen. Poll results and make a graph to show cooperation at various grade levels.

Intrapersonal: In their journals, students formulate and write about a goal they would like to reach to improve their ability to cooperate, compromise, or communicate.

Teamwork Task Sheet—Day 1

Work with your team to draw a picture of a house. Your picture must include:

1 house with

4 windows

1 door

1 chimney

3 trees

grass

2 clouds

1 sun

Teamwork Task Sheet—Day 2

Work with your team to draw a picture of a pond. Your picture must include:

pond

boats

fish

lily pads

grass

turtles

log

Teamwork Task Sheet—Day 3

Work with your team to draw a picture of a playground.

Teamwork Task Sheet—Day 4

Work with your team to draw a picture.

Copyright © 2010, New City Scholl. All rights reserved.

The House We Built

INTERPERSONAL

PRIMARY

SCIENCE

PURPOSE:

Students will develop the teaming skills of cooperation, compromise, and communication while discovering the architectural principle of structural strength of the triangle in geodesic domes and bridges.

MATERIALS:

Newspaper, masking tape, images of various structures: geodesic domes, bridges, columns, towers, and skyscrapers

PROCEDURE:

1. Show several pictures of structures while students discuss what they see in the images and what gives the structures their strength.

2. Divide the class into small groups. Each student makes a minimum of six newspaper rolls by rolling a section of newspaper into a tubular shape and securing the ends with masking tape.

3. Before groups begin working, review the expectations and skills important for working collaboratively so that students remember to listen, share ideas, compromise, and stay on task.

4. Instruct students to build a free-standing structure large enough for all members of the group to get inside, using only the rolled tubes and tape. Groups draw a plan for their structure and have it approved before building.

ASSESSMENT/REFLECTION:

Each student shares something he or she did that helped the group as they planned and built. Someone in each group tells the class what someone else in that group did that was helpful.

Each group devises a way to test the strength of their structure and demonstrates their method of proof.

MI EXTENSIONS:

Other intelligences used in this lesson are Spatial and Logical-Mathematical.

Bodily-Kinesthetic: Read What It Feels Like to Be a Building by Forrest Wilson, which uses human figures to replicate architectural structures. Students experiment with duplicating one of the human configurations shown in the book.

Logical-Mathematical: Using various building blocks, construct geometric models of buildings.

Naturalist: Find examples of animal homes and discuss what gives each one its strength.

Making Museums

INTERPERSONAL

PRIMARY

SOCIAL STUDIES

PURPOSE:

Students work together to create a museum at the end of a unit of study; for example, Plant, Body, or Westward Expansion museums. The focus is the process of working together and using the interpersonal skills of cooperation, perseverance, tenacity, compromise, communication, and problem solving. The galleries contain exhibits the students have created that show the knowledge and understandings they have gained during their studies.

MATERIALS:

Various art and craft materials children use to create exhibits for the museum and gifts for the gift shop, writing materials, poster board, samples of plaques that go with exhibits, Katie’s Picture Show by James Mayhew, Visiting the Art Museum by Brown and Brown

PROCEDURE:

After talking about, reading about, and visiting museums, students create an interactive museum with exhibits pertaining to a particular area of study. The children serve as docents, security guards, clerks at the gift shop, and curators while the museum is open.

1. Discuss museums with the class and ask the following questions:

What is a museum?

Why do you think museums were created?

Who has ever been to a museum?

What types of museums are there?

Who works in museums and what do they do there?

What exhibits might be found in a museum?

2. Read Katie’s Picture Show, a story about a young girl visiting a museum, and Visiting the Art Museum.

3. With the students, make a list of tasks necessary to create and run a museum. The list might include the following: make the exhibits, make plaques to display with the exhibits, create posters to advertise the museum, arrange the exhibits, make maps, and write invitations or fliers for visitors. Assign tasks from the list.

4. With the children, brainstorm ideas for exhibits, encouraging them to think about exhibits they have seen or read about that were memorable, fun, or interactive. Students may need help adapting their ideas for exhibits to connect with the theme of their museum. When displays are completed, the class decides how they should be organized and displayed.

5. Continue to assign jobs from the job chart, keeping in mind the strengths of the students. For those working on the plaques, show examples and discuss what they include: title, directions, explanation of what to do and what is learned. Some children can create posters advertising the opening, while others can create brochures or maps for visitors. Price and display merchandise for the Gift Shop. Interested children practice role-playing being a docent in the museum. Consider how the interaction would change when showing around a child as opposed to an adult.

6. Just as all the students had a task setting up the museum, they should have some responsibility when the museum opens. As a class, decide what each child’s role will be.

ASSESSMENT/REFLECTION:

To assess the cooperative part of working on the museum, children talk or write in journals about the parts of the project that were easy, difficult, enjoyable, or unpleasant. Children comment on how they contributed to the museum, worked in a group, shared ideas, listened, compromised, and solved problems.

When reflecting on the exhibit or product they created, children ask themselves whether their exhibit appealed to visitors or taught something, and how it might be improved.

MI EXTENSIONS:

There is an opportunity for all the intelligences to be used in this project, depending on what exhibits are made.

Linguistic: Create an audio tour of the museum by having each child write a script explaining his or her exhibit. It is recorded and then played when people go through the museum.

Intrapersonal: Make a form for visitors to complete before they leave the museum that rates their visit. It could include comments about the exhibits, gift shop, the workers, the educational value, their enjoyment, as well as a place to offer suggestions.

Logical-Mathematical: Devise a way to organize