~ The MI News ~
April 1999 Edition (Volume 1,
Number 4) |
Publisher Branton Shearer | Editor
Cliff Morris |
Table
of Contents
1 Welcome message by Clifford Morris
2 The MIDAS by Branton Shearer
3 The parenting corner by
Debra West Jones
4 Interview between Bernie
Davitto and Clifford Morris
5 For your minds only by
Clifford Morris
1. Welcome message by Clifford Morris
Welcome to the April 1999 (Volume 1, Number 4) version of
the MI-News. This email newsletter is provided free of charge by Multiple Intelligences (MI) Research and
Consulting. Our goal is to provide useful information to those
interested in Howard Gardner's MI Theory and to explore it s applications via discussion,
contact and sharing. In exchange for receiving this newsletter, we
request that you consider making a contribution in the form of a good idea,
thoughtful response, question or an inspirational MI learning activity.
2. The MIDAS by Branton Shearer
Multiple Intelligences (MI) inspires teachers at all grade
levels and from many different purposes. One group of teachers who see
many possibilities or using MI approaches to enhance learning in their
classrooms are the teachers of at risk students. These are the
students who for one reason or another are disengaged from school and fail to
achieve. The MIDAS is being used with these students in several different
ways. For one, self confidence can be improved through the identification
of the student's MI strengths and by calling these strengths important aspects
of the student's "intelligence."
Self confidence alone is not enough, however, to ensure
success. The next necessary step is to teach MI study strategies based on
the student's strengths and help him/her to then actually use these
strategies. The third step is to share knowledge of the student's
strengths with his/her teachers so that they may be integrated into the
curriculum. When "at risk" students have choices and are
approached by teachers through their strengths, then the bond with school is
strengthened. To find out more about how middle school and high school
teachers Jim Fox and Cindy Baer use the MIDAS profile with their students, go
to http://www.miresearch.org
Learning math is many a students' downfall. Poor math
skills may prohibit graduation from high school or prevent college
attendance. Recent surveys at Kent State University found that many
college students struggle with the Algebra requirement. The MI News poses
this question to you: Do you know of effective strategies for using MI to
improve math skills? We would like to hear about them. We
will post them on our MI Math page for sharing and comment by our readers.
Survey after survey and casual visits to any teachers'
lounge will tell you that one of the top concerns of teachers can be expressed
this way: We need more time! If you or your school has wrestled
with this problem and found some solutions (the simpler the better is our
motto) please share them with us. Can the use of MI help with this
problem or make it worse? Does teaching with MI in mind take
more time? Can you teach effectively using MI while following Howard
Gardner's dictum: "coverage is the enemy of
understanding"? We will post your good ideas and listen to
hear if others schools have tried them, too.
The second major concern voiced by many teachers is
classroom behavior management. Our question to you is: How can MI be used
as a part of your approach to dealing with disruptive, disrespectful or
disengaged students? Good ideas will be posted for discussion.
Are you interested in Howard Gardner's proposed 9th
intelligence, Existential awareness? I find it fascinating and think that
its inclusion in the MI constellation could add a powerful dimension to public
school education. I am working on the development of a set of Existential
questions as a complement to the MIDAS assessment. If you would like to
review and respond to this work-in-progress or try it out with students, please
contact me at sbranton@kent.edu
3. A timely lesson by Debra
West Jones
One thing that I have discovered as I try to teach my
daughters the many lessons of every day life, is that no matter what, one of
them is not going to listen to me! This is exactly what happened when we
started to learn about telling time. I bought each of my daughters little
clocks that they could use to set the hands. I showed them how it worked
and explained the big hand and the little hand and how we read the time based
upon the position of the hands. After explaining all the parts of the
clock and how it worked I decided to try out their knowledge. I would say
a time (like 2:00) and ask them to set the clock to that time. Well, they
eagerly took the clocks and began setting every time BUT 2:00! When
I tried to regain their attention, all they could say was, "Mom, this is
boring!"
All right! I give up! After all, they are
only in Kindergarten, so we could put this off for a while. And you know
what? The more I thought about it, I realized they were right! It
WAS boring! I wish I had read Thomas Armstrong’s article on how he
used Multiple Intelligences theory to teach time before I attempted this task
myself. To that end, would like to direct your attention this month to
Armstrong’s article, Multiple Intelligences: Seven Ways to Approach
Curriculum. I found the article very informative. I now have a whole
new approach to this "timely" topic. I am sure you will enjoy
this article too. The article is located at http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/articles/7_ways.htm
4. Interview between Bernie Davitto and Clifford Morris
Many of our issues highlight an exclusive interview with
someone currently associated with Howard Gardner's "many kinds of
minds" theory. For this issue, MI-News was most pleased to have the
privilege of interviewing Mr. Bernie Davitto. Since 1991, Bernie has been
involved with The Alliance for Education Solutions, an organization that
works closely with young people who are clearly able to learn but whose school
experiences have been more painful than rewarding. Bernie first became
aware of the Gardner MI model while watching an NBC special on education reform
in 1993. Here then is that interview.
MI-News: When did you initially learn about Howard Gardner and his Multiple
Intelligence (MI) model?
Bernie Davitto: I initially learned about Gardner's
MI model while watching an NBC special on education reform in 1993. What
particularly stayed with me was the statement that, when given the opportunity
to exercise their special strengths, students tend to do better in other areas
as well.
MI-News: What made you decide to use the MI model and the Multiple Intelligence
Development Assessment Scales (MIDAS) in your program?
Bernie Davitto: Since 1991 our organization, the Alliance
for Education Solutions, has worked with young people who were clearly able
to learn but whose school experiences had been more painful than
rewarding. When I heard Dr. Gardner's comment that the essential question
for students was not "how smart are you?" but "how are you
smart?", I knew that the MI model could be of immense personal value to
students and, if properly utilized, of tremendous value for schools wishing to
improve academic achievement for all students.
I had used another Multiple Intelligence assessment for a
previous project but was dissatisfied with the limited practical value of its
scoring. When I called Julie Viens of Harvard's Project Zero to inquire
about which Multiple Intelligence inventories she believed had the greatest
practical value for students, she referred me to Dr. Shearer and his MIDAS inventory.
She was right! The MIDAS offers students at least twenty five different
ways to be smart, and its follow-up materials offer practical utilization
suggestions for students, teachers and parents.
MI-News: Why do you feel that is important to remind
teachers/parents/administrators about Gardner's MI?
Bernie Davitto: I believe that the two fundamental
tasks of education are to instill a love of learning and to develop the talents
of both students and teachers. The factory model school has been a disaster
for far too many students. It neglects to identify, validate and build on
their strengths. MI is the most important tool I know of for
personalizing education on a broad scale.
MI-News: How does MI awarenesses/activities make a difference? Show me HOW this
awareness works?
Bernie Davitto: It is important that students,
teachers and parents become aware that there are many ways to be smart, many
strengths that students already possess and many ways to develop one's positive
potential. I believe that MI based activities can go a long way toward
rekindling students' natural motivation to learn, particularly students whose
confidence in their own abilities has been impaired by one size fits all
schooling. For one, during a recent Saturday program, we asked a diverse
group of 35 students who had received only a brief overview of multiple
intelligence theory to break into small groups and decide how to teach their
assigned intelligence to the larger group. They were also asked to
identify two individuals strong in that intelligence and two careers that made
extensive use of that intelligence. Although many of the students were
second language learners, each work group was able to successfully complete the
task. This was a positive educational experience that each student will be able
to build on.
MI-News: Why is it vital to foster the development of more than just one of
Gardner's eight (8) intelligences?
Bernie Davitto: All students need to develop a
basic mastery of both the academic and personal intelligences in order to lead
productive, satisfying lives and make positive contributions to society.
I believe it is also empowering for students to realize that they can use their
strongest intelligences to develop proficiency academic areas that have been
particularly difficult for them in the past.
MI-News: Why is it so critical not to label students as intelligent in just one
of Gardner's eight (8) intelligences?
Bernie Davitto: A strength of Multiple Intelligence
theory is that it opens up new possibilities for personal satisfaction and
achievement. It would be a cruel irony, then, to misuse the MI model in a
way that restricts developmental possibilities for individuals. Also, the
intelligence profiles of most individuals reflect strengths in several
intelligences and many careers require a combination of strengths for high
level performance.
MI-News: What can the Gardner MI model bring to the current educational arena?
Bernie Davitto: Widely implemented, the Gardner MI
model can become a major factor in insuring the academic and personal success
of all students. Educational research is clear. The key to
educational improvement is personalization based on an awareness of student
strengths as well as weaknesses. The MI model generally and the MIDAS
inventory specifically, provide a means for even the largest schools to begin
that personalization process.
MI-News: Relate an actual description of how MI and the MIDAS has changed your
instruction/attitude/ performance, etc.
Bernie Davitto: I am not a classroom teacher.
Our organization designs projects that help schools to provide positive
educational experiences for secondary students who have been ill served by one
size fits all teaching modalities. We are always looking for ways to
counter adult tendencies to view young people as problems to be managed rather
than as resources to be developed and to respond to them primarily in terms of
their presumed "deficits." The MIDAS has provided us with an
effective vehicle for helping administrators, teachers and parents view
students and their abilities in more hopeful ways. By stressing, in our
programs, that there are many pathways to success and documenting that reality
by way of the MIDAS inventory and follow-up exercises, student confidence in
their own positive potential and in their ability to use their strongest
intelligences to increase learning has grown substantially.
MI-News: Describe how your school implements MI and how is this difference from
traditional schools?
Bernie Davitto: MI is the guiding framework for our
pilot Pathways to Success Project housed in a large urban high school in
Sacramento. Developed as a collaboration between California State
University, Sacramento, Sacramento High School and our non-profit organization,
this talent development project targets a cohort of 50 students who are within
reach of college eligibility but whose college going prospects are currently
uncertain. Once their application is accepted, all students complete the
MIDAS Inventory, verify their resulting intellectual profiles and review with
project staff its implications for academic improvement and career
planning. The 'curriculum' resembles that of a university practicum in
which core lifelong learning concepts are presented in interactive seminars and
students then engage in fieldwork designed to promote the real world
application of core concepts and learning strategies. Throughout,
students are encouraged to use their strongest intelligences to increase
learning.
The project is coordinated through an on-site Success Center
staffed by University outreach specialists and college interns who track
student participation, help them construct success portfolios, provide tutoring
as needed, schedule university field trips and help develop academic
improvement plans. Also critical to the success of the project is the
involvement of three teacher-mentors from the regular high school faculty who
are strong supporters of the MI model. These individuals participate in
all program elements and meet regularly with students to help them use their
strongest intelligences to improve traditional academic performance.
Plans are underway to expand the numbers of students served
by the project in the next academic year by recruiting additional
teacher-mentors and offering a new set of Multiple Intelligence Saturday
Academies. These academies will be organized around specific
intelligences or intelligence clusters and involve the completion of projects
to create a product or solve a problem of consequence for the school or local
community. Our intent is to progressively infuse a multiple intelligence
orientation throughout the school and to develop support for establishing an
occupational futures registry and clearinghouse that links students with
businesses, corporations, governmental agencies and other occupations which
have need of their particular blend of intelligences.
5. For your intelligences only by Clifford Morris
MI Games
We now have access to a site involving four games
(Concentration, Flashcards, Matching and Word Search) involving Gardner's
MI. Test your knowledge of the different intelligences! To play the
MI games, go to http://www.quia.com/custom/4814main.html