MI-News, April 1999, Volume 1, Number 4
Table of Contents1 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 MorrisWelcome 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 ShearerMultiple 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.angelfire.com/oh/themidasnews/feb1art.html
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 JonesOne 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 MorrisMany 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 MorrisMI 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
MI Theory discussion list
We at MI News would like to offer you, the readers, a way to exchange ideas and discuss the use of MI Theory among yourselves. We have set up a list with Onelist.com to give you a forum for communicating with each other. Debra West Jones is the moderator of this list. To subscribe to this list, go to http://www.onelist.com
If you are already a member of Onelist.com you can search for the list by typing in: MI Theory. If you are not a member of Onelist.com you will need to register first before subscribing.
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