|
You and I both know that children are often smarter than they
seem. Whatever their test results say find something that interests
that child and just watch how smart they are. They can find
out all about it, be determined to be as good as possible at
it, show off how well they remember the facts and figures about
it and be really motivated to show other children how to go about
it.
What makes the difference?
Why is it that in school subjects they can fall further and further
behind, struggling and distressed as they try to make sense of
the information they are being given? What is it that fires
their interest, captures their attention and breaks through those
self imposed barriers to learning that come with a belief that
'I'm no good' or 'I can't do this.'
We think that it is the fact that the child has happened to
learn something through one of their Multiple Intelligences,
and that that particular way of learning really suits them because
it fits with one of the Intelligences they are particularly strong
in. When they learn something in such an easy way they can give
their whole attention and energy to the subject instead of spending
most of their energy just sitting still and concentrating on
concentrating. Done like this their skill and absorption of
the material will be so much greater than normal it will be amazing
to both you and the child!
The Animal School
I recently read a reference to a story about the animals. In
this story the animals decide to teach flying, climbing, digging,
running, and swimming. The trouble was they couldn't make up
their minds which was the most important so they decided to teach
everybody the same things. The eagle did very well when he
went to the flying lessons, but was very upset when he just couldn't
manage the digging class. In fact he had to be put in a special
needs class for that so badly did he perform! It took up so
much of his time learning to dig that he almost forgot how to
fly. The rabbit was great at running and was very proud of
herself about that. But when it came to the swimming class
she almost drowned and had to stay on to have extra lessons.
This story always makes me think of the children who are naturals
at a range of particular things - and completely switched off
about the rest.
It is our job to find the things that switch them on and-
more importantly find the ways to teach them so that many more
topics become exciting and interesting because they are being
presented in a way that makes sense to that child. The theory
and practice of Multiple Intelligences seems to me to be the
best framework we have for helping children be al they can be.
The History of Multiple Intelligences
The theory of Multiple Intelligences was developed by Howard
Gardner and his team at Harvard University. They took a very
pragmatic approach and looked at children operating in their
everyday lives, saw how these children could problem solve and
create useful products for their community - and these abilities
are what they called Intelligence. They also noticed that
these could be done in many different ways. Some children could
easily do an arithmetic problem if they were allowed to visualise
their way to an answer. If they were given a paper and pencil
to work it out they would be stuck. Other children found solving
problems and learning new things in groups really worked for
them, but telling them to go away on their own and work out an
answer was torture. One child could learn her multiplication
tables easily when she could skip as she said it over to herself.
Howard Gardner originally noted 7 different ways of being
intelligent and has recently added an eighth. Everybody has
these intelligences and each intelligence operates in each person
in different ways. Individually we will be stronger in some
of them and less strong in others. All of them are developable
and it is our own personal decision which ones we chose to enjoy
and work on and which we may leave as less of a focus in our
lives.
The 8 Multiple Intelligences
- Logical/mathematical - this Intelligence calls for
strong deductive or inductive reasoning ability and the ability
to recognise patterns in abstract concepts. Recognise it in
children who have a logical, step by step questioning style.
Computer programmers, mathematicians and lawyers often are
strong in this type of intelligence.
- Linguistic - this Intelligence calls for an ability
to produce language easily through either speaking, writing or
communicating in different languages. You can recognise it
in the children who love stories and who have good memories for
people, faces, places and trivia. Novelists, TV screenwriters,
teachers, managers, actors all have this Intelligence.
- Spatial - having this Intelligence means that the
person is good at manipulating visual spatial images. They can
'picture' things in 3 dimensions and do well working with maps,
puzzles and mazes. People who have this intelligence are likely
to be artists, architects, surveyors.
- Musical - a musical Intelligence means that the person
has an ability to make sense of sounds, silence and rhythm.
People who remember songs and tunes easily and who like being
around music as it helps them work, rest and play have this Intelligence.
Jobs that involve this are singers, songwriters, musicians,
music teachers.
- Bodily kinaesthetic - this Intelligence means that
you can use your body to solve problems and convey emotions and
ideas. People good at this are likely to be sporty, like dancing
and have good coordination. They will move around a lot and
learn best when they are active. Actors, athletes, surgeons
and dancers will be strong in this Intelligence.
- Interpersonal - people with this Intelligence as
a predominant strength will find it easy to understand the dynamics
between people. They can tune in a sense where another person
is at and use their knowledge to mediate and calm situations
down. People good at this can cooperate, communicate and organise.
Teachers, counsellors, salespeople and executives shine here.
- Intrapersonal - this kind of intelligence means that
you can understand your own emotions, goals and intentions.
These people are self confident and independent and able to
work alone. They can self motivate and organise themselves
well. Philosophers, psychologists, leaders can all exhibit
this intelligence.
- Naturalist - this is the last intelligence to be added
by Howard Gardner and means that the person is attuned to the
natural world. Closely observing the changes and signs and able
to use this information to improve the community or the world
at large, they are able to see the greater connections between
aspects of the natural world. Charles Darwin must have had
this Intelligence.
What's the solution?
How can we make sure that we can switch our children on to learning?
The easiest way is for us to learn about these Intelligences
and take up the challenge of teaching different subjects in ways
that appeal to the different Intelligences. That way the children
will be more likely to be fired up because they will be receiving
information in a form that makes the easiest and best sense to
them.
Teaching through the Multiple Intelligences makes a difference!
Children who have been taught with this different focus to their
education have found that it is far easier to learn and feel
valued. Their self esteem is improved and their self confidence
also builds far more quickly because they are able to get results
more quickly when they pick new information up through their
strongest 'channels'.
How do you start?
Think about your child or pupils and just from your own informal
observation of them start to note down which the Intelligences
they seem to use most. Once you have done this piece of research
you will be able to see which methods of teaching will work best
with this particular child or that particular class. One teacher
found that many of her children were interpersonally strong.
She started them mentoring one another and doing joint projects
where they could talk and work together, finding out things from
books and the Internet and then coming together to plan and do
a round up of their research.
Another idea is to look at your own lesson plans.
Check out your lesson plans to find out whether you are using
a mixture of teaching methods designed to stimulate different
learners. In my booklet, 'How many ways is that Child Intelligent?',
which is an introduction to working with Multiple Intelligences
there are many suggestions for how you can teach curriculum subjects
in using the different Intelligences as a channel into the inner
motivation of the child. For instance, musically intelligent
children like to learn by memorising, recognising, performing,
composing, assessing and ordering. They often like to learn
by listening to music as they read or talk. Spatially Intelligent
children like to observe, draw, copy, explain through pictures,
plan and assemble, imagine, recommend and select. Teaching
reading skills to logical mathematical children can best be done
through techniques such as writing words and numbering them
on a poster board. When they are unsure of how to spell a word
tell them which number to look for on the board - they will find
it faster and gain confidence from this. You could also make
dice with letters on them rather than dots - they will relate
to the patterns, symmetry and familiarity of the method.
Yet another idea to get you started
Find out your own Multiple Intelligence profile and notice how
you may be playing to your own strengths as you teach. (a very
human failing!) If you are doing this you may be missing out
on a whole bunch of children who are wired in a very different
way.
Think through the following checklist, using your Intrapersonal
Intelligence.
My favourite teacher when I was at school was…..
Because……
When I was a child I thought I was intelligent in the following
ways……….
However I didn't feel intelligent in these ways………………
I wish I had been taught in ………………….ways
I think I now teach in ………………..ways.
For more information about Self Esteem, Emotional Literacy
and Multiple Intelligences and how to assess and develop them
please feel free to contact Elizabeth Morris at The Self Esteem
Advisory Service, Buckholdt House, The Street, Frampton on Severn.
Glos. GL2 7ED. UK. Tel 01452 741106; Fax 01452 741520.
Email: elizabeth@selfesteemadvisoryservice.com or
go to www.selfesteemadvisoryservice.com for the full Self Esteem
Advisory Service online.
Elizabeth Morris is a psychologist
and registered psychotherapist. She created The Self Esteem
Advisory Service, a special web based resource for teachers and
parents to help build self esteem in children. She has written
many Emotional Literacy programmes, worked with a wide variety
of parents, parent groups, schools and educational training bodies.
The University of Bristol is currently running her courses on
Self Esteem Building, Emotionally Literate families and Emotional
Coaching. The Centre for British Teachers runs her programmes
on Building Self Esteem in the Classroom. She is the Managing
Director of the School of Emotional Literacy, an organisation
that provides professional training programmes in Emotional Literacy
for Educators and parents.
|