Teach English in Quyang Zhen - Huaihua Shi

There are many types of multiple intelligences such as (Visual intelligence-Musical intelligence – Kinesthetic intelligence – Verbal intelligence – interpersonal & intrapersonal intelligences … etc. ) we must take care of our students types and design our lesson according to their intelligences. The verbal intelligence involve the knowing which comes through language. Mathematical intelligence uses numbers, math and logic to understand any topic. Visual intelligence represents the knowing through shapes, patterns and pictures. Intrapersonal intelligence is showing the people who prefer to work individually. Also, the kinesthetic intelligence is based on physical movements. Interpersonal intelligence is learning through personal interactive and work in groups. Naturalist Intelligence involves all the information which relate to natural world and its phenomena. Moreover, musical intelligence is the knowing which happens through sound and vibration. (Gangi S. , 2011) Multiple intelligences are very beneficial. It helps us to know our students well and to consider their different proclivities when we prepare our lessons. MI present to us the different types of students which we may find them in our classes .Knowing the different types of multiple intelligences will help the teachers to choose their teaching strategy which helps them to reach all their students’ interest. MI also help the teachers to prepare an interesting session to the largest number of students in the classroom through preparing (sheets, PowerPoint presentations, activities, videos or songs, online games…etc.) which suitable their concerns. Of course we can’t reach all the students’ intelligences but we can do our best to reach most of it. I have 25 students in my class. My students are mostly of musical, linguistic, kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligent type, so when I choose my strategies inside the class I consider all these differences to make sure that all the students are engaged in the lesson by grabbing their attention and reaching their interest. MI theory opens the door to many teaching strategies that can be implemented in the class such as storytelling, Graphic Symbols, Classroom Theater, Body Maps.. etc. ( Armstrong T. ,2009) .There are new teaching strategies which I want to add to my sessions, others which I want to keep and some of them which I want to change. During my Numeracy sessions I use a lot of techniques which I want to keep such as: • Story telling: I always use small stories to explain a specific part of my lessons. Through this technique I grantee reaching the linguistic students’ interest. For example: During explaining the vocabulary for (Analog clock) lesson to the students, I tell them a story of a clock that has two sons the taller one called Minute hand and the shorter one called Hour hand. The minute hand is a very polite boy who stays always on number 12, but the hour hand is very active he always moves through all the numbers. I will keep using this technique because it achieves a huge success with the students especially at this age. Stories are grabbing their attention and reach their interest. • Brain storming: This is an amazing technique which we can use with all the stages. Through brain storming students can share anything comes to their minds and I keep asking more questions, that leading students to become very excited to hear the explanation and know the answers for their questions. For example: To introduce (Compare Lengths) lesson. I start the session with this question (How do you know that the piece of paper is longer than the pencil?) students begin to answer different answers and I start my explanation through their answers. I will not leave this technique because it helps the students’ brains to develop and increase the creativity among the students. This technique targets the linguistic students. • Graphic symbols: This technique is targeting the spatial students. Through it i can use drawing as a tool to describe the concepts. It’s a very important way because it helps the student to understanding and the re-calling the new information. For example: Draw a clown on the white board using geometric shapes and write the name of each shape on it. I will keep using this strategy because it’s very beneficial for the kids as it helps them to recognizing and remembering the shapes and their names easily. • Board games: it’s an effective tool to assist the students and know if they understand the lesson well or not. I always use it after finishing the whole week lessons to be sure that the students get all the information before starting new week. This strategy targets the interpersonal and kinesthetic students. I use this strategy because it’s very useful and it’s an important tool which make me sure that the students got the concepts well. • One-minute reflection periods: this strategy I keep using it inside my classes to reach the intrapersonal interest because this type of students likes to work alone. On the other hand, there are strategies that I can use it also inside my class and change some of it such as, Journal writing (It’s a very smart technique to target the linguistic students because we encourage them to write their thoughts and we can use it by letting them write about the lesson subject, as a Math teacher I can let my students write an article about how we can use mathematics in our life and collect all the articles in math magazine), color cues (I recognize that using colors is very useful for the students because they can save and re-call the information by remembering the concepts colors . I can use different colors of markers or let the students use different colors of pens while writing in the sheets or copybooks). There is a point that I want to change it which is using music during the sessions. I use the music only through video or song to introduce the lesson for the students or to stress on the important parts in the lesson. For example: I use a part of this song to introduce the shapes for my students. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU3PsRNNypc) Also, I realize that I can use the music in other different ways such as using some vocabulary in rap song, playing certain music during explaining the lesson to connect the concept with the music and this make the re-calling for the information easier. In the end, I believe that multiple intelligences are very important especially during planning lessons. If we understand our students well we will have the ability to design lesson plans which suitable their abilities and grantee reaching their interest. Multiple intelligences add a huge value to the education because it transforms the education from a boring process to an interesting one. When students find that the sessions become more interesting and they have fun during it they will be more engaged in the lessons and that will help them to be lifelong learners because they enjoy every single moment and the information stay a long time with them. In conclusion, using MI makes teachers’ role easier and it will help them to deliver the information softly to the students and understand their needs . References: * Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. (2010). Retrieved 6 May 2014, from http://www.niu.edu/facdev/resources/guide/learning/howard_gardner_theory_multiple_intelligence s.pdf Gangi, S. (2011). Differentiating Instruction using Multiple Intelligences in the Elementary School Classroom: A Literature Review (Masters of Science). University of Wisconsin-Stout. * Multiple intelligences in the classroom (2009). Retrieved from https://erwinwidiyatmoko.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/multiple-intelligencies-in-the-classroom.pdf. ASCD, Alexandria, Virginia USA.