Kids and Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom

Anna Flávia Pessoa

(Final project for the course Writing for Teachers)

Introduction

Teachers face many challenges in the classroom. Educators are always working on new ways to keep students engaged and motivated. Creativity, playful learning, and kinesthetic activities are constantly on their minds. Alongside that, it is well-known that people learn in different ways. Many teachers also try to incorporate these concepts in their planning. As a consequence, a lot of theories about multiple intelligences and the acquisition of a second language are surfacing. Having that in mind, let's first understand what the multiple intelligences are. Gardner (2010) has identified seven distinct intelligences:

Visual-Spatial - think in terms of physical space, as do architects and sailors. Very aware of their environments. They like to draw, do jigsaw puzzles, read maps, daydream. They can be taught through drawings, verbal and physical imagery. Tools include models, graphics, charts, photographs, drawings, 3-D modeling, video, videoconferencing, television, multimedia, and texts with pictures/charts/graphs.

Bodily-kinesthetic - use the body effectively, like a dancer or a surgeon. Keen sense of body awareness. They like movement, making things, touching. They communicate well through body language and they should be taught through physical activity, hands-on learning, acting out, role playing. Tools include equipment and real objects.

Musical - show sensitivity to rhythm and sound. They love music, but they are also sensitive to sounds in their environments. They may study better with music in the background. They can be taught by turning lessons into lyrics, speaking rhythmically, tapping out time. Tools include musical instruments, music, radio, stereo, CD-ROM, and multimedia.

Interpersonal - understanding, interacting with others. These students learn through interaction. They have many friends, empathy for others, street smarts. They can be taught through group activities, seminars, dialogues. Tools include the telephone, audio conferencing, time and attention from the instructor, video conferencing, writing, computer conferencing, and e-mail.

Intrapersonal - understanding one's own interests, goals. These learners tend to shy away from others. They're in tune with their inner feelings; they have wisdom, intuition and motivation, as well as a strong will, confidence and opinions. They can be taught through independent study and introspection. Tools include books, creative materials, diaries, privacy and time. They are the most independent of the learners.

Linguistic - using words effectively. These learners have highly developed auditory skills and often think in words. They like reading, playing word games, and making up poetry or stories. They can be taught by encouraging them to say and see words, read books together. Tools include computers, games, multimedia, books, tape recorders, and lecture.

Logical -Mathematical - reasoning, calculating. They think conceptually, abstractly and are able to see and explore patterns and relationships. They like to experiment, solve puzzles, and ask cosmic questions. They can be taught through logic games, investigations, and mysteries. They need to learn and form concepts before they can deal with details.

The importance of Multiple Intelligences for the acquisition of a second language

Teachers are generally concerned about their teaching styles. In a classroom filled with young learners, there´s a great deal of things to take into consideration, especially the motivation and engagement of the students.

According to Budden (2005), we can´t please all the students all the time, and it's just good to bear in mind that there are many different ways of learning. She also asks some pertinent questions. Why do some students really enjoy working in groups whilst others are much more productive working alone? Why do some learners draw pictures in their vocabulary books while others seem to need to just hear a word to be able to use it themselves? People are different and they learn differently.

Beare (2017), in his blog thoughtCo, explains that the most important aspect of using multiple intelligence activities in class is that you will be giving support to learners who may find more traditional activities difficult. The basic idea behind multiple intelligence activities is that people learn using different types of intelligences.

The use of multiple intelligences is extremely influential for beginner levels, considering that motivation is key. When we cater for the specific learning needs of a child, we establish better rapport with him/her and, as a consequence, learning becomes enjoyable from the beginning.

How to incorporate multiple intelligences in the classroom. Practical ideas for teaching kids

First, keep in mind that the teacher will probably not be able to incorporate all intelligences in every class. Having said that, the best way to start is by setting the goal for the lesson. Having done that, the teacher is capable of planning and identifying the types of activities to be used in that setting.

To illustrate this scenario, think of a classroom with kids, mainly 6 and 7 years old, and a lesson about clothes. The goal of this lesson is to introduce clothes vocabulary (t-shirt, pants, dress, shoes, socks). By learning about multiple intelligences, the teacher will provide various activities and provide meaningful learning for the students. Activities with flashcards, colors and images are beneficial for visual learners. Using the same material to create games in which kids move around can help students with interpersonal and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences. Creating songs and asking the students to follow/repeat can help musical, linguistic and intrapersonal learners. Using the games and songs to count the material or revise the vocabulary is helpful for logical learners.

These were some very simple ideas on how to engage the different intelligences. Pesce(2017) provides a lot of ideas in her blog BusyTeacher,  and she  uses the multiple intelligences theory as one way to motivate her students.

Conclusion

Working with multiple Intelligences can help students become more engaged and stay motivated. There are a lot of resources about it available for teachers. It is obvious that working with all intelligences all the time is hard. However, if there´s a plan, it is possible to work with some of them at the same time and, with that, build good rapport with the students.

References

Arnold, J & Fonseca, MC (2004). Multiple Intelligence Theory and Foreign Language Learning: A Brain-based Perspective. Servicio de Publicaciones. Universidad de Murcia. IJES, vol.4(1), 2004, pp. 119-136.

Budden,J.(2005). Multiple intelligences. https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/multiple-intelligences

Beare,K(2017). Multiple Intelligence Activities https://www.thoughtco.com/multiple-intelligence-activities-1211779

 Pesce,C(2017). Teaching Kids English. http://busyteacher.org/2831-teaching-kids-english-10-things-to-consider.html

-Gardner,H.(2010). Multiple intelligences. http://www.howardgardner.com/MI/mi.html

Teens 6 Magazine Project

Making writing exciting

Whenever I get to a writing lesson, I picture my students complaining and moaning about having to write anything. It’s almost as if they had a radar that indicated “boring activity ahead”. These are, thus, the lessons that intrigue me the most just for the challenge of changing that regular pattern.

To do so, I am always reflecting on how relevant and interesting the writing can be for my young teenage students. The formula is not so hard: just take the genre of the piece of writing into account and think about how it could be applied to their realities. That is basically what I did for my Teens 6 group. Writing news reports was the goal, so I decided to take my students from the role of students to the role of reporters.

The students were obviously excited with the idea of becoming reporters and writing a story. The idea was that they would gather in pairs or trios and would each be assigned a certain page of our class magazine. Once I had a Google slide template of the magazine prepared and ready to be accessed through a shortened link (bit.ly/teens6magazine), I instructed my students and took them to the Resource Centre to make it happen.

I had to do it in two classes. The first attempt wasn’t so good because some of my students messed around and interfered in other students’ slides. In the following class, I told them off and told them that they would be given a last chance to finish their reports. I also said that those who didn’t finish would have their pages taken out of the magazine. That gave them some encouragement. On the second day, then, they worked a lot better and behaved as expected.

After joining forces with the Resource Centre at the Main Branch, the magazine was printed out and the students were able to have their own copies. The gleam in my students’ eyes when they saw the magazines I had brought paid off all the effort and struggle I described in the previous paragraph.

Maybe a magazine project cannot be carried out every semester, but something we can definitely do is plan our lessons every day wondering whether they will bore our students or excite them. Bearing that in mind and having some deal of willingness, we will be able to come up with many other ideas that can surprise our students and make a difference in their lives.

Lucas G. Silva