MI+Chapter+11+Block+2

[|Synthesis MI C11 B2]


 * **Names** || **Abstract** || **Reflection** ||
 * Barnes Mckell || Chapter 11 in the book Multiple Intelligences talked about the mi theory and special education. This chapter talked about how students with special needs or with disabilities have always been put on a back burner and not really had the opportunity to learn as normal students. “Over the history of the special education movement in the United States, educators have had a disturbing tendency to work from a deficit paradigm- focusing on what students can’t do-in an attempt to help students succeed in school” (103). Although it is important to help improve the skills that some students lack, we should not focus on what they can’t do. We should allow these students to use an alternative route that “exploits their more highly developed intelligences.” (105) It is important for teachers to recognize this because there have been so many students in the past that have been left out because they cannot learn one way. || I absolutely love this chapter. I think it sets a great foundation on why it is necessary to allow students with special needs to use an alternative way of learning that fits their learning style better. In the past schools have just stuck these kids in another room and wouldn’t give them the same learning opportunities as “normal” students, when in reality they could actually be more gifted but just forced to learn a different way. That’s why it is important for teachers to sometimes make adjustments for all students. ||
 * Brennick Christopher || This section of the book goes into the way MI theory can be used to help special education students achieve at a high level. The first section of this chapter talks about using MI theory as a way to look at the strengths of disabled students rather then look at their weakness. The book ask us to avoid an area which a student is weak and focus rather on their strengths and teach and assess in those strengths. The next part of this chapter tells readers that they as teachers can point to successful disabled people as models for growth and achievement for students with that disability. The book also tells readers in this section that students sometimes cannot succeed because of cognitive problems and we, as teachers should find alternative routes for students using the multiple intelligences they are strong in. Another very helpful way that the book provides readers is to put in IEP’s students strongest intelligences as ways for them to show learning. || I feel this is a strong and important chapter for teachers of the twenty first century because the current trend in special education is inclusion, which means all of us no matter what level or content area we teach we will see students with learning disabilities. I also believe it is an important chapter because we know every student can learn and this chapter give us ways to reach students who do not have any verbal skills. This is such a powerful theory that can which any students. I also think it is important that the book preaches looking at students strengths and not their weakness because this is how we build students up and improve them into better people. ||
 * Columbia Laura || Chapter 11 of //Multiple Intelligences// discusses MI Theory and Special Education. It is pointed out that learning disabilities can occur in all eight of the intelligences. As well as some special needs students are exceptionally gifted in one or more of the eight intelligences. It is also important not to label children as lacking an intelligence because a teacher's bias can be felt by the student and could cause the student to fail. A really great chart was shown that shows famous people and the learning disabilities they had. This could be very encouraging to students who are struggling with learning disabilities. With the use of MI in a classroom, the goal is to have fewer referrals to the special education classrooms. || One of the most interesting parts of this chapter was the section on famous people who have had learning disabilities. Not only are these people famous, but they have done amazing things that have greatly contributed to our culture and education. This can be a great encouragement not only to special needs students but also to students who do not have learning disabilities. When students get discouraged, it is good to remind them the amazing things these people did, even with their circumstances. It also encouraged me that this theory could help fewer students be in special education. Special education can be great, but often times students feel stuck in it, and do not develop necessary skills. ||
 * Coombs Kayla || In chapter eleven, Armstrong discusses MI and special education. He basically says that if all classrooms practiced differentiated instruction then we would have no need for a separate special education. If MI theory was properly implemented and effective instructional strategies were used, then fewer students would be referred to special education, because the teacher would know how to successfully reach them as a learner and would respect and address their individual learner needs. The role of special education teacher would be changed to a special MI consultant that would work in the classroom with the regular classroom teacher to help in various tasks, like identifying each student’s strongest intelligence, focusing on the needs of specific students who need extra assistance, designing MI curriculums, and creating specific MI interventions. Many benefits can arise from having a special MI teacher in the classroom. These include: a greater emphasis on identifying strengths, increasing self-esteem, and increased understanding and appreciation of students. || I thought this chapter brought up some good points concerning special education and MI. I think that if the classroom teacher was more successful in his or her differentiated classroom, and with addressing all learners in his or her instructional strategies, then special education would not be something that takes the student out of the regular classroom environment and away from their peers, but if it was represented in the form of an additional teacher in the classroom who can help address each student’s stronger intelligences and individual learner needs. ||
 * Cummons Michael || Chapter eleven of MI is about teaching students with disablilites using the multiple intelligences. When the MI theory is used correctly it can help students with disabilites learn. Just like all learners, students with disabilites must be taught materials in ways that are tailored to their particular learning styles and intelligences. The best way to go about this is for the teacher, the student, and the parents or guardians to get to gether and work out a plan to make each lesson work for their peronsal learning style and intelligences. Students must also work to keep thier class as full of MIs as possiple. When this happens it makes the learning for students(everyone) better. || This chapter was very good. It makes the point that teachers must make an MI classroom. This helps out every student including students with disabilites. When this happens it saves the student trips the special education room. I really like the idea of getting everyone together to talk about how to tailor to a child with disabilites. This should definitley be a required process in any educational community. Teachers getting together with other teachers would also be a great idea and would really help the student. ||
 * Damboise Kelley || Chapter eleven focuses on the concept that students who have a disability can learn through multiple intelligence, therefore, the least restrictive environment can become the general education classroom. This chapter points out that it is all too often that schools in the United States tend to stress the things students cannot do, instead of encouraging learning through their multiple intelligences. All students, even children who have learning disabilities, can still learn the material, but it has to be presented in a way that the student can learn. For instance, if a student has dyslexia, they usually have a hard time learning material when the teacher presents it in a linguistic manner. However, if the teacher presents the same material using spatial intelligence, for example, then the student may have a chance of learning. This method of teaching usually shows up when teachers, parents, and students design an individual education plan. Individual education plans focus on finding ways to present material to students in a way that best fits the child’s learning needs. If teachers began instructing their classrooms using all eight of the intelligences then theoretically there would be less referrals to special education classrooms, and the classroom would become the least restrictive environment. || The opening quote for this chapter “treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of being” is a great description of how teachers should specialize to their students when developing the lessons and when trying to teach material. By taking the time to teach using all the intelligences students have a better chance of fully understanding the material. When students have a noticeable learning disability in a certain area of the multiple intelligence we can see just how important it is as a teacher to take every lesson, and develop it so that we have explained the material in a way that the student may understand better. We should be doing this in each and every lesson that way even students who do not have a learning disability can have the opportunity to fully understand the material being taught in class. ||
 * Kelley Kathleen || Chapter eleven in Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom focused around multiple intelligence theory and its uses in special education. As teachers, we are going to have all kinds of learners in our classrooms including those who have exceptional learning difficulties and are in the special education programs. MI theory will help us teach those students. This theory “acknowledges difficulties or disabilities, but does so within the context of regarding special-needs students as basically healthy individuals” (page 103). Disabilities can occur in all eight intelligences, but MI theory offers the students to hone in on stronger areas. In some instances, special measures need to be taken to ensure that they are getting the most out of their learning such as using an alternative symbol system, alternative technology, instructional strategies, and empowering strategies. The chapter concludes with ways that MI theory in a special education classrooms could positively impact the classrooms. If MI theory is implemented in the classrooms, there may be fewer people being referred to the special education program, the role of the special education teacher will change, there will be a higher self-esteem among students because they are accomplishing and understanding more, and more time will be spent addressing the students strengths. || Chapter eleven in Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom was a very informative chapter to read because sooner or later we are going to have students in our classroom that require a one on one or IEP’s. I think that it is important to focus on the areas that a student is strong and do everything possible to help the student learn using that intelligence. I thought that it was interesting that the IEP’s are not already tailored to the kind of intelligence that the student is strongest in. Instead, they are just given more of the kind of work that they don’t understand. That almost seems like they are being set up to fail. Overall, I think that including MI theory in the special education classroom would be extremely beneficial and would most definitely show the same results that were discussed in the book. ||
 * Knowles Christina || This chapter focuses on teaching students with special needs. We are shown the paradiagram, which shows us the differences between viewing a student as deficient and viewing a student as special needs. With the Growth paradiagram a teacher assess the student and finds ways to help the student. The Deficient paradiagram is very different because it seems to try all the faults with the student, which can be very discouraging. We also learn that with the Growth diagram we are more likely to see people with learning disabilities succeed. || I am really happy that this chapter talked about students with learning disabilities because we are going to see students with them in the classroom. I also liked this chapter because I feel teachers label students with learning disabilities very quickly as not going to be able to succeed. This chapter shows us that as long as we assess students that everyone can succeed. ||
 * Mourkas Margaret || This chapter is titled MI and Special Education. At the beginning of the chapter it discusses and gives an excellent chart on the differences of using MI as a deficit program versus as a growth program. Special Education uses MI as a growth program. “Teachers and administrators need to serve as ‘MI strength detectives’ in the lives of students facing difficulties in school” (page 105). The chapter describes how a teacher can be more accommodating towards the special need student within their classroom. If done correctly the student’s IEP will reflect every part of his/her MI. This chapter also talks about the broad implication of MI theory for special education and the positive affects it can have. || No matter what classroom you walk into there is going to be someone in that classroom with a learning disability. It might not always be a serious one that requires that student to be enrolled in the special education program but it is important to know how to handle those kinds of situations. These students are people too and have every right to learn. Adjusting one’s teaching for just one student isn’t a good move but working with that student one and one later or during class could help benefit them immensely. ||
 * O'Neil Christopher || Chapter eleven discusses how to use the multiple intelligence theory with special education students. Each of the eight intelligences has its own disability. If a student is not succeeding due to limitations in a specific intelligence, then they can use their other intelligences to help the student succeed. One example that was given was of a student that was labeled as “reading-disabled.” The teachers taught the student Chinese characters instead of the English words. Because of this, the student became successful because he was using different symbols that portrayed words instead of the words themselves. Also, teachers have taught students with dyslexia Braille. These students have become much more successful with the use of Braille. More often than not, students that are having difficulties in learning certain things are being introduced to controlled doses of the thing that they are having difficulty with. These students will never succeed with that. Teachers need to instead, find a different way to teach the student the material. || This was another chapter that was filled with information. I never knew there were so many different ways that you could teach a special education student with the multiple intelligence theory. After reading this chapter, it makes much more sense as to why students have disabilities in certain areas. I am sure that if you took all the students that have a disability in math and taught them math using a different intelligence other than the logical one, they would become successful in math. Teachers need to start teaching to the different intelligences and not label a student as learning disabled because they are lacking that intelligence. ||
 * Richardson Cassandra || Chapter eleven focuses on special education and multiple intelligence theory. It is Armstrong’s belief that learning disabilities can occur in any of the eight (nine in some instances) intelligences, so why not implement the same teaching methods for those students as well? If the multiple intelligence theory is used in an effective manner in the classroom, there should be ways to teach the student that don’t include where the learning disability is. The example the chapter gave was the possibility of a student with dyslexia. The teacher chose not to keep giving the student reading assignments, but taught in Chinese characters instead, making the reading assignments into pictures that were assigned specific meaning. It is more important to identify and develop strengths and weaknesses in students over referring them to special education. || This chapter hit hard for me, because both of my brothers were treated like this; one has dyslexia, and the other has attention issues, and both of them were referred to special education without a thought, or even without help from their teacher. It wasn’t that these specific disabilities hindered them from learning; they both love to learn new things in the event that they can understand and grasp the material in their own ways, on their own terms and not being ‘forced’ to look at it one particular way. If the concept of multiple intelligence theory were applied to either of their situations, I think they would have been less frustrated with schoolwork and teachers that didn’t want to take the time and understand their situations. Reinforcing this idea, that teachers do make a difference, is crucial for us when approached with this kind of situation. ||
 * Trundy Monique || In chapter eleven Armstrong applies the MI theory to special education. Armstrong suggests using the MI theory as a “growth paradigm,” (pg. 103). Using the MI theory as a growth paradigm allows teachers to spend more time focusing on the strengths of a student instead of focusing on their deficit or disorder. Focusing on student strengths allows them to learn the same material in different ways such as the example given where children who learn in a spatial way were able to better understand the characters of Chinese than the verbal codes of English. Armstrong also argues that using all of the intelligences in the classroom will result in fewer referrals to special education, provide a different role for special education teachers, move emphasis on identifying strengths, raise self-esteem and help teachers better understand and appreciate their students. || We do not have to regard children with special needs primarily in terms of deficit, disorder and disease,” (pg. 103)

This is one of my favorite quotes from all the readings thus far. To me, there is nothing more discouraging and frustrating than a teacher who focuses mainly on the negative attributes of his/her students. What do we have to gain from pointing out only what students are doing wrong? Students need to know what they are doing right as well, but it’s important to remember that this cannot be overdone either. It is a very important balance to keep. Too much criticism and too little criticism both result in students not fully understanding the material. The only difference is that the students who receive too much criticism grow bitter and detached from school work and learning. Students are more than their deficit or disorder, and while it may be hard to find ways to teach certain students it is important that we at least give it a try and not focus on what they cannot do. || This chapter deals with how to use MI theory to challenge and help children with disabilities. The chapter opens by saying that MI theory helps to put a much broader spectrum on the idea of disabilities and handicaps. The chapter tells us that we should not view children with special needs in terms of “deficit”, “disorder”, or “disease”. If we use MI theory to help them, we can then focus on growth. The chapter tells us we should also try to figure out what our students are experiencing for special needs problems in order to help them succeed. The chapter gives the example of a child diagnosed with dyslexia being able to put their disability into context and focus on their strengths in order to flourish. This also helps avoid the IEP classes that the chapter speaks of. We read that often children with a reading disability, for example will be forced into an individual education program focusing on reading, which will cause them to fail even more because reading was the reason for them failing in the original classroom in the first place. This chapter also states that this new way of thinking about special education will help to change the role of the special education teacher. Instead of the special education teacher removing a special needs child and isolating them in a different classroom to help them develop skills, the special education teacher will become more of a guide or assistant to the MI teacher. This chapter was helpful at making me look at special education a different way, and to see how an MI teacher would use their abilities to focus on children’s strengths to help them grow and learn as apposed to isolating their weaknesses and focusing on those. Through out my high school career I always thought that special education was based on taking a child’s weakness and making that the focal point of their learning to try and make them improve their skills in that deficiency, after reading this I can picture the error in this method and hope that I was just mislead on how my school was actually helping to improve the lives of special needs children.
 * Webb Christopher || This chapter is about applying MI theory to special education. It explains how easily MI can be adatped into any special education program such as an IEP because it is all about having people utilize their strengths to learn more effectively. It discusses how we should not look at people with special needs as having disorders or deficits because we all have deficits somewhere, we need to target their strengths and focus on those instead. It gives exampels of people who have risen to prominence in their fields but suffered from some form of a learning disorder, like Agatha Christie who had dyslexia. It also gave examples of unique ways to teach students with special needs, such as using brail for people with dyslexia or having them learn chinese because the charaters are easier to read. || I liked this chapter a lot because I feel it was one of the most helpful we have read so far. A big fear of mine is having a child with a learning disability in my class and not being able to address his needs, I would feel like a failure, I would have let that child down. Through reading some of the exampels in this book it is a little clearer to me how I should approach any such child and it gave some good exampels of how to address some of the issues. ||
 * West Simon ||  ||