Chapter One: Multiple Intelligences

       Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is a tool every educator can benefit from learning about and using in their classroom. Through the reading, I learned many things about Gardner’s theory, such as the eight intelligences and properties of these intelligences. Each person does possess each of the eight intelligences and Gardner believes that a person can develop all eight at moderate or high functioning abilities. However, people usually develop one or two of the intelligences at a high rate, and the rest at lower rates.
       I believe this theory is important for all teachers to be aware of in the classroom because this directly links to how students learn, and student behavior. Satisfying multiple intelligences in the classroom can be a challenging thing to meet; however, I should keep them in mind when planning lessons, or units. To suit many of the intelligences I might incorporate music, videos, physical movements, group discussion, different texts, etc., to satisfy the needs of my students. By supplementing various activities to appease the eight different intelligences, I believe I can capture my students attention, while also teaching them the subject matter at hand. 

       Learning about the multiple intelligences theory, I have a better understanding of student behavior as well. For example, if I had a student who was strongly a bodily-kinesthetic learner, and was pacing around the class, or wouldn’t sit still, I could adjust the lesson to better suit his needs. I might suggest having the class get up to take a stretch, or have student get up and write their answers on the board. There are many different ways to use multiple intelligences in the classroom, and with a basic understanding, I can more easily fulfill of my students.

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