ERIC ED367600: Building a New Paradigm: A Staff Development Program That Is Seeking To Reach Each Child's Potential through Knowing and Using the Seven Intelligences.

14 Pages·1994·0.36 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 367 600
SP 035 012
AUTHOR
Cromwell, Ronald R.; Croskery, Beverly
Building a New Paradigm: A. Staff Development Program
TITLE
That Is Seeking To Reach Each Child's Potential
through Knowing and Using the Seven Intelligences.
PUB DATE
94
NOTE
14p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the
American Association of Colleges for Teacher
Education (Chicago, IL, February 16-19, 1994).
PUB TYPE
Speeches/Conference Papers (150)
Reports
Descriptive (141)
EDRS PRICE
MF01/PC91 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS
Curriculum Development; Educational Change;
Elementary Secondary Education; Experiential
Learning; Higher Education; *Inservice Teacher
Education; *Intelligence; Staff Development; *Student
Development; *Teaching Methods; *Theories
IDENTIFIERS
*Multiple Intelligences
ABSTRACT
Inservice training sessions were provided for
teachers from elementary to high school level on the topic of Howard
Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences and its application to
instruction and curriculum. In the training, participants experience,
plan, and reflect on the intelligences and their uses in their lives
and their classrooms. The training follows a four-step model
developed by David Lazear which involves awakening, amplifying,
teaching, and transferring intelligences. In awakening, the
intelligence is engaged; amplifying allows for that intelligence to
gain strength; teaching uses that intelligence to learn material; and
transferring helps enable the person to understand the intelligences
and how they might be utilized and integrated into daily learning and
activities. The training sessions have been rated very positively by
participants, and participants believed unanimously that the multiple
intelligences material would help them do a better job of teaching
and/or supervising staff. It is felt that making use of multiple
intelligences can help in restructuring classrooms into places where
everyone can have a higher degree of success. (JDD)
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A Staff Development
Building a New Paradigm:
Program That is Seeking to Reach Each Child's
Potential Through Knowing and Using the Seven
Intelligences.
BY
Dr. Ronald R. Cromwell
Director of Teacher Education
Marist College
Poughkeepsie, NY
Dr. Beverly Croskery
Director of Elementary Education and Special Projecs
Northwest Local Schools
/
Cincinnati, OH
;
Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association
of Colleges for Teacher Education (Chicago, Ill iois, Mebruary 16-19, 1994)
AVAILABLE
BEST COPY
2
1
often giving up
Jonathan struggled with the material,
Yet, when recess began,
and staring out the window.
He negotiated
leader.
Jonathan proved himself to be a
and seemed to be
settlements, avoided extended conflict,
Yet the teacher diemanded
the glue holding teams together.
in a special claAss.
that he should be tested and placed
and
Sheliah came to school every day with drawings
She rarely did
loved to share them with her classmates.
The teacher wanted her in a
any written homework.
remedial class for language development.
part
These are two isolated cases that did not become
But like those
of the statistics in education.
In a
statistics, they represent a crisis in education.
quoted
:7ecent story, Primetime, the ABC-TV news magazine,
in a
that the education system was
a teacher as stating
of
He was referring to the state
"Meltdawn."(1992)
3
2
This
U.S.
education in most of the schools in the
involved in
situation is not news for those of us
That includes almost every person in the
education.
From different perspectives we have come
United States.
students failing to learn.
to understand the horror of
this article have come
From that vantage the authors of
in reaching for
together and have begun to see an answer
The
and learner.
the fullest learning for each student
theories and ideas but at
answer weaves together various
Further,
learn.
the center it holds that each person can
strengths will
it holds that using his/her individual
Most Importantly, those
enable that learning to occur.
strengths are developed in a combination of learning and
thinking styles best represented in the
multi-intelligences theory of Howard Gardner(1983)
together with the practical work of David
Lazear.(1991,1991b)
With these beliefs as a foundation there does seem to
In this article we describe our journey and some
be hope.
of the practices which came to be part of our training
seminars. We will review the history and describe the
ion we will discuss the future
In the last se(
training.
of this training program and present our hopes to validate
its effectiveness.
4
3
The History
workshop in
In the summer of 1991 we met at a
for the
Vancouver, B.C., entitled, "Preparing the Learner
Both of us had chosen the sessions which
Year 2000."
focused on the use of multiple intelligences to more
We discovered we lived
effectively teach our students.
and worked relatively close to one another and were both
excited about the possibilities of the use of multiple
intelligence theory to better equip teachers to work with
We parted from that workshop agreeing to get in
students.
tauch with one another if we found opportunities when we
might work together.
Through a Chapter 2 Grant, Northwest Local Schools has
established a very effective after school inservice
More
The focus is on improving instruction.
program.
than 125 of the teachers and administrators have received
training in the Madeline Hunter model (Mastery Teaching)
These classes have been on a
during the past two years.
Last
voluntary basis for the Northwest teaching staff.
in the
year Math Strategies was added to meet standards
Ohio Math Model, and Cooperative Learning was added
because so many teachers expressed in.'serest in this
strategy.
When Beverly returned from Vancouver, she was so
enthusiastic about multiple intelligences that an interest
to the
survey was taken. Subsequently this area was added
Because a more select group was
Chapter 2 proposal.
5
4,
the material,
desired for a first attempt at teaching
for the class.
Mastery Teaching became a pre-requisite
teachers and
When material was sent to these
interest In
administrators, 25 of them indicated an
enrolling.
and agreed to join
At this point, Ron was contacted
There were 17 teachers
Beverly in teaching this class.
Sixteen of them
and administrators at our first session.
The composition of the class
finished the 6 week course.
There were 6 high school teachers,
was quite varied.
cosmetology and
(English, math, music, foreign language,
(kindergarten,
industrial arts), 6 elementary teachers,
Learning
third grade, fifth grade, art, music, and
school
Disabled), one middle school principal, the middle
intermediate
supervisor, the gifted supervisor, and the
supervisor.
Haward Gardner has given Us an innovative,
David Lazear,
provocative, and powerful theory to digest.
theory on a more
among others, has presented this
practical level making it more useful and, therefore,
While
effective in the hands of the classroom teacher.
Rita Dunn
there are similarities to the Learning Styles of
(1982) and to the Style Delineator of Anthony Gregorc
clearer and
(1982), the application to the classroom seems
With the hope that we could provide
more practical.
training that builds on the strengths of the participants
of the
and gives them a practical experience with the use
6
5
began the training at
multiple :learning style theory, we
Northwest School District.
Description of the training
introduced by
The theory of Multiple Intelligences was
Through his research in Project
Howard Gardner(1983).
of identifying and
Zero at Harvard University, new ways
No longer
emerged.
understanding human intelligence have
be enhanced and
considered a fixed state, intelligence can
taught
Not only can it change, it can also be
amplified.
There is not just one way to be smart.
to others.
which occurs in
Rather, intelligence is a multiple reality
While the
different parts of the brain/mind system.
is one.
intellect is pluralistic, at some level, it
will in some
Improvement in any of the areas of the brain
The theory breaks through the wall
way effect the others.
of
and sees each person with an unique combination
The
intelligences which makes that person uniquely smart.
question now becomes, as state on Frimetime(1992), "Not,
smart?"
are you smart, but how are you
work
Based on the work of Gardner and especially the
grounded our
and experience with David Lazear(1991), we
and
work with this theory in curriculum and instruction
The
in the classroom.
upon our own wealth of experiences
of
training gives an overview and some theory about each
7
6
The key, however, is that
the identified intelligences.
and asks the participants to
it is also very experiential
reflect on those experiences.
idi7rtified so far in
There are seven intelligences
They include Verbal/Linguistic, which
Gardner's research.
of both oral and written
is responsible for production
associated with scientific
language; Logical/Mathematical,
These are the
thinking and inductive thought processes.
They are joined
in schools.
two most commonly recognized
visual arts,
Visual /Spatial, which deals with
by:
knowinu how to get
architecture, and the use of space and
the body
around it; Body/Kinesthetic, the ability to use
create a new product;
to express emotion, play a game, or
of rhythmic
Musical/Rhythmic, which includes recognition
sounds from
and tonal patterns and sensitivity to
instruments:
environment, the human voice, and musical
Interpersonal, which involves the ability to work
cooperatively and to communicate effectively with others;
Intrapersonal, which is the knowledge of self, enabling
emotional responses and
one to look internally at
metacognition with a sense of self reflection and
Each intelligence is a way co! knowing and
intuition.
The
learning can occur through each of these vehicles.
goal is to honor each and use all for the learning at
hand.
Making use of these multiple intelligences can help us
in restructuring our classrooms into places where everyone
7
imagined. It
degree of success than ever
can have a higher
and develop there unique
enables the learner to understand
and this empowers that person with
way of understanding
This theory can help
enthusiasm.
greater self esteem and
and weak
each of us build upon both our strong
happy and productive
intelligences to become a more whole,
Lazear(1991, 1991b), a pioneer in the
human being.
, uses
Theory
application of Multiple Intelligences
transferring
awakening, amplifying, teaching and
and use each
intelligences as a four step model to create
In awakening the intelligence is
of these intelligences.
intelligence to gain
engaged, amplifying allows for that
learn
strength, teaching uses that intelligence to
the person to
material and transferring helps enable
might be
understand the intelligences and how they
and
utilized and integrated into daily learning
this
The training program we use follows
activities.
model.
been asked to
We have expanded the training and have
However, in whatever various
do more than the original.
participants and
form or process we use, we meet with the
The key, then, is that
give an overview of the theory.
which explore
there are many activities and experiences
We have found more positive
each of the intelligences.
least a
reactions when this is done over time, allowing at
In any
week between each experience and intelligence.
using, experiencing,
case, we have the participants
8
intelligences and their
planning and reflecting on the
For the pant two
their classroom.
uses in their lives and
the multiple intelligences
years we have been sharing
teachers and
theory and application with the
in Cincinnati,
administrators at Northwest Local Schools
We have been invited to
and with other school systems.
feedback has been very
other areas as well and the general
positive.
The future
The classes received overwhelming positive
it "was
96.8% of the original group stated
evaluations.
It was the highest rated
very positive training session."
School District
staff development program in the Northwest
stating
in several years with 100% of the participants
We heard
that it had practical applications for them.
comments such as: "This was one of the best staff
ideas
development classes. I really think I can use these
in my classroom."
Northwest
As reflected in the final evaluations of the
the
sessions, the participants believed unanimously that
multiple intelligences material would help them do a
The L.D.
better job of teaching and/or supervising staff.
with
teacher shared some of her successes in practicing
The high school English teacher
her special students.
1 0