Practical application

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

This has all been very fun (for me at least), but in terms of teaching, what can you do with it?

First, have you figured out the gibberish further below? This is a playful way to stimulate learners who are strong in linguisitic abilities. For avid (and perhaps older) readers, the clue may have stimulated the idea to go back to the gibberish with a mirror. The audio version gives you the answer- in more ways than one, focussing on listening for the auditive learning types, but with an offer of the written version. Here too, there was a hidden activity - scanning a text for specific information.

Although I didn't give a specific task, I may have sparked an interest in you, the reader, to discover what was behind the last few posts. In a eaching situation the input can be exploited by analysing the language. What kinds of words are they? How can you know whether they are nouns, adjectives or verbs? This kind of analysis can provoka a deeper understanding for the language system in a fun way.

Of course, a blog, the web and using a computer are very practical resources for the 'word smart' and the ideas are endless using the given technology. However, the key idea is to stimulate! I hope you have a few ideas of how to do this. Further ideas are to share books or poems on a blog and comment on the contributions. Tell each other your favorite story, either in writing or as an audio post. Write a joint story. Feel free to add other ideas.

The Jabberwocky

This is for the auditive types out there. However, if you feel more comfortable with reading the text, you can find it here, though you will have to search through the text to find this particular section. Very good for scanning skills!

I have taken it all from the Gutenberg project.

Now look back at the strange text I left for you a few posts down. Any ideas what it could mean and why it looks the way it does?

A hint

You like poetry?

'Ye-es. pretty well -- SOME poetry,' Alice said doubtfully. 'Would you tell me which road leads out of the wood?'

YKCOWREBBAJ
sevot yhtils eht dna ,gillirb sawT`
ebaw eht ni elbmig dna eryg diD
,sevogorob eht erew ysmim llA
.ebargtuo shtar emom eht dann

Word smart - linguistic intelligence

So here we start with the different intelligences. I have chosen to begin with the linguistic intelligence because it is the one which I think most people will relate to. In the OET course we have to be quite word smart and many of us are indeed language teachers. You may be interested in a description of linguisitc intelligences .
Or perhaps a list of the criteria which a word smart person may at least partly fulfil. Or maybe you'd like to begin with a simple test to find out how developed your intelligences are. There are also tips for teachers, including how to use technology! And finally I offer you here a further link to a teacher's site with further links to sites which focus on enhancing and developing this intelligence. Before we go on a little trip through Wonderland, I just want to touch on the topic of the learning types. Some poeple learn better through visuals (did you notice all those pictures I've been adding? ;-) Some poeple need bodil movement - hmm. While others take things in by listening. I will attempt to encorporate these learning types throughout. Although the kinesthetic aspect will be focused on under body smart.
But, enough of words, words, words. It's time for a bit of play!!!!

Why teach for the MI's?

Before looking at the how, we should first look at the why of teaching for multiple intelligences.

By teaching for different intelligences it is possible to reach more people through more channels.
This is similar to teaching for different learning styles, mainly the following three are taken into consideration when referring to the different styles: auditive learning, visual learning and kinesthetic learning; however there are more. The different learning styles are automatically putto use when teaching for different intelligences.
These have long been used for learning disabled to enhance their learning, especially where one or more intelligences are underdeveloped, but the general learning community, including younger learners and language learners, have also discovered and use the knowledge and principle connected with MI. For an example- with intelligence test, see Ldpride.net

One final point that should be mentioned before moving on is that the idea is to integrate as many intelligences as possible at any given time, thus catering for all learners and training weaker intelligences as well as profitting from the strong ones.

Although I will go through each intelligence individually in the proceding sections, I am only isolating them to be able to analyse them and if and how each can be catered for in online teaching.

The next sections will be with activities and I hope you will join in and comment on your own experiences and thoughts :-)

The MIs

The multiple intelligences were first introduced and described by Howard Gardner in 1983. The idea is that in common IQ tests only the linguistic and logical-mathmatical intelligences are tested, but there are others which are just as relevant. He first identified 7 different intelligences and later added two more. Further ones have been under consideration but been denied on the basis of ethical issues. For Gardner’s own description of the intelligences in a paper authored by himself, see Howard Gardner

The first seven intelligences are often referred to as how to be smart. they are as follows:

word smart - linguistic intelligence showing a strong sensativity towards words

picture smart - spatial intelligence reflected in the abilty to see pictures in one’s mind or accurately depict pictures

logic smart - logical-mathmatical intelligence found in the abiltity to understand maths and complex logical systems

music smart - shown in the ability to understand and (re-)produce music

body smart - kinesthetic intelligence using the body skillfully to achieve a purpose or to express oneself

people smart - interpersonal intelligence related to communicating with others and ‘putting yourself in their shoes’

self-smart - intrapersonal intelligence of understanding one’s self and emotions

Further two intelligences have been accepted into the ranks:

Nature smart - naturalist intelligence used for identifying and classifying

Existence smart - the most recent one with an esoteric touch which is the ability to put oneself into the larger ’scheme of things’

There are so many sites and quite a few test on the web to find your strong intelligences - too many to be listed here, but a simple google of ‘multiple intelligences’ will be enough to find material to wander through for days.

Aim of this blog

My motivation for this blog is to collect ideas, information and maybe even a bit of help in writing my final paper for the OET course. The topic I’ve chosen (for the time being at any rate) is the multiple intelligences and how and if they can be taught for in online teaching. There will be different tasks for each intelligence and I hope some of you readers will feel inspired to try them out and comment on how they went. New entries will be posted regularly (at least once a week) for the next month or so, so keep this blog aggragated ;-)