 |  |
February 2010
Dear Friends,
How goes it? As I write, the new guidelines from the Department of Education are being unveiled. The Obama administration is proposing a budget with an additional $1 billion in funding for K-12 programs. According to the February 2 e-issue of Education Week, "The budget proposal doesn't give many specifics, but it does say that adequate yearly progress would be replaced by a new metric that 'gives a broader picture of school performance and looks at student growth and school progress.' That metric would measure student progress toward becoming ready for college or a career, according to the budget.'
 Wow! On one hand, I'm encouraged that this administration is taking a more encompassing approach to student achievement. I appreciate that they're looking at charter schools, teacher preparation, and teacher evaluation. I applaud that they're looking at a "broader picture of school performance," but I'm concerned that the definitions for success are still far too narrow. It's an odd disconnect, after all.
One can hardly pick up a book on school or society -- from The Global Achievement Gap to Nurture Shock, to A Whole New Mind, to Social Intelligence, to Five Minds for the Future -- without seeing that the 3R's are only the beginning. Success in life requires much more than proficiencies in those areas, important as they are. When will the political establishment recognize that we all possess multiple intelligences, and that those multiple intelligences can be used to learn? For that matter, when will the educational establishment understand this?
Thanks for reading this newsletter. I'd welcome your reactions and questions.
TOM
Thomas R. Hoerr, Ph.D.
Facilitator of the ASCD MI Network
Head of the New City School
trhoerr@newcityschool.org |
|
The goal of the ASCD MI Network is to learn from one another, and I'd like to hear from you. Please zap me an email if you have some MI ex periences to share with our readers.
Are you coming to the ASCD Annual Conference in San Antonio, March 6-8? If so, join me as I share some ideas about intelligences. Please come to my presentations:
- Using Multiple Intelligences Theory to Educate the Whole Child (the MI Network meeting), session 1147, room 202B of the Gonzales Convention Center, on Saturday, March 6, 8:00-9:30am .
- Developing the Distributed Intelligence, session 2253, room 203A of the Gonzales Convention Center, on Sunday, March 7, 1:15-2:45pm.
|
|
 |
|
 |
A message from Branton Shearer
|
|
 I am interested in talking with principals, head teachers, staff development coordinators and others who have dealt with the process of change when adopting a multiple intelligences curriculum or philosophy. I am putting together a collection of lesson plans, essays and interviews on the challenges and opportunities that schools must deal with as they move from "good theory" to actual MI implementation. This will be a follow up to my recently published book, MI AT 25, from Teachers College Press that includes essays from Howard Gardner, Noam Chomsky, Linda Darling-Hammond, Deborah Meier among others.
Please contact me, Branton Shearer, MI Research and Consulting, Inc., at sbranton@kent.edu.
|
|
We have two very different applications of MI. Mark Gordon writes about how the B-K (bodily-kinesthetic) intelligence can be used to help students learn to write. MI can be a powerful tool in helping students learn skills, and this is a good example. Then Phyllis Adcock shares how she uses MI in teacher preparation in Nebraska. This makes so much sense!
The photos that spice the syllables are from my school, the New City School in St. Louis, MO. You can see more about our use of MI at www.newcityschool.org. |
|
|
|
|
Using B-K to learn how to write
|
|
|
Evening the Educational Odds: Learning How to Write Well Kinesthetically
© 2010 by Mark Gordon
He relished being class clown. Even at nine years of age, Juan intuitively knew this role afforded him certain privileges: respect from his classmates and choice to finish assignments. But Juan didn't understand the cost. He was (mistakenly) being labeled "dumb."
After working with Juan for a few weeks, I was curious to see what he had learned. I tried to "stump" him. "Can you begin a sentence with a verb?"
He immediately responded, "Laugh until tomorrow." Two weeks previous, he couldn't recognize an adjective from an aardvark. But, by using kinesthetic activities, including "being" a Part of Speech, he accurately applied the concept.
 Learning kinesthetically is valuable teachi
| |
|