Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom and More!

 Well, What Does the Textbook Say?

Chapter 7 was all about how to promote student learning! Although lectures are a common practice for teachers to use to deliver information to students, there are tons of other ways for students to learn! For example, teachers can practice cooperative learning, which involves a teacher picking small groups for students to work in to complete assignments or to help each other learn. A similar tactic is called collaborative learning, which is the same concept as cooperative learning, except these small groups are with randomly selected or selected by the students. Students typically learn really well from their peers, so these learning environments provide great ways for students to interact with each other to build up their academic and their social skills too! Another practice that teachers can implement in their classroom to modify their teaching to benefit the students is to recognize the multiple areas of intelligence and incorporate at least 2 into every lesson. There are 8 types of intelligence, which are as follows: word intelligence (acquiring information through language), math intelligence, picture intelligence (thinking in pictures, not words), music intelligence, body intelligence, people intelligence, self intelligence, and nature intelligence. By understanding which areas of intelligence your students thrive in, teachers can incorporate these areas in their classroom so that their students are more likely to perform well and retain information. 

Chapter 8 was all about how to encourage students to think creatively and critically, in addition to problem solving! The older students get, the more information we can expect them to remember, which also means that these students would be more apt to think critically about the information they digest. However, all students can apply their learning to problems or situations that are different than how they presented themselves when the information was first learned. For example, a common way that teachers encourage students to apply information is to apply what they learn in school to their own lives. In addition, students are frequently asked to analyze information, which means that they're encouraged to look for patterns so that they can make connections throughout the learning process. A common way to analyze information is to compare and contrast two concepts or events. As for a great way for students to apply what they learned, they can synthesize it by discovering an innovative way to use the information they acquired. This could mean producing artwork, writing, or any other medium where students can create a concept that's new and original that relates to the topic. This is great to improve divergent thinking, or creative thinking, which is when student can come up with more than one possible answer for a problem. The opposite of this is convergent thinking, or critical thinking, where there's only one answer to a question. 

Chapter 9 was all about technology and incorporating it in the classroom. Now more than ever, the Internet is a key factor in our daily lives. Making sure that it's utilized in the classroom is essential because not only is it a good learning tool, but students need to learn how to safely navigate the Internet and understand that it can be a place to learn new things, not just play games. When getting information from the Internet, students need to know to pick resources that are reliable and valid. They can do this by ensuring that the information they're finding is consistent from looking at multiple sources. This will ensure that the information is both reliable and valid. There are tons of websites that teacher can use to encourage their students to engage in learning about social studies. These websites can be used in activities for the students, such as WebQuest's, so that they can discover information about social studies on their own. This creates for a meaningful learning experience that students will gravitate towards. It's like their own Internet treasure hunt to try to figure valuable information related to the topic at hand. Although technology can be tricky at times, it's important that we as teachers keep up with the world our students are growing up in and learn how to appropriately utilize technology in the classroom when possible. 

Until Next Time!

I hope you enjoyed learning about these textbook chapters as much as I did! Stay tuned for the wrap-up of the semester, which is coming soon! Thank you for reading!! :)