Chapter #6 DI/UbD

Chapter 6 of DI/UbD talks about the importance of responsive teaching in a differentiated classroom. In order to have responsive teaching students must understand the basics. Without learning the basics students will not be about to have deeper learning. Students will not be able to make connections to the larger picture. To really understand something the student has to see why they are learning the material. Teachers should not share knowledge with students but guide them to understand the knowledge. This will allow students to have the most learning possible. Guiding students will also allow them to uncover knowledge at their own rate. This allows all students to move forward. To do this a teacher can simply ask essential questions. To make all of this work together smoothly a teacher must be flexible. Being flexible allows you to throw out things that do not work and change things that might work. Flexibility allows for responsive teaching.

The class as a whole liked the metaphor used on page 89-90 about the jazz musician. This put into perspective what responsive teaching is, along with being flexible in both the curriculum and classroom. It was a consensuses that flexibility is very important to DI. We all felt that it was important to incorporate responsive teaching and the different aspects of it into our lessons.

DI/UbD Chapter # 7

A very important part a teacher as is "uncovering" material rather than simply going over it to say that it has been covered. Uncovering suggests that the material has been studied in depth and that the teacher guided students in the ways necessary for them to really be able to delve into the material and have it mean something, and also make the material lasting learning. While this certainly is not an easy task the W.H.E.R.E.T.O part of the backwards planning model can help ensure that this happens. This is an anagram that stands for Where,Why,What-Hook-Equip,Explore,Experience-Refine,Revise,Rehearse,Rethink-Evaluate
-Tailor-Organize. While this does help to diversify a lesson some of the steps are more challenging than others, one such step is the hook. Once a teacher has hooked students they must then face another challenge further down the WHERETO road. That challenge is tailoring the lesson. Once these hurdles have been cleared the rest of the WHERETO process is no problem at all.

The WHERETO model is helpful for many reasons the biggest being, it's versatility, it's straightforwardness, as well as it's ability to keep us as teachers focused. The genius in this is how easy it is to apply it to all lessons, and any subjects. As teachers we really don't have to worry about writing a lesson plan into a corner so to speak because we have the benefit of being able to know what step is next and we can figure out the flow from there. Also this model can easily be transposed into a daily agenda, and it helps us keep on track, and in a way lets students know what is expected of them for the day so it helps keep them on track as much as it is possible to do so. Lastly this method really can help prevent us from forgetting where we were going to go with a lesson plan because each step is a little mind jogger, so we will remember what needs to go there, and it will aid us in remembering what we had planned for that spot.

MI Chapter 6: MI and Teaching Strategies

Chapter six of Thomas Armstrong's Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom discusses teaching strategies for all of the intelligences. The chapter gives various ways of incorporating each intelligence by teaching lessons that involve them and different strategies that work. It is important to rotate and use every intelligence each day to ensure that all students are engaged and learning. For the linguistic intelligence, it is is recommended to use storytelling, brainstorming, tape recording, journal writing, and publishing. For logical intelligence you can use calculations, classifications, and scientific thinking. For spatial intelligences one could use visuals, color cues, and graphics. The bodily-kinesthetic intelligence can be catered to by using body answers, hands-on thinking, and body maps. For music, songs and discographies are useful. Interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences are addressed through group work or individual work.

Our class really enjoyed this chapter. It is exciting to think about using these strategies in our own classrooms. We all realize that we will be working with students who are very different and we needs to find ways to accommodate to their learning styles. Some of the discussions in this chapter brought up many fond memories of our favorite classes in high school. This goes to show that the MI Theory is effective, and teachers that use it are the ones who will make a lasting impression.


This is a video from the old cartoon Animaniacs. It is to help memorize the Presidents and important historical events.

Multiple Intelligences Chapter 5 MI and Curriculum Design

This chapter starts by giving a brief history of the theory of multiple intelligences. The theory can be traced back to Plato when he mentioned education as being something that people should find amusement in and not as being compulsive. Then the idea was further developed by Jean Jacques Rousseau in the 18th century. He said that learning should not be done with books but by experiences. This idea has continued though out history and just recently it has become stronger and is now being used in the classroom. A teacher that uses the theory of MI is very different than a traditional teacher. While a traditional teacher will stand in front of his class lecturing a teacher using the theory of MI will spend some time lecturing and writing on the board but he will also spend time catering to the other intelligences besides verbal. The chapter then went on to make a list of different ways of incorporating the different intelligences in your classroom. This list includes using Socratic questioning for logical, videos for spatial, field trips for kinesthetic, word games for linguistic, mood music for musical, peer teaching for interpersonal, and independent study for intrapersonal learners. The chapter then goes over a seven step process for creating a lesson based around the theory of multiple intelligences. Your first step is to think of the specific topic or objective you want to teach and write it in the center of a web. Next you are to ask yourself how you can incorporate the different intelligences into the lesson plan. Then you want to consider which of the methods you just brainstormed can be used in your class. After deciding which intelligences you are going to use you should brainstorm ideas of how to use them in your lesson. In this step you should write down everything that comes to mind and then go back and circle the activities that are the most appropriate. The last two steps are to design the lesson around the intelligence and activity you chose and to implement it.

Almost everyone who read this chapter commented that they liked the lists of ways to incorporate each intelligence into their classroom. Some people commented that they felt the book is getting repetitive and that they get it all ready, multiple intelligence is the way to go. People also commented on how they have had past teachers that brought in many of the different types of intelligences and how much better those teachers were at teaching than the teachers who stood in front of the class and lectured every class. Overall most people were positive about the chapter and found the list of ways to get the intelligences in the classroom to be very helpful.