FIAE - Ch. 11, 12, 13, 14

Grades seem to be at the top of the totem pole when it comes to secondary education. Whether it's how we come to the number or letter, record the number or letter, or how we choose to portray that grade on the report card, they seem to be of incredibly high importance. Grades are meant to show a level of mastery of a certain subject or aspect of school, and although many have been using the same general A, B, C etc. spectrum for years, the real meaning of the grades have begun to get lost in translation from teacher to parent to student.

With the competitive nature of today's society, in particular in the collegiate domain, parent's (and often students) appear to care more about what grade is stamped on a piece of paper than exactly how much learning was done or information attained. When the point of school is to be a mark on a resume instead of a place of genuine understanding and broadening minds, then you know there's a problem with the way we're doing things. But how do we change this? The chapters offered a few thoughts and ideas on this.

Firstly there's the grades themselves. One issue discussed is how to handle a non-completed assignment. The book suggests that instead of recording a zero, that we put in 60 because it gives a truer sense of the level of understanding the student achieved. For instance, say a student had two homework assignments on the same couple of general ideas, and while they forget to complete one, they get a 99 on the other sheet. So, if you average the 99 and a 0 together you get about a 50. But does the student really having a failure to understand the subject of the homework? No. And while some will argue that students will simply decide not to do ANY work if they'll always get some sort of score, the book says this isn't so, as what is the point in bragging that you failed something?

Then there's the actual grading scale. Some states consider an 80 an A, while others consider it a B- or even a C+. But this isn't the only inconsistency. As from teacher to teacher expectations differ, kids become unsure of what an "A" paper really truly looks like.  It's suggested that a 4-point scale might actually lead to more consistency, but because that's not the "traditional way" it's not certain if this will truly ever take over.

There are many ways to keep a grade book, but the most important thing that this document can do, is give a clear answer as to what your students are succeeding or struggling in. If we keep comments alongside grades we would be able to use them to determine a final overall grade as well as put the sentiments on report cards. If parents and students can see from our comments what exactly a student achieved or needs to work on, they have a fuller understanding of the grade and are less likely to question or try to fight it.

FIAE — Ch. 7, 8, 9, 10

The nature of grades is certainly a complex one. One of the largest debates in this sector comes from the question of what are we grading when we stamp an A, B, C, D, or F on a report card? Some teachers say that we should grade students as though it is their job, which means taking into account attitude and attendance along with quality of work. Unlike a job, some teachers say you should consider whether a student has truly tried to master the material, and that if they have, they should be rewarded with a higher grade. There are also teachers who believe that the only thing that a report card grade should show is how a student did on the assessments.

The idea which most appeals to me is one in which you grade based on assessment, but have a separate grade for the behavioral aspects. I see the flaws in the single-grading system, but I also believe that whether or not a student tried on an assessment is important as well. I know that in the "real world" it doesn't matter if you "tried" if the product is bad, but as the book continues to remind me, I am working with adults-in-the-making (or as they put it "morphing", which just sounded a bit gross to be honest), who are not yet fully-developed grown-up.

Something else to consider is the fact that what is an "A" to one teacher, isn't necessarily an "A" to another. Some teachers see an "A" as having gone above and beyond, while others may see it as simply meeting all of the criteria addressed. This inconsistency leaves students at a loss; often they must interpret grades themselves. This is why putting comments on grade reports would serve a positive purpose, so students and their parents understand why they were given the grade they received.

What if a student wants to improve a grade with a re-do? I personally think re-dos are appropriate, especially because if a student asks for it— this shows initiative from them to improve themselves. But there are definitely some rules. First, be clear on when it is okay to redo things and when it is not. Second, make sure that you offer the re-do to all students no matter what grade they achieved. And third, instead of doing a grade penalty, consider having students explain why they got an answer incorrect, they must attend a review session, or say that they must stay after school, so that people who don't actually care about their grades simply won't put in the effort, while those that do, will be given the chance.

Some schools are doing away with grades all together, and you know what? It's great. Students are less stressed, and are more focused on truly learning instead of earning a grade on a report card. The students who are given graded report cards are struggling in comparison. On page 94 Alfie Kohn says: "To read the available research on grading is to notice three robust findings: students who are given grades, or for whom grades are made particularly salient, tend to (1) display less interest in what they are doing, (2) fare worse on meaningful measures of learning, and (3) avoid more difficult tasks when given the opportunity— as compared with those in non-graded comparison group."

UbD Ch.8, Mi Ch. 8, 11, 12

MI Theory as used in special education shares many of the same perspectives of "best practice" rules for general education. The idea of focusing on what one does best and cultivating it, instead of concentrating on a struggle, has been a philosophy of special education departments for years, who even have developed an almost new vocabulary to be more encouraging with their students.  Something to realize about these special needs students is that while it's true they have different needs from some of their peers, this doesn't mean that they don't still possess many of those same eight intelligences we've been reading about. In fact, a list of high-achieving people facing personal challenges includes Edgar Allen Poe, Agatha Christie, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Thomas Edison, Ludwig van Beethoven and many others. If they had been put into an environment that didn't encourage their special talents, they may never have cultivated them. Yet, it seems like in many classrooms we DON'T cultivate all of these proclivities and talents because we're so focused on teaching "to the test" and such. This statement is even more true when it comes to special education, if we don't allow these students to try new experiences and let them do things things that interest them, we are doing them a great disservice. What if Agatha Christie had been in a classroom where she was never allowed to write freely because her teachers or parents didn't think her learning disability would allow it? Think of the great British novels we wouldn't have.

Teachers can be discouraging to students in other ways as well, including their style of grading. It's suggested that perhaps we as teachers shouldn't be grading students on so many things, and putting it behind one letter. Teachers will normally take into consideration grades on tests and homework, behavior, amount of improvement, etc. and squash all of that information into one grade. So really, a student could be doing perfectly on his tests and papers, but because he hasn't "improved" or simply doesn't have a great attitude, his entire grade for the class suffers. The argument is that these things are not truly cumulative, and are so different that putting them together doesn't make much sense. The suggestion stands that perhaps separate grades for separate things would be more appropriate. Yes, it's important for students to have a good work ethic, but is that one the same level as how highly they score on a test? In my opinion, I believe in the "one score fits all" theory, but this is probably because I was always that kid who could get by if they at least showed they were trying. I once wrote a song about radian circles on my ukulele for class and got 3 extra points on my final grade, because the teacher saw I was trying so hard to understand, and that I was putting time into this class. I put a very high value on trying, and while I will never put it as high as the actual academic grade earned, it will always be a consideration.

MI Ch. 7, 9, 13, and 14

 Multiple intelligences shouldn't just be catered to through the curriculum, making your classroom MI friendly is also a great step towards helping kids learn better and feel more comfortable. One of the ideas which most interested me, was to have four centers in your room of activity centers. The activity centers are either permanently or temporarily (changing, unchanging) time-based, or open-ended or topic-specific in subject. By mixing the two kinds subjects and time-based permanency, you have lots of options, and not only will students have options that they can depend on to be unchanging and which they are used to,  they will also be stimulated with new things as well. The idea is to put each of these sections in the four corners of your room, but depending on the size or style of your classroom this may prove difficult. I personally think this is more appropriate for younger classrooms than the ones I plan to teach in.

The whole school can also help accommodate these intelligences. Schoolwide themes are suggested as a way to encourage schools to do something fun for the kids, while also giving teachers ideas to plan new projects around to incorporate the theme. There is also the idea of having mixed-aged grouping, which can give students the ability to work with people at various education levels from them. Another idea is of a whole room devoted to the intelligences, featuring games and activities  called a "flow room", which can help students develop their lesser-used or lesser-attuned intelligences in a stress-free environment, or simply continue to strengthen their other ones.

A few different staff positions are also something to consider. An assessment specialist is suggested, along with a student-curriculum and school-community broker. The assessment specialist would be in charge of creating a sort of portfolio or record of sorts that tracks every student's strengths, limitations, and interests in all eight intelligences. This information is made available to, and can be helpful to, the students, future and current teachers, as well as the student's parents. (We have to be careful not to stress too much importance on these though, as we don't want kids to stifle one intelligence and not work on it, simply because they're currently "limited" in that intelligence.) The brokers jobs would be to serve as bridges, the first between students gifts or abilities and the available resources the school has to offer. Basically, they make sure if the school have a tool a student can use to learn more deeply, that it's offered to them or they're aware of it's existence. School-community brokers are the link between student's intelligences and what the community around them has to offer.

Some things that you may not immediately associate with MI theory include computer technology, career counseling and cultural diversity. All of these things can be added to your curriculum and used as a means to implement the eight intelligences. When it comes to cultural diversity, there is something to be careful of, involving the possible ninth intelligence. While spirituality (the ninth possible intelligence) can be integrated through your curriculum, it's often not done because of cultural differences and hence religious differences between students. Because I don't want to offend anyone, I will try to keep my use of religion minimal or fact-based if possible.

Chapters 6, 7 UbD/DI and Chapters 5, 6 MI

Chapter 6 of UbD discussed responsive teaching in academically diverse classrooms. A list of core beliefs about curriculum and diverse student populations stresses that students need opportunity to learn and apply the "basics" of a subject, they should consistently experience curricula that causes them to think at high levels and make meaning of information, students need to know and understand the learning goals of a unit or lesson, and students should be given a balance between student construction and teacher guidance. One of the final things this chapter stresses is to not repeat what we may have seen in past classrooms, just because your teacher from fifth grade did something, does not mean it was necessarily the "right" way to do it. We are more likely to repeat the making of less-flexible learning environments if we were taught in one. I'm lucky in that I've always been in pretty flexible learning environments, which I plan to mirror in my own classroom.

Some of the most important points from UbD chapter 7 included a reminder that the "ladder" model is flawed. Just because you have a student who hasn't mastered the beginning parts of a concept doesn't mean that you shouldn't at least introduce them to, or even just let them know that of the existence of larger concepts. If a student is forever stuck in the remedial, easy, skimming surface projects and worksheets so they can master the opening information, they will never see just how interesting and complex a subject can be.

Another idea this chapter discussed was bringing up lots of questions to keep conversations about subjects going and interesting. It keeps kids thinking. This idea is at the roots of Socratic Seminars, which is a kind of instruction I would like to use with my students.

The 5th chapter of MI discussed multiple ways to bring MI into the classroom and cater to all intelligences. One of the things it talked about was that a good MI teacher will help students use all of their intelligences, not strictly the ones they're "best" at— the teacher accomplishes this by switching between intelligence-based instructions throughout the lesson by simply moving differently, writing on the board, playing a video, and having the students move or manipulate something with their own hands. It's all part of the same lesson, just different facets. I think MI can sound daunting, but if I look at it as just differentiating and not doing the same thing over and over again, then I think it will be easier for me to teach in this style in the future.

Chapter 6 of MI suggests that linguistic intelligence is the easiest intelligence to bring into the classroom, as it's always been such a staple in schools. Despite it being easiest, the chapter gives it the same four examples of use in the classroom as the other eight intelligences. The book points out when a program or project hits multiple intelligences as well. Though I think it may take a bit more time set aside for planning, I want to try to hit multiple intelligences with single activities whenever possible.

Multiple Intellegences in the Classroom — Ch. 10: MI Theory and Assessment

This chapter begins explaining that it simply wouldn't make any sense to teach a curriculum through all eight intelligences and then give a test rooted only in only one intelligence. But this is so often what happens. With all good intent a teacher teaches through various ways and it's great, but when it comes time to test they'll often learn toward linguistic or logical-mathematical skills.

But are tests really that great anyway? It seems that things such as portfolios are a better gauge of how a student is doing overall. Ways to document student performances include: Anecdotal records, work samples, audio files, video, photographs, student journals, student-kept charts, sociograms, informal assessments, informal use of standardized tests, student interviews, criterion-referenced assessments, checklists and calendar records. Collecting these things ensures authentic assessment instead of the standardized testing which seems to focus largely on what a student cannot do instead of what they can.

Some projects may seem geared more specifically to one kind of intelligence, but with just a few words (build a, write a, write a song about, etc.) a project can have a completely new context and reach kids it was unable to reach previously. This returns to the idea of "changing the verb" which is something I hope to implement in my future tests and projects, so that they're not constantly being asked to only "explain". As long as students are all achieving a similar understanding of a subject and reaching the goals set out for them, the path they use to get there can be as different as they like.

MI Portfolios are a great way to show all that a student has done, and can be set up in most any way which best fits the situation. That said, the "Five C's of Portfolio Development" should be present. These include: Celebration, Cognition, Communication, Cooperation, and Competency. To quote page 147, "Ultimately, MI theory provides an assessment framework within which students can have their rich and complex lives acknowledged, celebrated, and nurtured."

FIAE — Ch. 6: Creating Good Test Questions

There are quite a few ways to go about writing a set of good test questions, but in order to do so, you have to keep a lot of things in mind. For instance: What information do you want to glean from their answers? Are the questions clear enough? Is this the best format for these kind of questions? There's a lot to it, and this chapter offered a few ways to improve your style of test-making.

One way to keep students concentrated and not bored to death during your test is to vary the kinds of questions or prompts you're using. This will keep them on their toes mentally, as well as allow you to see that they understand what is being tested from all angles. It is important also that you avoid confusing the students. Using negatives in a question can sometimes confuse younger students, so it's best to always write the questions in the positive format. If you do wish to use the negative, consider bolding it or something similar to ensure that they're truly answering the question, because if they get it wrong due to a reading error, you're not really testing for understanding the content at all, are you? Make your prompts and questions clear. Timed tests can cause stress and skew your data, keeping a test shorter will allow students to focus more easily as it's for a shorter amount of time. Teir questions as warranted, but also try to put a little fun into the questions, as this returns again to the idea of keeping kids on their toes, always guessing. I think all of these are great ideas, and that I will use them in my future tests so that taking them doesn't become monotonous. One example I saw discussed putting students in sentences from the tests doing odd things like buying yachts or 100 watermelons, and when I mentioned this idea to my roommate she reminded me that people love to hear / see their names, and seeing their fellow peers in silly circumstances could be funny.

FIAE — Ch. 5: Tiering Assignments

Tiering an assignment means to start less complicated or smaller, and gradually assign a task or question made more difficult or larger. You may decide to use a teiring model to plan what you will be teaching in a lesson to students who are on-grade-level, below it, or above it. If you choose to do this, it is best to begin with the on-grade-level students curriculum, because starting higher or lower than that can skew how you view the on-grade-level assignments, causing you to expect too much or too little.

Other forms of differentiating and tiering tools include: Tomlinson's Equalizer (a set of coupled words which can lead you to decide where your lesson falls between them, and if that needs to be changed), Learning Contracts (a contract signed by both teacher and student (and sometimes parent) when the current curriculum isn't working for the student. The contract states that a student will finish certain tasks by a set time or return to the planned curriculum), Learning Menus (a list of options to choose from to complete a project or check for understanding), Tic-Tac-Toe Boards, Cubing, RAFT(S) (other option-based game-like tools), Summarization Pyramid (a structure to answer questions or perform tasks in), and Frank William's Taxonomy of Creativity (achieving "Fluency", "Flexibility", "Originality", "Elaboration", "Risk-Taking", "Complexity", "Curiosity", and "Imagination")

One of my favorite parts of the chapter was where it explained how to "change the verb". An example on page 71was taking the original task of asking "What's a mantissa?" And replacing it with the more elaborate, "Interview the mantissa of a logarithm (the decimal/fraction part) about its role in a logarithm." By making the task sound more dynamic, students will be more interested in exploring the answers and will be more likely to challenge themselves creatively with their replies. As a student I always responded better to these and saw them as creative challenges, so I will also try to change my verbs to light a fire under my students.

FIAE — Ch. 4: Three Important Types of Assessment

Chapter 4 focused on what they call "three important types of assessment", which includes: portfolios, rubrics, and student self-assessment. On page 43 the text explains: "With portfolios, teachers can collect and examine work over time. Because of portfolios' longitudinal nature and the big picture they provide of students' development, teachers don't have to make as many inferences about students' mastery based on single samplings. As a result, interpretations of students' mastery are more valid, and subsequent decisions we make are more effective." But teachers aren't the only ones who find portfolios useful to reflect on  student progress, it helps students to get a clearer picture as well.

Students will also have a better idea of their progress and work if you have student self-assessments. An often used technique is to have students fill out a self-assessment right before passing in a project, and then having the teacher grade alongside it. Sometimes seeing what a student truly feels about his work can help you see if they feel like they're trying (or not). If I feel there's a consistent problem with students performances, I will implement this assessment to get a better understanding of the students feelings toward their work.

The final type of assessment discussed is the "rubric", which is basically a guideline of what you are looking for in a project. On page 45, it says that "teachers need to examine their rubrics in terms of: content, clarity, practicality, and technical quality/fairness." Sometimes teachers will give a clear picture of what would earn a student the highest grade possible, but then are a little more vague for the lower scores explanations. The reason for this is if they see the higher goal and nothing else; they are focused on the best, and won't strive for mediocrity, as they might if lower expectations were outlined.

UbD - Ch. 5: Considering Evidence of Learning in Diverse Classrooms

How do we know if a student has actually learned the material we taught (or which we think we taught) in class? Well the first step is in realizing that knowing about a subject and understanding it are two very different things. As it is described on page 65 "Knowledge is binary— you either know something or you don't." Knowing can be determined through true or false quizzes, but understanding would involve a student having to deeply think about a question or concept, and often would find it easier to write out their view and explain the varying parts of their thoughts. Knowledge is great, but understanding is where we should be going as teachers.

Albert Einstein said "You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother." So how do we know when a student truly understands? Well, you see if they have met the six facets of understanding. Firstly, can they explain their ideas and reasonings? Can they interpret the subject and translate to someone else? Can they apply it in diverse contexts? Can they use different perspectives or explain their own? Can they display empathy, finding value in the subject? And lastly, do they have self-knowledge, meaning they can perceive and break-down the way they view things?

So, if your student has done all of these things, time to shower them with praise right? Wrong. Though praise when deserved is great, remember that they'll take you more seriously if you offer suggestions and criticism alongside the praise. Try to make the praise more specific than "good job", listing examples and pointing out aspects of the project which you felt they did well with. Students have been shown to take their projects more seriously if they feel they have something to work on, and can identify it.

FIAE: Ch. 3: Principles of Successful Assessment in the Differentiated Classroom

A large part of a differentiated curriculum's success can come from it's use of assessments. The first is the "pre-assessment", which gauges students understanding before the lesson or subject has been taught. Pre-assessments are so influential on where your curriculum will go, that many teachers won't plan the first few lessons of a unit until the pre-assessments have been completed and analyzed. Then there's the "formative assessment" which can serve as a sort of "en-route checkpoint" as it is put on page 27, so that you can see what is and isn't being absorbed while you still have the time to fix it. Finally is the "summative assessment" which is given at the end of a unit to see if they've met the goals set by the teacher. The assessments help understand your students learning as well as provide an opportunity for feedback during the curriculum, which has been shown to improve student performance.

On page 22 the book discussed the idea that if a student's assignment is not clear and precise that he or she may be more likely to put it off for fear of spending too much time on something that they're not even sure that they're doing correctly. So instead of saying "Study this chapter", saying something like, "Make flashcards of the vocabulary in this chapter," may actually be more helpful to them. Just as a student is less likely to attempt something if they don't fully understand it, I'm less likely to implement new ideas (such as differentiated curriculum) if I don't have a firm understanding of it. Some suggested ways to cope with this include talking to a mentor teacher about the idea or problem, reading a professional journal on the subject, and reflecting on my own in quiet.

FIAE - Ch. 2: Mastery

There is a difference between truly understanding a subject and being able to rattle off facts on it. When one can explain, interpret, apply, have perspective, emphasize, and display self-knowledge concerning a subject area's event or idea, then they have truly "mastered" the understanding of the subject. For example, an example of mastery as compared to non-mastery is listed on page 13: Mastery: "The student uses a variety of basketball passes during a game, depending on the most advantageous strategy at each moment in the game. Non Mastery: The student uses primarily the bounce pass in the basketball game regardless of its potential effectiveness because that's all he knows how to do." What if the kid who only did the bounce pass won the game, but so did the student who used the most "advantageous strategy"? Does that mean that the bounce-driven student was just as good as the one who used multiple passes? No, it just means that some dumb-luck may have been involved.

What's the best way to determine whether a student has mastered a skill? Well although the book didn't call it by this name, they suggested a set-up similar to backward design, which is something I plan on using in my future classrooms. Why do I want to use it? Backward design allows you to pick a goal first, and puts secondly how to tell if a student has mastered the goal and curriculum. By working backwards with the ultimate goal closer in mind, I think it will be easier to decide how to define "mastered" for that particular lesson.

Fair Isn't Always Equal — Ch. 1: The Differentiated Instuction Mind-set

While our aim is never to make someone uncomfortable, if teachers from the 60's, 70's or 80's could time travel, we'd hope they'd feel pretty lost when it comes to how we teach today. The book suggests this because the idea of differentiated curriculum has so evolved within the past 20 or so years, that these past teachers would have little idea why or how the end results of todays lessons were achieved. They would probably think it took a significant amount of more work than they were used to putting in for their curriculums, but as it is stated on page 3, "Sometimes, [when using differentiated instruction], we don't spend energy identifying tasks for high-medium-, and/or low-functioning groups so much as we consider whether we've taught in a way the brain best processes."

Some people claim that supplying one student with a differentiated curriculum of their own would cause them to become dependent on that one way of learning forever, and if they had a teacher in the future who did not teach that way, that they would fall flat. Others believe that it would make them competant, independent thinkers with a better understanding that all of his or her peers are very different as well, and that they should respect this. The latter is the truth. It has been shown that even when students have been quizzed in a more traditional way, after having learned the material of the quiz in a differentiated setting, they will still do well because they learned in a way which helped them absorb the most. Some say this kind of teaching is allowing a "crutch", but in actuality, it levels the playing field so that everyone is learning the same amount, just differently.

UbD - Chapter 4: What Really Matters in Planning for Student Success?

 The main goal of differentiated curriculum is to take each student further in their knowledge of a topic or concept. This means that no matter what amount of knowledge on a topic a student enters the curriculum with, they will leave with a better understanding and more information. To accomplish this, offering different assignments to students who are at different levels of previous knowledge on the subject at hand. The idea is to give different kinds of assignment or extra help to patch the holes of those who are at a lower understanding and providing more detailed material those who have already achieved or obtained at or above the curriculum requirements. A good way to determine what level a student is at is through a pre-assessment or basing off of past work the student has achieved in other parts of your curriculum. And if there is any doubt or concern about where to place a student, discussing the issue with the student themselves is not a bad idea either.

Something else that is important, is keeping the way you're teaching differentiated as well. This way, students won't feel as though they're transforming your information into a totally different thing if it's presented through one intelligence, but you ask them to explain it using another. And even if a student doesn't directly connect to your form of teaching, you have to look at it from the perspective of eating at a restaurant that only served two or three dishes. Yes, the dishes could be amazing but if you're served the same time and time again, eventually you're going to get bored and stop taking as much from the experience.

MI - Chapter 4: Teaching Students about MI Theory

One of the best things about multiple intelligences is that it can give students a confidence boost! In realizing that there is more than one kind of intelligence, kids see themselves each as smart, though perhaps in a different way from their peers. If you treat each of the multiple intelligences as equal, and all important, then they will feel that they're important. This is imperative as it seems the classic school set-up is made to cater linguistic, and logical students mostly and the other kids who possess other talents and needs are often left bereft of curriculum that interests them.

This chapter offers many ways in order to make your students feel like their strengths are meaningful and valued. One of the suggestions was something that I'd thought of as well, which was to put posters all over the room of famous people who display the various intelligences (preferably an equal amount of each so as not to show favoritism). Another suggestion was to have kids do a sort of scavenger hunt where they must find a student to perform an action relevant to one of the multiple intelligences. By the end they should have eight unique signatures and be more aware of their fellow students abilities. A way to accomplish a similar task would be by displaying the work of students in the halls or around the room, showing that all different projects are well done and worth appreciation. And a final way to really bring home the idea of each person's important and various skills is by having a sort of "career day" where people using their specific abilities and intelligences out in the real world (and making a living from it!).

MI - Chapter 3: Describing Intelligences in Students

One way to tell which kind of intelligence may be most prevalent within a student, is by watching what they do when they misbehave. How are they misbehaving? Are they talking too much? Won't take their headphones off? Can't sit still? These are all indicators of students returning to their natural state when they are bored or disinterested. They are returning to what is most comfortable for them, and teachers can use that information in order to better guide their lesson plans. The same sort of phenomenon often occurs if you give a class "choice time" in which varying activities are available, they are more likely to choose something they feel comfortable working with and enjoy doing over something they may struggle with or not understand.

It's a good idea to look back at a students school records to get an idea of what subject they show the most proclivity for. This is especially helpful if you work in a classroom where it is difficult to get away from a couple intelligences which the subject is most associated with, because if you can't see a student succeeding or enjoying something, you'll probably never know that that part of them exists. Talking to their other teachers and parents is helpful as well if you're trying especially hard to figure out what a child may be needing from you and your class. Something I found interesting was that it was suggested you look at a student's kindergarten records, as this is the time in which students are most likely to work with, and put on display, all of the intelligences equally. Then again, you could always just ask the student. After all, who spends more time with them than themselves?

UbD - Chapter 3: What Really Matters in Learning (Content)

 One of the largest issues facing educators today is finding time in the curriculum to teach all of the content that is available to them, or considered to be necessary. The best a teacher can do is follow the curriculum standards set by their state or school and try to find the "big ideas" behind them. Once you've found these you can break down the standards into more digestible parts, which will start you off on the right foot for backward planning.

Once you have the ideas you want to hit you, or identify desired results, you then determine what is acceptable evidence that these students have accomplished what you've asked of them? How do you know that they "get" it? The final stage is planning learning experiences and instruction. So basically, what are you going to do to make sure that your students can do what you need them to in order to show that they understand the curriculum and are meeting standards.

Backward design has a few good qualities to it. One being that you are working from the big goal, not towards it, which makes you more focused on it. The second being that you can avoid the "twin sins", which are using activity-oriented instruction that lacks real evidence of learning, and the second sin is leaning on the textbook too much when really it's not the textbook that you're going to have to answer to in the end, and if you don't hit your content points, the textbook is not to blame. A teacher is also responsible for distinguishing between "knowing" and "identifying", and "applying", "analyzing" or "explaining". The first two could be evaluated through multiple-choice answers, but the second would need a deeper understanding that could be for example, written about in depth.

Integrating Differentiated Instruction + Understanding by Design — Ch. 2: What Really Matters in Teaching? (The Students)

    Chapter two of this book put an emphasis on reasons why students may be having a difficult time in the classroom, and gives examples of "responsive teaching" as to how to do what you can to remedy the situation. There were examples of students with undiagnosed learning disabilities, problems at home, and issues with peer pressure.

    The thing to realize is that all of your students are different. Biology, degree of privilege, position for learning, and preferences are all listed as reasons for student variance and implications for learning. But at the same time, many students are incredibly similar. On page 16, it says students are going to school "for affirmation, affiliation, accomplishment, and autonomy". It also mentions that students look to school for quality adult role models who will accept, value, and guide them. These needs come in varying forms, and how students show that they need these things varies. It is hoped that a teacher will be able to spot when a student needs help, and will be able to get it for them academically, mentally, or physically.

    One of my favorite quotes from the book thus far is on page 22, and says: "Learning happens within students, not to them." What that means, is that if a student is dealing with something in their personal life, it can feel as though you're talking to a wall. The best you can do is identify the barrier, and try to help them deal with it. When they can get over the barrier it will be easier for them to achieve in your classroom, and also allow you to better cater to them as a student, such as knowing if they need extra time to finish assignments, some one-on-one time with you, or just someone to talk to. I will strive to do this in my classroom; to notice and help when I can.

Integrating Differentiated Instruction + Understanding by Design UbD and DI — Ch. 1: An Essential Partnership

    It's interesting to read about "understanding by design" and "differentiated instruction" because (and I'm sure my fellow future educators would agree) we never realized how much work goes into a single lesson plan. It seems to me that understanding by design and differentiated instruction are two superior ways of looking at, making, and teaching a lesson plan because they cater to students more specifically. The fact that they flow so well together is just a bonus.

    In chapter one of "Integrating Differentiated Instruction + Understanding by Design" we're given different "axioms" of what a teacher was trying to accomplish, the third of which discussed how the teacher Mr. Axelt was going about developing a curriculum on the Constitution. He gave students who are at different understanding levels of varying aspects different materials, which seemed strange at first— like the playing field wasn't level— but in fact, it was allowing everyone in the group to learn the same amount of new things based on their prior knowledge.

    One of the points which people can forget about differentiated curriculum, is that even though group discussions may be different at each table, each person may choose or be assigned a different book, or anything similar, that the goals of the work assigned are to focus on the unit's understandings and skills. If these remain constant, then the curriculum is doing what it needs to. This is why it's best to plan what you want to achieve before making the actual lesson plan, which is where understanding by design comes in. Because of this, and my feeling that differentiated curriculum is actually more fair to the class as a group here to learn, I think that differentiating assignments slightly or simply suggesting alternatives will be something I will take part apply to my curriculum.

Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom — Ch. 2: MI Theory and Personal Development

    Intelligences can be developed for years. At age five you may not be much of a reader, but if your mother finally lands the librarian job of her dreams, or your father purchases a beautiful house furnished (books and all) perhaps that would change. Events such as these are called "crystalizing experiences", as they put a certain intelligence in a positive light by striking an interest or simply have it's tools or ideas available. The same could go oppositely as well. If you had illiterate parents and your friends from the neighborhood laughed at a story they found you trying to write, you may not succeed in your literacy. When you are biologically endowed, have a personal life history, and cultural background of positive interaction or attainment of an intelligence, you are more likely to possess it.

    In order to teach students who possess a certain intelligence, it would be helpful to have some sort of understanding of it yourself so that you can suggest project ideas, or find a part of a lesson which can connect to multiple students superior knowledges or abilities in particular. This isn't to say that you have to be a savant in every way, that would be impossible! The idea is to recognize your strengths and weaknesses, and figure out how to work with them so as to help your students. For instance, if you're very musical, write them a song about nouns or a particular character in a book. I know for me, I'm not very high in my bodily- kinesthetic area, but if I knew my students were, I could use my fellow teachers as resources for ideas of how to apply more physical things to my lessons.

Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom— Ch. 1: The Foundations of MI Theory

    The first chapter of "Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom" gives you a basis of what the theory of various kinds of intelligences are. It is stressed that the idea behind these is that even if you may be very low in one area of intelligence doesn't mean that you can't be smart, or even brilliant in other categories. For many years it was thought that intelligence was one thing, that you were smart, and that people with higher IQ's were all-over superior. It wasn't until 1933 that Howard Gardner contested this common idea with his theory that there were seven forms of intelligence, which he later widened to eight and even hinted at the possibility of a ninth. The eight currently accepted forms of intelligence include: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic , musical, interpersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist.

    There are eight rules for determining if something was a true kind of "intelligence". It has been argued that there may be more intelligences which fit the eight rules, such as spiritual, culinary ability, and even humor. Some may point out that these forms of intelligence seem very similar to different learning styles, and while it's possible they're related, they are not the same thing. On page 17, Gardner is quoted as saying: "The concept of style designates a general approach that an individual can apply equally to every conceivable content. In contrast, an intelligence is a capacity".

    One of my favorite quotes is "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." If I can tie differentiated curriculum into my teaching, I think that will allow students to flex their intelligences, and share them proudly.