MI Chapter 3

I think the chapter’s suggestions on how to identify students’ intelligence strengths is something that is extremely useful and important in the classroom. Kids aren’t going to come right out and tell you what the need in order to learn effectively, mostly because they themselves do not know for sure. But as teachers, one of our most important jobs is to figure out ways to communicate with our students when they can’t or won’t be direct with us. Understanding nonverbal actions, uncovering the reason behind poor behavior, and picking up on social cues are all essential to both effective classroom management and successful instruction. Those are all things that I will try to do once I’m with my students. I think paying attention to mulitple intelligences is a good way to be an involved and considerate teacher, too. Getting to know your students that well can only benefit them, because not only are you aware of their specific learning strengths and weaknesses, but they also know that their teacher really cares about them succeeding, and research has shown that this does very positive things for classroom performance. Learning so much about multiple intelligences has taught me a lot about myself too, and being self-aware will help me become a better teacher. Im learning to be more patient with myself and to focus on the things that I am good at instead of getting caught up in the things I naturally struggle with. Being a good teacher means modeling self-respect to your students, and appreciating my own strengths while developing my weaknesses in a healthy way will encourage confidence in my students.