Me Too! How to Teach All Learners

Kathryn ConnerCenter City Public Charter Schools

Washington DC

Let’s get to know each other!

Share your name, where you work and what you teach

Objective

• Discuss and create strategies to teach ALL students by incorporating Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences into EVERY lesson we teach

• Learn how to provide comprehensible input to ensure language development and mastery of target language along with content area studies

• Walk away with strategies that you can take with you and easily implement in your own classroom

My Goal

• I want to combine Stephen Krashen’s Input Theory with the use of Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences to create a Foreign Language classroom that is fun, engaging and that guarantees success for ALL of our learners.

Why?????Pre-Test Data

• Unit taught animals and animal coverings (fur, feathers, scales)

• The majority of the students were not able to identify animals or animal coverings in Spanish.

SCORES 0/5 1/5 2/5 3/5 4/5 5/5NUMBER OF STUDENTS

4 6 5 4 2 4

Introduction to the Students

• First Grade Class at Center City Public Charter Schools; Petworth Campus

• 25 students 9 are native Spanish speakers

• Spanish taught 3 times a week

I provided students the opportunity to categorize, color, write, read, draw, act out, sing, dance, move, listen, play, create etc.

Post-Test

• The results from the Post-Test show that by using Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences and Stephen Krashen’s Montior Model students were able to simultaneously master both Spanish language standards and Science standards.

SCORES 0/5 1/5 2/5 3/5 4/5 5/5

NUMBER OF STUDENTS

0 0 0 0 4 21

How did you learn language?– How was learning a 2nd language different from

learning your first language?– Did you learn a foreign language in an immersion

setting? – Did you learn it at school? – How many times a day/week were you

surrounded by the language and/or given the opportunity to practice in the target language?

Stephen KrashenLearning vs. Acquisition

• Acquisition: Students learn subconsciously, similarly to the way they develop their first language

• Learning: Conscious knowledge of the rules of grammar and their application in production

• The main function of the classroom is to provide comprehensible input in an environment conducive to a low affective filter

Ommaggio, A.H. (1993) Teaching Language in Context. Heinle & Heinle: Boston, MA.

Stephen Krashen’s Monitor Model

• We need to lower the Affective Filter by providing Comprehensible Input– We need to provide students with language in an

engaging way at a level that they can understand– We need to introduce language in a setting that

will enable students to use it• Affective Filter• Comprehensible Input

Quote by Stephen Krashen

The best methods are therefore those that supply

'comprehensible input' in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really

want to hear.

Howard Gardner’sTheory of Multiple Intelligences

Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences

• Provide opportunities for students to learn in ways that they are most receptive to maximize their potential success

• This theory challenges teachers to create learning environments that foster development of all eight intelligences in order to benefit all learners

• Especially important in the Foreign Language Classroom

Armstrong, T. (1994) Multiple Intelligences in the classroom. Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curricular Development.

Visual-Spatial :

• Think in terms of images and pictures• Very aware of objects, shapes, colors, patterns• Like to draw, paint, do jigsaw puzzles, read maps,

work with clay• Can be taught through drawings, verbal and

physical imagery• Tools include models, graphics, charts,

photographs, drawings, video, television, multimedia, texts with pictures/charts/graphs.

Logical – Mathematical:

• Think conceptually, abstractly and are able to see patterns and relationships

• Like to reason, experiment, solve puzzles, ask cosmic questions

• Can be taught through logic games, investigations, mysteries

• Tools include graphic organizers, codes and symbols, games, puzzles, calculations

Bodily-kinesthetic:

• Use the body effectively, like a dancer or a surgeon• Keen sense of body awareness• Like movement, making things, touching, role-

playing, dancing• Find it difficult to sit still for a long period of time • Can be taught through physical activity, hands-on

learning, acting out, role playing• Tools include costumes for role play, manipulatives,

real objects, movement games

Musical:

• Show sensitivity to rhythm and sound• Can often reproduce music/sounds/language

accent after hearing it only once• Like to create music• May study better with music in the background• Can be taught by turning lessons into lyrics,

speaking rhythmically, tapping out time• Tools include musical instruments, music, radio,

CD-ROM, singing, speaking

Linguistic:

• Use words effectively• Have highly developed verbal and auditory skills

and often think in words• Like reading, playing word games, making up

poetry or stories, having discussions, telling jokes, creative writing

• Tools include computers, games, debate, story telling, multimedia, books, tape recorders, and lecture.

Interpersonal :

• Learn through person-to-person interaction• They have many friends, empathy for others,

street smarts• Love team activities, are good team members• Can be taught through challenging cooperative

learning situations, group activities, dialogues• Tools include dialogues, conversations, letters,

giving feed back, group projects

Intrapersonal:• Are the most independent of the learners.• Entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings,

• Can be taught through independent study and introspection• Tools include books, creative materials, diaries, privacy and alone time

• nd er st and in g on e's o wn in t erests , goals• Like t o wo rk alon e and ten d to sh y away f ro m ot hers• Th ey have w isd om, int uitio n an d mo tivatio n, as w ell as a st ro ng w ill, co nfi dence and o p inio n s• Can be tau ght th ro ugh ind epen d en t st u dy an d int ro sp ectio n.• Help st ud en ts by en co ur agin g t hem to be aware of feelin gs , th o ught pr o cesses an d reflection s• To ols in clu d e bo oks, creative materials, d iaries, ind ep en d en t assign ment s, pr ivacy and time

Naturalist• Have a profound love for outdoors, animals,

plants• Give them more opportunities to go outside, or

bring nature into the classroom• Ask them to express their ideas, thoughts,

feelings through natural metaphors• Tools include species classification, caring for

animals, growing things, nature watch activities, nature collections, nature representations

So why am I trying to combine the two theories?

• Foreign Language Classroom• What better way to provide Comprehensible

Input than by teaching using the as many of the Multiple Intelligences as possible???

• Guaranteed success!!!

Guaranteed Success• By presenting the content in multiple ways

we are providing comprehensible input!!• We will encourage students to make

connections and retain content knowledge because they are being introduced to the language in a meaningful way

• We will get students excited about learning the target language!

What does this all mean in the Foreign Language Classroom?

• WE CAN:– think about the multiple intelligences while we plan!

– incorporate as many intelligences into each lesson as possible to reach each child and to ensure that we are providing comprehensible input!

– teach to more than one of the multiple intelligences EVERY DAY so that we are using language in a meaningful way!

Activity

• Looking at the page that describes Visual-Spatial Intelligence let’s brainstorm how we could plan to teach to this intelligence in the foreign language classroom every day– Activities– Lessons– “Do Nows”– Exit tickets– assessments

Small Groups

• Brainstorm about the Intelligence Area given to your group– Think of activities, lessons, “Do

Nows”, Exit tickets, assessments that would embrace this intelligence.

– Think about things that could be done everyday, not just once a unit

– Be creative!

Present our ideas

Important Questions to ask yourself before and after teaching a lesson

• Have you provided the learners with opportunities to speak, listen, read and write?

• Have you included numbers, calculations and/or activities requiring critical thinking?

• Have you included pictures, graphs and/or art?• Have you included activities involving movement?• Have you included music and/or rhythms? • Have you included pair work and/or group work?• Have you provided the learners with private learning time and/or

time for reflection?• Have you included categorization tasks and/or arranging exercises?• Have you helped the learners consider the topic/theme of today’s

lesson in relation to a larger context?

•Q&A

•Good luck using these tools in your classroom!!!!

References• Armstrong, T. (1994) Multiple Intelligences in the classroom.

Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curricular Development.• Gardner, H., & Hatch, T. (1989). Multiple intelligences go to

school: Educational implications of the theory of multiple intelligences. Educational Researcher, 18(8), 4-9.

• Kornhaber, M. L. (2001) 'Howard Gardner' in J. A. Palmer (ed.) Fifty Modern Thinkers on Education. From Piaget to the present, London: Routledge.

• Palmberg, Rolf. Developing Teachers.com• Ommaggio, A.H. (1993) Teaching Language in Context. Heinle &

Heinle: Boston, MA.