Classroom Confidential: The 12 Secrets of Great Teachers

Chapter 1 - Great Teachers are Equal Opportunists: Capitalizing on How Kids Learn

In Classroom Confidential, Laurel Schmidt refers to multiple intelligences, the nine intelligences discovered by Howard Gardner in 1983. The nine intelligences are as follows:

1. Verbal/Linguistic
2. Visual/Spatial
3. Musical
4. Bodily/Kinesthetic
5. Logical/Mathematical
6. Naturalistic
7. Existential
8. Interpersonal
9. Intrapersonal

Of course, every teacher wants to integrate each of the intelligences into his or her classroom, but for starters, I'll choose three. First, I'd like to use the Verbal/Linguistic intelligence in my Language Arts classes because English classes are centered on words and ideas. Words in themselves are magnificent little creatures, but by putting our thoughts together, talking through them, and then expounding on them, we will undoubtedly imagine many wondrous things. Second, I'd like to get my students moving through the Bodily/Kinesthetic intelligence. Thought to be related mainly to sports and exercise, the Bodily/Kinesthetic intelligence allows students to internalize lessons through motions. Rather than allowing words to convey meaning, students can use their muscles instead. And third, I'd like to use the existential intelligence. This is the intelligence that I am least familiar with, but it is one that interests me greatly. Rather than teaching students what is directly in front of us, we should try to encourage them into deeper-level thinking about themes that are not generally addressed in textbooks (religion, philosophy, life, etc.). 

Schmidt describes 'full brain learning' and explains that before we instruct students to do something, their brains must be 100% on task before anything, otherwise their actions may get them into thoughtless trouble. I believe there are a number of ways that I can use full brain learning. For example, before students can learn something, they must be in the present moment with me. Therefore I can consciously keep full brain learning at the head of my thoughts when practicing classroom management or giving out directions. Schmidt gives us a number of hands-on activities that students can do in class. She describes how teachers should keep junk piles, collections, and random laboratory materials so that students can get lost in experimenting. By offering these options to my students, they will be able to use words to explain what is happening (verbal/linguistic), use their bodies to build and create (bodily/kinesthetic), and ask the bigger questions in life (existential). 

*In addition to reading Schmidt's text, I intend to read one children's novel a week and discuss how and why that book may or may not be useful to my students. For next week, I am reading A Wrinkly in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. I encourage students to leave book suggestions with me, and I am compiling Ms. Noonan's Reading List for ALL of my students (not just my readers).