Using my strengths in my teaching

“Intelligence is the capacity to do something useful in the society in which we live. Intelligence is the ability to respond successfully to new situations and the capacity to learn from one’s past experiences.”
—Dr. Howard Gardner

Some of my unique mix of intelligence include;

 Interpersonal

I love working  with a friend and then spend time explaining what we have learnt to   someone else

 Mathematical-Logical

I like  diagrams/lists

I like using memory maps and spider diagrams.

I prefer summarising  topics .

Physical

I love seeing theories in in  picture form , games

I like moving  around when  learning, reciting things like an actor!

     Intrapersonal

I tend to create conversations inside my head about what I am trying to learn

    In my classes  I  use this theory to teach to every student’s unique intelligence

    combination by

1.             Integrating multiple approaches to Physics concepts. I  set up ‘learning centers’ where students approach material in different ways, such as building models, making collaborative decisions, solving deductive reasoning problems, and illustrating.

2.    Asking different questions. For example after reading about a concept in Physics, I  ask students “questions about what they remember (Mastery), questions that require explaining and proving (Understanding), questions that require the use of their imagination (Self-Expressive), or questions that invite students to reflect on and share their feelings (Interpersonal).

3.    Making models to help in explaining some concepts.

4    I always include a demonstration and experiments using the locally available materials in most of my Physics lessons and I always see them excited when they the principle demonstrated and I make sure it is one of the learners to carry out the demonstration.

5      I have also started using Videos, and audio explanations to cater for the linguistic intelligence.

6     I encourage them to collaborate and share always their experiences.

Some of the ways of knowing my students' mix of intelligences better is by integrating multiple approaches in my instructional teaching materials.

Discovering their unique mix of intelligence guides me to fit them exactly where they can fully reveal their potentials. For example in case there is a diagram to draw, those who are physical I encourage them to come out and draw a diagram on the blackboard. Those who are good with numbers , I encourage them to come up and calculate a number on the blackboard ,or in groups .

“As free human beings we can use our unique intelligence to try to understand ourselves and our world. But if we are prevented from using our creative potential, we are deprived of one of the basic characteristics of a human being.”    Dalai Lama XIV