In that first year, I stumbled around a bit trying to figure out how to make an MI-informed lesson that would help GED test takers. I read David Lazear's Seven Ways of Teaching and Seven Ways of Knowing (1991), Thomas Armstrong's Seven Kinds of Smart (1993), and Bruce Campbell's The Multiple Intelligences Handbook (1994) to get ideas for my first MI lessons. After initial attempts that had every student trying activities in every intelligence, I realized that requiring work in each domain was not in the spirit of MI. I had to let my students choose activities. Their choices would probably mirror the intelligences in which they were strongest. I decided to use an MI-informed approach at least one day a week. I started to design "Choose 3" lessons on broad topics, such as math, for example. Each "Choose 3" consists of choices based on the eight intelligences: at least one choice for each intelligence. Students picked the three activities they would do alone, with a teammate, or in a group.
I created lessons about home, travel, plants, math review, writing, and angles. I was trying to find topics that could reflect some of the GED subjects in each lesson or a lot of choices from one GED subject. For example, the math review had choices about angles, word problems, and perim eter, area, and volume. Students did do these lessons enthusiastically, but a couple of problems arose. The content of the lessons was too broadly defined; I could not connect the activities to a specific area of the GED for review. Also, the students did not always choose activities that cen tered on the content that they needed most. I began to address those shortcomings by creating lessons that were more narrowly defined by content. For example, angles from the GED math became the topic of one "Choose 3" lesson, and all the activities related to angles. Brainstorming, a pre-writing skill became the topic of another "Choose 3" lesson. This way, after students completed a "Choose 3" lesson, I knew the content had been covered and everyone could move into the workbook for review. I also found that the "Choose 3" lessons could be used to review material already taught or to introduce a new topic.
I kept track of learnersí progress with student daily logs that asked what materials they had completed and how they had scored on GED workbook material. Students also recorded their views on what was or wasn't working in MI lesson in multiple intelligence logs. I kept a teacher's daily log of my observations. The data show that, from the start, having choices increased studentsí involvement in class. Fewer students were going home early, taking lots of breaks, or just not doing anything. After I fine-tuned the "Choose 3" activities, I observed that, although learnersí choices differed, individuals thought they had chosen the easiest activities. Students who said they liked math often chose the logical/mathematical activities and students who said they liked discussions often chose the interpersonal activities, and so on. My conclusion was that learners were using their strongest intelligences to help them understand each GED topic.
Take 15-20 minutes to do each of the three you choose.