July 26th Session Review

Warning: I've been asked by some of you who were
absent to submit a review summarizing what transpired
in this session, so i'm essentially transcribing my
notes here. Sorry Shubha, the write-up is a bit dry
(smile).

Today's session continued exploring Multiple
Intelligences. Ratnesh put up seven activities --
one for each MI -- for the class to do, in whichever
order we wanted. Examples are:

• Squeezing fists and toes 5 times
• Hum a national anthem
• Think of a happy memory from childhood
• Draw an animal; etc.

For most of us, the order was influenced by what
seemed easy, and we did the easy ones first. Some of
us who are musically inclined did the humming first,
and others more logic-oriented finished off the math
problem first. The activities that seemed easy to us
means that we are generally intelligent in those MI
areas.

It's not about HOW MUCH a child is intelligent, it's
about HOW the child is intelligent.

In other words, we focus too much on the degree of
intelligence, when what we should actually be paying
attention to is trying to discern the areas of MI the
child is intelligent in.

Once we recognize our child's natural aptitudes, we
need to ACCEPT (truly and fully) the ways in which she
is intelligent.

Because for the child, true acceptance from the parent
can propel him to himself wanting to explore and excel
in fields that he doesn't have a natural aptitude for!
He will also be better able to distinguish between
his own wants and needs.

We as parents and teachers need to HONOR a child's
intelligences and desires.

Question: Can you accept (truly and fully) that your
child is say, kinesthetically intelligent but has
little inclinations towards math/logic and linguistic
? Think about that one.

We then tried to define the term "intelligence" –
ability to unerstand; capable; ability to apply
learnings naturally and effortlessly (i.e., with
finesse); etc.

It is important to expose children in all
inteligences.

In India, only Linguistic and Math/Logic intelligences
are valued, whle the other intelligences are
considered to be "extracurricular", if that.

INTERPERSONAL INTELLIGENÇE

Of the MIs, Interpersonal Intelligence is probably the
least-used mode of teaching in school. We are taught
to do school work by ourselves, and then expected to
excel in working in teams/with other people, upon
graduation and joining the workforce. Why not do
teamwork in classes, so children can be taught about
cooperation, etc,?

Another concept which takes advantage of interpersonal
intelligence and is very beneficial to children and
which should be encouraged by parents is the "study
buddy". We send our children to do homework in their
room, when actually, learning is more robust and
enjoyable when concepts are discussed, fought over,
and taught by one student to another.

INTRAPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE

We did a five minute "Guided Visualization" (GV)
session. GV is a tool of intrapersonal intelligence.
It was in some ways a mini-meditation (with soothing
taped music in the background), where you sit in a
meditative pose with eyes closed, and the instructor
uses a pre-prepared monologue to guide you into
visualizing yourself to be various parts of a plant,
or in the ocean swimming as a fish, etc. Can be done
on any subject. I noticed that in the monologue, he
tried to bring in awareness of all five senses.

Ex. "Notice that you've become the leaf. Feel the
texture of the leaf. Notice the veins. Look at the
color of the leaf and the veins. What are the edges
of the leaf like? Is it a long leaf or a short broad
one? Move from under the leaf to on top of the leaf.
How are the two sides different? Is the leaf fuzzy or
is it smooth? "

GV is a powerful tool, and requires a lot of
preparation.

OTHER

Telling stories is a very effective tool for teaching.
A good story can utilize all intelligences.

GV assignment given.

Sujata