Week One

According to Howard Gardner, the theory of multiple intelligences include many aspects like linguistic intelligence, logic-mathematical intelligence, musical intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, naturalist intelligence and existential intelligence.

In the first half video, the teacher actually realized that different students might have different means of taking in the knowledge and she provided different ways of getting at the topics of materials or concepts. For example, she drew some questions on the blackboard and asked students to think critically whether the information is correct or not. She also asked them to read and find out the answers. Vocabulary sheets were also provided so that students can write and get familiar with the vocabulary.

In the writing part, she could find a variety of ways to ask students to report back what they have learned, like asking them to draw pictures to express if they had problems in writing. In the second half, the teacher also well used the theory of multiple intelligences. She tried to make students connect what is being learned with their own experience. For example, in learning the words, students may be encouraged to use picture or personal example to show the meaning of the word rather the definition.

Besides all these activities, teachers could also adopt other means. For example, when students, especially ESL students are learning new words, they can be shown with films or songs, from which they can reinforce their knowledge of words or expressions learned before as well as the interest in learning. Students can also be asked to make dialogues or conversations between each other using words they have learned to get a deeper understanding of the words or phrases.
Personally, I believe inspiration is a very useful tool for teachers to use. Teachers or students can easily use this tool to create concept maps or organize graphics, etc to put forward their creative ideas. Visual learning can greatly help students improve academic performance and achieve success across the curriculum.