Final

What?
(How do children learn?)
All students don't clearly fit the learning mold. I know there are some students that are bright, but they don't excel on tests. Gardner claim’s that there are several different kinds of intelligences (Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Logical-mathematical, Musical, Spatial, Bodily-kinesthetic, and Interpersonal). He has shown me, and others involved with teaching and learning, a way of beginning to understand how those students learn in different ways. The key was to focus on what they could do well, instead of what they could not do. It is very important as a teacher to take those individual differences among the students very seriously and to maintain a deep interest in how their minds are different from others to be able to help them learn and use their minds according to their ability.
So What?
(How does that impact the way I teach?)
An awareness of multiple-intelligence theory has motivated me as a teacher to want to find more ways to teach and evaluate my students so that they will be successful in the classroom and in life. This will aid me in my task of designing lesson plans that will use all or several of the intelligences in my lessons and asking student opinions about the best way to teach and learn certain topics. Students can learn to initiate and manage complex projects when they are creating student projects. Assessments are designed to allow students to show what they have learned. Sometimes this takes the form of allowing each student to decide the way he or she will be assessed, while meeting the teacher's criteria for quality. By doing so, this will allow students to gain mastery of their valued skill gradually, with effort and discipline over time.
Now What?
(What do I still need to learn and explore to teach?)
Having a better understanding of Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, is a way to learn and explore students so that I can better understand the learners in my midst. By teaching I can allows students to safely explore and learn in many ways, and I can help students direct their own learning. As a teacher I can help students understand and appreciate their strengths, and identify real-world activities that will stimulate more learning.

Group Differences

What?
This week we learned about the education implications of individual differences. Students from diverse cultural backgrounds may have difficulty adjusting to a traditional classroom in our country. We learned what the term intelligence means and how we can promote intelligent behavior in all of our students in the classroom. Intelligence is the ability to modify and adjust one’s behaviors in order to accomplish new tasks successfully. It involves many different mental processes, and its nature may vary, depending on the culture in which one lives. We also discussed how to accommodate the unique needs of students from lower socioeconomic groups and how we can identify students that are at risk for school failure and how we can help these students achieve academic success. In conclusion, the problem of individual differences can be tackled with multi dimensional tasks. The teacher, school authorities, and parents should all work together to meet the individual requirements of the students.

So What?
The notion that individuals differ in various abilities, capacities and cultural backgrounds necessitates the adoption of individual tendencies in education. It compels the teachers to realize that in any group there are individuals, who deviate from the norms of the group. Along with the average, the presence of very superior and extremely dull is equally possible in the classroom. Every teacher should try to have the desired knowledge of the abilities, capacities, interests, attitudes, aptitudes and other personality traits of his pupils and should render individual guidance to children for maximum utilization of their potentialities. It is wrong to expect uniformity in gaining proficiency or success in a particular field from a group of students. On account of their subnormal intelligence, previous background, lack of proper interest, aptitude and attitude some students have to lag behind in some or other area of achievement. All students can not be benefited by one particular method of instruction and a uniform and rigid curriculum.

Now What?
The first step in making provisions for individual differences is frequently assessing the students and their progress in the form of intelligence tests, cumulative record cards, interest inventories, attitude scales, and aptitude tests. Once students are assessed properly, they should be placed in groups based on their ability. Such groups can prove beneficial in adjusting the method of instruction to varying individual differences. To meet the requirement of varying individuals, the curriculum should be as flexible and differentiated as possible. As teachers, we should adjust our curriculum to meet the needs of out students. Schools must also adopt some social programs or methods of teaching to enable students to learn at their own individual pace. Having this knowledge and using these tools will aid us as teachers to educate our students in the best possible way.

Students with Special Educational Needs

What?
All students come with their own set of learning abilities. The more we learn about the student, the better we will be able to help them with both their strengths and weakness. We learned that students can blend into their surroundings if the materials they are studying are tailored to their own needs. There are several different types of methods that we can use in our teachings. While some methods will work with one student, it might not work with another. We need to be flexible in how we approach the students. While we are doing this, we need to remember to try to treat all the students with the same expectations to complete a task. While some students might complete the task quickly, others might need several steps to complete the task. Gardner teaches us that students might be able to accomplish their task by using different multi-dimensional models of intelligence.

So What?
We will need to know our students well enough to identify their skills and abilities. We need to know what our students already know. While working with our students we will need to use the specialists that are available in our schools. We can use these specialists to consult and collaborate with about what will work best for the student. We will need to involve the parents in helping us pinpoint thing, such as what is working well for their student and what is not. The parents can also help us to identify what things might trigger the student to be frustrated or display disruptive behavior.

Now What?
The goal is to work to help the students to feel that they are a part of their learning plan. Let them make choices about how they will accomplish the task. Involve parents in helping the student to accomplish the task. Sometimes it might work to have another relative or peer student help them. While implementing the learning material, continue to evaluate the students learning and keep your eyes open for students that might qualify for special services. We can often see the need of our students, but we will need the specialist to assess them to find out what will work best for them. The best outcome we can hope for is to reach each student on their individual level and help them to academically succeed by using whatever method we find works for them.