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| Howard Gardner |
Without going into too much detail, Howard Gardner was a professor at Harvard University that developed what he called "multiple intelligence". So far (and I say so far because Dr. Gardner himself believes there could be more) there are 8 intelligences; intrapersonal, interpersonal, verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalist, musical, and visual-spatial. I found this picture describing the different multiple intelligences and thought it did a great job explaining what each one was. Basically, we at The Capitol School believe that there are numerous, or multiple :), was in which a person can be smart! So we educate students in all areas of intelligence and you would be surprised at how easy it is to tell which intelligences the students have and maybe which ones are not their favorites! It really is that simple! Four times a year we (the teachers) compile a portfolio for each child that contains samples of work from each of the 8 intelligences. This gives the parents to not only see their child's progress, but it also is a great tool in determining which of the intelligences seem to be the student's strengths. In other words it was pretty easy for my parents to see when I brought home my first portfolio, back when I was 7, that visual-spatial is NOT one of my intelligences. Let's just say I heard a lot of "that's a great picture of a horse Hannah"...when in fact my mom was looking at a self-portrait I did in art class that week! So that pretty much sums it up! I'll try and post a blog at another time about the details and day-to-day activities of our cluster.....and I guess in that one I should include why we're grouped by clusters! |
| For more information about Howard Gardner or MI this books is wonderful! |
I'll close with a quote that I believes describes our school perfectly:
"We find out how a child is smart...not how smart is a child."
