The Personally Intelligent Teacher
Learn and Apply a Model for Developing Personal Intelligence
Course Outline
Course Description
The Personally Intelligent Teacher is a course designed to teach teachers about the interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences. The Personally Intelligent Teacher course is based on the theoretical foundations of William James and Functional Psychology and Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences, specifically the personal intelligences.The model was developed from a research project at the University of Southern California in 1985. The project resulted in the development of an elementary and secondary curriculum to teach and develop personal intelligence in a classroom setting. The course adapts this curriculum to teach teachers how to recognize dynamics of the personality, how they apply to various aspects of personal intelligence and how to apply those dynamics in the classroom to enhance performance of themselves and their students.
Objectives
- Learn the theory of personal intelligence
- Identify intrapersonal and interpersonal skills that enhance classroom performance
- Identify the necessary conditions for a group to function successfully
- Learn how to create support in the classroom so that students are willing to participate
- Create an ongoing positive classroom atmosphere that promotes students taking educational risks in the classroom
- Learn basic coaching skills to enhance student involvement in classroom activities
- Learn how to overcome the feeling of awkwardness when learning new behaviors
- Learn and identify the five personality dynamics that enhance personal intelligence
- Learn how to enhance these 5 personality dynamics to increase personal and student performance
- Learn techniques that will increase morale and reduce stress in the classroom
Curriculum Design & Time Requirements
Participants will conduct an assessment of personal dynamics in their classroom and design lessons that encourage the use of different intelligences. The Personally Intelligent Teacher is a 3 credit graduate level or forty-five hour professional development course taught on weekends or over five full days.Course Materials
The text is 7 Kinds of Smart: Identifying and Developing Your Multiple Intelligences by Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D. In addition, participants will be provided with a student guide.Session Outline
Session 1: Introduction & OverviewContents:
- Understand the purpose of The Personally Intelligent Teacher course
- Become aware of the course objectives
- Learn an overview of the course content
- Understand course guidelines
- Become familiar with the course structure
- Set a personal goal by expressing it using a positive nickname
- Characteristics of inspiring teachers
- Homework assignment
Session 2: Creating a Climate that Supports Performance
Contents:
- Learn the qualities of peak performers
- Learn what stops us from achieving our goals
- Understand how to create an atmosphere of enthusiasm in the classroom
- Become familiar with the concept of the "Home Court Advantage"
- Understand an operational definition of multiple intelligences
- Understand the application of multiple intelligence theory in the classroom
- Learn working definitions of the personal intelligences
- Learn how enthusiasm can effect teacher perception by students
Session 3: Personal Intelligence and the 5 Personality Dynamics
Contents:
- Get to know each other
- Understand how the personal intelligences relate to the dynamics of the personality
- Learn about personality styles
- Understand personal intelligence strengths
- Learn how to become more resilient
- Understand the dynamic of expression and communication
- Learn how to exercise their dynamic of expression
- Make an introduction of another student to the class
Session 4: The Dynamic of Activity and Taking Action in Life
Contents:
- Learn the definition of the "Dynamic of Activity"
- Learn strong and weak activity styles
- Understand effective ways of using "Activity"
- Understanding our own style and learning how to develop it
- Learn to enhance a strong activity style for yourself
- Learning to develop activity styles in students
Session 5: The Dynamic of Clarity and Self-Awareness
Contents:
- Understand the importance of clarity and personal intelligence
- Identify and assess weak and strong clarity behaviors and styles
- Understanding how a teacher's clarity affects performance in the classroom
- Enhancing and encouraging the use of different clarity styles for students
- Learn the concept of "Asleep", "Awake", and "Aware"
- Learn and apply a classroom expression activity
Session 6: The Dynamic of Feeling and Human Emotion
Contents:
- Understand the importance of feeling and intrapersonal intelligence
- Identify and assess weak and strong feeling behaviors and styles
- Understanding how a teacher's feeling style affects performance in the classroom
- Enhancing and encouraging the use of different feeling styles for students
- Learn the concept of Emotional Intelligence
- Learn to enhance and encourage the use of different feeling styles for students
Session 7: The Dynamic of Contact and Human Connectedness
Contents:
- Understand the importance of contact and personal intelligence
- Identify and assess weak and strong contact behaviors and styles
- Understanding how a teacher's contact style affects performance in the classroom
- Enhance and encourage the use of different contact styles for students
- Learn how to maintain relationships
Session 8: Planning Group Integration Project
Contents:
- Learn how to work as a team
- Identify the qualities of a "Home Court Teacher"
- Identify the qualities of a "Home Court Classroom"
- Share ideas on how to teach to the personal intelligences
- Begin designing lesson plans based on teaching to the personal intelligences
Session 9: Presenting Group Integration Project
Contents:
- Learn to share positive experiences with others
- Present personal intelligence lessons
- Brainstorm a list of ideas to teach to the personal intelligences in the classroom
- Brainstorm a list of ideas that can be done to strengthen their own personal intelligence
Session 10: The Personally Intelligent Teacher
Contents:
- Study for and take the Final Exam
- Understand their strengths as a personally intelligent teacher
- Understand how the "Home Court Advantage" has worked in their life
- Share an example of personal excellence
- Determine a personal goal the future
- Closure
- Evaluations
Grading
Grade Requirements for an "A"
- Attend class sessions and participate in class and group discussion.You will have class assignments to turn in. In the following assignments you will need copies of:
- Inside Me PoemLife MovieDear Teacher Letter
- Group Lesson Plan
- You will be responsible for preparing a lesson or activity with a group of other students in this class that you think enhances the personal intelligence of students. Your group will present this lesson or activity to the rest of the class.You can research at least three articles of your choice on personal intelligence and write a two-page paper on what learning and thoughts you had regarding the information presented or you can write a two page paper on what you can do to create the home court advantage in your classroom and life.
- Complete the final exam.
Grade Requirements for an "B"
- Attend class sessions and participate in class and group discussion.You will have class assignments to turn in. The following assignments you will need copies of:
- Inside Me PoemLife MovieDear Teacher Letter
- Group Lesson Plan
- You will be responsible for preparing a lesson or activity with a group of other students in this class that you think enhances the personal intelligence of students. Your group will present this lesson or activity to the rest of the class.
- Complete the final exam.
Bibliography
| • | Ceci, S.J. (1990), On Intelligence . . . More or Less: A Bio-Ecological Treatise on Intellectual Development, Enclewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall | |
| • | Coles, R. (1997), Moral Intelligence, New York: Random House | |
| • | Csikszenmilhalyi, M. (1996), Creativity, New York: Harper Collins | |
| • | Elias, M.J., Weissberg, R.P., (2000), Primary Prevention: Educational Approaches to Enhance Social and Emotional Learning, Journal of School Health. 16 (12), 186 | |
| • | Gardner, H. (1983), Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligence, New York: Basic Books (second edition, 1993) | |
| • | Gardner, H. (1993), Multiple Intelligence: The Theory In Practice, New York: Basic Books | |
| • | Goleman, D. (1995), Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ, New York : Bantam Books | |
| • | Hart, J.L. (1998), Becoming a Father: The Real Work of Man's Soul, Deerfield Beach, FL, Health Communications, Inc. | |
| • | James, W. (1962), Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals, New York: Dover Publications, Inc. | |
| • | Mayer, J.D., Perkins, D.M. Caruso, D.R. (2001), Emotional Intelligence and Giftedness, Roeper Review, 23 (3) 131-7 | |
| • | Pfeiffer, S.I. (2001), Emotional Intelligence: Popular but Elusive Construct, Roeper Review. 23 (3) 138-142 | |
| • | Rovenger, J. (2000), Fostering Emotional Intelligence, School Library Journal, 46 (12) 40-41 | |
| • | Sternberg, R. (1984), Toward a Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence, New York: Viking | |
| • | Sternberg, R. (1996), Successful Intelligence, New York: Simon and Shuster |
Online Resources
ALPS – Active Learning Practice for Schools, is an electronic community dedicated to the improvement and advancement of educational instruction and practice
Dr. Thomas Armstrong – Dr. Armstrong discusses Gardner's theory and offers suggestions on how to teach and learn at least eight different ways
ASCD: Multiple Intelligences/a> – A wonderful exploration of the theory; our own MI profiles; and specifics on each intelligence area
Developing Higher Order Thinking Skills and Multiple Intelligences – The activities enclosed within, were developed by teachers for teachers to help teachers create learning environments that are not only educational, but exciting and fun
Education World – Curriculum: Multiple Intelligences: A Theory for Everyone
Exploring Multiple Intelligences – Information from New Dimensions of Learning
Dr. Howard Gardner – Home page for numerous articles on Multiple Intelligences Theory by the founder himself
Gardner School – The framework for this school located in Vancouver, Washington, is based on Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Harvard PROJECT ZERO – Project Zero is an educational research group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Their mission is to understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts, as well as humanistic and scientific disciplines, at the individual and institutional levels
Official Homepages Of The Key School – The Key School is a magnet school in Indianapolis where the curriculum is centered on MI strategies
Learning Styles – Links for researching Learning styles developed at James Madison University
A Learning Styles Survey for College – The site offers you a chance to immediately find your preferred learning styles. Developed by the Catherine Jester, Learning Disability Specialist, Diablo Valley College
MIDAS-Multiple Intelligences Developmental Assessment Scales – A self report measure of intellectual disposition that may be completed by a child of an adult
Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles – How can exploration of the Internet support a variety of learning styles and multiple intelligences?
Multiple Intelligences and Technology: A Winning Combination! – See how learning is enhanced when teachers combine strategies that encompass both the theory of Multiple Intelligences and the integration of technology
New City School! – An internationally recognized M.I. School in St. Louis, Missouri. Reframing Our Classrooms, Reframing Ourselves: Perspectives from a Virtual Paladin
Teacher's Net – A discussion of Gardner's MI Theory and education
Time Cover Story On Multiple Intelligences
Use ALL Your Smarts: Multiple Intelligences for Diverse Library Learners – As libraries move toward a fuller concept of library instruction through information literacy, they need a better understanding of how people learn and show what they know. Here is a site developed by the Vermont Library Association that does just that!
Westmark School – Westmark School in Encino, California has put together this site which links to information on Multiple Intelligences, Learning Styles, Brain Development, and more. This is a terrific resource for teachers needing help with students who learn differently
Course Authors
John L. Hart and Richard Revheim
John L. Hart (Ph.D., 1985 University of Southern California) is presently as Associate Professor at the School of Social Work, New Mexico Highlands University. He is a national board certified clinician (BCD) and was in private practice in Los Angeles, California for over twenty years. Dr. Hart is an expert in group psychotherapy and training and is currently the liaison for the New Mexico region for the Association for the Advancement of Social Work with groups. His Personality Fitness Training for Children and Youth program is widely used as a group model in public schools in the United States and in Norway. He is well known in the United States and in Europe for his advanced training seminars for psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers that are annually held in Norway at the Clinic for Functional Psychology and at Modum Bad.
Richard Revheim (M.A. Psychology) is a school psychologist who has successful developed cross-age teaching, peer counseling, conflict mediation, group counseling, dropout prevention and drug intervention programs for schools. He has over 25 years of experience in public education, has conducted teacher education workshops on a national and international level and held board positions on mental health and drug boards and was president of the National Council On Self-Esteem. He is a co-author of the Personality Fitness Programs and Personally Intelligent Teacher course.
