We are all smart! We are just all smart in different ways. Some people like words, others like logic, some work well with good music, or maybe they like moving around. There are also people who find comfort in working with the natural environment, and there are those who are great with interacting with others! Some people are excellent at working with visuals, and others work best when they work alone. There are even those who just "get" things in life and know where they want to go. Which kind of smart are you?
Multiple Intelligences
CHECKLISTS & RUBRICS
This is probably the most common way to do assessment when working with Multiple Intelligences. As students will often be working on projects or assignements that appear different, a rubric will allow you, as the teacher, to have guiding areas to examine and then reward points for the level that the student has achieved.
Rubrics are often on a scale of 1 to 4 or 1 to 5, with one being the lowest level of achievement, typcially not even showing any grasp of the content that was to be investigated. Students who receive 4s and 5s show exceeding amounts of creativity, information, organization, or other areas that are being examined.
When creating rubrics for projects it is often best to include students in the creation of them. Let the students help decide what areas of their work should be examined, and be able to explain what a "good" example of the project would look like. When you involve students in this process it gives them a great deal of ownership over their projects, and they are often more invested in achieving the desired outcomes.
Incorporating Bloom's Taxonomy into rubrics can add additional levels of cognative thinking to the assessment process. Gray and Waggonner suggest that "traditionally, classroom activities remain in the lower lef-hand quadrant of the matrikx. Students are asked to define, label, expalain and express - lower-level thinking that only acknowledges two of the [nine] intelligences" (2002, p. 185). The use of MIs can greatly expand student activities across the Bloom's scale, and move into the opposite quadrant very easily. Be sure to introduce the concepts to students and explore their meanings before incorporating them in any assessment.
In addition to rubrics, it is also crucial to keep checklists and anectodtal notes for each student throughout the school year. These notes will help inform about student progress, can assist in diagnosing learning or behavioural problems, and generally give a lot more insight into how a child is performing in the classroom.
SCHOOLWIDE ASSESSMENT
To get a better picture of how a student is doing in school, it is best to involve other teachers, students, and parents in the assessment process. Include information from interviews, portfolios, surveys, self-reflection, goal setting, and anecdotal notes from other teachers that students work with.
PEER & SELF ASSESSMENT
Involving students in assessment gives them great ownership and a chance to be reflective, and work on their Self and People Smarts!
Create positive feedback circles, opportunities for students to discuss work with others, and reflect on their own learning outcomes. This can be done through journals, discussion sheets, commenting on student blogs, or many other ways! Teach students how to give constructive feedback and how to receive feedback that is given.
Continuous reflection and feedback will not only help students to improve their future work, but will also help them to think critically about what "good work" looks like. These critical thinking skills can then be applied to many other subject areas to analyze writing, video or even art for its value in student projects and research.
Self assessment is not only important for students, but for teachers too. Teachers must continually assess their teaching and evaluation methods to ensure that they are meeting the needs of the students and the curriculum. At first it will likely be difficult to shift lesson plans and assessment strategies, but continued practice and reflection will help to highlight areas for improvement.
Keep in mind that assessment in MI-style "need not, and should not, mean a time when learing ceases and students are audited for their factual knowledge through fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice, and short answer items" (Silver, Strong & Perini, p. 82). Instead, be sure to continue to integrate "tests" into learning, and allow students to fill in the "blanks" in their knowledge, respect a variety of learning styls and MIs, and allow students to choose ways to best show their understanding of the topic.
Assessment Strategies
How can you possibly assess all different types of projects and assignments? These strategies will give you some ideas!
Here are some guiding principles for good assessment:
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Assessment should capture the growth of the student over time, not just from a single event
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Assement should be multidimensional and provide the student with feedback on how to improve their work, and also provide students and parents with information about their comparative growth.
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Assessment should inform instruction. Teachers must know the desired end result in order to design instruction and assessment strategies, and be consciencous of how effectively they are able to teach the students. Instruction and assessment should be flexible and work with the student where they are at.
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Informal assessment is just as important (if not more!) than formal assessment. Continuous monitoring of students will assist in being able to adjust teaching strategies, and see student growth and development.
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Students should be actively involved in the assessment process. Students can contribute to the creation of rubrics, give feedback to their peers, and assess their own work in a reflective process.
Assessment should not be a scary thing for teachers or for students. It should be a cooperative process where students are given opportunities to showcase their understanding of the material. Assessment cannot live in its own little box, and must be incorproated into the everyday goings-on of the classroom.
"The boundaries between instruction and assessment can disolve when students reveal what they know through project presentations, exhibitions, and other multimodal means" (Campbell, Campbell & Dickinson, 2003, p.320).
MI REPORT CARDS
Traditional report cards often are not able to adequately show student growth in the multiple intelligence areas, and teachers may find the need to create their own report card to supplement the one required by the school division.
The MI report card should show the child's progressional across all of the intelligences. This could be done through notes, graphs, or checklists, which could have comparative lists in subsequent report cards throughout the school year.
"The means of assessment we favor should ultimately search for genuine problem-solving or product-fashioning skills in individuals across a range of materials" (Gardner, 1993, p. 31).
"As assessment gradually becomes part of the landscape, it no longer needs to be set off from the rest of classroom activity. As in a good apprenticeship, the teachers and the students are always assessing" (Gardner, 1993, p. 175).
