Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles: A Personal Reflection

           I had the opportunity recently to reflect on my own personal learning strengths and styles. This was a rewarding process for me as it has been a while since I have done so. When I was in high school, my parents paid hundreds of dollars for me to take extensive personality tests to help my discover what I was going to be "when I grew up". It is nice to look back on that time now. I feel like I know myself so much better and taking a quiz about my learning style seems easier and reinforces what I am learning about myself.
           In a multiple intelligences quiz, I scored the highest in "interpersonal" and "Linguistic". Here's a description of the two:

Linguistic Learner

• likes to: read, write and tell stories.
• is good at: memorizing names, places, dates and trivia.
• learns best by: saying, hearing and seeing words.

Interpersonal Learner

• likes to: have lots of friends, talk to people and join groups.
• is good at: understanding people, leading others, organizing, communicating, manipulating and mediating conflicts.
• learns best by: sharing, comparing, relating, cooperating and interviewing.

(descriptions from Learning Disabilities Resource Community)

          As a History/English teacher, I believe that these characteristics assist me well as a teacher. They also helped me as a student as they lend to the traditional way of learning in the classroom (reading, writing, memorization, group projects). Hands-on activities were fine for me, but definitely not something I had to have. Also, I always found that studying be writing out important info and re-reading the information. 

           As a teacher, it is impossible to incorporate every students' learning style/multiple intelligences every day. So, I just attempt to do activities that reach a few. I also deal with this issue by giving students "choice boards" for assignments - that way they can choose how they would like to learn or be assessed. This works really well for middle school students because it gives them a sense of responsibility.