Focus on Learning Styles & Strengths

Multiple Intelligences for Adult Literacy and Adult Education

ENGAGING THE LANGUAGE INTELLIGENCE 1.1

Look at different kinds of dictionaries.
Read plays and poetry out loud.
Write a story for a book or newsletter.
Keep a journal.
Read from books written by or for new readers. (See references listed on the back of this card.)
Use a tape recorder to tape stories and write them down.
Read together, i.e., choral reading. (See the Activities Dictionary Card for an explanation.)
Read out loud to each other.
Read a section, then explain what you've read.
Read a piece with different emotional tones or viewpoints--once angry, once happy, etc.
Trade tall tales, attend story-telling events and workshops.
Explore and develop the love of words, i.e., meanings of words, origin of words and idioms, names. Research your name.

CHARACTERISTICS
Enjoying saying, hearing, and seeing words.
Likes telling stories.
Motivated by books, records, dramas, opportunities for writing.

Resources: books written by and for adult new readers, books of poetry and plays, audio/video tapes, vocabulary development books, word puzzles.

REFERENCES

Coleman, Audrey, Working in California, California State Library Foundation, Sacramento, California, 1991.
The Drum: Writings by Literacy Students of the Bay Area, BALit, California State Library Foundation, California, 1990
Lederer, Richard, The Play of Words, Pocket Books, New York, 1990
Series: New Writers' Voices, Literacy Volunteers of New York, NY.
Voices, New Writers for New Readers, Voices, Surrey, B.C., Canada, 1990.
Words on the Page, The World in Your Hands, Books 1-3, Harper & Row, New York, New York 1989.

ENGAGING THE SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE 1.2

Here are ways to work with this intelligence in your lesson.
Write a language experience story and then illustrate it.
Study and create maps, diagrams and graphs.
Color code words so each syllable is a different color.
Write a word on the blackboard with a wet finger. Visualize the word as it disappears. See if you can spell it afterwards.
Take a survey. Put the information in a chart.
Write words vertically.
Cut out words from a magazine and use them in a letter.
Use pictures to stimulate reading or writing.
Visualize spelling words.
Use the say-copy-look method of spelling.
Use colorful newspapers like USA Today.
Use crossword puzzles.

CHARACTERISTICS
Remembers things visually, including exact sizes and shapes of objects.
Likes posters, charts, graphics.
Likes any kind of visual clues.
Enjoys drawing.

Resources: Look for crossword puzzles, newspapers printed in colors, magic slates, blackboards with color chalk, colored markers, magazines with lots of photographs.

REFERENCES

Editors of New Readers Press, Playing. One of Four Books on Feelings, New Readers Press, New York, 1987.
Glickberg, Joy, Crosswords for Language Arts, Pitman Learning, California, 1985.
Murdock, Maureen, Spinning Inward, Peace Press, California, 1982 (rev. ed. Shambala Press).

ENGAGING THE LOGIC/MATH INTELLIGENCE 1.3

Here are ways to work with this intelligence in your lessons.
Arrange cartoons and other pictures in a logical sequence.
Sort, categorize, and characterize word lists.
While reading a story, stop before you've finished and predict what will happen next.
Explore the origins of words.
Play games that require critical thinking. For example, pick the one word that doesn't fit: chair, table, paper clip, sofa. Explain why it doesn't fit.
Work with scrambled sentences. Talk about what happens when the order is changed.
After finishing a story, mind map some of the main ideas and details. (See Activities Dictionary section for an explanation of mind maps.)
Write the directions for completing a simple job like starting a car or tying a shoe.
Make outlines of what you are going to write or of the material you've already read.
Write a headline for a story you've just completed.
Look for patterns in words. What's the relationship between heal, health, and healthier?
Look at advertisements critically. What are they using to get you to buy their product?

CHARACTERISTICS
Enjoys exploring how things are related.
Likes to understand how things work.
Likes mathematical concepts.
Enjoys puzzles and manipulative games.
Good at critical thinking.

Resources: word puzzles and games, books on the origin of words, "how to" books and tapes.

REFERENCES

Kohl, Herbert, A Book of Puzzlements, Schocken Books, New York, 1981.
Waas, Lane, Imagine That! , Jalmar Press, California, 1991.

ENGAGING THE BODY MOVEMENT INTELLIGENCE 1.4

Here are ways to work with this intelligence in your lessons.
Go through your wallet and pull out three things to talk about.
Trace letters and words on each other's back.
Use magnetic letters, letter blocks, or letters on index cards to spell words.
Take a walk while discussing a story or gathering ideas for a story.
Make pipe cleaner letters. Form letters out of bread dough. After you shape your letters, bake them and eat them!
Use your whole arm (extend without bending your elbow) to write letters and words in the air.
Change the place where you write and use different kinds of tools to write, ie., typewriter, computer, blackboard, or large pieces of paper.
Write on a mirror with lipstick or soap.
Take a walk and read all the words you find during the walk.
Handle a KOOSH BALL or a worry stone during a study session.
Take a break and do a cross-lateral walk. (See Activities Dictionary section.)

CHARACTERISTICS
Likes to move, dance, wiggle, walk, swim.
Is often good at sports.
Has good fine motor skills.
Likes to take things apart and put back together.

Resources: books, tapes, videos on accelerated learning, games, and how to make things.

REFERENCES

Ekwall, Eldon, Locating & Correcting Reading Difficulties, Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., Ohio, 1985.
Meister Vitale, Barbara, Unicorns are Real, Jalmar Press, California, 1985.
Murdock, Maureen, Spinning Inward, Peace Press, California, 1982 (rev. ed. Shambala Press)
Rose, Colin, Accelerated Learning, Accelerated Learning Systems United, England, 1985.
Waas, Lane, Imagine That!, Jalmar Press, California, 1991.

ENGAGING THE MUSICAL INTELLIGENCE 1.5

Here are ways to work with this intelligence in your lessons.
Use a familiar tune, song, or rap beat to teach spelling rules, or to remember words in a series for a test.
Create a poem with an emphasis on certain sounds for pronunciation.
Clap out or walk out the sounds of syllables.
Read together (choral reading) to work on fluency and intonation.
Read a story with great emotion--once sad, then happy, then angry. Talk about what changes. . .is it only tone?
Work with words that sound like what they mean (onomatopoeia). For example: sizzle, cuckoo, smash.
Read lyrics to music.
Use music as background while reviewing and for helping to remember new material.
Use rhymes to remember spelling rules, i.e., "An i before e except after c."

CHARACTERISTICS
Likes the rhythm and sound of the language.
Likes poems, songs, and jingles.
Enjoys humming or singing along with music.

Resources: records and tapes with printed lyrics, magazine and TV ads, poetry.

REFERENCES

Brewer, Chris and Campbell, D., Rhythms of Learning, Zephyr Press, Arizona, 1991.
Graham, Carolyn, Jazz Chants, Oxford University Press, England, 1978.
Kay, Cathryn, Word Works, The Yolla Bolly Press, California, 1985.
Kline, Peter, The Everyday Genius, Great Ocean Publishers, Virginia, 1988.
Rose, Colin, Accelerated Learning, Accelerated Learning Systems United, England, 1985.
Samples, Bob, Open Mind/Whole Mind, Jalmar Press, California, 1987.

ENGAGING THE SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE 1.6

Here are ways to work with this intelligence in your lessons.
Take part in group discussions or discuss a topic one-to-one.
Read a dialogue or a play together.
Do team learning/investigating projects.
Set up interview questions, and interview your family. Write the results.
Write notes to one another instead of talking.

CHARACTERISTICS
Likes to develop ideas and learn from other people.
Likes to talk.
Has good social skills.

Resources: plays and dialogues, poetry, videos on current issues.

REFERENCES
Fleischman, Paul, I am Phoenix: A Poem for Two Voices, Harper & Row, New York, 1985.
Fleischman, Paul, A Joyful Noise: A Poem for Two Voices, Harper & Row, New York, 1988.
Ross, Michael and Bernice West, All in the Family: A Dramascript Books, Pitman Learning, California, 1972
Samples, Bob, Open Mind/Whole Mind, Jalmar Press, California, 1987.

ENGAGING THE SELF INTELLIGENCE 1.7

Here are ways to work with this intelligence in your lessons.
Go on "guided imagery" tours. See Activities Dictionary section.)
Set aside time to reflect on new ideas and information.
Encourage journal writing.
Work on the computer.
Practice breathing for relaxation.
Use brainstorming methods before reading. (See Activities Dictionary section.)
Listen to and read "how to" tapes and books.
Read "inspirational" thought-for-the-day books.
Read cookbooks.

CHARACTERISTICS
Has good sense of self.
Likes to think things over.
Often greets you saying, I thought about what you said and...
Likes independent projects and learning by trial and error.

Resources: "how to" books and tapes, relaxation books and tapes, theme calendars with quotes, greeting cards.

REFERENCES
Brewer, Chris & Campbell, Don, Rhythms of Learning, Zephyr Press, Arizona, 1991.
Murdock, Maureen, Spinning Inward, Peace Press, California, 1982 (rev. ed. Shambala Press.)
Prather, Hugh, A Book of Games, A Dolphin Book, New York, 1981.

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