MI Chapter 12

Chapter 12 in the MI book talks about memory, problem solving and cognitive skills in general. This chapter was helpful, in a new way, of stating how to use MI theory to build, not just comprehension, but learning techniques that will ultimately allow each student to be able to process information in the future more easily.

            Tailoring MI theory to ways of promoting memory is only the beginning to the benefits of this model. Of course students are more likely to remember something if they learned it in a way that interests them or connects to their interests. But what can they do with all this information? That’s where problem solving comes in. With a closer look, teachers can understand that much of the problem solving process relates to forming essential questions, like in differentiated instruction, it just works best when the questions are made to target specific intelligences. Overall, I really like this idea, simply because it’s something that every teacher should use and recognize with their students. If a teacher is unaware to the strengths of each student, especially in problem solving, it becomes almost impossible to give them the resources they need to make strong connections to the material.

            I also really appreciated how this chapter encouraged teachers to push the limits of their students by going beyond tailoring lessons and focusing on how students could use their strengths to dive into material deeper and in a more challenging way. This too relates to differentiated instruction. Overall I thought this chapter did a good job of explaining how to tie MI theory concretely into other methods we’ve been learning, and just promote important life skills in the classroom.