Brain Research Applied to Middle School

Abstract: The beginning of this chapter was great as it showed the importance of multiple intelligences. While we have been working to activate as many intelligences in each lesson throughout our lesson planning, it is interesting to think of this process in terms of lemon meringue pie example. When we are exposed to the pie, or any other object, our memories work to track down the taste, feel, smell and experience associated with this object. We compartmentalize each object, thus delving into each intelligence offers us the opportunity to reach students on multiple levels. Chunking sounds like a great method of association. This way, students are not forced to recall one specific detail, but instead can learn a great deal about the topic and, in theory, relate back to this information when it is time to think about the designated topic. The author then teaches a mini lesson on plagiarism, showing the severity of plagiarizing another individual's work.
Synthesis: I would really like to try the triad response method within my classroom, as I feel that this would be an excellent method of encouraging a number of students to speak in a manner that will help them to keep track of the conversation. I think it would be helpful to provide students with a test run of this process before doing this as a whole class. To do this, I would present students with a question, ask each student to write his opinion and then to pass the paper to the left. I would then ask that the next student comment upon the first response, and decide whether they agree or disagree. I would have the students pass it to one more peer, who will again decide whether they agree or disagree, and then ask students to pass the paper back to the original commenter. I would happily reenact a lesson such as the plagiarism mini lesson, as this had an excellent impact on the students and they reacted very well.