After completing the interest inventory, I was not surprised to find out that my strengths were interpersonal and linguistic. In past learning style assessments, I have had similar results. This is not a surprise to me as I think about my strengths as an individual, as a student, and as a teacher.
I have always been good with words and writing is a strength of mine. As a student, I was always relieved to be given a writing option on choice projects or be asked to take an essay test vs. multiple choice. As for the interpersonal strengths, I felt like those were fostered in collaborative work and I learned content on a deeper level when given the opportunity to manipulate it within a social learning setting. I was less apt, especially in math classes, to do individual work.
In my classroom experiences and in my position in a coaching role, I place great emphasis on student choice. By utilizing choice boards or choice assignments, students are able to select work that fits with their learning style. For an assignment or project where you offer choice, not every singe intelligence needs to have a corresponding assignment as students usually have multiple strengths. Even 3-4 options empower learners and allows them to show their understanding in a way that showcases a strength. When offering choice assignments, it is essential that teachers have clearly and explicitly communicated the learning goals and objectives to students. I like to turn my goals into 'I can' statements and help kids think about being able to show me that they 'can' demonstrate a specific skill or understanding in a diverse array of products.
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