As part of our course requirements, we were asked to undertake a short MI assessment on the Internet. You can take it as well by clicking HERE. These were my results:
Another pretty cool assessment tool is available from Disney's site. Click HERE to take the MI Inventory (scroll to the interactive activity at the bottom of the page). The profile/inventory is represented more graphically (for us visual-spatial learners) as a snowflake. Here are my results:
I have already written about this particular snowflake as part of my course reflections exercise, you can view it under the Reflections section for 537 or by clicking HERE. You will notice that, in addition to the absence of the Existential Intelligence, that Naturalistic Intelligence is not represented here either. That is because, originally, Gardner started with these seven. He identified the other two later. Strange, you might think, that these were not 'discovered' or 'uncovered' (not sure which is better to say here)? Not really... Gardner identifies an intelligence as a group of abilities that is (i) somewhat autonomous from other human capacities, (ii) has a core set of information-processing operations, (iii) has a distinct history in the stages of development we each pass through, (iv) has plausible roots in evolutionary history (taken from course notes for 537 -- cannot be linked due to password restrictions. For more information, contact Diane Janes, M. Ed. (the course instructor) at diane.janes@usask.ca).
I was actually not really surprised by the results, other than the fact that the Musical Intelligence was so high. I have been playing instruments for less than two years (I currently play the guitar and the bodhran and I am learning the Irish Tin Whistle). I have been singing for a few years, though only recently at parties, etc. Music was never a part of my life growing up, unless you count listening to it. Yet, according to MI theory, intelligence can be 'cultured'... I guess this is proof.
In both inventories/profiles, my Logical-Mathematical, Spatial, Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal and Verbal-Linguistic intelligences were all high. This was actually not a surprise at all... (I am high on the Intrapersonal Intelligence after all.... ha!). In terms of teaching, this reflects my style incredibly. I tend to approach all my lessons with MI in mind, even though I may not always be thinking of that. I use visuals, music, dance, pretty much anything that will get the point across. That is, I try to teach globally. This is a very important method, in my opinion, as it not only reaches the largest number of students directly, but it helps me to maintain my focus as a teacher -- to remember that books and pencils are only one area of teaching, that the chalk-board is only one medium.
What did surprise me was how low I 'scored' on the Interpersonal. I always considered myself to be somewhat of a 'loner' but I generally didn't think of myself as not being able to interact well with others. I love parties and group activities, though, I must confess that there are times when I simply like to sit there and watch the action rather than interact directly.
