I've discovered that I possess three of these intelligences: Interpersonal, Bodily/Kinesthetic, and Linguistic intelligence.
Interpersonal: I love learning from others, with others, and about others. One of the joys of teaching is learning alongside your students, learning about them, and learning life lessons from them. I think one reason that I enjoy teaching so much is because there is always something new to learn about the people around you.
Bodily/Kinesthetic: Most likely due to my background in theater, I like to associate knowledge with an action or a movement. When learning and teaching Spanish, I often create gestures that represent the word. For a word like, "bigote" (mustache), I place a finger underneath my nose. My students recently commented, "Mr. Oldham- You are awesome at charades.
Linguistic: For some, language just comes naturally and its intricacies make as much sense as 1+1=2. I love dissecting words. In Spanish, "desayunar" means "to eat breakfast. "Des," is a prefix meaning to undo. "Ayunar" means to fast. Undo + fast= breakfast. Call me nerdy, but I get visibly excited when I learn something like that.
One intelligence that I simply do not possess at all is Spacial Intelligence, namely, the ability to visualize space and manipulate objects or imagine their appearance with their mind's eye. I do, however, admire that intelligence greatly and attempt to play to that intelligence with my assignments and vocabulary games.
I heard a profound statement recently:
"All kids are born artists, but most are educated out of it."
That is so true of me, and I often wish I could draw...
Which is why I asked my students to draw me some pretty, pretty pictures for extra credit. And yes, I used those exact words. I'm quite the linguist. I discovered that some of my students have the same lack of spatial intelligence that I do, and that others are wonderfully gifted.
Below is a sample of the students' work.
She calls this one: Messed up puppy.
A portrait of a best friend. Charming, right?
Shark and Narwal meet, and compare retro hair styles.
"Its a taco and burrito band!" he said.
Cheesy joke. Ha.
Jose Jalapeño. Pretty darn accurate. If only he looked a little more depressed.
Clever representation of my last name. I'm so flattered.
They found out about my slight infatuation with Beyonce...
Apparently Jay-Z did, too.
When we showed these in class, I called it The Gallery of Pretty Pretty Pictures. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did, and that your Spatial Intelligence develops much more than mine did.
Peace, Love and Art, ya'll.
Seth
