“Academic Self-Competence” is the general category for all our grades in January. When my 4th grade teachers were asked what topic within this they were most interested in their students receiving, many said they wanted their students to learn about their personal strengths. It seemed like the PERFECT time to do a lesson on multiple intelligences!
Fourth grade Life Skills lessons are divided into 2 sessions, each 20-25 minutes. Here’s what part 1 looked like:
– Show the Einstein quote “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.” and then ask for student interpretation. Then write “How smart are you?”, cross it off, and write “How are you smart?”. Explain that everyone is smart but we’re all smart in different ways, and that this month we’re going to learn about different kinds of smarts.
– Keep the discussion going with these questions:
- If someone is really good at math but is a terrible writer, are they still smart?
- Imagine someone who lives in a small village in Africa and can’t read or write, but is really great at hunting and finding food
for their family. Are they smart? - Do smart people always get good grades?
– Introduce all 8 of the “smarts” using mini-posters on the ELMO. At each one, ask students to say when they use that smart in their current life and what career might require that smart the most.
Discussion Qs if time:
- What smarts do you think were most important 100 years ago?
- Do you think there might be other smarts? What would they be?
- Quick poll of students predicting their own “smarts”?
Stay tuned for part 2 of the lesson, which includes a multiple intelligences (“smarts”) survey and career-tying worksheet!
Lovely lesson. Thanks! 🙂
Are these 8 “smarts” from Kathy Koch’s 8 Great Smarts? I see a modification of the Nature Smart. but everything else looks consistent with her book.
No, I believe they were based off of Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences.
Perfect lesson. Thank you!