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Multiple Intelligences and Portfolios

A Window into the Learner’s Mind

By Evangeline H Stefanakis, Boston University
Introduction by Bruce Torff
Foreword by Thomas Hehir, Deborah Meier

Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences suggests that culture, language, and environment all influence how an individual's intelligence is expressed. In this guide, Evangeline Stefanakis provides concrete suggestions for translating Gardner's theory into curriculum and assessment practices in the context of urban classrooms. By combining the collection and analysis of student work in comprehensive portfolios, she offers a framework for teachers to improve the assessment of diverse individuals.

Stefanakis is especially well suited to the task of combining theory, philosophy, and practice...

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ISBN 978-0-325-00363-4 / 0-325-00363-7 / SKU E00363
2002 / 192pp / BOOK WITH CD
Grade Level: Kindergarten-8th

Topics: Assessment, Differentiated Instruction

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Full Description

Stefanakis is especially well suited to the task of combining theory, philosophy, and practice on this topic. She has helped teachers, teacher educators, and school leaders understand both MI theory and how to use portfolios to personalize their teaching to better serve all students, including those who are bilingual and have disabilities. She worked with the Harvard Project Zero on the Massachusetts Schools Network on a three-year effort to implement schoolwide portfolio assessment in thirteen urban and rural schools. The contents of this book, which include principal and teacher stories from the Cambridgeport School, grew directly from this experience.

In eight concise chapters, Stefanakis takes teachers through proven strategies for creating personal student profiles and portfolios as "windows into learners' minds." Her book provides:

a positive focus on children's assets—what they do know, rather than what they don't
a guide on applying the theory of multiple intelligences to personalize learning
short, practical, classroom-based content on implementing portfolios (Grades K-8)
proven ways for teachers to expand their practices for reaching an even wider, more diverse, and challenging range of learners by differentiating instruction
a companion dual-platform CD-ROM featuring a range of student portfolios and reproducible assessment forms.

Understanding what students bring to the learning environment and how to accommodate their needs has challenged educators for generations. Here is an important addition to the literature on multiple intelligences and on practices that recognize, honor, and embrace children's diversity.

Additional Resource Information

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Foreword by Deborah Meier
Foreword by Thomas Hehir
Acknowledgements
Introduction by Bruce Torff
About This Book

One—Multiple Intelligences: A Theory Applied to Learning
To supplement this chapter, a collection of tools for teachers to use to develop a MI student profile are offered as PDF files on the CD.

Two—A Window into the Learner's Multiple Intelligences
The CD shows how a single portfolio can help illustrate the profile of a learner and help teachers gather data for a student's MI profile.

Three—Multiple Intelligences and Portfolios: Creating a Learning Culture in a Classroom
This part of the CD introduces Bela Bhasin's classroom portfolio system. It shows the difference between grade 1 and grade 2 portfolios. Portfolios of three children from Bela's class illustrate individual differences and individual children's distinct profiles.

Four—Multiple Intelligences and Portfolios: Creating a Learning Culture in a Whole-School Setting
In this chapter, Lynn F. Stuart of the Cambridgeport School provides an overview of assessment as documentation and celebration that is embodied in her school community. Her schema of a comprehensive assessment system which includes portfolios, student records, teachers' records, Massachusetts standards-based assessments, and standardized testing is explained as the context for the teachers' work that follows. Graduation by portfolio is introduced along with celebration for the community.

Five—The Middle Elementary Years: Portfolios Become a Window into the Learner's Mind and the Teacher's Teaching
The CD shows student work samples from the Learning in Revolutionary Projects. Grades 5 and 6 demonstrate their focus on historic learning by sharing their work during a Portfolio Celebration Day. Examples from three students (grades 5/6) are presented to illustrate the developmental perspective of older elementary students as they reflect on their work and learning, show the great variation among students, and illustrate learning challenges in both boys and girls. The teacher resources to create MI Thematic Curriculum Projects and Portfolio Resources are included as PDF files. Sample unit assignment sheets are also included to show how Sarah Fiarman moved from planning to implementation.

Six—Traveling Portfolios for Adolescents: A Window for All in the Middle School Years
On the CD, Jill Harrison Berg's format for using traveling portfolios with adolescents is presented. Her examples feature the work of a single subject portfolio in the humanities area. The design and use of portfolios for home-school dialogue is featured in this chapter and on the CD as a model for middle school practitioners. Sample reflection tools, work tags, rubrics for graduation, and portfolio cover letters are also included.

Seven—Organizing and Sustaining a Learning Culture

Eight—Multiple Intelligences and Portfolios As a Window into Learners' Minds: Key Lessons Learned

Epilogue
References
Index
About the CD-ROM