When Howard Gardner put forward his Theory of Multiple Intelligences (in 1983), he was only acknowledging something we have all intuitively known – the existence of different abilities (intelligences) inside each one of us.

What is “child’s play” or fun for one could be scary or boring for another. This diversity arises from each child having a different set of stronger or natural intelligences. Is one child less than the other simply because he or she has different strong intelligences? Do we need to compare ourselves? How about accepting all as equally blessed, differently blessed. It’s not about how much we are intelligent, rather its about HOW we are intelligent.

The week began with exploring A TREE in different ways – Look at the tree as a painter – Painters would look for lines, shapes, colours and patterns. Look at the tree as a poet – Look for adjectives, phrases and metaphors that capture the tree. Look at the tree as a naturalist – A Naturalist would look for what all life form the tree harbours – insects, spiders, birds, smaller plants, creepers, etc? Look at the tree as mathematician – Mathematicians would want to know how high, how wide the tree is, the average size of leaves etc? Look at the tree as a Politician – Politicians would see its social importance, its role in people’s lives, livelihood and what all socio-economic purposes it can serve? Look at the tree as a Dancer / Musician – Artists would see its physical form and various elements, its movements, its sounds, the kind of feelings it evokes, etc? Be a thinker – hug it, podner, relate, feel it, meditate, silence. “We all are same because we all are different”

And the advantages are – Once you acknowledge that there are more than one ways of being intelligent, you start accepting yourself as uniquely intelligent. Exposure to all intelligences opens up for many different ways to learn and adds pices to your learning. Learning is fun and joyful for you.

Just one topic “Safety training” but different people, different needs. Some wanted to know what to do when a dog bites? While others wanted to know what are natural calamities? Some choose to work on fire, while some on cyber bullying, some on elephant safety while some on snake safety, some on bee first aid while some on wound first aid.

In Jaatre it was about scientific process – observing, exploring, curiosity, experimenting, questioning, answering, recording and understanding the process. STEM Club to explore the possibilities of scientific process. Experience scientific thinking while you are developing your interest – like fish farming, system admin, medic, team building, cooking, craft…anything.

Teen club was about visioning – Everyone wants “good life” – but something inside us makes prevent us from doing what we want to do. Think for a moment “What you want to create for yourself and the world around you”?

When asked say “dil se” the expression ”science and maths are more intelligent” came. Hmmm “If I don’t know Maths, I am missing something, If others do-not know poetry, they are still good if they know maths”. Somewhere the conditioning plays “If I am not good in science or maths, I am not so good”. We played the quiz “who is more intelligent – Albert Einstein or Mother Teressa or Virat Kohili or J K Rowling or Sadguru or Sanjeev kapoor or YOU!

We all watch movies and songs and videos – how about watching them in many different ways? We watched this video a few times, each time with a different focus – focus on emotions, focus on the cinematography, focus on communication, focus on natural phenomenon in each scene, focus on number of people in each scene, focus on movement in each scene…the possibilities are unlimited. The framework of multiple intelligence opens up many possibilities and makes it more rich, That’s what we all wanted to be “rich” this week! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oyI0C2kBRc

We are growing more mangoes, we are making mango patch. This Friday in active we begin the process. Active WE at Aarohi is about working on land together as the community.

A Jaatre by a child on Gymnastic – Gymnastic is a form of exercise, First sports in Olympics, Ancient Greece, Its all about Jumping, flipping, body balancing. Various forms

Artistic – vault, balance beam, floor

Rhythmic – music and apparatus like ball, hoop, ribbon etc.

Aerobic – vault, parallel bar, floor exercise, high bars, rings etc. Strength, flexibility, core fitness.

Child – I am learning Gymnastic for last one year

Me – You do-not get bored or feel like leaving

Child – No, I like it

Me – What you like most?

Child – Gymnastic!

Watched a movie“I am Kalam” together and pondered, “If you were the character what would you change in any situation? What kind of culture? What were emphatic dialogues? What are the thoughts on child labour? If you were the director, his would you have ended the movie? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZy4vIGf7MY

Applying the concepts of addition/multiplication/ dimensions to work on “rain water harvesting”. Pondering – what is Prism made up of? Why diffused reflection on wooden surface? Is it to do with the nature of the surface or the material or something else? Playing maths games to just play with maths! While reading about crop management, pondering “why do we need to use chemicals ? is the modern tech is going to affect the quality of food”?

Do you see Multiple Intelligence in your HANDS in – Do you see different structures in your hands, Do you hear music in your hands, do you see 9 tables in your hands, do you find similar things in nature as in hands, do see connection when you hold hands together, do you feel peace in our hands when you close eyes and rub hands and look out for the different sensations that happen around hands.

But it does not matter what we know about a child, untill the child know about self – self assessment at the end to discover self to discover self a bit. What all Intelligences you used this week? Draw an octopus (eight tentacles for eight MI), and then write various MI you used this week. The idea is to discover that we use different MI – some you are naturally strong and you use it with ease; some you are developing now.

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A NOTE – In 1983, through his book “Frames of Mind: The theory of Multiple Intelligence”, (MI) Howard Gardner, challenges the notion that intelligence is singular. Since we are all different, we are also differently intelligent. And the moment I know ‘how I am intelligent’ it is easier for me to excel in that field – in terms of learning, specialization and potential career. In fact IQ tests, etc., tend to look at intelligence in one dimension only. The moment we consider a child good in music at par with a child good in maths, at par with a child good in sports, at par with a child good in making friends and dealing with others – we open up a new vista of opportunities for children to succeed.

Multiple Intelligence (MI) looks at Intelligence in seven ways: If you’re good at reading, writing, telling stories you are Linguistically Intelligent. However if use your body through sports, dancing, acting, crafts, tools, etc then you are Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligent. Somebody good at visualizing, designing, painting, arranging, etc., is Visually Intelligent. While Math-Logically Intelligent people are strong in logic, reasoning, problem-solving, analytic thinking, etc., Musically Intelligent people show talent in singing, playing instruments, rhythms, composing, etc.

Once we acknowledge that there are more than one ways of being intelligent, we start accepting each child as uniquely intelligent. If the measurement and comparison on the scale of intelligence are removed, rather an effort is made to identify children’s unique strengths, the boost they get in terms of self-esteem and self-confidence is immeasurable. What happens to the child who sits in the back row and almost always sings but scorns at maths. The moment he is ALSO accepted as intelligent the teacher as well as the child’s approach towards learning changes.

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