The Disciplined Mind
Media infused presentations, like the on I created, can help foster disciplined thinking. Throughout this presentation, I have modeled and fostered many of the steps of creating a disciplined mind according to Howard Gartner. The first step is to identify important topics and concepts within a topic. Throughout this presentation, I have broken the topic down into their important elements. Within each element, there is an activity were I have the students further analyze a topic and pull out important conclusions and information.
The next step is to spend a long period of time on the topic. Gardner states, “If it is worth studying, it is worth studying deeply, over a significant amount of time…” (Gardner 2007). This presentation is not meant to take 15 minutes. It might be small in the amount of slides but there are various activities and discussions that need to take place in order for the students to pull the important information out of the topic. As a teacher, I will allow the students the correct amount of time to work through the sources and analyze them completely. It is also important to approach the topic in a variety of ways. This refers back to multiple intelligences. Some students might learn better using a specific method. Some students might learn more visually, auditory or kinesthetically. This presentation incorporates group activities creating a cypher, images, audio, and videos. I made sure to appeal to all intelligences to maximize the learning and development of the disciplined mind. Lastly, it is important to be able to measure or assess “performance of understanding” (Gardner, 2007). Throughout the presentation, I have activities that incorporate different sources and allow the students to demonstrate their knowledge of the topic by analyzing a spy and their importance to history. It is also important for the disciplined mind to practice their skills. In this presentation, they practice their skills with interpreting primary and secondary sources, and applying them to the importance of the historical event/person to the course of American history.
The Synthesizing Mind
The synthesizing mind is all about making information connect. “Syntheses require us to put together elements that were originally discrete or disparate” (Gardner, 2007). Synthesizing minds bring different topics together and connect their purposes and meanings. This presentation also helps develop the synthesizing mind. This presentation brings together different individuals and events that were important to the American Revolution. In doing so, we begin to connect those individuals to the greater purpose of understanding the American Revolution.
The presentation starts of with a goal. The goal was to allow the students to investigate the role of Spies in the American Revolution and determine the role of spies during the revolution. This is an example of modeling. It shows the students that everything you do needs to have a goal. Every lesson has a goal and objective, so should their assignments. It shows them they can set goals in all aspects of their lives. The students also have a starting point. In every activity, I give the students a list of directions to follow. This gives the students a starting point and also a method or means to approach the activity. I am providing a model on how to approach analyzing sources. This practice will allow the students to develop a synthesizing mind. The activities in my presentation also allow the students to bring all of the information together that they have learned and make a final judgment or interpretation. The students will play the jury to the fate of Benedict Arnold, create a ‘spy letter’ about an important event, and also writing a final reflection that will allow them to explain the impact the spies had on American History. The students will be synthesizing all of the information, and creating a final analysis and product.
References:
Gardner, Howard. (2007). Five Minds for the Future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Citations for Presentation- Also include on first slide of presentation.
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