DESIRED OUTCOMES

Lesson Summary:
Within a course on differentiation, this lesson focuses on
differentiating instruction according to learning styles.
Specifically, the lesson aims to introduce teachers and
students in the education field to the theory of Multiple
Intelligences, its philosophical underpinnings and its 8
components. Teachers will gain an appreciation of the
applicability of the theory in their classrooms and practice
ways of creating activities that cater to the different
intelligences.
Objectives:
Understand that intelligence is not a singular characteristic
but rather a set of abilities in every person with the potential
of being developed.
Identify and explain the 8 components that make up Multiple
Intelligences theory and what each represents.
Apply their understanding of the different intelligences by
coming up with different ways of identifying, promoting &
strengthening each intelligence.
Design classroom activities that cater to the different
intelligences in class to show the real-world applicability of
the theory.
Judge the efficacy of actually using MI theory in their
classrooms by analyzing the theorys strengths and
weaknesses.
Essential Questions:
What makes a person Intelligent?
How can we use our knowledge of Multiple Intelligences
theory to create more engaging experiences that cater to the
different learners in our classrooms?
Technology Connections:
1. Nearpod: As a tool to implement flipped learning. The
choice of using Nearpod as a pre-assessment tool as well as
to deliver content before class has implications for both my
students and myself:

Students
a. It allows them to engage with the content beforehand, so
they gain an understanding of the theoretical
background and components of the content. This
preparedness and independence in learning also raises
their confidence and levels the playing field among
students. Another benefit of preparedness is that they
can brainstorm questions to ask me which can then open
the floor for a discussion about anything that may have
been unclear or confusing.
b. It piques their interest and raises their curiosity
regarding the topic as they get a glimpse of what's to
come. This raises their motivation which is an essential
element in maintaining an engaged classroom.
c. It provides them with control. Students can engage with
the presentations at their own preferred time & place,
not to mention their own pace. Those who would have
needed more time with the content (especially ELLs) are
able to re-watch the presentation many times over.
Autonomy and independence in learning also have a
direct effect on their motivation.
Teacher
a. By assigning this presentation for homework
beforehand, I can focus class time on applying
knowledge through interactive, collaborative, studentcentered activities. I am therefore better able to focus on
utilizing higher order thinking skills rather than simply
relying on getting them to remember or just understand
content.
b. It serves as a pre-assessment tool so I can understand
what kind of background knowledge, misconceptions
and ideas my students bring to class and to fashion
instructional decisions such as grouping accordingly.
2. Padlet: As a pre-assessment tool to ascertain just how
much the students have grasped these central points from
the Nearpod presentation:
a. Definitions and characteristics of the intelligences
b. The idea that everyone has elements of all the
intelligences in varying degrees
c. Dispelling the misconception that any one of us can
have a complete lack of an intelligence

The Padlet resource allows me to make my students

thinking visible in a very quick way, not only to myself but
also to the whole class. I am able to create a single wall on
which the class can share their thoughts. In this particular
exercise, I am hoping students question my choice of the
phrases: I have & I don't have and in which case we
can edit the words live on-screen easily. As it is a selfreflective exercise, it allows students to think, rethink and
change their answers whenever they like. Further, students
are more likely to share information about themselves
when they know that everyone else is doing it as well. The
fact that the answers are shared in real-time with everyone,
means I receive instant feedback from the students and
they get to see each others contributions as well. During
the presentation stage where they talk about what they
have written, it is available on the screen for everyone to
see rather than having a student stand up with a piece of
paper and read off their answers. Also the fact that
everyone gets to see the answers means that I can invite
students to comment on each others reflections of
themselves. This creates a more communal feel in the
classroom as students will want to complement one another
and they will in turn feel supported by their peers. People
like to feel that they are known by others and that others
have been paying attention to them, this exercise allows for
that to happen.
3. Thinglink: - As a visual tool to ensure that students can
recognize how different instructional activities and
environments promote different intelligences. Thinglink is
an app that students have not used before and as such it
extends their abilities and skills, most notably their
technological knowledge as teachers. By interacting with
this tool, it becomes one more resource to add to their
repertoire that they can use with their own students in a
variety of ways. It strongly appeals to the visual learners as
it involves the creative process of selecting pictures and
adding their own tags. Students are able to add their own
content to the pictures, thus it creates an alternative way of
generating and presenting content. Students can express
themselves in a variety of ways that extend beyond simply
print, as they say a picture paints a thousand words!

4. Popplet: As an application exercise to see if students can

bring together different elements we have learnt and apply
them to specific learning situations. As a graphic organizer,
popplet allows the students to represent how they have
organized their thinking in a visual way that can be shared
with everyone. Each group of students would work on a
separate learning situation and then we could all benefit
from each others ideas. The flexibility of popplet in
creating and changing links between ideas is essential for
this exercise as students will be looking at several variables
that exist in the classroom.
5. Socrative: As a final exit ticket to ensure objectives have
been met.
This website offers a great way for me to quickly check to
see if students are able to use all that they have learnt
during the session to come to a conclusion regarding the
efficacy of this theory. The live element allows both me and
the students to receive immediate feedback which is always
a motivating factor. Being able to view the answers
altogether as a group and read them out is also a
collaborative exercise which allows us to compare our
opinions and creative ideas in a safe way.
PLANNING OF LEARNING ENGAGEMENT
Pre-requisites:
1. It is assumed that this is one lesson in a general
differentiation course. As such, students are aware of:
a. What differentiation is in the context of teaching
b. The importance of knowing our students in order to
be able to differentiate effectively
c. Tomlinsons basic tenants which involve
differentiating Product, Process and Content
according to Readiness levels, Interests and Learning
Styles.
2. Students are familiar with the technology to be used in the
classroom including Popplet, Nearpod and Socrative.
Materials and Technology:
iPads with the installed apps: Nearpod, Popplet, Padlet
AND/OR
Computer with an internet connection to access the sites:
Popplet, Padlet, Thinglink, Socrative

 USB with presentation to be shown in class

Cards and posters
Students have all been emailed links and codes to the
different sites which will be accessed during the class
session
INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES
Before class: for homework, students had been assigned an
interactive presentation via Nearpod to assess their
knowledge and present them with the content upon which the
lesson will be based.
Activity 1: Padlet - Rate your own intelligence At the beginning of class, ask students to open the padlet
link sent to them by email. T: Id like us all to start todays
class by taking part in a self-reflective exercise. Know
thyself. To know our students well, we need to first know
ourselves.
T: Before we start, which intelligence is manifested the
most in this exercise? Which intelligence is related to selfknowledge?
Direct students attention to the posts that have their
names on it. T: Every one of you has their very own note.
Now Id like you to think deeply about what you have read
and about what you know about yourselves. Then Id like
you to jot down which intelligences of the 8 you think you
have and which you don't have.
If students point out the problem with the phrases, I have
and I don't have, congratulate them and invite them to
make their own edits to rename the phrases. If they don't
ask, then ask them their opinion.
Note if any student is unclear on the meaning of the
intelligences and what they represent. Encourage them to
help each other out.
Give the students a few minutes then ask them to share
while eliciting comments from the others. T: Hala would
you like to tell us about the intelligences you think you
exhibit? T: What do you all think? We have been together
now for almost four months so we know each other pretty
well.
Conclude that we now know what each intelligence
represents and that we all have all intelligences in varying
degrees.
Go over some of the interesting responses from the
Nearpod presentation. T: According to your responses

Activity 2: Thinglink - Which intelligences are being

promoted here? Elicit from students whether or not we can test or
promote these intelligences using paper and pencil test. T:
If I want to be the kind of teacher who promotes MI in my
classroom, do you think paper and pencil activities can be
enough? T: How then can we create the kind of
instructional environment that promotes them?
T: In this next activity we will learn to recognize
intelligences at work in classrooms. We will use a new ET
tool today. You will work together to create interactive
images that show students, teachers or entire classrooms
engaged in some activity that makes use of certain
intelligences.
T: Please log on to the thinglink website, remember the
tutorials you have watched/read and start finding pictures
that show MI in or outside the classroom.
Here are some guiding questions: What is the
student/teacher doing? What does the classroom look like?
What materials do you see? Do you see individual or group
work?
Provide the students with an example picture.
Students present their work.
Activity 3: - How can we promote the different intelligences
using ET? T: ok so now we know what the intelligences are and what
they look like within an instructional setting. What Id like
us to explore next is how we can integrate our expansive
knowledge of educational technology tools to promote the
different intelligences. T: We are going to create a database
for other teachers to use by matching the different tools to
all the intelligences that are being strengthened.
Show the students the note-cards and the labels on the
board to explain the next activity. T: As you can see, we
have the different names of the intelligences on the board, I
would like you to work in groups to attach the tool with the
intelligence it is promoting. Bear in mind that some tools
will fall under more than one banner.
Ask students what they can conclude from looking at the
board they have created. Elicit the flexibility & versatility of
ET tools & the ease of using tools we have explored in class
to promote more than one intelligence.

Activity 4: Popplet - Subject or topic specific classroom

activities Students will be paired together and asked to create a
graphic organizer to apply their knowledge of MI theory to
create classroom activities for each intelligence. T: Id like
us now to investigate how we can use all that to tailor our
specific lessons.
Pair up students and give them a subject to focus on. Hala
and Rachel work on teaching a Math lesson while Hayat
and Wendy work on teaching a lesson on Social Studies
(history and Geography). T: you can choose the subject in
general or a specific topic and say HOW you can use MI to
tailor activities for that lesson.
T: Things to think about while creating your organizers:
o Content of the lesson
o Materials to be used
o ET tools
o Delivery of lesson
o Individual vs. group work
Students present their popplets to the rest of the class.
Exit ticket: Evaluation of MI theory via Socrative:
Ask students to log into Socrative and join NHTSLI3DU
1. List one advantage and one possible limitation of using MI
in your classroom.
2. Can you think of a solution to overcome that limitations.
3. Would you use MI theory in your classroom?
4. Can you come up with other intelligences?
How smart am I? as a final task of the class, ask the
students what they think of this question and if they can rearrange the words in the question to be more in line with the
theory. T: Is this the kind of question we want our students to
be asking ourselves? Can you think of an alternative?
Evaluation
Pre-assessment:
1. Nearpod: The interactive element included in the
presentation will allow me to ascertain students preexisting knowledge & misconceptions.
2. Padlet: At the beginning of class, to ensure that students 1.
Have grasped the content in the presentation, 2. Can

distinguish between the different intelligences and 3. Can

self-reflect using MI theory.
Ongoing: Various methods will be used to make sure students
are meeting the objectives of the lesson and to adjust teaching
if something is unclear.
1. Class discussions and observations
2. Thinglink: To make sure they can recognize MI in action
3. Matching activity: To explore the many different ways we
can use ET tools to promote MI
4. Popplet organizer: To apply MI theory to a specific teaching
context
Exit ticket: Evaluation of MI theory Via Socrative

ATTACHMENTS, MATERIALS & REFERENCES

https://www.thinglink.com
http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=5fcIpwu
http://www.socrative.com - student code: NHTSLI3DU
http://padlet.com/marwa_elsayed/6ro9os4tanxf
http://howardgardner.com
https://www.thinglink.com/learn - for tutorials