Theory of Multiple, Intelligences 21st- Century Skills, ABCD OBJECTIVES.....

🎯This week post will focus on several topics related to teaching and learning, such as multiple intelligences, 21st-century skills, and ABCD objectives.

Theory of Multiple Intelligences

This theory was developed by psychologist Howard Gardner. He proposed that people have different(nine) kinds of intelligence that reflect different ways of interacting with the world. While a person might be particularly strong in a specific area, such as musical intelligence, he or she most likely possesses a range of abilities. For example, an individual might be strong in verbal, musical, and naturalistic intelligence. 

Typography of nine intelligences.

 1. Linguistic Intelligence: the capacity to use language to express what is on your mind and to understand other people. These individuals are typically very good at writing stories, memorizing information, and reading

2. Logical/Mathematical Intelligence: people who are strong in logical-mathematical intelligence are good at reasoning, recognizing patterns, and logically analyzing problems. 

3. Musical Rhythmic Intelligence: : the capacity to think in music; to be able to hear patterns, recognize them, and perhaps manipulate them. People who possess have a strong appreciation for music and are often good at musical composition and performance.

4. Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence: those who have high bodily-kinesthetic intelligence are said to be good at body movement, performing actions, and physical control.

5. Visual/Spatial Intelligence: people who are strong in visual-spatial intelligence are good at visualizing things. These individuals are often good with directions as well as maps, charts, videos, and pictures.

6. Naturalist Intelligence: individuals who are high in this type of intelligence are more in tune with nature and are often interested in nurturing, exploring the environment, and learning about other species. 

7. Intrapersonal Intelligence: individuals who are strong in intrapersonal intelligence are good at being aware of their own emotional states, feelings, and motivations. 

8. Interpersonal Intelligence: those who have strong interpersonal intelligence are good at understanding and interacting with other people. These individuals are skilled at assessing the emotions, motivations, desires, and intentions of those around them.

9. Existential Intelligence: the ability and the proclivity to pose (and ponder) questions about life, death, and ultimate realities. 

Importance in teaching

Teachers must understand that children excel in different areas and they will learn at different paces through different paths. Teachers must give children the opportunity to participate in learning that will enable them to excel. With these multiple intelligences in mind, teachers need to use varied strategies to teach children in all subject via their strongest domain of intelligence.  Each student has his or her way of process information in terms of how they learn and how they retain the knowledge. The majority of students learn and understand a particular concept through traditional lecture. I think students learn best when the teacher adopts various instruction techniques. Some students learn best when they can reflect on the things they have learned. They learn by listening, brainstorming and sharing ideas with others. On the other hand, some students learn best through conceptual learning and logical thinking. Some students need to be actively involved in their own learning by practising hands-on problem-solving.  In other words, not every person learns best from a single teaching approach.

My Intelligences

Firstly, I found the idea that there are different types of intelligence very appealing.  Secondly, I strongly believe in this theory because I find myself in two or three of them. Well, the intelligence that describes me best is existential. Since I  was a kid I used to ponder and tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why we die, is there life after death, how did we get here. Another intelligence that describes me is intrapersonal, I have always been the person who understands his own feelings and thoughts. Last but not least is interpersonal intelligence. Who knows me for sure will say that I am good at communicating and that I understand others feelings and motives. However, mentioning only these does not mean that I don't have the other intelligences, but these three are prominent in me. 

21st Century Skills

We live in a rapidly changing world, and to meet this world expectations we must use 21st-century skills. 

The present-day generation is getting smarter day by day. Most parents and teachers find themselves at a loss when faced with bold and intelligent questions from students. With technology and social media taking our society by storm, kids of all age groups today are much more informed on various aspects of life than ever before. They are inquisitive and intelligent. 

However, are teachers focusing on building their learners skills and abilities that are important nowadays? 

Teachers play a significant role in helping students develop 21st-century skills by applying methods that increase students’ capabilities. They should use innovative strategies and modern learning technologies that help integrate cognitive and social skills with content knowledge as well as increase student participation in the learning environment in order to promote skills.

Among these skills are :

Problem-solving is a skill

Lateral thinking skills 

Analytic thinking: 

Presentation skills

Communication skills

Today, teachers should give students the opportunity to engage in various activities such as projects, problems, design and research-based learning that promote cooperative learning.In these activities, students work together which increases their participation, achievement and motivation to learn. Consequently, collaborative learning allows students to contribute different degrees of prior knowledge, abilities. 

Teachers must inspire students to develop a love of learning. By igniting a passion and a hunger to learn, educators will be setting students upon a path of lifelong learning and develop all the skills required for a successful future. 

ABCD OBJECTIVES

Objectives are critical to effective instruction; they help tutors plan the strategies and activities they
will use, including the materials and resources to support learning. It is essential that the objective be clear and describe the intended learning outcome. Objectives can communicate to learners what is expected of them—but only if they are shared with learners in a way, learners can understand.

Each letter in ABCD stands for a different part of our learning objective. These different parts answer four questions about our objective: who, what, how, and how well. 

Thus,ABCD stands for: audience,behavior ,condition,degree.

To summarize the above, we see that teaching and learning in the 21st century requires more than some basic skills and abilities. It's no longer enough to know things. Teachers need to be up-to-date on the latest in technology they should also be a facilitator, contributor and an integrator. 

Many thanks for your time!😊🤭Ⓜ

TECHNOLOGY and TEACHING

 To my colleagues...

Hello&Welcome to my first blog post!

I am Meglina Murrizi!

Today I want to share with you my first impressions about the subject we are having this semester, Technology in EFL. 

This is a new subject, but I am not unfamiliar with technology and the different forms it consists of.

  I have been using technology mostly for fun and for research about my assignments and I consider myself good enough at using it. For example, when Microsoft Teams was initially presented to us I was on track, but many of my colleagues had many problems using it because it seemed too complicated.  However, I have to admit that when the professor introduced us to the subject I was a little bit confused. 

Technology in EFL aims to develop our skills in integrating technology in teaching English. Therefore, I understand that it is more about presenting us with different apps or technology forms that we can use while we teach English.  This subject helps future teachers to become more aware of the role of technology in the classroom. 

There is no doubt that in western countries technology is already a pillar of teaching, but here in Albania, we are a bit far from that. Teachers in our country still follow those traditional forms of teaching and last year during the country's first lockdown many problems were encountered. Teachers and students had difficulties even in the utilisation of simple applications. Thus, I really hope this subject will give us some good basis for using technology in this context.  

Why is Technology Important in teaching? 

 Technology is a facilitating tool of education from which teachers and students get plenty of benefits. As language teachers, we need to learn how to take advantage of the technology and how to integrate it into our teaching skills. Computers, smartphones, tablets provide powerful opportunities to learn a foreign language. As the use of these tools is increasingly common among students, teachers need to equip themselves with today’s technology. On the internet are plenty of videos of native speakers, so it easy to hear the language in an authentic situation. For instance, pronunciation though the teacher is not a native speaker can be taught to learners with ease using a smartphone.  Besides, teachers can achieve great things in a short time with the help of new technology. The introduction of innovative technologies in the traditional educational process allows teachers and students to improve traditional forms and methods. If we introduce technology to our students we may get a great deal of satisfaction when they accomplish better.  

In a nutshell, technology highly contributes to the teaching and learning process. Technology should be utilized by teachers more than ever as the students in this century are somehow technology and internet addicts. Technological devices like computers and especially smartphones are parts of their daily lifestyle.  

So, let's see how this it's going to end.