So Many Ways To Show You're Smart...

I always end the year with my favorite short story, Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes.  Because this fictional story deals with increasing the intelligence of an adult, Charly Gordon, who has a mental disability, I do a lot of "front-loading" with my students about their ideas and perceptions of intelligence.  We learn about IQ, standardized testing, personality testing, and what they think "normal" exactly is.  Because Charly is given several tests before, during, and after his operation, I give my students some of the tests that Charly is administered just for fun, and to get them involved in the story.

I found a fake Rorschach test ("Raw-shock"as Charly calls it), and give it to the students in one period.  There are 11 ink blots of various shapes and sizes and when I project them on the screen, the students all silently write about what they see in the blots.  After I administer the test, they love to talk with one another about what they've seen and then we talk about how a professional might interpret the test results, as well as talking about how Charly struggles with the test and only sees spilled ink.

The last test I give the students is a multiple intelligence test, based on Howard Gardner's theory that we are all smart, just in different ways!  This test is very interesting to the students, and after they have completed the inventory, they create a chart of their intelligences to find out where their intelligences lie.  Around the room, I tape up signs with the 9 intelligences the test identifies (interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist, bodily/kinesthetic, musical, verbal linguistic, spatial, logical/mathematical, existential) and allow the students to go and stand under the sign which identifies their highest intelligence,  They love to see who has the same affinities, and they all tell each other, "You're smart!" as they check out where others are around the room.  And the unit can't end without the YouTube sensation "The Multiple Intelligence Song" to remind the students of the intelligences before the final test.  It's so cheesy, my 8th graders actually love it, and are all singing the chorus by the end.  Everyone is smart, yes you are!  Enjoy!