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Smagorinsky gives an account of his own collaborative research in the school system and the accounts of individual students and their experiences of being in a classroom that integrates a MI theory approach into learning Language Arts. He found that the results are very positive and that the MI theory approach to teaching and assessment has actually led to increased ability in writing and reading, as well as in critical thought, analysis, interpretation, synthesis and overall comprehension. With this being said, the author cautions other educators that the introduction of MI activities must be accompanied by large changes in the values of the classroom. Introducing MI activities and not implementing a variety of complimentary methods of assessment and evaluation will actually impede effective teaching and learning. There needs to be committed changes in what teachers and students believe to be appropriate and acceptable ways of thinking and communicating in a Language Arts classroom. .
2. Multigenre, Multiple Intelligences, and Transcendentalism by Colleen A. Ruggieri.
This article begins with Ruggieri relating her own experiences as a learner and how her learning was hindered due to a limited variety of teaching approaches. She takes a look at her own practices as a teacher and discusses how she decided to transform her Language Arts classroom into one that would incorporate a MI theory approach to learning, teaching, and assessment. Ruggieri shares some MI theory strategies and activities that she implemented in her classroom such as reading and making comic strips, playing songs and discussing and analyzing the meaning of the lyrics, free reading and journaling, student creation of assessment rubrics and independent projects. Ruggieri was able to measure the results of these learning activities by having her students take a grade-less, stress-free test which would compare their learning with Ruggieri's previous classes.
