My Stretching Experiences at Muse

First, I would like to agree with Amy; it was GREAT to spend some time talking with other teachers. It just helps!
Claudia's book along with Don and TuTu's influences are going to make my class a much more exciting place for my students.
As for my stretching- my lowest MI is verbal/linguistic. My verbal intelligence was strengthened through many of the activities in Claudia's class. Also, working in groups and needing to collaborate with peers stretched me to use my verbal intelligence and not some of my stronger areas. My struggle to see the "big picture" was also challenged thanks to my team members who needed to see the "big picture" before discussing details!
The performances Friday were GREAT!! We should all be proud of our accomplishments. It was a great end to the week. Have a great summer and good luck next year!

Valerie Satterfield
Pleasant View Elementary
Laurens County, District 55

Summer Stretch

I stretched my lowest two intelligences- music and interpersonal. My musical intelligence was stretched through keeping the beat, rhythm and repetition both in the songs as well as in keeping time for the various games played in classes. Intentional conversations and purposeful, productive group work stretched my interpersonal intelligence, and I gained confidence through speaking with others. I enjoyed working with others. Thank you for a super institute!

What a stretch!

What a great week! I truly enjoyed meeting so many interesting people, you are what helped make the week so special! I really had a visual/spatial stretch this week with journal entries. I am more verbal/interpersonal/musical, so Don and Tutu were right up my alley, but creating the journal was difficult for me. I was also lower in Naturalistic, but I really enjoyed Carl Sandburg's home and all the natural beauty of the mountains, although, there is no way I can stretch far enough in this area to have any type of appreciation for the snake...
Thanks Mary Lou and "Company" for the stretch!

Post Meeting Question

Briefly explain how you have stretched this week during the Muse Machine classes.

I am ten feet tall!

I feel all stretched out!!!! As music teacher people might think that i should know everything about teaching through the arts. That is simply not ture. I know a lot about music. I have learned a great deal this week. I have a better grasp on the other arts areas and how to integrate them. I think that Claudia book is an EXCELLENT resource. I feel so fortunate to have had her a an instructor for the course. Although 3 days with her is really not long enough! Personally I definitely have stretched my two weakest intelligences, verbal and intrapersonal. I have always felt that I am not at all good at creative writing. I have always felt awkard expressing my personal feeling in that way. I definitely thought I can NOT write poetry. Well Claudia proved me wrong. She made poetry writing easy with her excellent strategies. I wrote more that her assignments required. I even felt the NEED to share them with my husband (who loves to write). Thanks for all the fun this week everyone! I hope you all have an excellent year. - Melody Linaman

I really enjoyed meeting everyone this week, it was really nice to finally put a face to a name. I think that the biggest stretch for me this week was the final performance. I have never been good at getting in front of a room full of people and performing, I do it everyday for my students but adults is a whole different story. At the beginning of the week I was worried about it but by the end of the week I felt much more confident performing. I think that our whole group did a great job! Way to go group B. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their summer.

stretching

I am not a dramatic performer or musician so these areas were stretching for me. It is helpful to be in a setting where there is support from other members in the class who were also sometimes out of their expertise. I am more comfortable trying out these areas in the classroom and will know how it feels to be in unfamiliar territory. Thanks to all that were in my group that encoraged and made me feel comfortable.

Post

This week was a stretch for me everyday and every way. As a person who does not like to be in front of my peers - the performances were a true stretch. By Friday the anxiety level had gone down and I was even looking forward to the final performance. Writing poetry - I had never even tried. So.... when I was forced to try, that was a real under taking and then ..... to read it in front of people!!!! I must say that I have learned and stretched a great deal this week - I know I can perform in front of people with out fainting :)
thanks for making me grow - Anna James

Stretching

This week during the Muse Machine Institute I was strectched verbally and interpersonally. These are the two areas where I scored the lowest. These are also the two areas that I had to use the most in doing my project. There was quite a bit of reading and writing for the project and my project was done in a group. The project turned out to be quite enjoyable and extremely useful. In Claudia's group meetings I was stretched verbally as well. Trying to come up with words, thoughts, and poems proved to be a little difficult at times.

Post Meeting Question

Briefly explain how you have stretched this week during the Muse Machine classes.

I am excited to see that we have such diversity in our group. I can't wait to learn from all of you this week!

Hello!

I'm Valerie Satterfield. I have just completed my second year of teaching with Laurens County District 55 . I spent my first year teaching third grade and this year in first grade. Next year I will be in a Primary Montessori classroom (ages 3-5). I love to use music and movement with my students; it's just FUN!
My results on the MI inventory all ranged between 50 and 80. The two highest areas were Interpersonal and Intrapersonal followed by Musical and Kinesthetic. My results were not that surprising- I like to be around people/socialize and I enjoy participating in and creating art and music.
I am excited about learning new ways to incorporate all of the arts into my classroom throughout this course.

Sorry for joining in so late; Mary Lou had an incorrect e-mail address for me.

Hello again from Anna! Once again I am late in posting this---too much time at the beach! I am just returning today from my second week of blissful slothfulness at Pawleys Island. It will be good (or maybe just good for me!) to be back in some semblance of routine next week. I look forward to seeing my old friends and meeting new ones on Monday!

response to Melanie H-T

It will be nice to meet other Special Education teachers! It is interesting that you scored high on Interpersonal, and I scored high on Intrapersonal intelligence. I think it is great that so many different gifts and talents will be brought to this class. I hope we can show our students how to use their varied gifts along with the gifts of others to accomplish great things.

Hi!

I don't see my original post from a couple of weeks ago . . . so I'm just going to write again to be safe! I'm about to start my third year of teaching kindergarten and I love it! I scored high on the Musical intelligence and lowest on existential and kinesthetic. I'm not a bit surprised. I always try to find a way to sing what we're learning in my classroom! I'm looking forward to learning new ways to incorporate the arts into my classroom.

To everyone. Since I am only going on my second year of teaching, I really look forward to being surrounded by people with such success and experience. I can't wait to meet you all!

Special Ed and the arts

My name is Kendra Mills and I posted a response to the original blog Mary Lou set up a couple of weeks ago, so I am doing this backwards I think, but that is very much like me. I am so excited to see special educators taking this class. My school, Woodland Heights Elementary, has been involved with using drama as both a teaching tool and behavior management over the past year and found that drama is very effective with all students. I am a speech/language pathologist and have incorporated music in my therapy for a long time, but drama was a new tool in my box, but it has been fantastic! I was not sure how well it would work with our special education students, but as my pal Lisa Cureton and I have found, drama has been very rewarding for our special students. I can't wait to get new ideas from both the presenters and participants!

Hello again everyone. This is Macie Fitzgerald. I already submitted two different responses today but now I do not see them. I have been teaching fourth grade for the last 19 years at Pinckney Elementary on Ft. Jackson. I just took my MI test and as I expected I am highly interpersonal and also musical and logical. This did surprise me a bit. As a former electrical engineering major, I have always loved al math especially calculus and solving problems. I love teaching my fourth graders. It gives me a feeling of purpose and most always great enjoyment. As I mentioned in an earlier posting, I look forward to learning about problem solving from Claudia. I am looking forward to next week!
Macie

2nd response

Hi everyone. This is Twedis. I would like to respond to Melody's entry. Melody: we played in SCBand together. I am glad to see that you are taking this class. I would love to hear more about your trip to Minnesota. I love to travel and have not been there.

Preclass communication

Hi, My name is Teresa and I am taking the course for recertification . I am an elementary teacher of 29 years at Fairforest Elementary school. I am a visual artist working in watercolors ,collage and sculpting. Always looking for creative ways to integrate art into the curriculum. I have taken the course before and used he Mutiple intel test with my gifted art students to help them with assignments.

Hello

My name is Anna James, I have been an elementary school specialist -now called Information specialist for over 30 years and I love my job. My Multiple Intelligence Inventory pointed out that my strength was organization - no surprise there :) My weakness was music - I cannot carry a tune in a bucket, but I love to listen to music.
sorry I am late responding to the BLOG but I have been on vacation with limited Internet access.
see everyone in a week - Anna

Hi everyone! My name is Kori and I am a 4K teacher in the Laurens district 55. This was my first year teaching. The scores on my Mulitiple Intelligence test said that my strengths are in music and intrapersonal. I am looking forward to meeting everyone and I hope to learn how to meet the multiple intelligences of all of my students better.

Get Ready, Get Set

Hello Everyone. I'm Cynthia and I teach second grade. I've been teaching for quite awhile. Been there...done that! (smile). Not so. As long as I live, there will be new things to learn and do. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone. I hope your summer's going well so far.

Hello

Hi! My name is Evetta Johnson and I've been teaching for thirteen years. My scores on the Multiple Intelligence Inventory reflected that one of my strengths was intrapersonal. I love teaching and I consider teaching to be one of the most rewarding professions. My MUSE Machine class expectations are to collaborate with educators and to learn strategies that will enable me to plan activities which will tap into the strengths of all students.

Hello, fellow bloggers! I am Anna Ballard, guidance counselor at Woodland Heights Elementary School in Spartanburg District Six. I am late posting this blog, as I have just returned from my first beach trip of the season. Regarding the test, I was surprised to see that my musical intelligence score was much higher than any other (since I really can't even carry a tune in a bucket), but I am glad to find myself in good company with others whose scores and interests are similar to mine! It is great to be a part of a school where the arts are valued, and I hope to learn more ways to incorporate art, music, and drama in my work as a counselor.

Hi! My name is Melody Linaman. I teach elementary music, K - 5th. I have taught this for 7 years. I am changing jobs next year. I will be at Woodland Elementary in Greenville County. As you would expect my highest intelligence was the musical intelligence. I am also very strong in Visual spacial intelligence. I learn best when I see pictures of everything. I am late to post this blog because I have been on vacation. We took a road trip to Minnesota. My visual intelligence help me quite a bit as I was the map/navigation master! I have had a good deal of exposure to the multiple intelligences. I hope to learn new ways to present the information to young students. I hope to see you all soon! - Melody

Lisa Cureton

My name is Lisa Cureton. I am a special education teacher at Woodland Heights Elementary in Spartanburg County District 6. I have been teaching for thirteen years. My highest score on the MI test was Kinesthetic. I am a hands-on learner. I learn best by doing. Which is funny because this is the way I teach my class. In this class, I hope to learn new methods for engaging struggling students and getting them excited about learning..

Karen Bagwell

My name is Karen Bagwell, and I teach music to kindergarten through second grade students at Woodruff Primary School. I have been teaching for thirty years, twenty eight of which have been at Woodruff Primary. On the MI Inventory my highest scores were musical, naturalist, and intrapersonal, and these categories describe me perfectly. I am a passionate musician and environmentalist, and I love to rescue and care for animals. I am always looking for new ideas to take back to my classroom and for new ways to teach familiar concepts. Hopefully, Muse will enable me to do both.

Melanee H-T

My name is Melanee and I am a special education teacher at a middle school in Lexington county. I have been teaching for 5 years, but this was my first year teaching at a creative arts infused school. My highest score on the MI test was Interpersonal so if all else fails rely on your personality, charm, and the ability to work with the people/students around you with ease. I learn best by doing, seeing, and experiencing things. Sit me in a lecture and I fall alseep. This is why I love being part of an arts infused school because if you get bored or the kids get bored branch out and create, do, and just plain have fun learning. I hope to learn other ways tyo get my struggling students excited about learning.

Lisa Fisher

Hello! My name is Lisa Fisher, and I am a Special Education teacher from Hampton District #1. Last school year was my first year back in the public school system since 1999. I took 8 years off from teaching Special Education, but I am glad to be back. I have had many diverse teaching experiences over the past 23 years, from teaching regular Pre-K students to high school resource students. I enjoy teaching and learning! I hope to gather information from this course that will help me bring more interesting learning experiences back to my students.
On the multiple intelligences scale, I scored 100% on both Existential and Intrapersonal strengths. Although I do not exactly understand what this means, I suspect that it is related to my strong will and desire to help others. I am looking forward to meeting you all.

Dianne Mundo

My name is Dianne Mundo, Spanish teacher at Ballentine Elementary School in Irmo. I am originally from Puerto Rico. I have been teaching for 14 years. On the MI survey my strengths are intrapersonal, interpersonal, and visual. During this class I hope to learn more about how to incorporate MI and the arts in my Spanish classroom. See you soon!

Kelly Brautigam

My name is Kelly Brautigam, and I am a fifth grade teacher at Ballentine Elementary in Irmo. I have ten years teaching experience. Yesterday was the last day of school for students, and the school feels so empty without all of the students' smiling faces. I really enjoy teaching and learning.

My highest score on the multiple intelligences inventory was intrapersonal, and there was a tie for second place with the naturalist and kinesthetic intelligences.

I look forward to learning new ways to integrate the multiple intelligences and the arts into the classroom.

Susan Weaver

I'm Susan Weaver and I am an elementary guidance counselor at Ballentine Elementary School. I have been here for four years. My family retired from the military five years ago, and we came back to S.C. to live near my famiy. I was a teacher and I have been a counselor for twelve years now. I absolutely love what I do!
From the inventory, my strengths are highest in existential, kinesthetic, intrapersonal, and visual. My weakest was musical. I totally agree!
I am taking the muse class because my comrades are going and we love to learn together! I love the growing sentiment that schools are communities of learning. We need to share and actually thrive when we do! We have discovered that at our school, and enjoy reaching out to others!