History Unfolds through Technology & Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom

By Nadia Hajjar

This fall, the Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall history department developed its own Tumblr page, showcasing the many ways in which teaching and learning through Multiple Intelligences is integrated into our classrooms. Tumblr is an interactive, online blogging tool where users can post links, videos and other images, along with their own thoughts through text and various creative media. This technology has enabled teachers to connect history with CH-CH students in an exciting and dynamic way, and has delivered information and assignments to students creatively and effectively. To see how CH-CH history teachers utilize Multiple Intelligences and differentiated instruction through Tumblr, visit the department’s blog at http://chchhistory.tumblr.com/.

The history department’s curriculum pushes the intellectual limits of students, challenging them through a skills-based approach which encourages the development of analytical and critical thinking skills. The acquisition of these skills is imperative to a student’s overall academic success. Through creative instruction, students gain an eye for the trends and patterns that occur across various periods of history. Students take survey courses as underclassmen, and refine their skills in senior electives that enable the specialization typical of college level coursework. In addition to using technologies like Tumblr, the department places a strong emphasis on developing writing and research skills, striking a balance in combining college preparatory work with engaging assignments and differentiated instruction. Note-taking, outlining, categorization, citation, thesis development, academic organization and support for argumentation are critical skills needed for college-level work and are all part of experiencing the history curriculum at CH-CH.

In-class historical activities help to reinforce the concepts students write and read about, and are just one of the many ways that linguistic intelligence is incorporated into the classroom. For the naturalistic students, history-related environmental issues are frequently discussed in class and are connected to other disciplines. Other examples include stimulating students with mathematical strengths by using activities involving numbers and graphs when, perhaps, there is a lesson on immigration or the history of war. The use of images, PowerPoint presentations, in-class sketching and visual analysis are all access points for visual learners. Through the use of media, students in history classes engage consistently in blog-writing and reading. Video clips from resources like PBS and YouTube are viewed weekly to help bring current perspectives to class material, and to provide a visual representation during lessons related to such things as art or architecture.

Role playing is another method students use in order to bring history alive in the classroom, offering chances for students to put themselves in the shoes of their fellow countrymen. Music in the classroom enables students, especially those with auditory strengths, to immerse themselves in Gregorian chants, Renaissance madrigals, Baroque concertos, Classical symphonies, African American spirituals, Revolutionary war songs, and even Jimi Hendrix at Monterrey. Differentiated instruction further provides opportunities for alternative assessments, peer review and independent thinking about topics of personal historical interest. More importantly, these unique methods of instruction build on both the academic strengths and weaknesses of students, and allow CH-CH faculty to continue to teach the way our students learn.