>>Teacher: We're going to use our bodies while we sing.
We're going to do smarts at one time.
>>Students: [singing]
>>Narrator: At Enota Multiple Intelligences Academy in Gainesville,
Georgia the question is not "How smart are you?"
The question is "How are you smart?"
>>Students: [singing]
>>Student: The word "smart"?
Because I love to read and I love to write.
>>Student: I am mostly visual smart.
>>Student: I'm body smart because I like sports and to dance.
>>Student: I'm nature smart and people smart.
>>Student: Because if it was only a one-smart school at least
if I didn't know something it wouldn't make me feel
like a total idiot.
>>Narrator: Enota Elementary is one of a handful of schools in America
with curriculum based on the theory of multiple intelligences.
The theory suggests that there are eight different ways
in which humans learn.
It was developed by Dr. Howard Gardner.
>>Howard: If we all had exactly the same kind of mind
and there was only one kind of intelligence,
then we could teach everybody the same thing in the same way
and assess them in the same way and that would be fair.
But once we realized that people had very different kinds of minds,
different kinds of strengths, some people are good
in thinking spatially, some people are good in thinking language,
other people are very logical, other people need to do hands-on,
they need to actually explore actively and try things out.
Once we realized that, then education
which treats everybody the same way is actually the most
unfair education.
>>Amy: Which continent did you choose?
>>Narrator: In Amy Anderson's first grade class,
students work at various stations that utilize different smarts.
>>Amy: My job is never boring.
It's always exciting to see what the children are going to ring
to the lesson because I'm allowing them
to put their whole selves into it.
>>Students: Three, three, three
>>Amy: I try to give children an opportunity
to practice all their smarts because they're still learning
about themselves and still deciding what it is they feel best about.
>>Students: [reciting/singing]
>>Amy: I have a group in the hall and they are using their music smart
so that they can practice naming continents and oceans
and their locations in the world.
>>Students: [reciting/singing]
>>Student: This is flip-book and then we put the cities and the states.
>>Amy: Then they're using the work that's already been done in the hall
and transferring that to a flip-book
that they can illustrate using their picture smart.
>>Student: Five.
>>Amy: Another group is working on math facts using dominoes
so that they can use their picture smart and their logic smart.
>>Student: Oh!
>>Amy: And then I had a third group that's using their body smart
to throw the checkers at the target
and then record their number using their logic smart on the board.
>>Student: And then a one.
>>Amy: So we try to allow children to shine in the things
that they truly feel good about, and if we find that thing
that they feel most confident doing, then we can use
that to help them achieve other milestones.
>>Donna: The Georgia Performance Standards are state
and mandate standards that students have
to master before being promoted to the next grade level.
Multiple intelligences allow teachers to teach those standards in a variety
of ways so that students can actually understand them and the way
that a teacher can grade that is not necessarily by a letter grade
but more so with a rubric that really goes into detail
about what that child has mastered.
>>Teacher: Remember you're just working it through,
confirming your answers at the end.
>>Narrator: Pre and post-tests given every nine weeks help teachers plan
each child's individual learning strategy.
>>Donna: Everything is individualized for a particular student
because as we all know students learn at various paces.
And so the pre and post-tests allows us to get a great feel
of what the students have mastered and what they haven't mastered.
>>Teacher: What were those called?
>>Student: Figurative.
>>Teacher: It was a figurative language, do you remember which one?
>>Student: Um, simile.
>>Teacher: Similes, good, Dusty.
>>Susan: I look at the diversity and this population.
We have non-English speaking students,
non-English speaking parents.
Economically disadvantaged students, we have country club students.
The test scores are better than any place I've seen in the state.
We shouldn't look like this on paper, but you walk in a classroom
and you see the quality of instruction
and you see the multiple intelligences respected.
You start understanding this is why we look good on paper.
>>Narrator: To expand on the smarts concept and make Enota a fun place
to be, parents and staff turn the school into Smartville.
The place where students get
to see how their smarts might play out in adult roles.
>>Heather: We thought wouldn't a little city be a neat way for kids
to just really excel and use their smarts and strengthen the smarts
that maybe they're struggling with so
that I think was the first birth of Smartville.
>>Narrator: Smartville has hallways with street names,
a Central Park, a culinary academy.
>>Teacher: You're studying fractions in math, right?
Alright we're going to work on our math smarts.
>>Narrator: A Metropolitan Museum of Smart.
A Savings and Learn.
>>Student: We have pens and when you write
with them it will change a color.
>>Narrator: A popular store.
>>Student: Which is the one we had to return to a sender?
>>Narrator: And a very busy post office.
>>Emmeline: You can kind of act like you're an adult
and that's really cool and I feel
like I have responsibilities and stuff.
>>Student: One cup?
>>Amy: They're excited about learning each day and they're excited
about showing what they know, not just making a grade on the test
but actually saying "I can do this.
Watch me."
>>Student: [playing piano]
>>Narrator: At the annual Multiple Intelligences Fair, Enota's kids get
to strut their stuff for parents and the community.
>>Donna: The fair not only displays the talents that children have
or a final product but it also brings
out their multiple intelligences, their smarts.
They want to show us how smart they are
and so they showcase that during the MI Fair.
>>Student: The name of my poems is "The Hall Monitor and Me".
I wrote this by myself.
>>Amy: Once you begin to think in the Multiple Intelligence's way,
it becomes second nature, and once you've seen the benefits it's worth a
little bit of extra work.
>>Student: 3 plus 6, 9.
>>Teacher: Good.
>>Narrator: For more information on what works
in public education, go to edutopia.org.