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kinesthetics, a reading center, a math and science center, a
working-together center (to develop interpersonal intelligence), a personal work center
(for intrapersonal intelligence), a music center and an art center.6
Campbell is a
"thematic" teacher - and his students normally divide into seven different
groups to explore each day's theme, moving from center to center for about 20 minutes at a
time. His experience has also shown that the seven-center approach helps children develop
all their talents.
At the start of the year, most
students describe only one center as their favorite. By midyear most have three or four
favorites, and by year's end every student nominates at least six centers as preferences.
Gardner's more recent suggestion
of an eighth intelligence ("naturalist") gives teachers the chance to add
nature-study centers - as many schools already do.
5. Use the world's best teaching
techniques
No school, lifelong learning resource center or
business training and retraining unit can exist without skilled teacher-facilitators. And
no changes in education will be successful without a major emphasis on teacher training
and continual retraining.
John Eliot Elementary School in Needham,
Massachusetts, typifies what is needed. It is the most multicultural school in the
district. Its students include African Americans, Haitians, Hispanics, Vietnamese and many
others from Asia and elsewhere - in an area where average incomes are low. Unlike Kimi
Ora, it was an existing school when it started its big turn-round. Five years later its
students had the top grades in Massachusetts.
One catalyst was principal Miriam Kronish. But
another was her husband, Herbert, an architect. When he decided to go back to college to
get a masters degree in education, fortunately that included an introduction to
integrative accelerated learning techniques by Dr. John Grassi. "He was so
enthused," recalls Miriam Kronish, "it got me involved."7
Grassi was obviously another catalyst. Talk to
principal Kronish by phone and the enthusiasm bursts through the fiber optics: "John
Grassi? He is a renaissance man, a man of the future. He is a musician, a poet, a
conjuror. He's uplifting, inspirational, a change agent. And he's knowledgeable in all
educational fields: preschool, elementary, high school and college; and in most areas:
maths, geography, science."
Contents Page Preface
Introduction
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