Primary teacher, Brighton, United Kingdom
I have just completed reading Pat Keogh’s book Defining Intelligence. As a teacher involved in mainstream teaching I found the section on Activity methods of teaching most interesting and informative. Learning by active involvement and using as many of the senses as possible is the way forward. When a class of children is grouped and given assignments, as suggested in The DREAM method, they learn to cooperate, to work as a team and to use their talents as they and teacher see best. A student who is involved in his/her own education will enjoy learning. Awareness of Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and Goleman’s theory of emotional intelligence should also help the teacher to see the needs and the reaction of children. This book gives us a brief and informative view of language acquisition. The areas of the brain that are responsible for speech and language comprehension gives us a better understanding of how children learn. Using head phones to channel language to the language side of the brain must reap beneficial results. Know your child, listen to and heed his/her needs, and you will have greater success as a parent and teacher is the message that comes through to us from the book. The idea of heeding the mind through relaxation, meditation and focusing attention on our thoughts as opposed to excessive emphasis on material things is worth emphasising in classrooms. Pat’s knowledge of philosophy and his applying that knowledge, in a simplified way, to everyday situations is brilliantly done. We should learn from history in order to improve the future. Look back before you go forward is the message we get here. I would recommend this book to student teachers. It would be worth having it as a text book in teacher training colleges. This is a short book but is a case of good goods in small parcels.
