Multiple Intelligences and Choral Work

The theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983) has long been significant to teachers. However, this post is to demonstrate how multiple intelligences may be integrated into choral work to incorporate drama into the classroom. The multiple intelligences include:

• visual/spatial
• kinesthetic
• musical
• linguistic
• mathematical/logical
• interpersonal
• intrapersonal

 These intelligences are important for teachers to regard as students will come to our classrooms with various learning styles and preferences to how they learn. When a teacher incorporates Gardner's (1983) multiple intelligence theory, they have a better chance of meeting multiple students' needs when learning in the classroom. 

In our own drama classroom, we incorporated this theory with features of choral work. Choral work is using the elements of voice and speech which can be used to portray certain feelings, opinions, expressions or elements personally or of a specific character or subject matter within the classroom. By using choral work, students are able to explore different features of their own voice and speech to portray a specific feeling or opinion towards something, or perhaps taking on the character of a story or video. This also allows for students to bring forth their own intelligences through what they see or how they use their voice. Someone who is musical may decide to sing, while someone who is more logical might present things in a more neutral, moderate pace. Choral work is an excellent area to drama that can be incorporated easily into a variety of subjects and activities.

A great integration of this tool, surprisingly, could be with math! You could use choral work to encourage students to create their own patterns using their voices, determining a core and repeating the pattern for the class to determine the core themselves. This allows the integration of the dramatic strategy of choral work with the math curriculum, specifically patterning!