Literacy through multiple intelligences

By Ann Avery

Catalina Quiroz asks all prospective collaborators who come to work with ICA Spain a simple but deep question:  “What’s your life project now?” That nudges them into an active mode rather than one where they follow a precooked job description.

She asked me the same question in August after telling me about a course planned for the following month, Movers and Shakers for Literacy:  Powerful Literacy through Multiple Intelligences. It worked for me that day. Two months later when I sat down with the ICA team in Madrid, I saw that it had also worked for Aurelia Gomez and Iman Moutaouakil, two young women organizing and facilitating courses and partnerships through ICA Spain. They were clearly motivated by the way that ICA methods and values meshed with their own insights and aspirations, and were keen to learn more. 

In the eight-day workshop, filled with contextual talks, games, exercises, film clips, conversations and workshops, we explored the seven intelligences identified in Frames of Mind:  The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983) by Howard Gardner, Professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard University. Seven Ways of Knowing (1991) by David Lazear was of help as well, filled with practical suggestions for applying the theory to pedagogy and personal development. 

The seven intelligences identified by Gardner are verbal/linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical-rhythmical, visual-spatial, body-kinaesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. We used this screen to look at enabling literacy in the broadest sense, extending it to all the skills needed to “read” and understand the contemporary world.

There were 28 participants, all involved in work with a social and educational dimension in nine countries. These included literacy and integration work with immigrants and refugees in Spain, Belgium, Italy and Portugal; occupational therapy in Spain and England; research and strategy in a therapeutic community for drug addicts in Greece; organizing ecological initiatives in a Spanish village; care homes in England and Slovenia; empowerment workshop for teenagers in the Netherlands; and community development in Estonia.

Two core ToP methods - the focused conversation (ORID) and the workshop method - were taught and practised throughout the course. My role was to conduct short morning sessions introducing physical exercises that engage body, mind and spirit. The exercises incorporate practices taught by Capacitar (www.capacitar.org). They primarily relate to the kinaesthetic intelligence and illustrate “body literacy,” while making use of rhythmic, spatial, inter- and intrapersonal intelligences.

The workshop was supported by the Grundtvig Foundation in the context of the EU programme for lifelong learning. In line with Grundtvig’s intention, the workshop created a network of people across Europe who will share their information and experiences in enabling adult literacy. Their comments on how they are applying what they learnt can be viewed in a collective blog at http://literacyiace.blogspot.com.es/ and on Facebook.

ICA Spain has also held a second workshop, Facilitative Leadership & Group Facilitation Methods for Social Inclusion and Gender Equality, in December.