Sandra Dodd
Visual/Spatial Intelligence
For nine weeks, I want to go through each of the intelligences discussed by fans of the work of Howard Gardner and his Multiple Intelligence theory. I have a page on my site, here: SandraDodd.com/intelligences
For nine weeks, I want to go through each of the intelligences discussed by fans of the work of Howard Gardner and his Multiple Intelligence theory. I have a page on my site, here: SandraDodd.com/intelligences
This week, Visual/Spatial!
The next eight weeks' topics are listed here: http://chatnotes-unschooling.blogspot.co...
Please subscribe there if you haven't, so you can get reminders and topics by e-mail.
Please subscribe there if you haven't, so you can get reminders and topics by e-mail.
Before the topic starts, there was some discussion of a family where the dad "has some expectations."
Sylvia Woodman: Hello!
Sandra Dodd: Hi ya
Marta Venturini: Hi there!
Sandra Dodd: Tinlizzy, if you feel like telling us a bit about your unschooling status, we don't usually start until we have ten people or half an hour goes by. And if you want to just be quiet and not tell us anything, that's okay too.
Sandra Dodd: Sylvia, it is.
Sylvia Woodman: OK
Sandra Dodd: Anyone have a problem or question or current excitement to share while we have a small group?
Tinlizzy: Hmmm well I would say we are radical Unschoolers except
Tinlizzy: Oops except in the actual homeschooling
Tinlizzy: By that I mean my husband has a few expectations
Sandra Dodd: So you use a curriculum but you're not so structured and controlling otherwise?
Sandra Dodd: Everyone has expectations. 
Sandra Dodd: How long have you been homeschooling one way or another? How long has it been for your husband to be thinking about it, I mean.
Tinlizzy: Yes although the curriculum is a mix not a box set and I don't say we have to everything by the book
Sandra Dodd: http://sandradodd.com/response
Tinlizzy: Yet I'm still saying i.e. Chemistry for science and times tables for math
Tinlizzy: We've been homeschooling all along 4 years now
Sandra Dodd: Maybe save that for later, the link on responses.
Tinlizzy: I do all of it tho my husband prefers not to think about it
Sandra Dodd: There are two things by Pam Laricchia—the free intro ebook, and the $10 paper "Free to Learn" that have helped some peole's relatives.
Sandra Dodd: There are two things by Pam Laricchia—the free intro ebook, and the $10 paper "Free to Learn" that have helped some peole's relatives.
Sandra Dodd: The next several chats could be useful for you anyway.
Catiamaciel joined the chat 6 days ago
Sandra Dodd: Don't ask questions that would be about teaching, though, because that will make the transcripts less useful for unschoolers who come by later. Thanks. Take what you can from it.
Tinlizzy: I've been trying to loosen it up more and let my kids choose how we approach each topic
Sandra Dodd: Still, dividing the world into "topics" or subjects keeps them from being able to make as many connections as they would otherwise, and it keeps them from discovering very cool things on their own, like the patterns of times tables.
Sandra Dodd: http://sandradodd.com/subjects
Catiamaciel joined the chat 6 days ago
Tinlizzy: Yes I see that but my husband doesn't
Sandra Dodd: that and this might (maybe) help you reconsider some things, if you have more than one child.
Sandra Dodd: that and this might (maybe) help you reconsider some things, if you have more than one child.
Sandra Dodd: http://sandradodd.com/r/deeper
Robin B.: Pam's ebook/paper version is very good.
Sandra Dodd: He might never, but he WILL never, if you don't find a way to help him. I'm offering tools others have said helped them.
Marta Venturini:
Sandra Dodd: Leave them here if you want to ignore it, but there will be other people who read this later, so I'm addressing the situation, more than an individual.
Sandra Dodd: The transcripts are saved and available in public for years, so don't anyone confess to any crimes or badmouth your neighbors.
Tinlizzy: I have pams books you mentioned when he's ready
Robin B.: What helped my husband was approaching learning from how a human brain works. He could see how learning happens naturally, especially when it's fun and not forced.
Robin B.: And brain science is something he's keen on.
Tinlizzy: Ironically he went to college to be a school teacher and he mom is a reading specialist it's very ingrained
Robin B.: If you can find a way in through *his* interests, that might help.
Robin B.: I think new research is probably suggesting much different things from when he went to college. Finding research supporting natual learning might help.
Tinlizzy: Yes and pointing out things they've picked up through other means
Sandra Dodd: And it's not "ingrained" so much as an investment of time and money. People will defend what they've paid for.
Sandra Dodd: Though sometimes it's genetic. There are families of teachers (or of doctors) where it seems it's something they've been marrying into and reproducing for a long time.
Sandra Dodd: Okay! The topic!
Sandra Dodd: First I want to tell about something that's related, but not caused by, Gardner's theories.
Sandra Dodd: From school-reform days, 1960's and 1970's educational research, people were finding that learning sticks better when senses are involved other than visual—reading— and aural—listening.
Sandra Dodd: That's a "duh, of course" these days but then, it wasn't.
Sandra Dodd: From that research came children's museums and living history museums, and SOME school reform.
Sandra Dodd: But as teachers want to get masters' degrees so they can get a pay raise, and maybe PhD's so they can get out of the classroom and into administration, they do research. And much of the research is no more than tweaking what they're already doing, or proving a benefit from something the federal government might give them some more funding for.
Sandra Dodd: I wouldn't know so much if I hadn't been a teacher.
Sandra Dodd: So one vein of research in the late 70's and 1980's was "learning styles."
Sandra Dodd: If someone here knows those all, spill it.
Marta Venturini: Nope, not me. 
Sandra Dodd: Visual, tactile, aural, kinesthetic? There might be another or I might be mis-naming one.
Sandra Dodd: So that was research showing that some kids NEED to move around and touch things. And Montessori schools were doing that already which might have been part of the inspiration for the studies—that I don't know.
Tinlizzy: Something like that
Sandra Dodd: Ah. One site lists verbal; another says "reading and writing."
JennyC: The elementary school I went to was brand new in the 80's, it was built with wide open classrooms, separated by large accordion style walls. The walls were always up. Not sure why they designed the school like that to never use it. Only 2 times a yr, we're the walls taken down, once for a movie and once for a party.
Sandra Dodd: Reading and writing aren't the same skill, for learning. Some people , if they've written something down theimselves by hand, will remember it. So that becomes a sort of tactile/kinesthetic learning.
JennyC: And that discovery, Sandra, will be touted as if it works for everyone.
Sylvia Woodman: Right Gabriella has always been writing things down (since she was old enough to hold a pencil), making lists, writing letters, etc. Reading is coming much later for her.
Robin B.: My Grade 8 school was like that, Jenny, in 1968. They did remove the walls for group lessons and had tables and chairs which could be easily moved. Very interesting.
Sandra Dodd: "Modular classrooms" I think is the name for that. 1980's is a bit late for them to have intended open classroom learning. And seriously.... Open classrom doesn't need wide open spaces. It needs lots of interesting little specialty areas.
Robin B.: Then I went right back into regular classrooms in high school.
Sandra Dodd: So teachers were being reminded NOT to rely just on spoken lessons and written lessons ("the board"—chalk or whiteboard, books and worksheets).
Robin B.: Yes.
Sandra Dodd: And kids were tested sometimes, to see what their "learning styles" were.
Sandra Dodd: And then homeschooling came along and some parents did horrible, horrible things.
Sandra Dodd: They thought, by misunderstanding (and probably lots of teaachers and school-kids' parents did too) that a child could be tested and determined to BE something—an auditory learner. A tactile learner.
Sandra Dodd: So instead of opening the world up to five senses plus imagination, plus logic and experimentation, people used the labelling system to shut the world down and make it smaller, thinking they would save time and energy
JennyC: Oh, that's still very much a part of homeschooling conversations, even into unschooling conversations.
Sandra Dodd: And when i was first homeschooling, and unschooling, and all the homeschoolers communicated together in the same small puddles, online, all the TIME they would ask me "what kind of learner is he?" or tell me what their kids were.
Sandra Dodd: Not like then. Then it was like "What church do you go to?" in Alabama.
Robin B.:
Sylvia Woodman: Right I see that now with homeschooling parents. "this is Ian my kinesthetic learner!" As if there is no other way he can learn or appreciate things.
Sandra Dodd: Howard Gardner's research is different.
Catiamaciel joined the chat 6 days ago
Sandra Dodd: People shouldn't be tested for what they "are" or any such thing—but parents should be aware that they "are" the WHOLE thing, and probably not in the same proportions as either parent, or as any sibling or friend of theirs.
Sandra Dodd: But the "intelligences" aren't intended to encourage kids to declare a major at the age of three or anything goofy.
Sylvia Woodman: Or that it's a waste of time to expose kids to different things even if they are not "their style."
JennyC: Now, it's more like, "my child is a visual learner, autistic spectrum, dyslexic learner, and we are autodidactic health conscious free thinkers who are gluten and dairy free, all organic"
Sandra Dodd: It's for parents to stop worshipping math and language at the expense of other areas, and not to think a child is a genius because he can read at two years old, nor that he'll be unemployed for life if he doesn't read until thirteen.
Sandra Dodd: Jenny, I turn away from that now the way I turned away from schools so long ago.
Marta Venturini: Ha Jenny!
Sandra Dodd: Yes to what Sylvia wrote! A child who does like to make lists of what he's interested in, and loves books and magazines and trivia sites and spelling STILL might want to listen to some music or watch a movie or play with Lego.
JennyC: The only way for me to do that was to stop engaging in my local unschooling group and focus on actual unschooling.
Sylvia Woodman: I agree Jenny! If my focus was on LOCAL unschoolers rather than UNSCHOOLING I don't think unschooling would have flourished in the way that it is for my family.
Sandra Dodd: So offer all children all of it, the whole world, with ever sense that they have, but be happy if one is way athletic or very social and analytical about people's emotions and reactions, or seems to be a natural cook, or can tell what nest is up above by the pieces of a bird's egg on the ground.
Sylvia Woodman: that it has - ugh the grammar in that sentence is terrible. 
JennyC: The best way to do that is to watch your kid and see what they do and add to what they are into.
Sandra Dodd: So Now (finally) with all that intro... Let's talk about visual/spatial intelligence without anyone thinking of it as "a learning style," please. It's something everyone has some of, and some people have more of.
Tinlizzy: Makes me think of Legos the things my kids create!
Sandra Dodd: Building sets.
Sylvia Woodman: Or the amazing things my kids build in Minecraft.
Tinlizzy: Yes!
Sylvia Woodman: Jim was assembling furniture for his Mom when he was 7 or 8 years old.
Sandra Dodd: Closet organization, or car tetris.
Sylvia Woodman: We play Refrigerator Chess in our house!
Sandra Dodd: Marty's that guy here, Sylvia. He only looks at the directions if it doesn't work the first time.
Marta Venturini: Or dishwasher tetris!
Sylvia Woodman: Exactly! When all else fails! LOL
Sandra Dodd: Once he put the wheels on a little rolling kick-stool (like libraries have—Keith got me one for higher kitchen shelves) and Marty went whip, whip, whip, DONE. Turned it over and the wheels fell out.
Sandra Dodd: But he wasn't embarrassed or sad, and we didn't laugh at him. It was an example of...
JennyC: I can see that both of my kids process visual/spatial things very differently. My oldest had a way of seeing a large picture of something visual, imagining an outcome and making it. My youngest is about the small things, seeing patterns and numbers, loved I Spy picture books.
Sylvia Woodman: Yes we got a new dishwasher and we are still figuring out the most efficient ways to load it. So much fun!
Sandra Dodd: If you do something fast enough, you have time to do it again!
Marta Venturini: I love it too, Sylvia!
Tinlizzy: Hidden pictures are a fav or my 4 yr old
Sandra Dodd: Projectile weapons and sports—shooting, throwing—archery, bocce, horseshoes
JennyC: I guess, one of my kids creates her imagination, visually, and the other sees things and analyzes them.
Sandra Dodd: So Marty glanced at the directions—just the part that showed what order the parts went on the legs—rearranged them, and it lasted years.
Marta Venturini: Bruno's like Marty.
Sandra Dodd: Nobody else in the family could have even read the directions or tried to put it together in the time Marty did it twice.
Sylvia Woodman: Oh! Can I tell you a story about Gabriella when she was 4 or so? Harry was still in diapers so we had some big cardboard boxes in the garage waiting to be recycled and Gabriella asked Jim if he could help her with it. She asked him if he could make a cut here....and here...and another one like this and then the same one on the other side...and little by little pieces of the box fell away and when she was done she had made herself a horse that she could wear over her shoulders. She used old neckties for straps. It was amazing.
Marta Venturini: Wow Sylvia!
Sylvia Woodman: She could see the potential in the box and was able to direct Jim in such a way that he could help her. She never told him - Hey Daddy I want to make a horse. She was only asking him to cut the cardboard because her hands weren't strong enough to do it with the scissors.
Sandra Dodd: Jim didn't know where she was headed with it when he was cutting?
Sandra Dodd: So cool.
Sandra Dodd: Video games were different when my kids were little. Cartridge, Nintendo games with one path (generally—not many side-stories or "outcomes" as later games had.
Sandra Dodd: And there were books, sometimes with six or eight game guides, and sometimes one book for one game.
Sandra Dodd: Kirby LOVED the books. He loved the art of them, and the idea of them. Players' guides.
Sylvia Woodman: Even now. She see potential in things. little bits and scraps of things that other people might throw away.
Sandra Dodd: Marty didn't want to see them. He wanted to figure it out on his own, like a puzzle, and be surprised. Sometimes, as they were getting older, Marty would get angry if he couldn't get Kirby or other friends to Be QUIET if they were telling him how to do something better, or what was going to happen next.
Sandra Dodd: And a good thing for us, about unschooling, and letting all the kids develop however, wherever they were, was that they each knew what the others could do, too—and they would ask for help from a sibling or friend who had skills or info they didn't have.
Robin B.: Cool, Sylvia!
JennyC: My youngest is like that, wants to figure it out themself.
Sandra Dodd: Sylvia, I see that someone else could see potential, and sometimes I save things just because I've had enough friends who are as you're describing Gabriella that I know if they say "I need some..." and if I have it they'll be thrilled. And some of them know to ask me, too.
Sandra Dodd: Some people can visualize where furniture will fit and look good without measuring or moving things around first.
JennyC: We go to the 24 hr grocery store late at night while they are unloading pallettes in the store aisles, just for the giant sheets of cardboard.
Sylvia Woodman: Oh what a good idea Jenny!
ErinElizabeth: I am SO doing that!
ErinElizabeth: Peter loves it when I make cardboard stuff for him, usually transformers or minecraft armor
Sandra Dodd: I've been saving the pieces of cardboard (real cardboard—not double/corrugated box stuff) that comes between layers of cat food for years. The other day Devyn (7) was over when I dumped the box of cans into the basket (longstanding routine) and I asked if she wanted them to do art on. Her eyes lit up SO MUCH, so I told her I had more. What I have is a catfood box nearly full of the cardboard dividers—maybe 200 of them.
Sylvia Woodman: When I was in school in the 1970s and 1980s dioramas were a thing I remember doing several times for different assignments. I never said the word to Gabriella but she sometimes builds them for herself. But she calls them Stages. Which they are, really.
Marta Venturini: I'm like that Sandra. Plus, I love rearranging the furniture in our house! I'm glad Bruno and Conchinha don't mind.
Sandra Dodd: She asked if she could have ten. SURE! Man, she was excited!
Marta Venturini: Cool
Sylvia Woodman: Wow Sandra! A TREASURE TROVE of cardboard! NICE!
Sandra Dodd: Miniatures. Museums lots of times will have scale models of a mountain range, or river, or archeological model of a now-gone Indian pueblo. Oh, wait... I'm just naming models I've seen here!
Sandra Dodd: I've seen some in other museums elsewhere, though, too. Cities as they were at a certain time.
ErinElizabeth: My dad builds elaborate dioramas for his model trains
JennyC: When I look back at how my kids played around with objects, I can see clearly how each is still doing those things. My oldest used to make 3D paper versions of all kinds of things, computers, cell phones, purses, jewelry, etc. She used whatever odd materials were handy. My youngest built with Legos and made makeshift barbie things out of already existing materials and repurposed them.
Sandra Dodd: Holly and I watched the new PeeWee Herman movie on Tuesday. It's on Netflix. There's a minature/model of the town, and also (you made me think of it, Sylvia) a shoulder-hung horse costume. They used to have those on "Talent Rodeo" day on the original Mickey Mouse club.
Sandra Dodd
Sandra Dodd: There's some 1950's "screentime" for you. I did love that show.
JennyC: Oh, yes, my youngest lived miniature shows and scaled furniture
JennyC: *loved
Robin B.: Ross and Senna both have visual/spatial intelligence when it comes to drawing. I'm good at stick figures. But I can place a plant right in the middle of a table without measuring or arrange things in a visually-pleasing way.
But I can place a plant right in the middle of a table without measuring or arrange things in a visually-pleasing way.
Sylvia Woodman: Here is a blog done by a friend of a friend that is cool to look at: http://call-small.blogspot.com
Sandra Dodd: Plants! Flower arranging, landscaping, planning a garden, seeing how much dirt will fill how big an area, by looking!
Sylvia Woodman: I met her at a party once and she was eyeing a necklace that I was wearing -- she thought the beads could be used as tiny vases in her doll houses....
Robin B.: Senna also used to work with clay (plasticine-type) to make the most interesting creatures. She would work hours on them. Probably helped her in her current drawing on the computer..
Sandra Dodd: Parking cars.
Sandra Dodd: I can parallel park very well. Backing up a trailer is beyond me, though.
Robin B.: I can also source things for cosplay that have the right look (since many things don't actually exist in this world, so I often need to make them). I can look at a drawing, then my mind starts working on how I'm going to put it all together.
Robin B.: Senna can put an outfit together that completely fits her personality. She doesn't follow fashion, but she's often "on trend."
Sandra Dodd: Holly, too (clothes)
Sandra Dodd: So...
JennyC: We talked to a scale model crochet maker. She did very very small sweaters. They were amazingly intricate.
Sandra Dodd: Art, structures (Lego, Minecraft), landscape, physical presentation, proportions, packing efficiency.
JennyC: But I also know that in the movie, Coraline, someone actually got paid to make tiny clothing, because those clothes were real.
Sylvia Woodman: I didn't know that!
Robin B.: Ross can pack a car! I always have leftovers.
Sandra Dodd: Keith never has leftovers, but I do.
JennyC: We got a tour of the set while it was being made. The girl scout leader was married to one of the project managers for that movie, so we got a nice private tour.
Sandra Dodd: So cool, Jenny
Robin B.: Yes!
Sylvia Woodman: Gabriella doesn't like to be told how to do anything. She's like you Robin -- she likes to look at things and then figure it out for herself. So while it would be my natural instinct to go talk to people like you did with the crochet maker, Gabriella would rather look at it and then attempt it herself.
Sylvia Woodman: Sorry- Jenny that was you who talked to the sweater maker.
Sylvia Woodman: I wish I could go back and edit things!
JennyC: We had to wait years for the movie to come out. But the whole studio had miniature sets built and being filmed. Everything was made with real raw materials, created in minature, to scale.
Sandra Dodd: Sometimes I just want to follow instructions. Sometimes I want to sew from a pattern. I can sew without, but sometimes my brain is tired
Sandra Dodd: Sylvia, I can edit that, if I edit it. NOTE TO SELF: DELETE THIS after fixing "She's like you, Jenny..."
NOTE TO SELF: DELETE THIS after fixing "She's like you, Jenny..."
Robin B.: Yes, sometimes I want to follow instructions, too. But if there aren't any, I try to figure it out.
Sandra Dodd: What can unschoolers consider then, with kids and visual/spatial intelligence?
Sandra Dodd: Know what it is, know that it exists.
Sandra Dodd: Give children chances to use it, mess with it, stretch their abilities.
Robin B.: Appreciate what their kids can do, see the immense learning in it.
JennyC: My kids rarely liked talking to people they didn't know, but I love to talk to people. So I talked to people about things that were interesting and my kids would end up in the conversation.
Robin B.: Provide plenty of resources.
Sylvia Woodman: Maybe I should try that more.
Sandra Dodd: Don't shame a kid who doesn't have so much of it. Maybe you can think of compensatory (compensational?) ways to help him if he needs to "tetris" something.
Robin B.: Yes.
Sylvia Woodman: Mostly I try to take my kids interesting places so they can see things and get ideas and make connections for themselves.
Sylvia Woodman: Either last year or two years ago we went to see a model train display that they do in the next town over. It was at Christmas time I think. But there was SO MUCH attention to detail! One train set had a Candy Land theme, another was historical, another one was the North Pole....
Sandra Dodd: If it's part of deschooling (in a child who was in school, or of the parents) it might be useful to look around for examples. I'm picturing what's within walking distance of me. Store arrangement, grocery store or hardware store—with the upper-shelf fork-lifted storage. Trucks delivering stuff. People figuring out how to unload and deliver those things within the store. Pipe, wood, the big stuff.
Sylvia Woodman: I could see Gabriella's eyes getting big.
Sylvia Woodman: I could see Gabriella's eyes getting big.
Sandra Dodd: Trees, all those giant ceramic pots that somehow got here from Italy, unbroken.
Robin B.: Feed their muse. I invite Senna to come see the sunset, or the water, and the new flowers and plants.
I invite Senna to come see the sunset, or the water, and the new flowers and plants.
JennyC: My youngest is into videos and editing to make a certain kind of visual flow.
Sandra Dodd: Not as big a deal at Marta's house as in Albuquerque.
Marta Venturini:
Sandra Dodd: A friend of mine started doing miniature trains when he was in his 50's.
Sandra Dodd: OH YES, video editing, especially with the addition of sound and music. That is a LOT of spatial reasoning.
Sandra Dodd: We were mostly talking about static things that would wait for you, but what about dance, theatre—space+time
Sylvia Woodman: Robin! I love that: "Feed their muse" I'm going to use that in my head from now on!
JennyC: We are working on finding a good way to incorporate sound overlay.
JennyC: I'm learning a lot because of it.
JennyC: Theater is wonderful! Maybe I'm biased... it's been, over the years, my favorite job ever. I love dance too, but what I love about dance, has to do with theater.
Sylvia Woodman: Harry just wandered into the kitchen where I am and I pointed out there is a very large turkey vulture sitting on the chimney of the house across the street. We were trying to decide if it looked more like a dinosaur or a dragon.
Robin B.:
Sylvia Woodman: It was sort of spreading out it's wings and stretching a few times before it took off.
Sandra Dodd: We have half an hour. I want to talk about jobs that are good for people who are great at visual/spatial. Not so that you can press your children that direction at all, but because I think it helps people who are moving away from "the school model" of life to remember that IF there are other intelligences than those on the SAT test, and IF their children have grown up learning in his or her own ways, then it's good for the parents to have an open-minded wide-open field of possibilities—for the parents to see a wide horizon of things they could encourage and accept even when the kids are late teens, young adults, and going into the world of jobs and relationships.
Sandra Dodd: I'm speaking from experience now. Brace yourselves.
Sylvia Woodman: We sometimes wonder if Gabriella might like engineering. She is good at problem solving and identifying the weaknesses and limits of different things.
Sandra Dodd: The time will come (pretty soon, if it hasn't already (Jenny, Robin)) that
Sandra Dodd: your duty to your child might (possibly) also involve accepting and approving of (at least quietly)
Sandra Dodd: other people they might have in their lives. Friends, roommates/housemates, maybe even live-in parters or spouses.
Sandra Dodd: Been there and there, and there and there and there.
Robin B.:
Marta Venturini:
Sandra Dodd: Some parents (not just unschooling parents) can, will, have rejected their child, or a partner (who also has parents) for not being in the math/science very-small-corner of "success" or accomplishment.
Sandra Dodd: And some might be critical of your child, or mine. But the the other side is us accepting THEM and their talents and interests.
Sandra Dodd: So even if the discussions of intelligences (which will last through May and June) amount to "intelligences appreciation," that will be of gigantic value to all of you and your families and grandchildren (if any).
Sandra Dodd: End of shocking revelation.
JennyC: Oh, yeah... my oldest is there. With someone, not officially, but a person who is much older, who doesn't have it all together, if you will
Robin B.: Thank you, Sandra.
Sandra Dodd: Holly has had three boyfriends that lasted a while.
Sandra Dodd: Holly has had three boyfriends that lasted a while.
Sandra Dodd: One was a gamer and musician (not a great musician but a great gamer) with awkward unhappy weird homelife.
Sandra Dodd: Played A LOT of world of warcraft.
Sandra Dodd: Support or not?
Sandra Dodd: He has a PhD in genetics now.
Sandra Dodd: You can't tell, in one moment, what will happen someday.
Sandra Dodd: (Also a friend's dad was a doctor. COOL! Nice house, vacations... but for a while, later, her dad was in prison for providing methadone to people he wasn't actually treating, so...) Wheel of fortune, turn, turn, turn...
Sandra Dodd: So don't be attached to your perceptions of your child's talents or future or anything else, but be open and appreciative of it!
Robin B.: You can't predict the future or control it. Enjoy your kids for who they are, now.
Sandra Dodd: Yep.
Marta Venturini:
Sylvia Woodman: <3 p="">
Robin B.: And, as you say, be open. To changes, growth, new things.
Sandra Dodd: But while looking around the world of visual/spatial reasoning, what jobs are kinda that?
JennyC: I appreciate that my oldest has a venue for her large performance art work and that her life and existence is easy to maintain and help with.
JennyC: Engineering
Sylvia Woodman: This reminds me about that Just add light from earlier this week...
JennyC: Landscaping
Sylvia Woodman: About liking spinach
Sandra Dodd: Things named above. Fork lift. I personally need to NOT operate a fork lift. TOo much up down, in and out, heavy weights and angles for me to be safe.
TOo much up down, in and out, heavy weights and angles for me to be safe.
Sandra Dodd: "might later"?
Sylvia Woodman: Yes!
JennyC: Masonry, pottery, crafting
Sandra Dodd: http://justaddlightandstir.blogspot.com/...
Robin B.: Artist (graphic, fine); race car driver ; stockperson in a store.
; stockperson in a store.
Sandra Dodd: Someday you might like...
Sandra Dodd: Fashion design, production, window-dressing, store arrangement, sales
Robin B.: Senna says she wants to be the plushie wrangler at IKEA. 
Sandra Dodd: Movie-everything. Concert-everything. Theatre-everything, from ticket design to building to program.
Marta Venturini: Hehehehehe Robin
Sandra Dodd: Electrical engineering. Lighting, sound (in a theatre).
JennyC: Screen printer, fabric and offset
Robin B.: Dance/choreography.
Sandra Dodd: Electrical contracting, should've said—different thing, but still complicated and involves flow of power.
Robin B.: Flower arrangement/florist
JennyC: Production crews for events, weddings, large and small venues
Sylvia Woodman: For awhile Harry wanted to be the Boss at the Nerf Gun factory. I asked him what he thought he might do as the boss there. He thought about it for awhile and then said, "I know! I'll make lunch for all the workers there!"
Robin B.: Sweet!
Sandra Dodd: Food prep (logistics) and artistry. Chefs, pastry cooks
Sandra Dodd: Nice, Harry!
Robin B.: Ornithology/birdwatching
Robin B.: Thinking of Colleen Prieto's son.
Sandra Dodd: Kirby and Destiny said yesterday their very new supervisor came to work, said good morning to each person there, shook each person's hand, and later came around distributing Starburst (candy, for info of foreigners).
JennyC: Wildlife biologist
Sandra Dodd: So Harry's on the right track, to earn loyalty as a boss.
Robin B.: Surgery? You need to put everything back so it fits!
Sandra Dodd: Why spatial reasoning for wildlife biologist? (I'm putting the brakes on because that surprises me.
JennyC: Being able to identify and see patterns of habitats
Robin B.: Oh, I was thinking visual, like in ability to classify.
Sandra Dodd: Ornithology/birdwatching is naturalist intelligence—categorizing, recognizing differences in things, being able to sort through details to identify something.
Robin B.: Okay. Maybe they overlap a bit.
Sandra Dodd: Seeing subtle similaritie and differences
Sandra Dodd: OVERLAP!~!!
Sandra Dodd: OVERLAP!~!!
Sandra Dodd: OVERLAP!~!!
Sandra Dodd: (Wow, keyboard; CHILL.)
Robin B.:
Sylvia Woodman:
Sandra Dodd: There is overlap and lots of it.
Sandra Dodd: Some more than others.
Sandra Dodd: But most jobs need more than one skill. And we could go through the things we've named above and probably name three things each one could really use.
JennyC: I had a wildlife biologist boy friend a long time ago. They use fire towers to see overall scales of habitats and their boundaries.
Robin B.: Yes. Race car driving can use kinesthetic skill.
Sandra Dodd: So there's a preview of discussing nine intelligences—they can't easily be separated, in the real world, and they often come in sets.
Sandra Dodd: Dancers, too—spatial and kinesthetic.
Robin B.: Yes.
Sandra Dodd: Tennis playing. Someone can be VERY kinesthetic, strong, agile, super aware, but if they're lacking spatial skills, something about their arm, the length of the racket, and the vector of the ball will be worthless info.
JennyC: Movie critic
Robin B.: Ross would agree. He was a very good tennis player.
Sandra Dodd: Those truck drivers I've mentioned, who can back a big cross-country truck into a loading dock without so much as a thump need kinesthetic and spatial.
Sandra Dodd: Can you think of an intersection of spatial and verbal?
JennyC: Backhoe driver, architect, city planner
JennyC: That wasn't supposed to an answer to that qiestion
Sandra Dodd: Words in general, not necessarily spoken. But plays, in part. Staging, directing. Writing.
Sandra Dodd: I'll rearrange the lines, Jenny.
JennyC: But city planner would fit
Sandra Dodd: Poetry has a spatial aspect.
Sylvia Woodman: Technical writing.
Sandra Dodd: Yes.
Sandra Dodd: Greeting card art. Sign painting. Webpage design.
Sylvia Woodman: People who write instruction manuals. My SIL did that for awhile. She loved talking to the engineers.
Sandra Dodd: Book design
JennyC: Caterer
JennyC: Wedding planner
Robin B.: Online webcomics
Robin B.: Sort of redundant.
Marta Venturini:
Robin B.: Not sort of, I guess. Actually redundant.
Sandra Dodd: We could throw out any two intelligences and talk about connections, but some are more connected than others. One of the illustrations on that page on my site has a Venn diagram layout of them. I'll try to put it here. brb
Sandra Dodd: We could throw out any two intelligences and talk about connections, but some are more connected than others. One of the illustrations on that page on my site has a Venn diagram layout of them. I'll try to put it here. brb
Robin B.: Mechanic.
Sandra Dodd
Sandra Dodd: So even though that graph has visual/spatial far from linguistic/verbal, when a person has both, there ARE things to do with it.
Sandra Dodd: And some people have seven or eight intelligences in abundance. My friend Jeff is quite talented.
JennyC: My husband is like that
Sandra Dodd: Hugh Jackman is like that.
Sylvia Woodman: The ability to design graphs and diagrams to illustrate information.....
Marta Venturini:
Sandra Dodd: So if you have a child who is "low" in one of these kinds of skills, don't despair. Some things kick in later, and even if not, you can help him/her compensate or dodge the problem area, and build up and accent the better ones.
Sylvia Woodman: There is also sort of the opposite of these intelligences...I don't know what I would call them blindspots? Weaknesses? Like designing graphs or diagrams would be really hard for me.
Sandra Dodd: Well, true, Sylvia! Logical, spatial, verbal. Technical writing, probably, though. LIkely the author sketched it roughly and some artist figured out the cool color combos.
Logical, spatial, verbal. Technical writing, probably, though. LIkely the author sketched it roughly and some artist figured out the cool color combos.
Sylvia Woodman: I hopeless at things like decorating. But I like color very much....
Sandra Dodd: Gardner would say "low" or "high," rather than opposites.
Sandra Dodd: I took a decorating class once, from a friend's mom. I think she though I really needed it.
Sandra Dodd: She was right, but I coudn't use it, because it was too far out of my skills, abilities, desires, and give-a-rat's-assness.
Marta Venturini: I was thinking a while ago, while reading your words, that it feels like I don't know which ones are Conchinha's strong points, but then I thought "she's only six, chill."
Sylvia Woodman: I was well into my 40's before I learned to notice how people decorated their homes. My idea of decorating was More Bookshelves.
Sandra Dodd: It sounded very scientific, in proportions and percentages and all.
Sandra Dodd: Her house, of course was like a magazine layout all the time. And Christmas was like the best Christmas store window EVER
Sandra Dodd: But I can write. I can sing (used to .
.
Sylvia Woodman: Marta I was feeling the same way about Harry in this discussion . I have lots of concrete examples about Gabriella. Maybe I will make some more connections about Harry in future chats.
JennyC: I can appreciate a well decorated space, but in my own home, function counts way more than visual appearance
Marta Venturini:
Sandra Dodd: Don't worry about young kids. That's another thing that was bad about "learning styles." Little kids learn by touching and tasting, first. Seeing and hearing. So? Let them do what they want to do without trying to control or limit it and they will learn the way they learn.
JennyC: And I know they aren't mutually exclusive, but it takes time I don't want to put in.
Virginia W joined the chat 6 days ago
Marta Venturini: Well ladies, I need to go bake me some sweet potato fries.
Sandra Dodd: And eventually, as they get older, they will become more and more differentiated the rest of the family, and then (I have read, and lately have seen more and more) when they get older, they become more like their parents or grandparents were at those ages.
Marta Venturini: Trying out a new recipe.
Sandra Dodd: That's a weird one. "Being like" someone isn't in one moment. There's an arc.
Sandra Dodd: And men in their 50's and 60's can be like their dads were when the dads were older.
Sandra Dodd: Or sometimes someone is quite like a particular grandparent.
JennyC: My kids come from artists and engineers and craftsmen
Sandra Dodd: Still vague for me, but I'm seeing things in my sister and my husband and friends.
Robin B.: Yum, Marta.
JennyC: Many examples, many generations
Sandra Dodd: Thanks, all, for being here!
Marta Venturini:
Sandra Dodd: Next time, musical.
Tinlizzy left the chat 6 days ago
Sandra Dodd: And it's not just being a musician, either.
Marta Venturini: Thank YOU for hosting the chat, Sandra.
Sandra Dodd: There's more.
Robin B.: Thanks, Sandra and everyone!
JennyC: Thanks all!
Sylvia Woodman: This was really great! Thanks for hosting Sandra!
Sylvia Woodman left the chat 6 days ago
Sandra Dodd: Thanks for sharing home stories, all!
Sandra Dodd: I'm going to see what Keith's up to.
