Characteristics of Intelligent Behavior

1. Intelligent Behaviors
Angela Jenkins
MED/560
June 6, 2015

2. Humor
DEFINITION TEACHER’S ROLE
 Humor develops creativity and
opens the door to higher level
thinking skills.
 Young students may find humor in
the wrong things but as they get
older they use humor to release
their creativity during problem
solving.
 I love to bring humor into the
classroom and do so as often as I
can. I find that humor allows the
student to relax so they can think
and enjoy the assignment.
 At the beginning of the year I teach
students to laugh at their mistakes
and try again. I show that mistakes
and not something to get upset at
but something you can learn from.
An example of humor is from my self portrait lesson. I am not good at drawing at all
but have to demonstrate our drawing software to the students. While demonstrating
the software I made a self portrait that looked like an alien. Of course my students
loved it and laughed. As a result, of alien Mrs. Jenkins they were more relaxed with
their drawings.

3. Creativity, Imagination and Innovation
DEFINITION TEACHER’S ROLE
 Creativity, imagination and innovation
come from a student believing that
they can instead of they can’t.
 Creativity means not giving up when
the assignment is hard.
 Creativity, imagination and innovation
come when a student has pushed
through a hard task until the end. The
process of working to the end is when
creativity takes place.
 In my classroom students are not
allowed to say the words “I can’t”. I
make them restate the phrase as an “I
can” statement.
 Students are also not allowed to quit,
even if they can’t solve the problem or
don’t like their work they have to keep
trying.
An example of creativity in the form of “I can” comes from a Kindergarten student.
My sweet student did not know how to use the mouse but I would not drive it for her
during our lesson. She cried for half of the class before mastering the mouse skill
necessary to complete the lesson. Once she gained the skill she quickly caught up
with the class and finished the lesson. I asked her if she was glad that I didn’t allow
her to quit. Her response was “yes” and “thank you for making me do it.”

4. Listening with Understanding and Empathy
DEFINITION TEACHER’S ROLE
 Listening to others requires the
student to empathize with the
speaker and understand their point
of view.
 Students demonstrate their
listening skills best when
paraphrasing, giving examples of
ideas or building on someone else’s
idea.
 I find that students listen best
when they work in groups or pairs.
Therefore I require my students to
complete group work at least once
a quarter.
 I also model listening to my
students. I use empathy and
understanding in our teacher-
student relationship so students
know what the correct behavior
looks like.
An example of listening is when students participate in
Think Pair Share. Another example is when students
participate in project based learning where the teacher is
only a facilitator and not an instructor.

5. Persistence
DEFINITION TEACHER’S RESPONSE
 Persistence, developed by students,
is not quitting or giving up on a
solution to a problem.
 It’s the act of continually trying
until a solution is found.
 When students persist they
develop strategies for thinking
outside of the box for solutions.
 As a teacher I encounter this
everyday in every class. Inevitably a
student sees the assignment as
monumental and decides to quit.
 Students aren’t allowed to quit in
my class. I require that they work
the entire period trying different
solutions. I also ask higher thinking
questions as I direct students to the
different solutions.
Persistence is when a child with cerebral palsy, who can’t
control their movements, decides to not quit the drawing
lesson until all elements are located within their project.
Their solution? Use both hands to draw. At the end of
the class the child exclaims “See, I never quit.”

6. Managing Impulsivity
DEFINITION TEACHER’S ROLE
 Students need to learn the art of
controlling themselves, in emotions
and actions. They need to develop
impulse control.
 As students develop impulse
control they learn how to create
goals, plan projects, find new ways
to solve problems and review
consequences of their actions.
 To help students with impulsivity I
require that hands are raised and
students are addressed before an
answer is given.
 Another way I assist students with
impulse control is having students
plan a project before they begin.
An example of managing impulsivity is when a student does not talk back
when in trouble. The opposite of managing impulse control is when a
student is in trouble and they add to the trouble by talking back.

7. Taking Responsible Risks
DEFINITION TEACHER’S ROLE
 Taking responsible risks means the
student is willing to go outside their
comfort zone to explore new ideas.
 These new ideas require planning
and would in no way harm the
student physically or psychologically.
 I try to model taking risks in the
classroom.
 I require my students to try new
things during their lessons. If a
student has previously solve a similar
problem the same way I ask them to
try a new way.
 I often throw new software into
project without explaining how to
use it. That’s my favorite and is
quickly becoming theirs.
 I am moving more to facilitator roles
instead of teaching role. That means
that students are required to take
risks because they are the ones
coming up with the answers.
An example of students taking risks in my
class was the Pecha Kucha assignment.
Students do not like presentations so asking
them to complete one was a difficult task. I
upped the ante by asking students to
complete a Japanese style of presentations
called Pecha Kucha. They struggled but rose
to the challenge and loved the results.

8. Resources
 Costa, A. (2011, September 16). Teaching For Intelligence. Retrieved June 6,
2015, from http://www.context.org/iclib/ic18/costa/
 Kellough, R., & Kellough, N. (2011). Secondary school teaching: A guide to
methods and resources (4th ed., pp. 77-89). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson
Education.