yoyo

We had the wonderful pleasure of seeing Yo Yo Ma last week performing at Symphony Hall. Truly an amazing genius--and I can't imagine anyone disagreeing with that statement. However, who is to say his genius is any less than a scientific genius or a mathematical genius? It's all in the way we were trained to think of "true" genius married exclusively to academic domains.

Even though I think many would call Yo Yo a "genius", the way value is placed on his genius compared to that of a financial genius, for example, is different. Using an MI lens, the difference between the two lies in the domain rather than the value.

"Intelligence is the ability to solve problems and create products that matter to society"--a simplified version of Gardner's definition of intelligence, and something I keep in mind always. This definition of intelligence changes the way I teach, learn, view the world. In my next post, I will address a great example of how we value "genius" and intelligence in the classroom affects curriculum and learning experiences for primates, and an example of my learning as a teacher--also tied to my view of "what is smart". Listening and watching Yo Yo Ma with an MI lens left me in awe of his ability to solve problems and create products that matter to society.

I also have to add that in my excitement before the concert, I played several Yo Yo Ma songs for the class, and I can proudly say each day since I have received a request for Yo Yo Ma from different primates. It's nice to hear a request like that from seven year olds!