The Intelligence Theory and Me

Never in my life did I ever consider myself to be smart academically. I never made the best grades on tests and report cards, so obviously I cannot possess great amounts of intelligence. After reading Sternberg's Intelligence theory I know I am bright. I now realize that making an "A" on a test does not necessarily make you an intelligent individual, you just possess analytical intelligence. To truly succeed and be a well-rounded person you need to posses all three intelligences: analytical, creative, and practical.
According to Sternberg's intelligence reading students like Alice and Ben possess analytical intelligence. They do well on standardized tests such as the SAT, ACT, and SOLs. They are able to memorize others ideas', and concepts but this will only take them but so far. Later on in Alice's academic career and further in her major she performed at a mediocre level(128). "Children are continually reinforced for being smart like Alice, but in the real world after school, analytical intelligence is no longer enough"(132). "Alice was excellent at remembering and analyzing other people's ideas, she was not very good at coming up with ideas of her own"(pg129). This is a perfect example to show you that you need to possess more than one kind of intelligence. Analytical intelligence is truly a necessary trait to have but after high school and sometimes after entering college your analytical intelligence will not be used as often.
Analytical intelligence is the one intelligence which I need to work the most at. I do not do well on standardized testing, in which require you to remember tons of information. Memorizing other's ideas and concepts has always been an extremely complex task for me. I did well in school but I always fell short in the areas that required me to memorize scientific theories and author's themes.
Creative intelligence is thought to be a talent by many people, but according to Sternberg it is yet another intelligence. This intelligence cannot be easily measured and placed on a report card so many who possess large amounts of creativity like "Barbara" in the Sternberg reading get pushed aside because of low test scores. "Even though Barbara had included a portfolio of her work, which demonstrated a high degree of competence, the other committee members had made their decisions largely on the basis of her test scores"(139).
I, like Barbara do better on independent thinking papers, projects, and other creative assignments. Assignments which enable me to think of my own ideas such as writing a poem, or creating a picture that represents something show my creative strengths. If teachers valued learners who use creative intelligence as much as they value the ones who possess analytical intelligence, I believe that I would have done better in my high school career. I did well in high school but I always seemed to excel in the areas in which creative intelligence was needed. I always without a doubt did well in chorus, drama, and creative writing. In these classes I was able to express my creative thoughts in clearly competent ways.
Last but not least there is practical intelligence is also known as common sense. A perfect example of practical intelligence at its best would be when Sternberg told us about "Celia". "Celia could go into an environment, figure out what she needed to do to thrive, there, and then do it"(142). Celia was an average student but knew what to do to market herself in order to get a job(142-143). "Celia knew how to interview effectively, to interact well with other students, how to get her work done"(142). Practical intelligence is a vital intelligence to have but often is over-looked. Practical intelligence is rarely used in school but is necessary to have in the "real world".
Practical intelligence is something that I believe I have. I believe when the time comes for me to get a job I think I will be able to sell myself which is important in the workforce. I find it easy do adapt to different surroundings and this intelligence has helped me enter college and adapt to a completely different surrounding than what was I was used to in high school.
"Successful intelligent people are flexible in adapting to the roles they need to fulfill. They recognize that they will have to change the way they work to fit the task and situation at hand, and then they analyze what these changes will have to be and make them(153). This shows us clearly that to be successfully intelligent one needs to possess all three intelligences. These intelligences work hand-in-hand. One lets you analyze different situations, another lets you think of creative ways to solve these situations, and the last one lets you apply these new ways of solving the problem. I hope to achieve successful intelligence and to do this I will work at the intelligence I do not possess, and continue to use the intelligence I do have. According to Sternberg one can learn how to use all intelligences, but they still have to be taught how to do this. They need to be taught to use these different intelligences in different circumstances. I want to become a teacher and by watching the intelligence video in class, creating pictures with paper shreds, and seeing the sand castles at the Neptune Festival, I want to implement all three intelligences in my lesson plans to benefit children like "Alice, Barbara, and Celia".