Photo by: Paul Martens
Nina Bosch Namaste
Doctoral Student in Spanish and Portuguese, IU Bloomington
| Namaste is "able to accomplish
an amazing amount in a short period of time." After observing
a class where all of the students were actively engaged in an
assortment of activities, Ratcliff marveled, "No one would
have guessed it was an 8 a.m. class!" |
| —Katy Ratcliff, lecturer and
supervisor in Spanish and Portuguese |
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We all know intuitively that students learn in a variety of ways.
How, then, does a teacher accommodate students with disparate learning
styles? Nina Bosch Namaste discovered her answer to this challenge
in "one of the many seminars, workshops and classes on pedagogy"
she has taken in past years.
A class on Howard Gardner's theory of "seven intelligences"
taught her how learning can be divided into seven styles: linguistic,
logical/mathematical, musical, body/kinesthetic, spatial/visual,
interpersonal, and intrapersonal.
"Gardner believes that most people favor one learning style,"
said Namaste, "but asserts that the other styles can be developed
fully, creating a larger realm of learning possibilities."
Namaste makes this theory a reality in the classroom. For body/kinesthetic
learners, she acts out a word to be learned, then has the students
repeat the oral and physical movements. She addresses the spatial/visual
learning style by having students imagine they are directors of
a film or play. Then the students must describe their visualization,
both pictorially and verbally. These examples are only a small sampling
of the multitude of activities Namaste employs.
Namaste's commitment to learning goes beyond her classroom.
This has translated into ongoing participation at Spanish House;
co-organizing Share Fair, a multidisciplinary workshop on language
education; and helping organize other preprofessional workshops.
Namaste, who expects to earn her Ph.D. in the spring of 2003, has
accumulated several honors and awards, including a fellowship in
the Department of Spanish and Portuguese since 1996, completion
of her doctoral exams with distinction, the 2001 Spanish and Portuguese
Associate Instructor Award for Outstanding Teaching, and the Teaching
Excellence Recognition Award in both 1998 and 1999.
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