This can also be applied in the classroom. If students fear you, they might do what you say, or get good grades, but if you don't build a genuine relationship with them, then how can you have a valuable input into their lives? Teaching using methods that cause children to fear you takes away a brilliant opportunity to make a whole group of students feel valued, and like they are capable of something great.
This week I did a lot of reflecting on my strengths and weaknesses. To help me identify what they might be I undertook the Richard Step quiz suggested to us in a lecture.
My strongest result was:
- Leadership (94%):
- You are good at getting projects moving again or persuading people to get stuff going - do it!
- Take opportunities to give evaluations of what is happening in company - your straight answers can help.
- You do not like to be supervised closely - make sure others are aware of this.
- You might empire-build, upset colleagues, get off-focus, ignore commitments - be aware and try to avoid.
- You may tend to intimidate others with up-front, aggressive style - let them know it is not personal.
- Your time may be better spent helping others understand you than trying to change you.
And my weakest result was:
Focus (50%):
- Actively set goals with specific timelines and figure out concrete ways to achieve them.
- You work best when you can control your work events - be aware and keep others informed.
- You thrive on regular check-ins and discussing goals progress - help others to understand this.
- Make efforts to avoid trampling on others' feelings as goals often take priority for you.
- Change is tough for you - ensure you talk and plan for change in terms of 'new goals to champion'.
- Schedule to attend a time management seminar and to incorporate the learnings in your daily routines.
- Stay away from unstructured meetings - they will be painful wastes of your time.
- I find it unsettling how accurate these results are in comparison to observations that I have made about myself. Last week I touched on how horrified I would be if students in my class were ever to fear me. I actually found it helpful that though the results listed your weaknesses, it also added a small tip that will help overcome it.
- I have known that I can tend to be bossy and over bearing for a while now, but the small tips such as 'be aware and keep others informed', help me to feel confident that there is hope that I can work on my weaknesses to help them become strengths, or at least be aware of my weaknesses so that I don't allow bad habits to hurt other people.
Something else interesting that we investigated this week was multiple intelligences.
This picture represents the different intelligences or strengths that all people can posses. Arguably there could be more or less added, but majority of people agree that these are the most common.
When I undertook a test to find out my own intelligences, I received 4.86 for Interpersonal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, and Visual-Spatial. My lowest scoring intelligence, (my weakness?) was Naturalistic.
What my results, and the results of my classmates have taught me, is that everyone is so different. Even though one of my peers may be Body Smart like I am, they may actually be just as strong in the Nature Smart area. Our diversity showed me how our brains work in such different ways, and it's exactly the same in a classroom.
Just because a student doesn't show aptitude for mathematics doesn't mean that may not be an expert with their words, or perhaps they are incredibly aware of those around them. The fact that I am good at something, and not good at others show that I am human, I'm far from perfect. The students that I come across will be just a different to me as I am to my peers, I just have to make sure that students are valued and encouraged to pursue their strengths rather than constantly feel bad because they aren't as good at something as someone else in the class.
If you're always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be! - Maya Angelou
If I don't teach my students that it is a great thing to pursue individuality, and their own passions and dreams then how will they know how amazing they can be? As teachers we have to encourage students to think differently! What if we crush the Logical Smart out of a student because he wasn't good at english? What if that students held the cure for cancer within his logical brain. No matter what a student's strength is, even if it's not one shown on the picture about, it still has value. Just because it is different to ours, or different to the norm, does not mean it's wrong.
Of course for children with diverse intelligences, they are going to require a diverse range of teaching methods. I reflected on my own schooling and thought about the aspects of learning that I enjoyed.
This week the most important thing I learned, about students and myself, was that what we define as a 'weakness' does not have to define us, and we certainly cannot let it define our students.
As teachers we need to see the potential that our students have, and they need to know that they are more than what they cannot do. I want to be the kind of teacher that doesn't write off a student and put them in the too hard basket just because they misbehave in class, if my students aren't engaging I want to find out why! How can I help them learn? What will encourage them to participate in class?
I will never give up on my students.
I know that this may not always be practical, or even possible, but I never want to forget that every child has potential, and that I have to power to help them realise it.
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