“I am struck by how sharing our weakness and difficulties is more nourishing to others than sharing our qualities and successes.”
― Jean Vanier, Community And Growth
I am happy to say that I think I will be able to remember everyone's name after the two rounds of question ball this week! In all seriousness though, I think that activity is a fantastic way to get to know each other on a more personal level and I certainly have every intention of using it next fall!
Starting class by announcing our strengths and weaknesses really helped me get my head in the game. Since watching the Fish! video last week, I have been thinking more about how I consistently struggle to be present in many of my classes. Something as simple as a glance at my to-do list can send me into a mental flurry of ideas and distractions. My new goal is to mentally check myself every time I start a class, an activity, or even a simple conversation with a friend to make sure I am fully present!
Be honest everybody, how excited are you for MBTI results this week?! I am pumped. I remember getting my results as a freshman and being blown away that a test could describe me so well, it was literally mind boggling. I think the MBTI is a fantastic test for freshman to take as it can really help them identify things about their learning styles and emotions that can be hard to identify or describe to others. MBTI results will be a nice tool to have to help connect with students and understand how certain situations make them feel.
I was required to take a similar personality test last semester in one of my journalism classes and the professor went over the results with us. She said something about how the introverts in our class were going to have a tougher time in any journalism career since they are often very quiet. I know that introverts generally are quieter people, but her more or less dismissing those students seemed very rude to me. Introverts are often the people who do magnificent work without much notice, and as an extrovert that amazes me. As a peer mentor, my goal is to make sure that Hixson scholars next fall don't feel like their personality limits their potential and not to let anyone tell them what they can't do.
Sorry no cute kitten video this week, but hopefully you all get what I'm saying anyway! (:
Woot, MBTI. I agree with you. Your personality shouldn't limit what you want to do. Rather, I think your personality should bring a twist to what you want to do.
ReplyDeleteCoreen, I really liked your quotation at the beginning of your blog. It does indeed seem very true. I'd have to agree with you that sharing our strengths and weaknesses at the beginning of class really got us to focus on the reason we are in this class. I really like the positive thinking aspects of the class!
ReplyDeleteCoreen, what a wonderful blog post. The quote you included at the beginning is very true and relates so well to our class. I too am soo excited for MBTI this week. I am surprised that an instructor said that. It seems so insensitive. I think your goal of making sure the new Hixson students don't feel like they are limited by their MBTI or other measures of personality.
ReplyDeleteAlso excited for the MBTI results, and I thought the ball game was very interactive, even though I definitely need work with everybody's names. Your story about the journalism professor was interesting -- that really is rude to discourage students like that.
ReplyDeleteAlso, kudos on coming up with a lot more original blog title than mine!