My philosophy, multiple intelligence preferences & true color results (Discussion with my cooperating teacher)

First, we discussed the many caveats of trying to draw too many conclusions from a “personality” or “intelligence” test. There are many generalizations that these tests make. Some of them may be true, but several may be false. We agreed it’s best to use the results as more of a self-reflection rather than rely solely on results that most likely, make false assumptions about who you are. The person that knows myself is me. 

Interestingly, my educational philosophy, existentialism, is very similar to my cooperating teacher, Mr. Butler. Both of us think students learn best through hands-on labs and experiments. When a student can prove it to herself, she learns more than when a teacher just gives the student the answer. We see ourselves as guides to lead our students down the correct path. We both are very enthusiastic about the field of biology and want to share this passion with our students. We firmly believe students need to be taught to be problem solvers and think through tough questions using critical reasoning skills and logic. Our role as teachers is to show students how to use this process in a myriad of scientific problems.

I have a variety of “intelligences” indicated by my multiple intelligence survey, including: linguistic, interpersonal, visual, and naturalistic. My cooperating teacher and I agreed that my high score in my linguistic skills and interpersonal skills will aid greatly in making me an effective teacher. I excel in communicating with students, both orally and written. In addition, it’s something I enjoy as well. My ability to explain things in simplistic terms to students will help me as a teacher. In addition, my interpersonal skills allow me to be able to teach a wide variety of students, regardless of their personalities. These same interpersonal skills will also allow me to work effectively in groups, such as in staff and department team meetings. 

My “true color” results showed that I have a “gold” communication personality. This means that I’m very driven and task-oriented. I work best in groups when I know what the problem or task is up front. Then, we can all work together in an efficient manner to achieve our common goal. However, my goal-oriented approach and quick decision-making can sometimes make members of the group feel left out. Raising my awareness of this potential problem can help me avoid this in the future. I will make sure to give everyone time to answer questions and contribute. I need to be careful to make sure everyone is heard. On the other hand, I do not hesitate to step up to the plate and act as team leader, or take on additional responsibilities to get things done.