“Reflect on what you perceive to be your own areas of strength and what competencies you feel you need to work hardest to develop given your professional goals.”
For me it is much easier to discuss my short comings rather than my strengths. I guess that’s my nature. It is also my nature to do the hardest part first so I will discuss my strengths first.
I was self-employed for over 15 years in sales. Much of what I learned in the selling profession now come second nature to me. The competencies discussed in this chapter which I would consider to be my strengths are the same ones that come naturally to any good sales person. Take for instance, conducting a needs assessment, communicate effectively, effective presentation skills and stimulating and sustaining learner motivation. These are selling skills and these are areas where I feel comfortable. I have no problem presenting my ideas and feeling comfortable in front of other people. Motivating people is how sales people earn their living. Of course you can hardly motivate someone to do something unless it is what they wanted all along which is needs analysis. I would say these competencies are my strengths.
Under the heading of “Instructional Methods & Strategies” on page 275, I would like to work on promoting retention of knowledge and skills. In my program, we learn a very diverse set of skills all year long. Often I find that skills that the students (and sometimes myself) seem to have down pat early in the year are almost gone by Christmas break. If I could learn ways to improve retention this would be a big help.
Under the “Responsibilities to Society” heading under the “Instructor” column on page 277, I would like to develop “Recognize that when encountering a wide diversity of learners, some may come from different cultures and be accustomed to different societies.” My program, so far, has had during my tenure a pretty non-diverse population of students but I suspect that will change. I have a tendency to joke with students and they respond well to it. I fear that some of my humor may need to be adjusted when I get the Hispanic students with developing English language skills or the Arabic students with quite different cultural norms from what I am used to that other programs in my building get routinely. I want to be able to establish the rapport I currently enjoy with my students with any student God sees fit to send through my door.
Several of the competencies use the word “organization.” Professional speaking this is perhaps my greatest weakness. I tend to be the creative leader in a group and sometimes details do not get followed up on. This is a bad thing in any profession and especially bad in a profession where plans need to be monitored and reported upon. Organization is an area which I would like to develop personally because it will make me more effective as an educator as well as someone who hopes to implement educational technology in my district.
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3 comments:
I am not a real organized person either! I need to work on this area!
Organization seems to be a shortfall for many of us...definitly myself! It always seems there is so much thrown in our lap at one time we just can't find time to keep it all organzied. Something I think educators will always struggle with. Doesn't it seem once we have something down it changes :)
I ditto the lack of organization. Do you feel that it is because we have so much on our plate or because we have never formed good habbits. I sometimes feel it is because I haven't messed anything up so bad that I couldn't it fix it, so I haven't changed too many of my methods. I can say, the older I get the more I like organization. It may come from sharing a woodshop with 130 middle schoolers each day. I like to know where my stuff is! :)
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