when you understan yourself as an instructor it gives you the opportunity to know your strengths and help you to work on your weaknesses. This will help you become a better teacher.
Michael,
I don't think anyone really expects perfection. I think being natural, genuine and sincere goes a long ways to building trust and respect with my students.
Barry Westling
Understanding yourself as an instructor enables to you lead with your strengths and work on your weaknesses. Your students may see that you are working on your weaknesses and probably earn their respect as you become more confident.
Jon,
It's good to recognize we all have strengths that make us good at what we do. Understanding there are weaker areas that can also be improved on makes for committed instructors.
Barry Westling
If I don't understand myself and my own personality quirks, strengths, and weaknesses, how could I expect a student to. I like the idea of capitalizing on your strengths and working on your weaknesses.
Andrea,
Feedback is very helpful, as you experienced. When instructors are willing and open to improvement, better student outcomes often result. The opposite is probably just as true.
Barry Westling
I need to know my personality, my strengths and my weak areas so that I can play to my strengths and improve upon the weaker areas. I find it helpful that my students are required to assess my qualities as an instructor. I think these surveys offer valid results, because the a trend appeared regarding one of my weaknesses, which is patience and empathy. I could not afford to ignore the evidence, so I worked hard on being more patient and empathetic, and now the results of my student surveys have improved in this area.
April,
What a great idea to promote camaraderie among your student population. Many would assume that adult leareners would be responsible, cordial, and considerate with their peers. But actuially, most classes have students that develop a dislike for one of their own. If M-B's assessments help reduce those conflicts of differences, I think that's great start to insuring longer lasting harmony and cohesiveness.
Barry Westling
If you understand yourself, you can modify what you need to do to make your class successful. I use the Myers Briggs assessment on all of my students in order that they may see others and not get frustrated or annoyed with their peers. it is amazing to see a "died in the wool" J tolerate the N.
Justine,
I operate with the premise none of us is perfect and all can benefit from ongoing self improvement. I also believe student will respond to instructors who portray a genuine version of themselves, confident and sincere. Student appreciate when we are being real and feel we have their interests at heart.
Barry Westling
It's important to understand yourself as an instructor because you are positioned to have all the knowledge of the course. The student is positioned to not to know every move and expectation of how the course will go, which creates an uncertaintly for the student. You must know your stregnths and weaknesses to create a stable work enviroment for the class room. This will also allow your students to have trust in you if you exude a confident and knowledgable presence rather than being unsure majority of the time.
Julia,
I think just being genuine and sincere allows my natural personality to emerge. Not all may like what they see, but I'm what they get.
Barry Westling
It is important to understand how the students see you as the instructor. Sometimes I may be too serious in effort to come accross as a professional, but then I may not seem accessible to the students as they learn and have questions. Students want to have some fun learning as well.
Jeanette,
I agree we become more effective as we understand ouselves. Often, instructors will have blind spots pertaining to their efficiency or effectiveness, and unless these areas are identified, and the instructor is willing to make corrections or adjustments, not much will change. I believe most instructors want to be their best and are willing to be open to critique, advice, comment, and suggestions from their colleagues, peers, fellow instructors, students, supervisors,, and even graduates, employers, and advisory committee members. Really, more feedback only gives the opportunity to see ourselves as others see us, and that makes adjustments somewhat easier to implement.
Barry Westling
You have to know your own personality, your strenghts and weaknesses. I think the more you know and understand yourself the more effective you can be.
Carol,
I frequently tell new instructors they have the advantage of years of practical work experience. I believe this is the hook that can help motivate students because it's something they don't have, you do, and I find almost always students are interested in stories, situations, past work experiences (good and bad), and case studies that illuminate how best to (and not do) whatever skills are being taught. When students see you as the resident expert, respect, attention, trust, and seeking you for answers will be the likely result, and less frustration for you.
Barry Westling
I am relatively new to teaching. I have been in my field for 26 years and am now at a vocational college. I love it. I have so much to teach the students. However, I can easily find myself frustrated with the lack of motivation from the students. My enthusiasm and work ethic seem to be lost at times. This has been my hardest personal lesson. My strengths are definitely in the clinical area. Now I am working on ways to adapt my very strong personality to the classroom.
Traci,
Students like stories. Case studies, work examples, past mistakes, lots of different names, but it's interesting that a student will remember something from a story (but may not remember the same point made in a lecture).
Barry Westling
I believe if you know your personality you can make a better learning environment. I love to share stories when I was a tech out in a practice and at 5 minutes to 5pm someone walks in with an emergency, and what I had to jump into, or how animals came into the practice and how we can not judge people from that experience.
I believe if you are an out going person and can bring that personality into the class room that you can make learning fun. As well if you are more quiet I believe teaching can bring you out of your shell especially if you are teaching about something that means so much to you.
I love to the the "GE" moment when the light bulb goes off and it all makes sence. I may of had to go around the bush to get them to understand, but I do try to take the time to make sure they really understand what I am instructing on.
Zachary,
For me, I've come to realize that being genuine, honest, and sincere are good ways to base my foundation. I try to be approachable, exhibit a sense of humor, and do all I can to convey to my students I'm there to help them. I'm sure my weaker areas appear at times, and I think students are willing overlook imperfections if they sense their instructor is real in dealing with them.
Barry Westling
