Mind. Blown.

Happy Sunday, colleagues! This past week I was scrolling through Twitter when I came across a post from Jennifer Gonzales. Of course, the title got my attention, but the article, itself, was even better.

Buzzword Bling: Putting Substance Behind Our Big Words
Guest post by Typhani Harris, Ph.Dhttps://t.co/dZBcykUCmv#teaching #studentchoice #studentengagement #teachingstrategies #wholechild

— Jennifer Gonzalez (@cultofpedagogy) January 23, 2018

This blog post is 2 1/2 years old but is still very much relevant. A lot of what is spoken in the blog post directly relates to my classroom and my education philosophy: 21st-century learning, real-world projects, and engagement. The part that blew my mind was the piece about how real-world knowledge is when it is real for students, but not necessarily real for teachers.

When I taught Social Studies, and I heard about making curriculum real-world, I struggled. I was frustrated with trying to explain what I considered "modern day" topics while teaching about what happened in the US 300 years ago. The closest I ever felt I got was the very last unit I developed last year when I had the students study a modern event dealing with racism and connect its lineage back to Reconstruction and Jim Crow laws. I felt so successful, and it was the last US history topic I taught over nine years.

After reading this blog post, I realized that I was unintentionally teaching real-world concepts for the last five years! I was doing so by connecting to their real-world NOW. I knew it was a best teaching practice to provide students opportunities to interact and communicate with each other. For some reason, I never thought about how beneficial it was to produce situations (or simulations) that were similar to their lives right now. Those situations/simulations are real-world for THEM (even if they're not real world for us).

What are some ways to design real-world lessons, projects, or units for our students?

• Even though students can't vote, they are interested in today's politics. If you teach Social Studies, compare and contrast political actions in 1789 with the government today. Compare the Presidents and their agendas. How is the Supreme Court different? How is Congress different? As you continue to teach your curriculum (into the 19th and 20th centuries), discuss where the changes happened. Focus on, How did we get here today? 
• Let students write a blog. Sometimes you can give them prompts, but sometimes, let them free write. Let them blog about what they're reading or have them blog about a recent personal Instagram post. If you want students to comment on each others' posts, have them look at vocabulary. Are there any words that might sound better than what they posted? It's a sneaky activity that expands their vocabulary!
• Students are obsessed with Netflix! Do you want them to write a story? Have the students "pitch" their plotline to Netflix executives. Want to make the lesson even more real world? Have a panel (teachers, students, maybe even local filmmakers?!) that discuss their storylines with them, in person, in front of the class. 
• I'm speaking here as a non-math person, but is it possible for students to study algorithms? Is it possible for them to look at how Facebook's news feed has changed (based on the algorithm)? Could they do a scientific study of how (or how often) they see a person on their Instagram feed now that it is no longer based on time of posting?

My challenge to you, this week, is to find a way to make your content more relevant to students TODAY, whether you update a lesson, add technology, or just listen to what students care about today. Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Why digital portfolios?

Good morning colleagues!

I totally had another blog post planned and written, when I had an interesting conversation with a colleague over e-mail on Friday. It was apparent, through the e-mail, that the teacher was incredibly stressed about helping their students with digital portfolios. Our district decided to implement digital portfolios, this year, using Google Sites. My principal started with a rotation where all teachers ended up in a lab, or with a Chromebook cart, to help their students create the skeleton of their digital portfolio.

I had a meeting with my principal a couple of weeks ago where another colleague and I insisted that yes, the staff could quickly get one item on all of their students' portfolios before STUDENT-LED parent-teacher conferences on February 15th and 16th. That's still four weeks away... that is entirely possible. I will admit that I told my principal to mandate it. I did. I'll own the teachers' frustration, but it's because I believe in digital portfolios.

Now some colleagues may be reading this post, gritting their teeth, thinking, "Rachel. Stay in your lane. Stick to what you know -  technology." I don't believe in digital portfolios just because the students are using Google Sites. I support creating digital portfolios because it gives students a straightforward way to demonstrate voice and choice!

I believe in student choice and voice, and I back growth (versus fixed) mindset. It can be incredibly challenging to give up control of your classroom, give students options, and try to get them to change how they see school. I honestly feel like digital portfolios is a great start to all three! Students get to design their portfolio how they see fit, and they get to add what THEY want to their portfolio. They can choose to showcase a test, a project, or an essay. It's whatever they think best demonstrates their growth for the year.

What's been troublesome for our staff is that the "buy-in" part did not go over well. Teachers didn't see the point of doing digital portfolios. Based on what I heard, people thought it was one more thing, and it would just go away. It seemed as though they couldn't fathom portfolios becoming seamless with their curriculum. Does it take time away from class to have students put work on their portfolio? Of course. Does their work become meaningful when you not only give them time to place work on their portfolio but also thought-provoking questions to reflect upon their work? YES. I could continue to blog on and on about why digital portfolios are essential, but I'm going to let Global Digital Citizen Foundation do the work for me.

What has also been problematic for the staff is the lack of training. I've realized, over the last six months, why I was so good for the job I currently have: I'm not afraid to push a button to see what happens, I'm not worried that I'll mess up the technology, and I'm quite good at using Google. Apparently, this is not normal! Who knew?! So in this meeting with my principal, where I somehow managed to throw my colleagues under the bus, I also offered to provide training needed for the staff. I created a Google Form that asked what my colleagues needed and even asked when they wanted to meet. Seems good in theory right? Only 14 teachers filled it out. So this afternoon I'm going to make my training materials for those fourteen teachers. I have a starting place :)

Digital portfolios are nothing but good for students. I even did a little research on pros and cons, and this is the best I could find. I think digital portfolios are useful for teachers as well. I started a digital portfolio this past summer and have been continuously updating it. As an introvert, I don't share a lot about myself verbally. I've realized that I share a lot more about myself online. It's pretty humorous that I see less risk in sharing who I am with strangers than with the people I see every day at work. It's because I'm not "putting myself out there"... I'm not having to open my heart and be vulnerable. My digital portfolio is a window into who I am, what I like, what I'm reading, and what my students are doing.

The end game, in our district, is that students will start their portfolios in kindergarten which will follow them through twelfth grade. That is a lofty goal but is one that I think is possible. Seriously think about it. How cool when they graduate that they have this thing that demonstrates their growth and learning over thirteen years. And this thing can help them get into vocational training, college, or get a job. It may be nerdy, but I just think that's neat! Purposeful learning.

Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

What's the point of social media?

Good morning y'all!

I have a lot of thoughts swirling in my mind this morning, stemming from a 7:30 am wake-up call with a technology question from my mom's best friend, to news out of Silicon Valley about Facebook, and a great post from a friend and colleague, @aadamsELA. All three of these things have one common connection: social media. I'd love to quote Beyoncé when she says, "Who runs the world? Girls!" because, really, social media runs the world.

I am not immune to this - I love social media as much as the next person. It can be a time sucker if you let it. But it all comes down to how you use social media in your life. That's the focus that I want for this post. What's the point of social media? To me, social media comes down to the desire to make and share who you are and what you do.

Facebook: I deleted my Facebook two years ago, and I haven't looked back. People that know me might say, "Wait a minute..." Yes, I have access to my husband's Facebook. Yes, I have a Facebook page for my photography. But the account that I started in college, in 2004, no longer exists. I do not spend my time mindlessly scrolling through everyone's lives. I do miss catching up on my friends and family's lives, but it wasn't worth it for all of the ridiculousness. I am SO glad that I didn't have Facebook during the election.

Twitter: I have my professional Twitter that I use for all school-related things. I am 100% appropriate and non-political. I've curated a great PLN and have made some fantastic connections. I also have a personal Twitter that I use all things NON-school related. I am 100% inappropriate and overshare my political views. Only friends follow me - it's basically become my Facebook feed had I still had one. It is not a watch to catch up with me but instead is a way to be annoyed by my "know-it-all" behavior.

Snapchat: This is arguably my favorite social media app because I enjoy taking pictures of my day and being stupid. I love that the pictures disappear after 24 hours! You don't need, forever, to see a video of my cats chasing a spider, or me making espresso in the morning, or of someone's car with a Hawkeye sticker in a parking lot. I have some family members and close friends on Snapchat and even have a sisters chat going. This is what I use instead to keep in touch with others while also letting people know that I'm alive and okay in Colorado.

Instagram: This is 100% professional. I only post my photography, and if I do a live story, it's while I'm out shooting. I follow other photographers so that I can learn from the best. I probably use Instagram "wrong," but it works for what I need it to be - a platform for curating and sharing photography. I would also liken it to Redbubble which I use to share and sell my photography. I did recently start an Instagram for my broadcasting class. I am using it to share behind the scenes images of what my kids are doing. I would like my students to take it over, but they haven't gotten excited enough about it... yet...

Goodreads: This is also one of my favorite social media platforms, but not many people I know are on it. That's because most people don't have (or don't take) time to read! If you don't know what Goodreads is, it's an application where people post what they're currently reading, can read (and post) reviews of books, and can be recommended books. They also have a reading challenge (last year I read 54 books) where you can challenge yourself to read a certain amount of books. What's cool is that I see what people are reading, look at the plot, and decide if I want to read it too. I've found a number of books that I would not have found (and read) otherwise. I also like that I've been on Goodreads since 2011 so I can reminisce about what I've read in that time frame.

Spotify: This is probably the most used app on my phone. I listen to music while I get ready in the morning, on the way to work, at work, on the way home, and before I go to bed. We got a Google Home in September, so we also listen to music while we lesson plan or work around the house. I like seeing what people are listening to and enjoy sharing my playlists with others.

So with that, I encourage you to think about your social media accounts and how you use them daily. Is there a purpose? If you believe so then keep it up! If you don't, ask yourself why you don't delete your account. Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

#oneword2018

Welcome back, colleagues! How are we feeling after the first week back? Are you chugging coffee? Do you have a headache? Are you hoping for your first snow day of the year?

As I INHALE my coffee this morning, I'm reflecting on last year and setting goals for this year. Last year, my #oneword was self-care. I was really struggling with my then job. I was over-working myself, so I was not taking care of myself. I was having quite a go and found myself interviewing for jobs for three years. It made sense, then, that I needed to take care of myself. Thus I began blogging about self-care. It helped. It really helped that I got a new job (and desperately needed change), but I discovered how to relax and what I needed to do to take care of myself.

It was evident that my #oneword2017 was complete and I needed to pick a new word for the year. Which one did I come up with?

I've always been a pessimist, "negative Nancy." I am cynical. I look at a situation and scoff. I make jokes when I'm uncomfortable and make others laugh, at inappropriate times, when sitting in meetings. I'm the "bad" kid that people don't see coming. I know in this new position that I need to be better - I need to just, and I quote, "Look on the bright side of life." So how do I do this? How can I be more positive?

I can't promise that I will behave during meetings or when I'm uncomfortable. That's asking a lot of me.

But I need to find positives every day that can help me more optimistic and thankful for the good things that happen. I was inspired to do this when, of all things, I was trolling Buzzfeed. You know, sometimes, I just need to take another quiz to remind me that I AM a Gryffindor! Anyway, I was reading about new years resolutions and getting organized when I stumbled across a post about bullet journals. In my definition, a bullet journal is a way to quickly journal every day. You make it personal to you, whether you are tracking habits, food, health, or you need to vent or you want to doodle each day. It's keeping a diary but without a ton of writing each day. That's what makes a bullet journal something desirable to me... it doesn't take a lot of time or effort. I don't have time for that!

So I am committing myself to "journaling" once a day. Most of the time it will be me sketchnoting something positive that happened that day. It won't be much doodling as I love writing in different scripts with a variety of pen colors. It doesn't have to be anything significant - just something funny, cute, or happy that happened. The other day, for example, I was e-mailing a teacher back and forth about a student and parent. In the end, I e-mailed a rolling eye gif. That was the entire e-mail. How it became positive was when the teacher made a point to find me after school to tell me how funny she thought it was.








That's a positive!

Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

5 most popular posts of 2017

Hello colleagues!

As I enjoy a hot cup of coffee in a quite cold Park City, Utah, I am reminiscing about this past year. I started blogging a year and a half ago, but 2017 was the first year that I had a full year of blogging! I still can't believe that I was able to come up with so many thoughts and be able to share them with all of you!

A few weeks ago, I was trolling Twitter. I came across a post from Catlin Tucker where she shared her top blog posts of the year. I instantly knew that I would do the same thing for my final "column" of the year, especially considering that this was my first year where I COULD share my top five posts of the year.

#5: Elevate. In this post, I wrote about how I was applying to become a Google Innovator and wanted to bring my idea into my classroom. I worked with my Language Arts counterpart to elevate and improve a long-standing project between the 8th grade Language Arts/Social Studies departments. Instead of doing another research essay (of which we had already done three that year in history alone), we had the students 1) research a Civil War figure, 2) participate in a Wax Museum project, 3) discover a characteristic that was best exemplified by this person, and 4) design and implement a community service project where they illustrate that same trait. We elevated the project and RAN with it!

#4: Taking risks. In this post, I wrote about stepping out of my comfort zone and applying to become a Google Innovator. Spoiler alert, I wasn't chosen. But I have another good idea for the application in the next round. We'll see! 

#3: Give the kids homework this weekend. In this post, I wrote about meeting kids where they are in the 21st century. This included trying to incorporate Snapchat into the classroom to have students tell stories. The end result is to try to build a comfortable community with your class. 

#2: #selfcare. In this post, I wrote about how I figured out what my #oneword2017 would be - self-care. It was the moment that I decided to make some changes in my life so that I was no longer overwhelmed by being a teacher. 

#1: Sharing My Love for Screencastify. In this post, I wrote about how I was using Screencastify in my new job. I love this app because it is SO easy to use and it is a good use of my time! If you haven't used Screencastify with your students, I strongly encourage you to do so.

Thanks for reading this post and all post over the last 18 months! I will be back in 2018 with a new post and a new #oneword2018! Happy holidays everyone :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

#selfcare: hype videos

Guys, I don't know about you, but I'm TIRED. I know that I've had more breaks than most of you, but I am running on empty.

Teachers spend most days running on empty, right? That's why self-care for teachers is SO. DARN. IMPORTANT.

There is a multitude of ways to take care of yourself, but for me, my #1 way to take care of myself is to listen to music. I've shared multiple playlists throughout the year. Sometimes, however, it's more than music. Sometimes I need to cry or laugh or be inspired.

And that's what YouTube is for. YouTube is not just for your students, folks. There is some phenomenal, non-school related stuff out there.

At times like this, when I'm running on empty, I try to figure out the best way for me to move forward. Often times, I need to cry. Not just a little bit... I need to let out gut-wrenching sobs. I realized this morning, for example, that I needed a good cry to start my day. Please view this entry from ESPN talking about my beloved Iowa Hawkeyes.

Did you cry? Good. Do you feel better? I hope so. 

So, here is a playlist of my favorite YouTube videos to hopefully make you laugh, cry, or inspire the buh-jeezes out of your last few days before your winter holiday.

YouTube can also be for your students. The past couple of years, before I taught 45-minute short enrichment classes, I would show my students videos on Friday, called "Fun Video Friday." I would encourage you to put together a playlist, with your students, of some of your favorite videos. When you or your students need a break, sometimes a quick three-minute video can change your students' or your mood, or just change the climate in the classroom.

Thanks for watching. I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Student Voice and Choice

Greetings colleagues!

When I started this new job four months ago, I was pretty terrified. I try to be organized and polished whenever I teach as I am NOT someone who flies by the seat of my pants. Teaching broadcasting was a WHOLE new thing, and I was making it up as I went for most of the first quarter. I now feel way more comfortable in this role as I'm figuring out what I want my students to know and do.

As a Social Studies teacher, I was always grasping for "wins" - good days, good class periods, and good moments. They did not often happen as I was a pushy teacher. I had high expectations. Students didn't get to goof off very often in my class. But now I'm a "fun" teacher - I still push and still have high expectations, but students get to goof off (ish) in my class. Students get to have fun because they are making up stories, they are creating videos, and they have an audience ready for their broadcast every week. Talk about student CHOICE AND VOICE!

I really thought about this the other day when a student said to me, "Mrs. Jeffrey - look at the board. You put the four of us (students) together. No other teacher would EVER do that!" I said to him, "Well, you do your work for me. If you were together in another class, would you not get anything done?" He said, "We don't have classes together, but I bet we wouldn't get anything done." So I said, "Every week you have to create a tangible product. If you don't get your work done, then you don't have anything in the broadcast." As I walked away from him, I heard him say to his colleague, "I've never thought about it that way before." WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!

I will totally own that it's completely different being an enrichment teacher. I get to make up my curriculum because I have incredibly open standards (in fact, there are no broadcasting standards... I use Language Arts and theatre standards). This allows me to give students more choice and voice throughout the year. I really struggled with giving students voice and choice when I taught Social Studies. It's a difficult thing to do!

So how can you give students choice and voice in your classroom? Here are some ideas...

One time that I always tried to give students choice was when I had an "open era," i.e., we're covering between 1810 - 1860. I would want to know what they wanted to learn about and I wanted to know which applications they wanted to use. This was a perfect time to use a tic-tac-toe board or dinner menu. It wasn't entirely open-ended, but students had more say in their work.

For each broadcast, there is always one entirely original video. I give students theme options, but the main idea, the story plot, the script, the camera shots, and music are solely the students' creation. They can be quite fun to watch. For the rest of the segments, I often choose the topic, but sometimes I don't hear from staff members, so the students get to design their own themes. Even though the structure is set, students still write the script, design the camera shots, and create music. I always get to see and hear their voice throughout, and they still have choices along the way.

Find a way to make student's work public. This can happen at your own school! A brag board is where you have a student post their work and write about why they're proud of this work. Pair up with another class (whether on your team or not), and have them visit your brag board, look at the student's work, and leave a comment. This could be on a cork board in the hall or through a digital Padlet. Let the students be proud of what they've done so that other students can be proud of them too!

Our school has an advisory period, so each class shows the broadcast every week. I also post the broadcast on YouTube and try to remember to tweet out about it as well.





Let your students speak, both figuratively and literally in your class. Let them share their voice. But give them a choice in what they want to say as well.

Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

MOOC-Ed Reflection

Good morning colleagues!

Last week I finished a MOOC-Ed through North Carolina State University. A MOOC-Ed is a Massive Online Open Course for Educators. The course was six weeks and was pretty much self-directed. Each week, a new unit would open, but the previous sections did not close. Teachers were able to finish the course on their own time. This was my first time taking a fully online class, so I was nervous about staying on top of the class. However, because only one unit was open at a time, I stayed focused. I will definitely be taking more MOOC-Ed courses!

The class' focus was coaching digital learning which is the role that I moved into this year. There were teachers from all over the US (and the world) in the class. Some were general ed teachers, some were coaches, and some were working together in coaching teams. It was great to have so many people taking the course because I was able to see how digital learning is working in other schools.

The goals for this course included:

• DEEPEN your understanding of what it takes to coach educators to integrate technology effectively with relevant and rigorous opportunities to build upon your professional needs and knowledge — whether beginning in your role as an instructional coach or seeking advanced strategies;
• EXPLORE relevant frameworks (e.g., TPACK, SAMR, Four Cs), strategies, tools, and resources to advance your digital learning coaching efforts;
• EXPERIENCE multiple opportunities for personalized application of your new learning and job-embedded practice; and
• DEVELOP and share a personal coaching plan to support your school/district's digital/blended learning culture.

What went well: 

• I feel like I made some good connections through Twitter. They designated a hashtag which I tried to use liberally. 
• I learned more about Flipgrid and came up with some new ideas for my classroom and the school. 
• I designed a coaching action plan that I think will help me continue to implement technology in my building. 
• The class also pushed me to complete some curriculum that I designed and gave me new ideas for my staff bathroom tech tips newsletter!

What could be improved: 

• Set Twitter chats were at different times each week. I made the very first one but ended up missing the next three because they were on different nights of the week. I hated losing that opportunity for connections and discussion. 
• Because you could finish the class on your own time, people were responding on the forums at a much later date. I found myself going back to the forums to see if anyone replied to my posts. I was craving good conversations, but it felt like everyone was too busy to work together (I get it). 
• Even though I'm a technology specialist, I am not technically a digital coach. At times it was frustrating in the class because it felt like the class was meant for coaches. I did not always have sufficient conversations about coaching from a teacher perspective to make meaningful progress with a staff. 

The negatives did not outweigh my enjoyment with taking the class, and as I said before, I would definitely take another MOOC-Ed course. I would encourage others to take a class (because it is definitely low-risk) and plan on promoting the courses through the tech tips newsletter!

Thanks for reading. I'll plan on writing again in two weeks! Have a happy Thanksgiving :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

A small moment of gratitude

Dear colleagues:

It's November which traditionally is the month of giving thanks and being grateful. All sorts of people have been posting on social media and blogging about what they're thankful for. To no one's surprise, I'm also going to blog about what I'm grateful for. This year, what I'm grateful for is being able to change my mindset, whether it's dealing with my classroom, education, my relationships, or what's going on at that moment.

An excellent example of this was last Friday. I know how long it takes to get to work. I've been driving the same route for six years since we moved into our house. I give myself 15 minutes to get to work every day, and this day was no exception. What I did not anticipate was the incredibly thick fog. Whenever the weather is crazy, drivers either drive fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit or under. There is no in between. So I was dealing with stressful traffic, managed to hit ALL seven red lights on the way, and almost got into an accident. Another car and I were both (admittedly) "bombing" down a hill to try to make a green light. This other car was in the far right lane, and I was in the far left lane. The light turned yellow, and we both sped up when this other car switched over two lanes and cut me off. I had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting them and ended up missing the light.

While I'm sitting at the red light, I check the clock and realize I'm now late to morning duty. All of that made me start to cry. On a FRIDAY. At a red light. When I finally got to school, I walk in, and a colleague is in there waiting for me. She joins me on Fridays only to help with breakfast duty. We started talking about the weather and traffic because her commute was not great that morning either. She asked me where I lived and then asked when we bought the house. Right now the housing market along the Front Range of Colorado is HOT. People are buying homes, sight unseen, for well over the market price. The last five people that I know of that sold their houses all sold within 48 hours or less, at asking price or more.

She asked if we bought before the housing market exploded and I told her that not only did we purchase in 2011, we used a federal program to get our house! Good Neighbor Next Door is a HUD program that provides housing assistance to public servants. It is a lottery for select homes in older or struggling neighborhoods. The person who "wins" the house in the lottery has two mortgages on the house, each at half the price of the home. The person can also do renovations which are wrapped up in the cost of the home. After three years, one of the mortgages goes away. The idea is that the person can not only afford the house but also revitalize it! This, in turn, helps the neighborhood.

So during breakfast duty, I'm explaining all of this to my colleague and she is blown away. She's never heard about this program and can't believe how lucky we were. Telling her this story made me realize how #blessed I really am. Even though I had a bad morning, she helped me change my mindset instead to how grateful and lucky I am. I thanked her for helping me have a better morning and she, in a surprised tone, told me "You're welcome."

The whole point of this blog is to not only be grateful for what you have and thankful for the people around you, but be sure to help support a colleague see the positive in their lives. Make this week, before Thanksgiving Break, a good one! Take a moment to see, and help others recognize, small moments of gratitude.

Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Personality tests

Hello colleagues! So I have a random story to tell you to start the blog this week. I was scrolling on Twitter not long ago when I saw my high school best friend post about her personality type. I've taken personality tests in the past, but I figured I was due for an upgrade. Turns out that I have the exact same personality type as her, INFJ. In the Myers-Briggs personality assessment, INFJ stands for introverted, intuitive, feeling, judging.

I used a website called 16 Personalities for my "assessment." I don't usually push sites like this, but there is a reason that this website is the first Google search result! The personality descriptions are quite descriptive, and I must say, spot on. When I read through my personality type, my jaw kept hitting the floor. My husband was trying to watch baseball, and I kept interrupting him to talk about my personality and all of the things I was learning about myself! It's like someone had finally unlocked my brain code. Apparently, INFJs are the rarest personality type which explains why I've felt so isolated my entire life!

Some of my personality strengths include

• creativity (I'm pretty good at thinking outside the box)
• decisiveness (ask me a question, and I'll give you a definitive answer. Where are we going to eat? Done.)
• determined (hello magical word that I chose for myself during Path2Empathy)
• altruistic (I don't care about money, fame, and power. I want everyone to be better). 

Weaknesses?

• I'm private (You don't need to know about me - apparently other people don't feel that way!)
• sensitive (Did I take my no crying pills today?)
• perfectionist (HELLO)
• can burn out quickly (Why were the last five years so hard?! I did it to myself). 

While reading through my INFJ personality, I realized why I'd felt so misunderstood here at Skyview and how I just wanted my job to have meaning. I want people to be better because I think we, as teachers, can make a difference.

So, what's the point of this blog. Am I just talking about myself here?

Giving the kids the Myers-Briggs assessment is the perfect way to start the school year (a little late... I know!). Giving the students a personality test isn't new or innovative, but I wish I had done THIS assessmet with my students every year. Knowing my little type A self, I would have put together a Google Sheet with students' names and personalities. This would have helped me better approach students. I could have better through through my groupings and team "jobs," and I could have pushed my students towards a certain set of occupations. Also, I want all of my colleagues to take the personality test so that I can learn a little more about them. I want to have better collegial relationships, especially in this new role.

I did, earlier today, ask some of my close colleagues to take the Myers-Briggs assessment, and you know what? I learned a lot about some of my closest friends (and even sisters). Some of their strengths and weaknesses were not surprising (because I know them well), but some made me look differently at my friends and family. I guess I just enjoy learning more about people. Is that part of my personality type? :)

Thanks for reading. And if you want to know a little more about yourself (I see you teachers... I know you will), TAKE THE QUIZ. I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

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