BGR Bio and Personality and Teaching Style Inventory
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| BGR 1970 HS Graduation Photo |
I was born.
In 1952 I was a product of the space race. I wanted to be an astronaut. When I learned my eyes were not perfect and I had to wear corrective lenses in 5th grade, I determined that my life was effectively over as I would not be accepted into the Air Force Academy. Bitter tears.
Plan B became music and the liberal arts. While not an exceptional student in my undergrad coursework I blossomed in the Junior and Senior years of college and took no prisoners in Grad school. I took an MA in History simply to be well rounded, as I had only 4 history credits (2 from AP credit) during my BA degree in political science and english. I became adept at seeing the impact ideas had on the development of culture and power. I was in love.
I moved to San Francisco at the beginning of the PC revolution. But still the Liberal Arts nerd, my interest in computers first came to me when I was applying for Phd programs and wondered how the heck I did my MA without some sort of word processing. So I began to research PCs (DEC Rainbow, Commodore, anyone?) I became thoroughly enthralled by the Mac's release in 1984. It changed everything. I got into writing for pay, got a job selling ads in a computer magazine where I became a publisher of my own magazine. Then after the 91 recession I turned all of that experience and contacts into another career as a PR guy for tech companies until last year. The tech business has changed dramatically from when I first started and decided to move on to my first ambition... to teach.
Full circle.
I am taking the MA Education w credential program here at NU/JFK and am specializing in eLearning and technology. I got to teach 8th grade history last year but have been unable to get hired not having a credential and not eligible for internship eligibility Catch 22. I hope to get back into a classroom ASAP; preferably .5 FTE as I still need to work on classwork and TPAs. My goals are to be a thought leader in the area of eLearning. I also want to develop curricula around integrating STEM lessons into history, particularly around history of impact of technology and science upon cultural development.
Why should the kids in robotics get all of the grant money, right?!
In 1952 I was a product of the space race. I wanted to be an astronaut. When I learned my eyes were not perfect and I had to wear corrective lenses in 5th grade, I determined that my life was effectively over as I would not be accepted into the Air Force Academy. Bitter tears.
Plan B became music and the liberal arts. While not an exceptional student in my undergrad coursework I blossomed in the Junior and Senior years of college and took no prisoners in Grad school. I took an MA in History simply to be well rounded, as I had only 4 history credits (2 from AP credit) during my BA degree in political science and english. I became adept at seeing the impact ideas had on the development of culture and power. I was in love.
I moved to San Francisco at the beginning of the PC revolution. But still the Liberal Arts nerd, my interest in computers first came to me when I was applying for Phd programs and wondered how the heck I did my MA without some sort of word processing. So I began to research PCs (DEC Rainbow, Commodore, anyone?) I became thoroughly enthralled by the Mac's release in 1984. It changed everything. I got into writing for pay, got a job selling ads in a computer magazine where I became a publisher of my own magazine. Then after the 91 recession I turned all of that experience and contacts into another career as a PR guy for tech companies until last year. The tech business has changed dramatically from when I first started and decided to move on to my first ambition... to teach.
Full circle.
I am taking the MA Education w credential program here at NU/JFK and am specializing in eLearning and technology. I got to teach 8th grade history last year but have been unable to get hired not having a credential and not eligible for internship eligibility Catch 22. I hope to get back into a classroom ASAP; preferably .5 FTE as I still need to work on classwork and TPAs. My goals are to be a thought leader in the area of eLearning. I also want to develop curricula around integrating STEM lessons into history, particularly around history of impact of technology and science upon cultural development.
Why should the kids in robotics get all of the grant money, right?!
TED 633 WK1 Assignment included taking the MMDI Personality Test to determine personal strengths and analysis . This was followed by taking the North Carolina State Teaching and Learning Style survey followed by Grasha's Teaching Styles Inventory.
See Assigned questions and reflection below.
1. How did your personality affect your choice of content area?
My personality neighborhood conjured from the MMDI test tended to be middle left; i.e. ISTP (64), ESTP (69) and EDFP (67). My shadow was INFJ (47). I think the connection to my content area is the desire and capacity to think and make connections at the 10,000 foot level and then be able to drill down to show how those connections put rubber to the road.
Drilling deeper in the analysis my top three Leadership styles tended to Action Oriented (22) followed by Leadership Theorist and Change Oriented Leader (19). One could argue, I suppose, that focus on task, examination of alternative methods, and finding hidden potential in people fits better with humanities or social studies more than with math, which usually has shorter problems, one answer, and fewer secrets.
Drilling deeper in the analysis my top three Leadership styles tended to Action Oriented (22) followed by Leadership Theorist and Change Oriented Leader (19). One could argue, I suppose, that focus on task, examination of alternative methods, and finding hidden potential in people fits better with humanities or social studies more than with math, which usually has shorter problems, one answer, and fewer secrets.
What I did find interesting was the career matches the scheme presented that cited a variety of academic positions as the most closely matched including: educational consultant, dean, professor, academic advisor, graduate student(!) research; generally emphasizing "academia (4.6) v "teaching" (3.6)
2. How does or will your personality affect your relationships with your students?
Looking a the MMDI Relationship and Influencing Skills (for ESTP) include (E) maintain frequent contact; prepare for wide ranging discussion, and solicit immediate reactions from strong E type students; (S) focus on facts; discuss steps and sequence, and for S students state when the details will be "sorted out"; (T) use logic, stay businesslike, discuss costa and benefits with T students; (P) have a flexible agenda, review decisions; allow P students to meet deadlines at the last minute.
3. How will your teaching and learning style affect your teaching and your students' abilities to be successful?
My Learning Style results indicated strengths in Active (5), Intuition (7), Visual (9), and average for Sequential (Δ1).
I struggled with this for as much as I love to read, I hate watching video clips instead as they just don't have the rigor or detail I want. However, the "visual" preference I think relates more to information provided as graphs, charts, maps, pictures; rather than pabulum from the increasingly video-based content found on the Internet Give me a hairy census table any day. Yum.
As for teaching style the Grasha Inventory show a fairly tight cluster around "expert", "formal authority", "personal model". "facilitator" and "delegator"
In some ways this typing presents a conundrum where, expert and formal authority are balanced by facilitator and delegator. Yet, this makes sense considering the prevalence of "personal modeling" (especially academic language, breaking down vocabulary, and showing students how to unpack a suitcase, i.e. some topic, that provides consistent direction and guidance for procedures and students developing agency and taking responsibility for their education.
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