Elementary Matters is an educational blog focused on Elementary grades 1-3. These posts will make an elementary teacher's life easier by sharing information about how the brain learns best. It includes time savers, suggestions for classroom management, hints on effective teaching of reading, writing, and math, and several ideas for squeezing Science and Social Studies into daily instruction. These posts include links to several videos, articles, resources, and plenty of free materials.
How Do I Squeeze in Mardi Gras?
Myers-Briggs Part 3 : How Do You Process Information?
I hope you have been enjoying my series on the Myers-Briggs Personality Types as much as I have!
If you haven't seen the other posts yet, you can read Part I: the Introduction HERE. You can read Part 2: How do you find your energy HERE.
A couple of very important points to remember about Myers-Briggs:
- Each preference is a scale. People tend to lean toward one side or the other, the place where they are naturally more comfortable. We do, however, have parts of both sides within us.
- Both sides of each scale are essential in our society. No one preference is better than the other. Both sides keep each other in balance. Since I learned to recognize the qualities of each side of each scale, I have learned to cherish the differences in people, and appreciate those who don't have the same preferences as myself.
- They are about the "here and now" and are concerned with facts.
- They are very aware of things in their immediate environment.
- They organize, categorize, and focus on reality.
- These people are practical and all about the details.
- Sensing types prefer to learn in a sequenced, step by step progression.
- Interestingly, Sensing types make up about 75% of the population.
Intuitive Types (N) are about the future and possibilities.
- They are imaginative, inventive, and idealistic.
- They see the big picture before the facts and details.
- Intuitive types often jump from topic to topic.
- About 25% of our learners are Intuitives.
- The Intuitive Types are the forest, and the Sensing Types are the trees. Sensing types would see the trees, but not the forest, Intuitive Types see the forest, but not the trees.
I still remember an experiment we did in my master's program where we studied the different types. All the Sensing types sat on one side of the room, while the Intuitives sat on the other side. We were shown a poster and directed to write down what we see while we looked at the poster.
The poster had something to do with music.
Have you been thinking about your own type? How about your students?
Here are a few more books if you'd like to learn more! The first one (People Types and Tiger Stripes) is one of the first books I've read on the Myers-Briggs personality types, and it's still one of my favorites. This is the revised version.
Myers-Briggs Part 2: How Do You Find Your Energy?
Last week I posted about the Myers-Briggs Personality Types. (See THIS post.)
- Introverts prefer small groups of people to large groups.
- Extroverts prefer large groups of people to small groups.
- Introverts "recharge" by spending time alone.
- Extroverts "recharge" by surrounding themselves with friends.
- Introverts think, then act.
- Extroverts act, then think.
- Introverts are very reflective.
- Extroverts are very social.
- Introverts feel drained after a social get together, even if they had fun.
- Extroverts feel energized after a social get together.
- When extroverts get together, they all talk at once.
- When introverts get together, they take turns and speak one at a time
Great jobs for introverts: Accountant, Software Engineer, Market Research Analyst, Graphic Designer, Translator, Writer, Fine Arts, Designer, Chef, Scientist, Editor, Mechanic, Truck Driver, Lawyer, Teacher
Great jobs for extroverts: Emergency Medical Technician, Dental Hygienist, Physical Therapist, Public Relations Manager, Human Resource Specialist, Sports coach, Event planner, Corporate Fund Raiser, Hairdresser, Customer Service, Nurse, Financial Advisor, Teacher
Check out these book recommendations by exploring the images. (These are affiliate links,) Type Talk is the one I bought when I first learned about Myers Briggs Personality Types, and it has helped me understand people in all parts of my life.
Here are links to all my posts on the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator:
Valentine Fun
We give them some class time to exchange some silly cards. Well, that's definitely fun. And there's all that candy... plus, it's something fun during the "longest" month of the year!
Myers Briggs Personality Types
We met one weekend a month for a couple of years. We were lucky to go through the whole program with the same group of teachers. It was a variety of educators, from classroom teachers, to art teachers, music teachers, and even a school nurse! We came from all over New England to a little seminar house in a small town in New Hampshire. When we were done, we not only had a masters degree, but we had a core of deeply trusted friends in education.
Although these courses were 25 years ago, they left a profound impact in my teaching as well as my personal life. I draw on these experiences daily in my teaching.
Probably the most valuable thing I got out of this masters program was learning about the Myers-Briggs Personality Types. It was one of the first things we learned in the program, and it kept coming back through the whole 2 year process. It helped me understand myself, and it helped me understand my students. It helped me accept differences in people and realize that all different kinds of people are valuable and important in our society.
It's based on 4 different scales, or preferences. It is important to remember that these are just preferences. It's not an IQ test or aptitude test in any way. Just like you might prefer to write with your right hand, because it's more comfortable for you. If you had to, you could use your left hand, but it's just not as comfortable. Using your right hand (or your left) is your preference.
The first scale is about how a person interacts with their world. Some think of this scale as how a person gets their energy. These preferences are Introversion (I) and Extroversion (E.)
The next preference is how a person prefers to process information. These preferences are Sensing (S) and Intuition (N.)
The third preference is about how a person makes decisions. These preferences are Thinking (T) and Feeling (F.)
The fourth preference is how a person organizes his life. These preferences are Judging (J) and Perceiving (P.)
Since each of the 4 scales has 2 preferences, there are a total of 16 possible personality types.
The word scale is appropriate here. Some people land all the way on the edge of a scale, and some people land close to the middle of a scale. My own scales have some extremes, and some scales where I land almost in the middle. (Almost like ambidextrous, with the dominant hand analogy.)
There are links to more information about the Myers-Briggs Personality Types all over the internet! Just google it, and you'll find plenty of information!