This quote really stuck with me. To me this quote saying that we need to know what our strengths and weakness are. By knowing what our weaknesses are, we are able to work on them until they evolve into strengths.
I took the StrengthsFinder 2.0 test which told me what some of my strengths are. The following are my strengths:
Individualization – people who are able to find unique qualities in others and use those qualities to help them succeed.
Learner – people who want to always learn and have a great desire to improve.
Input – people who are always wanting to know more and will often collect the information they find.
Connectedness – people who believe that there is a link between everything and think that event has a purpose.
Relator – people who have close relationships and enjoy working together to achieve a goal.
https://twitter.com/fastcrayon/status/965249098021351429
I felt that the strengths I was given reflected me well. Overall, I think that they show that I try and see the best aspects of everyone and want them all to be heard and seen. I think that they show how much I want to learn and connect the world around me and help others do the same. All of these strengths will be vital in my classroom so I can help my students come together to learn and grow. It is my job to use my strengths to find the strengths in others. There are few ways that I will do this in my classroom.
- Help my students appreciate what they are good at. This can be done by asking them questions like “What do you love doing?”, “What things come easily to you?” and “What things do others say you do well?”.
- Help my students discover what their weaknesses are. This can be done by asking them questions like “What things do you put off doing?”, “What tasks make you feel inadequate?” and “What tasks rarely get easier?” By students knowing their weaknesses, they are able to work on improving these weaknesses.
- Help students work with others that complement their strengths and weaknesses. If students are able to see how a team can use their strengths and weaknesses to complete a task they can get to understand the other side.
- Students can also take a free aptitude test to discover their strengths and weaknesses.
- I think that assessing these attributes multiple times throughout the year will help students see their progress. They can see what they have improved on and can revisit the things they still struggle with.
- I think that supporting my students in their interests and allow them to explore those interest in a classroom will help them shine. If they are interested in something, they are likely to enjoy what they are learning and discover new things about themselves and the world.
- It’s important for students to see me use my strengths and weaknesses in the classroom. This will show them that it is okay to have these weaknesses and can use my strengths to overcome my weaknesses.
- Lastly, I think that all of us should reflect on both our strengths and weaknesses to learn from them both.
A good reminder that identifying and emphasizing students’ strengths leads to better outcomes. https://t.co/oBJGXsCH7c pic.twitter.com/L5eXGwSYkg
— edutopia (@edutopia) February 15, 2018
“Good teachers identify student strengths and interests and use them as scaffolding for increased learning. Good administrators do the same for teachers.” – Canada
Katin–
I really enjoyed your post! I agree that it is so critical to acknowledge student strengths while also being a proponent of embracing and working through weaknesses. There are positives to both strengths and weaknesses, and you can use strengths to overcome weaknesses! All in all great post!
-Naomi
Naomi,
Thanks for your comment! I do think that it is important for us teachers to help our students find their strengths and weaknesses. It will help them become a well-rounded person and help them grow.
Katin
Katin,
I love all the examples you used for ways for you to find the strengths in your students! Are there any significant ways that you think you can incorporate your strengths into how you teach? Your media that you used is fits really well with your blog!
Excellent work!
Dillon,
Thanks for your thoughtful comments! Since most of my strengths incorporate understanding and helping others, I think that my strengths will me understand students and teach them to understand each other. I think that my strengths will help me bring out the strengths of others.
Katin
Katin,
I love that we both had the same Tedtalk in our blogs. It is such a great and inspiring video! I think all teachers should watch it. I didn’t include my personal strengthfinders results and give my 5 strengths because I focused mainly on the students, but I liked how you had them in there. It helps me understand more about you as a person and makes me wonder about how each and every one of the strengths you have will help you be that much better of a teacher. You did a good job of also mentioning weaknesses. It is never good to capitalize on a student’s weaknesses, but it is also not smart to ignore them. No one is perfect so it is important to help them engage their strengths and identify ways they can self-improve!
Great post
Hayley,
Thank you for your thoughtful comment! I really loved the video we picked for our blog. I thought it did a good idea supporting the blog. I thought it was important to mention weaknesses in my blog because it is difficult to understand strengths without weaknesses. Weaknesses are a part of all of us and they can be used to understand how we do things.
Katin