Personality & Teaching

I recently had the opportunity to take a Jung Typology Personality Test.  I was curious to see my results as I was required to take a similar test about ten years ago for a college assignment.  Not surprisingly, my results were exactly the same.  ESFJ.

If you aren't familiar with the Myers-Briggs or Jung Typology tests, they basically ask you to rate which of two scenarios you prefer.  Then, based on your scores, you are assigned four-letter that represent your personality.  These letters are either E or I (extroversion or introversion), S or I (sensing or intuition), T or F (thinking or feeling), and J or P (judging or perceiving).  Each of these letters is a component of the whole of your personality.

My results have indicated that as an ESFJ, I am very oriented toward other people (extroversion), like to deal with facts and tangible outcomes (sensing), take a more subjective view and appreciate what I feel are the important, "big-picture" issues in life (feeling), and that I enjoy structure and feeling in control (judging).  On the flip side of the coin, I am less oriented toward ideas, possibilities, analytical thinking, and spontaneity (or as I like to say, chaos).

So then, how does this play into my choice of content area in teaching, or my approach with students?

Well, eschewing analytical thinking and embracing the subjective, it is no wonder that I have chosen English Language Arts as my content area, rather than say, Math or Science.  I believe this is the extroverted and feeling side of my typology coming through; the side that connects with rich imagery through language and seeks to feel and experience what an author is trying to convey.  While I do have a place in my heart for say, Mathematics, it simply doesn't give me the "warm fuzzies" that literature does.

And, in my relationships with students, my ESFJ-ness (see, English teachers get to make up words!) shines through even more clearly.  While I am very organized and provide a predictable and structured environment for my students (judging), I am mostly characterized by my students as a teacher-facilitator-friend (extroversion, feeling).  To me, building a strong rapport with my students is the absolute top priority, and I am constantly working to understand the fullness of their lives and not keep them closed into the little box of "student."  I am always projecting students 10 years down the road to see if I like the picture of their future.  If not, I have some work to do as their teacher, because, let's face it, my job isn't just teaching English, it is teaching success in life.

This approach to student learning seems to coincide with the results from the other survey I took, the Grasha-Reichmann Teaching Style Survey.  The Grasha-Reichmann Survey divides instructors into the categories of Expert, Formal Authority, Personal Model, Facilitator, and Delegator.  I scored Personal Model and Delegator. This means that I model for students how they should complete assignments, but then delegate the actual responsibility onto them to complete the work.  Since my personal model is, "I do, we do, you do," this makes perfect sense.  First, I show my students how to complete work, then we practice together, and finally the students complete some work on their own.  This progression helps them grow confidence in their ability to be independent with their school work.  If my Jungian type were more authoritarian and rule-based, or more permitting of spontaneity and chaos, you would see only "I do," (i.e. lecture), or "You do" (i.e. complete independence). However, my personality type and teaching style is more of a "training wheels" type of approach.

Having never considered my profession through the lens of personality type, I have found this moment of introspection to be incredibly valuable.  Additionally, it has really helped to clear up some of the reasons I make the choices that I do make on a day-to-day basis as a teacher.  I encourage all teachers to take a Myers-Briggs or Jung Typology test, as well as the Grasha-Reichmann survey and consider your strengths and weaknesses as a teacher through the frame of personality.