Collaboration and Personality Types

                 Collaboration occurs constantly in the educational arena. Teachers find themselves collaborating with other teachers, administrators, parents, and their students. To build an effectual partnership in the school community, one truly needs to understand one’s self. I believe acknowledging your own personality type will help you understand how you are perceived by others. Having an extrovert personality, introverts may often feel “threatened, overwhelmed, judged, and restless” (pg. 73), in the presence of a group of people like me. I think that in order to develop and strong relationship with introverts in my field, I will need to address these feeling when I am collaborating with them. 

                Being an ENTJ personality type, I push my students to “grow, experience, and discover” (pg.33).  I agree with Mamchur that I push my students to challenge themselves through big projects and new experiences. Furthermore, I have a “clear, well-developed plan” (pg.47) for every lesson and inform students how they are doing in my classroom. In addition to being an ENTJ, I am often perceived as being task-oriented and therefore I can often ignore people’s feelings. I am not naturally aware of people’s feelings and reactions. 

                Moreover, when I am collaborating with people in the school community I will need to be mindful of others feelings and emotions. I do not want to come across as being insensitive to other’s suggestions. I believe truly understanding the way you are perceived by the outside world will help you build strong, lasting relationships.