According to Humanmetrics my personality type is ISFJ (Introverted Sensing Feeling Judging). The article "The Nurturer" described a lot of my characteristics. There was one characteristic the article listed that I definitely do not agree with. The characteristic of being a great gift giver and decorator. I definitely do not have those characteristics.

I do believe that learning styles are connected to personality types. Yet, I think learning styles are affected by more than someones personality type. Learning disabilities play a huge part in learning styles. Each student is different. Your approach to helping your students to achieve their full potential depends on you learning what each of your students needs are. You can accomplish this through using tools such as the Humanmetrics Personality Types, reading the student's files, talking to other teachers (make sure you keep an open mind when gathering this information), and diagnostic tests. I believe that when all of these strategies are applied you will be able to know your students better.

I think Humanmetrics can help you to start forming ideas about your students characteristics which will enable you to better understand the reasons behind the students behaviors.

Excel-Blog Post

Spreadsheets are very useful technological tools for the classroom or personal use. There are several ways spreadsheets can be used in the classroom such as gradebook, tracking your students progress, time management, and concept aids. The spreadsheet will be one of the technological tools I use in my classroom.

A graphing calculator is a necessary tool for mathematical and some science courses. As a teacher I can use spreadsheets to design material aids to help teach the multiple uses of the graphing calculator. Currently, one of the veteran teachers I observed uses an Elmo to teach the use of the graphing calculator. In my classroom, I could use similar methods along with the visual aids to help the students.

I have used excel for years for personal use. One of the ways I use excel is to organize my grocery list. I have designed a spreadsheet that calculates all of the items I purchase at different stores with their prices which includes the sales tax. This allows me to know exactly how much I will be spending when shopping. This spreadsheet allows me to stay within the designated budget.

Inspiration

I found the approach to using concept mapping in the classroom interesting. I found myself thinking of math projects that I could collaborate with other teachers such as science, technology, english or history. Using inspiration in my classroom would not only help the students to organize, create, and present their projects, it would also help the collaborating teachers to monitor the student's project, help the student, and grade the student's project. Hopefully, it would stimulate an interest in the student to continue learning after the project is finished.

I believe that collaborative writing makes the best use of technology in your classroom. Students who work collaboratively can use websites, blogs, and various other technological methods to communicate with each other to critique or research the subject they are writing about.

I worked at Paris Junior College in the Math Lab as a tutor for several years. When I first started tutoring students, I struggled to help the students grasp the concepts they were struggling with. I did not have a good grasp on the concepts myself. Overtime, I began to have a deeper understanding of the concepts. This understanding helped me to explain the concepts in various ways until the struggling student was able to achieve an understanding of the concepts they were working on. This experience has helped me to realize that as I teach I am learning right along with my students. This reinforces the old saying you learn something new everyday.

Carolyn Hiller