Dorris - The Idealist!

I am a Idealist in terms of my learning style and below I have selected some of the many core characteristics which I feel are applicable to benefiting my classroom pedagogy:

• Idealists are enthusiastic, they trust their intuition, and dream of attaining wisdom.
• Idealists pride themselves on being , kindhearted, and authentic.
• Idealists tend to be giving, trusting, spiritual, always this quest for self-knowledge and self-improvement drives their imagination and they want to help others make the journey.
• Idealists are naturally drawn to working with people, and whether in education or counseling, in social services or personnel work, in journalism or the ministry, they are gifted at helping others find their way in life, often inspiring them to grow as individuals and to fulfill their potentials.
• Idealists are sure that friendly cooperation is the best way for people to achieve their goals.
• unique talent for helping people get along with each other and work together for the good of all.
• they believe that life is filled with possibilities waiting to be realized, rich with meanings calling out to be understood.
• Highly ethical in their actions, Idealists hold themselves to a strict standard of personal integrity. They must be true to themselves and to others, and they can be quite hard on themselves when they are dishonest, or when they are false or insincere. More often, however, Idealists are the very soul of kindness.
• they strive for a special rapport with their children; Idealists are relatively rare, making up no more than 15 to 20 percent of the population.
• their ability to inspire people with their enthusiasm and their idealism has given them influence far beyond their numbers.
• Princess Diana, Joan Baez, Albert Schweitzer, Bill Moyers, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mohandas Gandhi, Mikhael Gorbachev, and Oprah Winfrey are examples of Idealists.

Reflection:

I was surprised to see that my learning style was rather accurate in terms of my personality and learning-style. Although some of the other learning-styles also made connections this one being the Idealist certainly hit the nail on the head! I thought however, it would be relevant to look at how these attributes may hinder the pedagogy or daily running of my classroom. Here are a few concerns:

• As an idealist I am kindhearted and giving. I must admit when my daughter was a young girl she recieved far too many chances in terms of discipline, and I do consider discipline to be the last resort within my classroom. As a way around this I ensure that i have developed a sincere relationship with my students and therefore, there is a trusting ,respectful relationship between us and discipline is minimised and managed effectively.
• As an idealist I strive to help people and am always looking for the underlying messages that are a cry for help or support. Sometimes within my classroom i am drawn to the aspects of children who need this help-and feel saddened and inclined to help, knowing that this is not my area of expertise. I often wonder if I don't help this child will someone else?

Ideally I like to inspire people and I strive to ensure a classroom which models these kind of attributes which can effectively contribute to a enjoyable learning environment for both the students and the teacher.

References:

http://learning-styles-online.com/