We seem to assume that practioners in other professions know more about their personal professional gifts than educators do. If that's true, maybe we can learn from them. But is that a valid assumption anyway?
This exercise usually takes around more than hour, this is a condensed version that you can use in a small group.
This exercise usually takes around more than hour, this is a condensed version that you can use in a small group.
Read Stephanie's story
It's five years since I graduated and I'm in the process of deciding my medical specialisation, which could be surgery or respiratory diseases, but will probably be genetics. Genetics is the key to everything in modern medicine, and I am fascinated by it, but I like to get things solved and move on. I'm not an open-ended, 'intangibles' sort of person; my personality type is ENFJ, 'Protagonist'.
In high school I was interested in English and history as in sciences, but I shone in chemistry and biology. At uni I realised that I valued 'learned knowledge' such as anatomy, but I also valued the application of knowledge to help patients. My work now requires expertise in reading and diagnosing delicate signs and using investigative technologies such as PET metabolic |
scans and pathological microscopic analysis of tissue; but I get my main satisfaction from the human aspect. This week I spent time with an 86-yoear old lady who moved across the country to be near her daughter, and then found herself alone in a small flat -and with lung cancer. Helping people like her is my main interest now and my personal talent. I will pursue genetics but my human interest won't change.
I suppose my professional interest is helping resolve real-life human issues, but my main gift is my understanding and love of medical science. I think I'm like my speech therapist mother in many respects. I rely on highly disciplined science to do my work, but I can't do my work without the sophisticated skills of communication and relationships.
If I weren't a medical specialist I would want to be an international diplomat, perhaps with the UN, or a teacher. Both jobs would suit me.
I suppose my professional interest is helping resolve real-life human issues, but my main gift is my understanding and love of medical science. I think I'm like my speech therapist mother in many respects. I rely on highly disciplined science to do my work, but I can't do my work without the sophisticated skills of communication and relationships.
If I weren't a medical specialist I would want to be an international diplomat, perhaps with the UN, or a teacher. Both jobs would suit me.
Stephanie's communication skills and scientific knowledge save people's lives and represent clear, convincing and exciting fusions of intrinsic and extrinsic influences.
Conclude:
- Are professional gifts vocational, specific or generic?
- What do law, medicine and engineering have to teach teachers about professional gifts?
- What have you learned from this exercise that is both surprising and helpful in your goal to appreciate your personal pedagogical gift?