Learn your personality type and learning style

As an educator, I love professional development activities that use our personality types, learning and teaching styles to help us reflect and get ready for our students! These activities give me glimpse into my inner self and it brings me interest as well as enthusiasm to incorporate them into my every day life.

To give you an idea, there are many ways to learn more about yourself specifically about your personality and learning style. There are many quizzes and tests to discover learning styles, multiple intelligences, your compass points direction type, personality indicators, and color personality type. Each of these assessments starts by asking you a set of questions and then depending on what you chose they identify your style.

So why is it important to know about your personality type or learning style? To reach your full potential and do your best, it is a huge advantage if you know your strengths and weaknesses. It is always beneficial to know more about your working style so you know what can aid you and whom you can work the best with. Of course, in today’s collaborative world we all have to learn to work with others in different environments all the time and knowing who brings what strength to the table is definitely an add-on! The bonus is that identification of these traits are not only helpful professionally in your career or job, but also in your personal life!

So let us talk here about 6 fun ways to learn your personality and learning style.

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Learning styles:

The different learning styles include auditory, visual, reading/writing and kinesthetic learners. The study was conducted in 1992 by Neil D. Fleming and Coleen E. Mills and now we use the acronym “VARK” to describe four types of student learning. The auditory learner learns the best through hearing or listening. Examples may be reading-aloud or discussions. Visual learners perform their best through seeing or watching. Examples include use of symbols, pictures, graphic and pictorial images. Reading and writing style people do their best when they make notes or conduct research on their own. Kinesthetic learners learn the best by doing. Movement in the process of scientific lab or during the hands-on activity helps them the most in being successful.

Multiple intelligences:

Howard Gardner proposed the theory of multiple intelligences in 1983 in his book “Frames of mind”. There are 8 multiple intelligences and you can fall into linguistic, logical/mathematical, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, or naturalist. Linguistic learners learn best by speaking and finding the right words. Logical or mathematical intelligence involves the use of logic or numbers or following steps to prove ideas. Spatial intelligence visualizes the world in 3-D. Bodily or kinesthetic intelligence use movement and coordination as their strength. Musical intelligence people have music or rhythm/pitch/note as their strength. Interpersonal involves connecting with other people, while intrapersonal involves understanding yourself. Lastly, intelligence of naturalist works best with nature and understanding living things around them. You can check out the book below for more information.

Compass points:

Compass point activity includes use of 4 directions like a compass and shows which one you are, whom you work the best with and how you can always lean on others with their specific strengths. North is the direction of action, so a north person jumps right ahead for a task and is a motivator. South is the direction of caring, so the south person will always be understanding and a great communicator. East is the direction of the big picture, so an East person is able to see many possibilities and can be a leader of an organization. West is the direction of detail, so west people are very organized and get things done. In a company or organization, doing this activity brings people together as they learn strengths of others and their own. To learn more, you can visit the National School Reform Faculty here.

Myers- Briggs:

Also called MBTI assessment, this is one of my favorites and includes 16 personality types. The Myers-Briggs type indicator began with Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers, in the United States in the early mid-20th century. They read Carl G Jung’s published Psychological Types in 1923 and saw similarities between their ideas, and the MBTI instrument was first published in 1962. You can find more information about the 16 personality type here and I would recommend buying this book if you want to go more into detail.

Strength finder:

To help people uncover their talents, Gallup introduced the first version of its online assessment, StrengthsFinder, in 2001 which ignited a global conversation and helped millions to discover their top five talents. You can find more information here. We have successfully used this book in education and would recommend it to anyone interested to know their strength and be more engaged at work, more productive in their role and be happier and healthier. If interested you may buy this book for more information about your specific strengths.

Color personality:

You can find more information on the Color code personality test here. These include personality types based on 4 colors: orange, gold, green and blue. People with orange color personalities are energetic, spontaneous and charming. Gold personalities are punctual, organized and precise. Green personalities are analytical, intuitive and visionary. Blue color personalities are empathetic, compassionate and cooperative. In addition to the 4 colors, most people fit into color combinations which may say a lot about your personality.

I need to mention here that we all change and evolve over time. So what personality or style you may fit in today may drift and totally change in few years. We need to remember that we grow and learn continuously, and so does our mind and habits.

In Summary:

Your personality type and learning styles may give you insight about your strengths and traits, which can help you get to know yourself better. We use almost all of these tests in the education sector and it is always fun and interesting way to get to know more about your colleagues, students and even yourself! Your learning styles, multiple intelligences, compass points directions, Myers- Briggs personality type, and color personality all give you ideas and help you with your vision, goals, as well as track progress over time and aid in self- reflection.

We would love to hear if you know your personality type or learning style, and if you have used any of the above mentioned assessments. You may comment below or send an email to nishtha@dawnandhope.com.