Personal Learning Networks
Lets Talk Personalities and PLN
Personal Learning Networks (PLN) is a network of connections across different platforms that in which you (an educator) can interact and learn from. PLN can assist you in growing and developing professionally and personally. With the assistance of the digital world, there are more opportunities now than ever before to join or design a PLN. With the invention of social media it has become easier to seek other educators to improve your practice and skills.
How does this tie into personalities? Well there are different types of people or personalities in your PLN. According to Let's Grow Learners, there are four types:
- An Encourager: This is someone you can trust to always pick you up when you're down
- A Challenger: This is an individual that asks tough and valiant questions that make you think
- An Advocate: This is a person that is in your corner and boosts your reputation
- A Technical Advisor: This is someone who is up to date with industry trends and will make sure you get it right
I took 3 personalities tests to verify what traits I bring to my PLN. I will be discussing the results and how they connect to my PLN
Personality Tests: The Results are in
Test 1: FiftyThirtyEight Personality Test. This test asked you multiple questions from "disagree strongly" to "agree strongly".
Image Source: Screenshot of my results from fivethirtyeight.com
According to my results seen above, I scored the highest in agreeableness and conscientiousness. This means that I am "possibly-too-trusting, unfailingly polite and relentlessly helpful". I have to agree with these results! I believe these strengths allow me to connect with more individuals and create opportunities to assist those in need. I have always been a person who looks for the best in everyone and wants to lend a helping hand. In the context of PLN, I believe these traits make me an "Encourager". I am always there to lift those that need me up.
The results of this test stated that I scored moderately to "openness to experience". According to the summary given, this means I am curious and experimental but may be hesitate to try new things. I somewhat agree with this result. I think it is hard to gauge what I would be willing to be open to without context and more details. I proceed with caution and take risks when I believe there will be a positive end result. I am not sure how accurate this result is without asking more specific questions.
Test 2: Five-Factor Test. This test measures 5 factors of your personality. Openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.
Image Source: Screenshot of my results from Five-Factor Test
I presented you with screenshots of my highest and lowest percentage results from taking this test. My strength is agreeableness. Much like the FiftyThirtyEight Test, I scored high in agreeableness. I am starting to see a pattern in my personality traits from the results from this test. Again, I have to agree with this conclusion, that I am always looking to help others. One new thing I learned from this results is that agreeableness can also mean reflection on "individual differences in concern with cooperation and social harmony". I have never looked at being agreeable to wanting social harmony but I have to conclude that I do find truth in this. I tend to be the peace maker and want everyone to get along while respecting our differences.
The somewhat moderate score in neuroticism suggest the tendency to have "negative emotions" and a little bit of a hard time dealing with stress. This suggests that I may have a problem with letting my emotions getting in the way while making decisions and coping with stress. I think this conclusion is valid even if not entirely true. I am an emotional person and I do have a more difficult time than most when it comes to stress. However I do not think I let my emotions dictate my decisions.
Test 3: Personality Type Indicator: This test consisted of sliding the indicator closer to "agree" or "disagree".
Image Source: Screenshot of my results from Personality Type Indicator
Upon seeing the results I was not surprised one bit. I knowingly acknowledge that I am extraverted and tend to thrive in an organized and harmonious environment. What did surprise me is how low I scored in "Sensing". I tend to be very realistic and detail oriented with everything I accomplish. I would have thought that I would have scored higher in this category. Overall I feel like this test did get a good sense of my personality traits as a whole. The outcome of this test has built upon my belief that I am definitely an Encourager in my PLN.
Coming Together
How does this fit into PLN? Let's look back at the four different types of people there can be in your PLN. These four different types of people are your peer-relationships. It is important to understand the type of personality or type of person you are so you can find others like you and those different. Based on the 3 personality tests I am able to understand what type of person I am. I also know what I lack so that I can seek help from other types different from my own. I would say that I am an Encourager and I need to seek out a Challenger.
Action Plan
Image Source: Giphy.com
Based on my results from the 3 personality tests, I have come to realize that I need to strengthen my traits in dealing with stress, being hesitate in trying new things and seeking approval from others. What can I do to strengthen these areas? I have created 3 steps I plan to achieve within a certain timeline to assist my goals of strengthening the areas stated.
1) I need to actively seek out educators different from me. By actively seeking PLNs with others that may be a different type I can gain perspectives and viewpoints that I may not have thought of before. So when I am faced with a stressful situation, I am better equipped to handle it. Practice makes perfect. If I connect myself with others maybe I can learn something amazing and different. My goal is to seek out 3 vastly different educators at my school or community and actively learn one new skill or tool that could help me deal with stress before Thanksgiving break.
2) Volunteer for events that I may be out of my comfortable zone and join new groups on social media. I am a very practical and realistic person but that does not mean I should be hesitant in trying new things. What am I missing out on by not trying something new? I think by volunteering, joining groups or following pages on Facebook, Instagram or X (Twitter) that I normally would not I can learn to be more willing to try new things. I strive to join one Facebook group, follow one Instagram and X account. I will also actively seek out one event to volunteer for at my school. I will do this by end of October 2024. This way I can expose myself to new things and create new opportunities to try new things.
3) Be an active leader in my school that makes decision based on the good of the staff and school without seeking approval from others. This will be a hard one for me. I tend to want to be liked and approved by others. A good leader does take into consideration others' feedback however you cannot please every single individual and I have to learn to be okay with this. I will seek to join a small leadership position in my school that allows me to make small but effective decisions by the end of the school year. This goal will take me longer to achieve than the others but I strive to complete it with success and efficiency.
References
Five Factor Test - Psychologist World. (2019). Psychologistworld.com; Psychologist World. https://www.psychologistworld.com/influence-personality/five-factor-test/
My Personality Test. (2019). Personality Type Indicator. My Personality Test. https://my-personality-test.com/personality-type-indicator
Wolfe, M. K. B. and J. (2019, January 16). Finally, A Personality Quiz Backed By Science. FiveThirtyEight. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/personality-quiz/
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