TBCS - Strength finders PLD - Judy-Anne

It was really interesting to retake the strengths finders quiz and discover that my top 5 are the same as the first time I did it, just in a different order. The last time I took the test I had a different one in my top 5, which is still in my top 10.
Rob showed us the learner section so there is heaps of stuff I can look at and learn more about. He has suggested that the best use we will get out of it is if we actually look at our results, talk about them and use the resources regularly. It's great to know that all of this info and support is available to use as previously we had done the quiz, read the results and pretty much left it there. It is also a reminder that the same is true of many things we do at school - if we don't look at things and discuss them regularly they are of very little use to us. (that is why appraisals have previously been a bit hopeless at each school I have worked at- they were only ever looked at and discussed when it was 'appraisal time.')

I have started some of the modules and looked at some of the resources online. We had some good discussion around the strengths of the teachers in the school and it has made it clear why some of us do things the way we do. A number of my top strengths talk about being solitary and I know I need time by myself and time to think: being with people is quite draining for me, I don't do small talk!

Reflection:
A statement that really resonated was that "Acquiring knowledge is as much a pastime for you as it is a necessity of life." That's a really strong statement!I would not have considered acquiring knowledge as being necessary but I guess for me it is! It also helps to explain my hoarding of info and resources (never know when you might need it!) and why it is easy for me to start things, but not necessarily finish them. For me it is the knowledge acquisition and the process rather than the end product which is important.

Next steps:
.Purge some resources, I have started on this but it is never an easy process for me and I tend to be adding more while getting rid of others. Definitely a work in progress on this one.
. Develop systems- sometimes having all these resources is pretty useless because I can't find what I want when I want it! I did sort some of the folders on the shared drive, but I'm not sure they stayed sorted. I went back later to find things back out of the folders. Steve thought maybe moving folders just moved a copy so I need to go back and check to see if that is true. Hopefully I was just looking at an old version of the drive. I may need to check this with Rob otherwise.
. look at the Gallup site regularly. There is some good advice on it for applying your strengths
. Discussion with other staff about our individual and collective strengths and how we can make our team even stronger
. Make links with this information and Relationship Based Learning

• Ongoing active involvement in a school/community of schools or other professional learning communities (PLC).
• Participation in professional development (PLD), both in school and through outside agencies. Working with colleagues to enact the new learning.