Tag: reflection

MBTI Reflection Paper

Assignment Description: Assignment: reflect on the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) assessment and in-class discussion. What was most meaningful to you? How might you use this information in your internship search and/or the workplace?

Reflection Paper

Since getting my MBTI results and doing the exercises in class, I have not been able to stop thinking about the results. My friend and I were talking last night about how your perception of yourself is constantly changing. Who know what I don’t know about myself? I feel that the results of the MBTI test have in fact taught me something about myself.

As I mentioned in class, I found it very difficult to choose between judging and perceiving. This showed in my results. Through the exercises in class, I had decided that I was perceiving, but my results came back judging. Thus, I had to choose between ENFP and ENFJ. By the time we had finished class, I was leaning towards ENFP. While I consider myself a practical person, one of my strongest values is on discovery. I like to plan, but I leave room for adaptability because I enjoy the unexpected and I love to realize new ideas. However, when I read over the hand-outs, my opinion switched. ENFPs are describes as free spirits, flaky, and unfocused. They are also likely to give up on projects, not take challenges seriously or be undisciplined. I disagree with all these points. I love a challenge and I have good follow-through. I don’t like to give up and I hate being a flake. So when I read the ENFJ description, I saw that they like clear expectation and love to be productive. They prefer to appear capable, organized and in control and usually follow through with their actions. This description fits my habits and values far more than the ENFPs. So, while I do love discovering new ideas, I guess my process of discovery is fairly structured.

Yet, this difference on organizational habits was not the biggest factor in me choosing ENFJ. Supposedly, an ENFP is someone who doesn’t let road blocks get in his or her way and can very easily establish a report with anyone. While I like to think I possess these qualities, in truth I’m very passive aggressive. My friends used to call me Petty McPassive Aggressive Patterson to my annoyance. For me, the issue isn’t that I can’t address conflict, but that I’m very concerned with harmony and I do care a lot about what people think of me. This disposition completely lines up with an ENFJ. This is why, in class, my first reaction to the thinking vs. feeling exercise was to give up my position on the trip to Hawaii. In my effort to make everyone happy, I often end up sacrificing my own feelings and thus I’m seen as passive. On the other hand, ENFJs are supposedly good diplomats. This seems somewhat contradictory, but I do know that people see me as someone who can be objective and see multiple sides of an issue (my tendency to balance again), thus I can make a good mediator.

However, none of this was what changed my perspective of myself. I have always been a talker, especially in class. I have a hard time not participating and I often worry that I talk too much in class. For years I’ve been trying to stop myself from over-sharing. Last quarter I gave myself a challenge to only speak once on each topic. However, I never knew why I needed to talk so much. Now, after looking over these personality descriptions I see that ENFPs “need to talk about their ideas…to make them real.” This deeply resonated with me. I know that I talk out ideas, but I had not realized that perhaps I needed to verbally validate my ideas. I had always worried that I was one of those people that just loved to hear themselves talk, but when I think about it, it comes down to my need to share, discuss and get responses. I still don’t think it’s a good thing to dominate a conversation (hence why I want to take facilitation training), but at least I know that this need to talk is an essential part of me. Perhaps I don’t need to fight it anymore.

Student Learning Portfolio: Part B

Assignment Description: Statement of reflection regarding learning objectives posted on blog.

 

Original Learning Objectives:

1) To use readings. discussions and lectures to work closer to discovering my own personnel and professional goals.

2) To gain a better understanding of how art functions in today’s society and where my interests and role fit.

3) To reshape my comprehension of aesthetics, cultures and transmedia through context.

4) To do my best on all assignments and especially for group work. To work on being a group member, not the leader of a group.

5) To participate in discussion but not dominate the conversation. To listen more.

 

Reflection on Learning Objectives:

 

1) I definitely gained insight into the meaning of an art world through readings and discussions. My understanding of topics including aesthetics, power, politics, participation and trends grew and through that understanding I was better able to define my goals. For instance, conversations about participation and power further confirmed for me that I no longer want to work in a museum, while the module on the future made me realize that no goal is set in stone.

2) Through this class and others this semester I’m starting to see my role as less of an administrator and more of a facilitator. The two are not necessarily separate, but I want to be less of a leader and more of a motivator. As discussed in class, value can often be defined by critiques or leaders. This is difficult to avoid as an arts administrator, especially when you’re competing for resources, but my goal is to empower, not define.

3) I think this class mostly broadened my comprehension of aesthetics, cultures and transmedia. So, I would say I have a fuller understanding, but not a concrete one. The more you learn, the harder it is to come to a conclusion. At most I can say that I recognize the complexity of these topics and that transmedia is now on my radar.

4) I feel as though I did do my best on all assignments (particularly the field guide) and that everyone did share an equal part in our module group. Ideas came from the whole group and everyone contributed to the project. However, I yet again volunteered as editor. I’m starting to realize that being the editor is basically signing up to be the leader, since you have final say of the content. I like editing but I’m not sure if I want to keep doing this for a group process. It is good practice for mediation though. I will have to reflect on this further.

5) This is definitely my most difficult learning objective. I feel this constant need to share my opinion and I have to actively stop myself from talking. I tried to only speaking once on each topic and sometimes I was successful, other times I was not. However, at least I didn’t feel like I was dominating the conversation since so many other people actively participated. Yet, I don’t know if more people would have participated if I had spoken less. It’s a difficult thing to balance, but I’m working on it. I hope to one day take a facilitation training in order to help me with this issue.