Identifying Your Skills Bank as Teachers/Educators
By Jill Curley, M.Ed. Mount Saint Vincent University
Introduction
- Who we are?
- Why you are or want to be a teacher?
- What is a skill?
Why Develop Your Skills Bank
- Targeted resume creation.
- Effective interview preparation.
- Purposeful portfolio generation.
- Resourceful internet profiles.
- Valuable investment in your future.
How to Identify Skills
- Reflect
- Evaluate
- Demonstrate
- Accept
- Communicate
The Language
- Important to be well-versed/articulate.
- Recognize appropriateness of skill to situation.
- Types: transferable, work-content, task-oriented.
- Basic categories: data, ideas, people, things.
- Interests, values, personal qualities, competencies, strengths, motives.
Words to the Wise: Writing for Clarity
- Exercise to reinforce learning
- Pick 3 general experiences that you enjoyed (i.e., camp counsellor).
- For each experience, list the actual tasks that you enjoyed doing (i.e., organizing educational activities).
- What skills did you need to have in order to be successful at the enjoyed tasks (i.e., organizational, listening, leadership, creative).
- When the list is complete, circle those skills that come up more than once.
Words to the Wise: Relevant Teaching Skills
- Evaluation, problem-solving, analytical, consultation.
- Adaptability, creativity, resourcefulness, flexibility, initiative, motivation.
- Communication (written/verbal), interpersonal, listening, coaching, persuasion, negotiation, influencing, facilitation, advisory, teamwork, training.
- Organizing, planning, critical-thinking, observation, goal-setting, classroom management, decision-making, learning.
Words to the Wise: Other Skill Areas
- Assertiveness, research, supervision, administrative, financial, budgeting.
- Technical (programming, computing, designing), networking, counselling, mediation.
- Public-relations, marketing, promoting, delegating, recruiting, developing, production.
- Trend-watching, risk-taking, self-awareness, personal management.
Accessing Your Skills Bank: When and Where
- Identify skills related to teaching field as well as skills developed through various experiences (extracurricular, employment, travel, other training).
- You need to be able to pull/take out/adjust relevant skill areas (themes) from your skills bank at a moment's notice.
- Development and preparation is the key.