Book+Review

The book I reviewed for class was __//Teach With Your Strengths//__, by Rosanne Liesveld. I used this book plus I added commentary in correlation to the book __//GO Put////Your Strengths To Work,//__ by Marcus Buckingham to create my overview of becoming a future administrator in relationship to these two books.

Donna Lauver Internship Principal II Spring 2010 Dr. Mike Stabile Book Review: __TEACH WITH YOUR STRENGTHS__ Authors: Rosanne Liesveld, Jo Ann Miller and Jennifer Robinson  In today’s climate in educational reform, where people are “RACING TO THE TOP,” merit pay for test scores in Florida and teachers in Rhode Island are losing their jobs, this books helps to bring back the concept of individuals all have differing talents. I have actually read this book two times and added the book, __GO PUT YOUR STRENGTHS TO WORK__, by Marcus Buckingham, to allow me to think a little more in the lines of a future administrator. In the book __TEACH WITH YOUR STRENGTHS,__ the concept of all great teachers have one thing in common, they know how to place their natural talents forward and work towards improving upon their natural skills and abilities. “Fixing your weaknesses doesn’t work, “according to the authors. With these points emphasized throughout the book and emphasis placed on positive and negative attributes that everyone educator holds, the text strives towards helping educators assess their individuality. The book is an interactive text which allows the teacher to take the Clifton Strengths Finder assessment that provides feedback on one’s top five personality themes, as well as has questions and reflections areas throughout the book. After taking the on line assessment I found my top five in the following order: Achiever, Analytical, Responsibility, Intellection and Context. As a future administrator, I applied these strengths to the skills needed in the positions I might find myself working in the future as well as looked the book in the way that allows me to see human resources as a large function in my future career. The book pushes one to look at strengths but also I am looking at my own skills and how these will interact with other staff members or people in the future. Every aspect of the strengths finder can be looked at from a positive or negative format and hence is how I looked at the outcomes as I read the book. The first theme presented me as an Achiever. As an administrator being a achiever keeps you moving and will enhance my skills to maximize my time and energy. According to the book, these traits give self-drive and motivate individuals towards fulfilling tasks and challenges. I see this as a positive attribute for myself because I can self start and complete tasks. My second trait, the Analytical Skill matches RTI to the “T.” Research and data, cause and effect relationships allow for a common way to understand and proceed with challenges. The third, Responsibility theme is a psychological ownership scale I feel towards any project big or small. This theme attracts me to over-volunteer, apologize more than I should, and take ownership of helping others on a regular basis. This trait scares me a little because I might try to do too much too soon as an administrator. The fourth theme, Intellection, defines my theme of how I like to think on a daily basis. As a teacher it reminds me that my classroom is seldom a quiet place, but once the students leave I thrive in the solitude of thinking by myself. I hope to create an atmosphere in my leadership role that allows for a strong school and learning atmosphere. The last theme produces my advantage point of thought and that is Context. This skill shows the ability to learn from the past or look at current best practices, journals, case studies and technology resources to prepare for the future. I have a varied background in education that has allowed me to have both collegiate and secondary roles in education. I feel the context area expresses me well and allows me to reflect on my past to help me in the future. These five themes are the Clifton Strengths Finder assessment of me as a teacher and educator. The book continues you through about eight pages of how to continue your journey as a teacher and then provides places for one to learn more. After finishing the book and the assessments, I believe I learned a lot about myself as a future administrator. First I needed to understand what are my natural strengths and this book really did describe me close enough that I could give it accredit ability. Secondly, it helps me understand as an administrator how others perceive me, and how I need to understand and build relationships with others. The authors point out that learning your talents and how to apply them is the biggest journey that an individual will make in their career life. The book allowed me to look at my individual characteristics then assess how these will work peers and maybe one day own school team of individuals. I enjoyed the overall book because it was interactive and produced an output that reflected my strengths and I also was able to view the individual themes as weaknesses as well. There are several points I enjoyed reading from the authors here are several I highlighted in my book: “assuming anyone can teach breeds mediocrity” “a magic curriculum, method, or theory will work for everyone” “relationships build students” I felt these three could easily also be transferred over to me as a future administrator. Not everyone makes a great leader because they are a good teacher. Secondly, asking your teachers to fit one teaching method is like expecting your students to all do the same on standardized testing and lastly relationships build great students and great teachers. If I receive the opportunity to be in a daily position to lead a large group of people I hope that I am able to use my skills to inspire the best in people regardless of their natural talents and abilities.