'Cause She's Got ... Personality!

Last year I had to take this class on multiple intelligences and teaching to the differentiated classroom; mostly it was ideas on how to design an individual lesson for every one of my 125 students, each of which will cater to his/her personal needs, and that doing so will raise standardized test scores.

In other words, it was a wash.

BUT. The only thing I liked about the class was that it required me to take, like, a BILLION tests, to see what my intelligence is, and what my learning style is, and what my teaching style is, and best of all, what kind of personality I have--or even if I have one at all.

I know it's not cool to admit this, but I LOVE personality tests. I totally want to know what kind of car I would be, what ice cream flavor I am, what my crayon color name is, or what movie star I am most like. Sometimes they're right, and mostly they're wrong, but the real fun is in the taking of the test.

I learned, from my class, that I have strong aptitudes in areas that would seem to be opposite of each other; actually, on the little graph where I had to chart it, I had one dot WAAAAY up in the left corner, and another dot WAAAAY down in the right corner. I imagine that doesn't happen too often.

My areas of expertise? Creativity and Practicality. They're not exactly peas 'n' carrots, are they?

So I recently took an online personality test (I got the link from Waterfall) to see what kind of person I really am. The questions were not hard to answer, but you only get two choices, and I tend to fall in between yes and no for a lot of them. Probably that is an indication of my personality type right there.

But I answered all the questions, pressed a button and ... voila! According to the internet, I am INTJ.

I don't always believe things the internet tells me, though, so I needed a second opinion. Lo and behold, TWO websites say I'm an INTJ!

Well, I will be the judge of that:

When it comes to their own areas of expertise -- and INTJs can have several -- they will be able to tell you almost immediately whether or not they can help you, and if so, how. INTJs know what they know, and perhaps still more importantly, they know what they don't know.

Ooh, I will SURE tell you what I don't know about. I am not afraid to tell people they cannot trust my judgment on anything involving mechanical skills or the mathematical arts. That's how I introduce myself, in fact: "Hi, I'm Mei Flower. It's nice to meet you. Don't ask me about math." It saves a lot of time, because I LOOK like I know a lot of mathy ... stuff.

INTJs are perfectionists

Yes, well ... duh. This is practically built into the Flower legacy. Actually, that's what the name means: from the Greek flowerkus, meaning "demanding the best."

INTJs apply (often ruthlessly) the criterion "Does it work?" to everything from their own research efforts to the prevailing social norms.

True. I have no use for things that are going to waste my time. I have a very busy television-watching schedule to keep, and I cannot afford to lose minutes on something that doesn't work.

they possess the unusual trait combination of imagination and reliability

This corroborates my earlier test results: Creativity and Practicality.

Anyone considered to be "slacking," including superiors, will lose their respect

So ... have you READ my blog lately?

-- and will generally be made aware of this

Well, maybe not to his FACE ...

INTJs have also been known to take it upon themselves to implement critical decisions without consulting their supervisors or co-workers.

True. Today I took it upon myself to read the local paper instead of grading. And I didn't ask for permission either.

they tend to have little patience and less understanding of such things as small talk

Oh, I HATE small talk. It's so ... pointless. Plus, people just tell me things that I don't want to know, and it's painful, so painful.

Perhaps the most fundamental problem, however, is that INTJs really want people to make sense

Is it really too much to ask?

INTJs enjoy developing unique solutions to complex problems.

This is actually why I had to drop my Advanced Math class. Because I could get an answer to a problem, but I didn't work it right, and apparently that's important.

"I've made up my mind, don't confuse me with the facts" could well have been said by an INTJ on a mission.

I am totally making a t-shirt of that.

Typical INTJ career choices are in the sciences and engineering

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA