Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Alignment of Head and Heart


Ronnie Grabon started the day by reviewing values students chose as important. Students listed family, friends, freedom, achievement, happiness, integrity, love and fun as important values. "Values influence decisions," she said, and then asked who thought of themselves as extroverted or introverted. Students had some difficulty pegging themselves as one or the other. "What do you think about when deciding what high school to attend?" Ronnie asked, telling students to write down all of their considerations.

One group of students listed diversity, academics, bigger environment, closeness, and more friends as their main considerations. The second group listed education, future, social environment, sports, "where will I end up," size, enjoyment, friends, "who I am," "what I want to do there." The first group's list was smaller, more specific, while the second group had broader topics and bigger questions. This, she said, is the difference between sensing and intuition on the Myers Briggs. The first group has a sensing preference (details) and as "intuitives" they tend to look at the big picture instead of the details. Ronnie asked students to think if there were times that they missed either the details or the "big picture." The intuitives said that they noticed this to be true for them.

The groups were then divided (unbeknownst to them) into "thinkers" and "feelers" (Myers Briggs) and told that they needed to influence their parents to purchase something they needed to have. The "feelers" said they needed to state their case, come up with a way to please both sides, "start fighting" (use coercion), cry, pout, or if necessary, throw tantrums. The thinkers said that "they'd make it up on the spot" and "everything they say, object." Evan said he'd do chores and make suggestions. Russell suggested asking politely, showing responsibility, and state reasons the desired object might help. Ronnie explained that "thinkers" tend to be very rational and give a lot of reasons, while "feelers" use feelings to make their arguments. "Thinking and feeling" she said, "are used for making decisions." The key is to find alignment of one's head and one's heart.

Students then examined the results of their own Myers Briggs assessments while Ronnie explained how the results were tallied. Ronnie encouraged students to think about these results as they go through their day and decide whether or not they accurately reflected how they saw themselves. "When you find yourself approaching a problem from a feelings perspective, you are likely to be stronger in the 'feelings' category" she added. Ronnie handed out an explanation sheet for the four categories and asked students to think about what was true about them. "Does it really describe you?" she asked. "The instrument only tells you how you prefer to act, but it does not mean that you can't act the other way," she said. Students pondered these issues of self-examination as they left class, with instructions to reflect on what they learned in their leadership journals.

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