"How Do I Reach These Keeeds?" : A New Teacher Uses Personality Type to Rethink Cognition, Motivation, and Engagement

Abstract

The following study investigates one teacher's experience using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator in teaching first-year writing, contrasting my personal experiences as a novice composition instructor with mythic pop-culture representations of effective learning and teaching. More specifically, the thesis is framed by research in three areas as they relate to the teaching of writing: cognition (how we learn), motivation (why we learn), and engagement (where we learn). In these three core chapters, I explore what I perceive as "learning myths" attached to each subject. Using my teaching journal and supporting research, I explore ways that the MBTI might be used to help novice instructors understand their own preferences, biases, and assumptions. I analyze how my preconceptions/preferences manifested in the classroom and interfered with learning. Then I make suggestions for adjusting my future teaching behaviors. Much of the study includes personal experiences with implementing the MBTI, against the backdrop of others' experiences. While I acknowledge that psychological type theory doesn't deal with learning explicitly or directly, I argue that the successful application of personality type theory is one way in which a new instructor might reflect and reconsider how the composition classroom is approached in order to approach cognition, motivation, and engagement more effectively.