Sensitivity Day

Today seemed to be the sensitivity training day as we looked at what type (according to the inventories) we were and what our opposite would be and what would motivate them. As I went through the exercises, I was struck by just how similar must of this was to my B.Ed. training and how that degree has certainly proved to be incredibly useful for me.

Many of the other students don’t have the education background, and while many of them are likely great leaders and might be able to teach, I wish there was an exercise (while looking at learning styles) that looked at the background of an individual and how that informed/informs their actions – fully getting into the whole constructivism idea.

In the mean time, what many have noticed is that at the level that those in the class are – we have all become pretty good at adopting personas of types that we might not actually be, but need to be to get through. As this wouldn’t have really helped us get anywhere in discussions, it came up to the idea of play and what is your inventory when you are relaxed – perhaps a nod to Plato’s thought that you can learn more about a person through play than through conversation.

So how does this all come around? Well, play is (perhaps has to be) an authentic activity, and as such, it is what motivates an individual to play. If you can make the tasks that you set forward for your staff or your students fit a version of their play, then you are able to get to more of their potential than if you merely tried for the middle of some arbitrary road. Now if I can only get profs and instructors to think like that about integration…