Assessment

The M.U.S.I.C. assessments completed in class were quite interesting. I especially like that we got to discuss with each other about it. So often, you complete a survey or an interest inventory or something of the like in a class and then just move on, like the significance of it all is immediately available and needs no further analysis.

I think that for most of us, we were not surprised by the areas that were our weakest or our strongest. I think on some levels, we know ourselves quite well, but we do need to regularly reexamine to ask whether we like ourselves that way. (I don't mean that in a self-loathing way...just that personal inventory of any aspect of ourselves is only useful with the inherent question of, "Am I okay with that?"

For example, I've known since I was in high school that I wanted to be a published author. I remember that when they 'presented' the grads after the ceremony, they read little blurbs about us, which included our future plans and goals. We wrote them ourselves, and some were blatantly silly just to fly in the face of the seriousness of the occasion. Mine wasn't. I wrote that I would be a NY Times bestselling author. The teacher who read the blurbs (my English teacher, interestingly enough) had no qualms about reading anyones plans, silly or not...except mine. He just didn't read it, and when I half-jokingly asked him about it later, he just shrugged.

Anyway, sob story aside, I knew that I wanted to do that. I also knew I was scared to death of it. If I'd done this inventory five years ago, ten years after high school graduation, I would have likely scored lower in courage, BUT more importantly, I would have been okay with that. I didn't feel a pressing need to change that about myself and go after that goal just yet. Today, however, this has changed. This past spring, something finally clicked, and I feel like now is my season to overcome this and to get the stick-to-itness that I'll need.

I'm hoping that will be one of the many things I might build on through this course. Moreover, I'm still a teacher, so I'm wanting to learn the skill of helping my students with the same hang-ups or any other impediments to their creative success.