Making a list of my competencies and capabilities.

I found this simple task difficult and spent some more timing thinking about why that was. Although I do consider myself a good teacher or at least capable. I can’t help but feel I could be better. It led me to recall a conversation with a colleague regarding our sometimes lack of confidence in our own abilities in comparison to other members of staff. When we stated enviously how we sometimes wished we had the confidence of others it came apparent that it was this lack of confidence that drove us to continue to develop our learning, always trying to be better than we are in an attempt to compete with those so sure of their abilities. It did get me thinking…..

Is low self-confidence always such a bad thing? Can it drive us to be better?

I feel that in my case it does but does this unconventional motivation work for others? For our students possibly?

I was considering looking into motivation for my inquiry and this seem to be an extension of that. It has always fascinated (and infuriated) me, as I'm sure it does all teachers, how sometimes the most talented of students can be the laziest. Like they feel so confident in their abilities they don’t feel the need to push themselves to be better. It would be interesting to know why some students will low self-confidence are always pushing themselves and are motivated to progress while for others it creates a barrier and stops them from developing their capabilities.
Any thoughts or comments would be valued.

We are competent, but are we capable of more!

Competencies – Individuals know how or skill.
Capabilities – what can be developed and improved.

Making a list of my competencies and capabilities was not as simple as I thought. I know what I can do but is it possible to truly know what you’re capable of until you try? I also find it pretentious to write down what I am good at, after all who am I to judge. Something to work on I think.

How do you gain new knowledge in an existing role?

Our capabilities are what leads us to do the job best. They can be developed and improved upon past our qualifications and allow us to learn more and better our abilities each day. Our qualifications could be categorised as generic competencies (Raelin 2008). Although they are specific to the job we are all given the same tool through our training to be competent in our work. I believe it is what you learn afterwards that create the teacher you are, if you believe your training finishes after graduation you are ignoring the potential to improve.

I feel we should not see our competencies as enough to do the job, they list whether we can perform a job but not how well suited we are to that role (Raelin 2008)
I can also relate this to the same job in a company. Officially I and my colleagues have the same job title within the company where we work. However, the staff could be split into Musical theatre and ISTD trained teachers. Those of us who are trained teachers through the ISTD have roughly the same qualifications and were all taught in the same way, our competences link us in this way, however each of us have very different capabilities that would not suit us to perform each other’s rolls within the college to the same standard.

"For the sole true end of education is simply this; to teach men how to learn for themselves" Dorothy Sayers, 1947

This Reader has really challenged me to look at my work and the roles that I undertake. On a day to day basis I may not stray too far from my discipline but there are many occasions where I will need to.  I have re-organised timetables, written bills and letters to parents. When showtime arrives it is time to liaise with lighting technicians, stage managers and others to help set lighting and prepare for the show. On these instances I cross over from my discipline and my job becomes more interdisciplinary. When this happens I need to understand the need of each discipline in order to make my work successful. For this to occur I need to think outside of my own specific competencies. If we can solve our problems by using different or alternative skills and or experience we can eradicate predictability brought on through multiple causality and gain a greater understanding and better outcome.

'Thinking outside the box' or gaining knowledge from others who have expertise in different disciplines, helps us to develop professionally. One thought that made me think about the way I learn or solve my problems at work was an extract from Dorothy Sayers' Lost tools of learning. (Sayer 1947) argues that tools of learning are the same for every subject and the person who knows how to use them they will master a subject in half the time and a quarter of the effort. To learn 6 subjects without remembering how they were learned does nothing to ease the approach to a seventh. It sounds obvious! However, one thing this reader (So far) has taught me is that that's where our mistakes for self improvement lie. Most of my problem solving is intuitive if we encounter a difficult child in class we discipline them based on our previous knowledge and training, We all have busy demanding lives dictated by deadlines, the attitude of solving a problem is one of getting it solved as quickly as possible, not stopping to think on whether there is an alternative or different way than the standard route - when undertaking this process we are not building on knowledge and furthering learning. Perhaps if we took time to understand why a child acted a certain way we could eliminate the possibility of a repeat performance.

This reader has helped to educate me on the way I learn and solve problems related to my work. I have realised through research I can find more successful ways. It will make me consider my actions and the outcome that I wish to achieve. I feel I will be able to use these methods to develop my inquiry

I thought I'd share this video as an example of successful interdisciplinary work. Moment Factory specialize in the conception and production of multimedia environments combining video, lighting, architecture, sound and special effects. There creations come through the combination between different fields of expertise from light designers, graphic designers to architects.

Foresta Lumina
m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5683151?&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067