Page 93 - Keys To Community College Success

you are “the funny one” or “the quiet one.” A grade school teacher may have called you
a “thinker” or “slacker,” a “go-getter” or “shy.” These labels—from yourself and
others—influence your ability to set and achieve goals, and can prevent you from tak-
ing productive risks if you use them to define yourself too rigidly.
Accepting a label as truth can put you in a fixed mindset and limit your poten-
tial. Instead, realize that you are not simply stuck with a label. Brain studies show
that humans of any age can build new neuropathways and thereby learn new ideas
and skills. This means that intelligence can grow when you risk the work to keep
learning.
Picture a bag of rubber bands of different sizes. Some are thick and
some thin; some are long and some short—but all of them can stretch.
A small rubber band, stretched out, can reach the length of a larger one
that lies unstretched. In other words, with effort and focus, you can
develop whatever raw material you start with, perhaps beyond the natu-
ral gifts of someone who makes no effort. Joyce’s story illustrates how far
effort can stretch a person’s natural abilities.
Ask yourself: Who am I right now? Where would I like to be in five years?
Assessments focused on how you prefer to learn and interact with others can
help you answer some of these big questions. Whereas a test attempts to
identify a level of performance, an assessment, according to professor and
psychologist Howard Gardner, is “the obtaining of information about a
person’s skills and potentials . . . providing useful feedback to the person
[emphasis added].” Think of an assessment as an honest exploration
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that will produce interesting and helpful information.
The assessments in this chapter provide questions to get you think-
ing about your strengths and challenges. Note: Learning disabilities are
specific, diagnosed issues that differ from the learning challenges that all
students face. They are discussed at the end of the chapter.
As you search for answers, you are gathering important information
about yourself. With this information, you will be able to define your rubber
band and get ready to stretch it to its limit.

POTENTIALS
Use Assessments to Make Choices and to Grow Abilities that may
There may be much about yourself, your surroundings, and your experiences that you be developed.
cannot control. However, with self-knowledge, you do have control over how you
respond to circumstances. For example, even though you cannot control the courses
you are required to take or how your instructors teach, you can manage how you
respond to those courses and instructors.
The two assessments in this chapter—Multiple Pathways to Learning and the Per-
sonality Spectrum—will give you greater insight into your strengths and weaknesses.
The material following the assessments shows you how to maximize what you do well
and compensate for challenging areas by making specific choices about what you do in
class, during study time, and in the workplace. Understanding yourself and others as
learners also helps you choose how to respond to people in a group situation. In a study
group, classroom, or workplace, each person takes in material in a unique way. You can
use what you know about others’ learning preferences to improve communication and
teamwork.
Remember: There are no “right” answers, no “best” scores. Completing a self-
assessment is like wearing glasses to correct blurred vision. The glasses don’t create
new paths and possibilities, but they help you to see more clearly the ones in front of
you at this moment. As you gain experience, build skills, and learn, your learning
preferences are apt to change over time. If you take the assessments again in the
future, your results may shift. Finally, to enjoy the reward of useful results, take the Learning How You Learn
risk of answering questions honestly, reflecting who you are as opposed to who you
wish you were.

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