EDS-103: Intelligence and Identity

As a child, my parents had my IQ tested. After discovering that it was quite high, they then bragged about me to their friends, asking me to spell long and complex words, and explain concepts that I’d read about in books that were beyond my reading level. I did well in school for a while but they said it so much that I began to believe that I could coast on my natural intelligence instead of actually studying when the subject matter became more difficult. As a result, my grades began to dip until I dropped out of the honor roll completely. I became an average student — one who got B’s, C’s, and even the occasional D, instead of straight A’s and B’s.

My intelligence is something that I struggle with even now as an adult. When I was a law student, struggling with the demands of the coursework, I would often feel angry — if I was so intelligent, why was I having such a hard time? Failures hit hard; intelligence felt like such an integral part of my identity that experiencing setbacks that would “prove” that I wasn’t as intelligent as I believed made me feel lost, like I had no idea who I was if that was taken away from me.

Going through this module, I feel like Carol Dweck’s TED Talk “The Power of Believing that You Can Improve” made the most impact on me given that background. I eventually want to teach at a high school level, which I think is really a preparatory stage for higher education, both mentally and emotionally. When I was still teaching, I remember students would come up to me in tears, telling me that they were too dumb to comprehend the material, and I was often at a loss as to what to say; obviously they weren’t unintelligent, but I felt like telling them that they weren’t working hard enough was like rubbing salt into an open wound.

The problem with talking about intelligence is that there’s often the implication of you either have it or you don’t. When we talk to our children or our younger siblings or cousins, it’s always “You’re so smart!” instead of acknowledging that intelligence is potential that’s developed through constant use. The idea of “not yet” really struck a chord with me because it implies that even though you’re at this level right now, you can still move forward, and being able to pick yourself up after setbacks is what’s more important when forming our learners’ identities.

 

EDS-111: Teaching professionalism

My definition of professionalism prior to reading the material in the module was limited to the behavior expected of someone in a particular profession. I defined behavior in this instance as including 1) doing the tasks expected of you, and meeting a certain quality in the tasks, and 2) the image that you present in the workplace (that is, your demeanor towards students, colleagues, and superiors). When I read the paper by Quong, I felt a certain kinship with some of the teachers in the case studies presented because I was also asked to leave the first school that I taught at because of a lack professionalism on my part.