The Architect's In Charge

INTP “The Archtiect”: Architects from a very early age are preoccupied with spatial relativity and systems design. But INTPs must not be thought of as only interested in configuring three-dimensional spaces such as buildings . . . they are also the architects of curricula, of corporations, and of all kinds of theoretical systems. What is important is that the underlying structures . . . be stated correctly, with coherence, and without redundancy.

They regard all discussions as a search for understanding, and believe their function is to eliminate inconsistencies, no matter who is guilty of them. It is difficult for an INTP to listen to nonsense, even in a casual conversation, without pointing out the speaker’s error. Architects are, however, even-tempered, compliant, and easy to live with—that is, until one of their principles is violated, in which case their adaptability ceases altogether.

Architects are rare—say one percent of the population—and therefore not to be encountered in ordinary places. This type of Rational is the logician, the mathematician . . . that person given to any pursuit that requires . . . systems analysis or structural design. It is hard for some types to understand these terse, observant Engineers. However, they can be excellent teachers, particularly for advanced students, although here again they rarely enjoy much popularity, for they can be hard taskmasters.

Architects limit their search to only what is relevant to the issue at hand, and thus they seem able to concentrate better than any other type. Architects can also become obsessed with analysis. Once caught up in a thought process, that process seems to have a will of its own, and they persevere until they comprehend the issue in all its complexity.

The above is excerpted verbatim from the paper Ben Guest gave us to interpret our Myers-Briggs personalities at the beginning of the summer. Never has it seemed more true of me than now.

Recently started obsessing over my classroom management policies for next year. Spent the weekend backpacking in Tennessee thinking about it over and over. Absolutely could not sleep my first night back in Oxford. Finally set to work on classroom management plan in the middle of the night and many hours later started to feel better. Tired now. But the same thing happened today. Felt all out of sorts this afternoon, because my procrastination about house-hunting was distracting me from the project really on my mind. Finally drawn into classroom management plan later (which is important, although other things are probably more urgent) and felt highly alert and motivated ever since. Well it is now almost 3 in the morning. At least something productive is coming out of this.

Classroom management plan is almost done. A rarity for me to have an assignment completed more than a week before it is due! Still lots of classroom procedures to work out in detail, but the five required for this assignment are documented and more. Came up with a traffic light idea to communicate my expectations for what students should be doing in terms of noise, movement, and materials: Red Light for test & quizzes, Yellow Light for active listening, Green Light for work and cooperation, and Checkered Flag for dismissal procedures. It may seem a little juvenile for Algebra II students, but then again it seems like a very functional (i.e. concise and precise) way to communicate important expectations I never quite bothered (or figured out) to codify so explicitly before. Stole the Student of the Week idea from Jaws and gave the SoW a lot of privileges and responsibilities to be my special helper for the week. My consequence list is an amalgamation of different ideas: Ben’s no-limit checkmarks and corresponding writing assignments, Jess and Lily’s copying of meaningful paragraphs (about my one big classroom rule, “respect”) instead of single lines, and an intermediate consequence of detention (run by me if necessary) between copying paragraphs and going to the office.

Also wound up with a several huge ambitions I will have to work very hard to maintain: (1) Calling parents a lot, especially at the beginning of the year to establish rapport. This is very difficult for me, because I am shy and absolutely detest telephones in general, especially cold-calling. (2) Documenting every single instance of discipline action, even warnings, with all the why’s and what happened’s. This seems like a lot of work, but it should be manageable as long as I can figure out some efficient system to keep records on the computer and never, ever fall behind in the updating. (3) Giving lots of praise. Even included “Praise Motivates” in my philosophy statement. The trouble is, although I am indeed a big believer in the motivating power of praise, I am actually pretty terrible about putting it into practice. I tend to notice deficiencies and inconsistencies much more acutely than I pay attention to things that are actually going well. I think I also need to remember to give very specific praise to individuals. “Good job,” is nice, but obviously it means a lot less than, “Tyrone, whenever you come to the board, you always explain yourself so nicely. I can tell that you will go far in math! Have you ever thought about becoming a teacher or an engineer?”

Today we began to receive “Nonviolent Crisis Intervention” training from Zed’s wife, “Little Datsun,” and her strong-willed sidekick, “Big Bow-Wow.” Had a big problem with the way they seemed to discuss classroom management as an endless stream of moment-by-moment, “every kid is different” encounters. That goes way, way against the message we have been told over and over again this summer, which is, “Be consistent!” I guess their message was about defusing potential situations with empathy and understanding, and so on and so forth, but they actually seemed to be telling us to be the opposite of consistent. I cannot buy into that, and it makes it hard for me to listen to their lectures, because it seems so contradictory. Personally I think there is a place for empathy, but not at the expense of consistency. If a student sleeps in my class, he gets the consequence. No matter what. No matter who. The same consequence for the same crime, every time. Maybe you talk with the student after class to try to understand the problem and everything but you still give the consequence. That is consistency. Any thoughts?