Teacher and Counselor

I've completed another CIP accreditation course! The exam is over, and I’m glad that I don’t have to go to that class again. It’s a huge relief. You forget how good that feels after you’ve worked for a few years.

And now that the exam is over, I have another task. I’m planning a trip to Japan! It’s my annual vacation, and we’ll be visiting Tokyo and Osaka. It’s a bit of a rush, since I just stressed over my exam, but maybe that’s the best time to go and relax. It’ll be fun also to visit my friends who are currently teaching English.

A surprisingly entertaining film? Snakes on a Plane. It’s the epitome of a high-concept film: you know what to expect, and you get plenty of it. We had a good night of laughs.

A surprisingly un-entertaining film? Idiocracy starring Luke Wilson. It’s written by Mike Judge, the man behind Office Space. Office Space, for those who haven’t seen it, is the penultimate office comedy. I was hoping for more of the same from Idiocracy. It’s a great concept movie about how ‘dumb’ people procreate without abandon, and how ‘smart’ people are too busy with careers to have families. In the future, the ‘smart’ career people all die without children, and the ‘dumb’ people rule the world. Luke Wilson’s character is accidentally cryogenically frozen for 500 years, and at his emergence, becomes the smartest man in the world. It’s great for a SNL sketch, but it doesn’t carry a movie for 90 minutes.

I dropped by Winfield and Wesley’s house to hang out with the university crew. We played games and people knocked out of the game had to eat pizza. Thankfully I only needed to eat one piece.

We went to Willingdon Church for their Easter service. They’ve got an elaborate performance. 150 singers in the choir, a band, and an orchestra. They played clips of the Jesus film while the soloists were singing. People were standing in the aisles because there weren’t enough seats. It would have been even better if the pastor gave a short sermon about the significance of Easter, but I suppose they see Easter as a celebratory event that needs more celebration and less explanation.

I did my Keirsey Personality Test and my primary personality type is the Teacher. My secondary type is the Counselor. Tell me, are these descriptions accurate of me?

The Teacher
The Idealists called Teachers are abstract in their thought and speech, cooperative in their style of achieving goals, and directive and expressive in their interpersonal relations. Learning in the young has to be beckoned forth, teased out from its hiding place, or, as suggested by the word "education," it has to be "educed." by an individual with educative capabilities. Such a one is the eNFj, thus rightly called the educative mentor or Teacher for short. The Teacher is especially capable of educing or calling forth those inner potentials each learner possesses. Even as children the Teachers may attract a gathering of other children ready to follow their lead in play or work. And they lead without seeming to do so.

Teachers expect the very best of those around them, and this expectation, usually expressed as enthusiastic encouragement, motivates action in others and the desire to live up to their expectations. Teachers have the charming characteristic of taking for granted that their expectations will be met, their implicit commands obeyed, never doubting that people will want to do what they suggest. And, more often than not, people do, because this type has extraordinary charisma.

The Teachers are found in no more than 2 or 3 percent of the population. They like to have things settled and arranged. They prefer to plan both work and social engagements ahead of time and tend to be absolutely reliable in honoring these commitments. At the same time, Teachers are very much at home in complex situations which require the juggling of much data with little pre-planning. An experienced Teacher group leader can dream up, effortlessly, and almost endlessly, activities for groups to engage in, and stimulating roles for members of the group to play. In some Teachers, inspired by the responsiveness of their students or followers, this can amount to genius which other types find hard to emulate. Such ability to preside without planning reminds us somewhat of a Provider, but the latter acts more as a master of ceremonies than as a leader of groups. Providers are natural hosts and hostesses, making sure that each guest is well looked after at social gatherings, or that the right things are expressed on traditional occasions, such as weddings, funerals, graduations, and the like. In much the same way, Teachers value harmonious human relations about all else, can handle people with charm and concern, and are usually popular wherever they are. But Teachers are not so much social as educational leaders, interested primarily in the personal growth and development of others, and less in attending to their social needs.

The Counselor
The Counselor Idealists are abstract in thought and speech, cooperative in reaching their goals, and enterprising and attentive in their interpersonal roles. Counselors focus on human potentials, think in terms of ethical values, and come easily to decisions. The small number of this type (little more than 2 percent) is regrettable, since Counselors have an unusually strong desire to contribute to the welfare of others and genuinely enjoy helping their companions. Although Counsleors tend to be private, sensitive people, and are not generally visible leaders, they nevertheless work quite intensely with those close to them, quietly exerting their influence behind the scenes with their families, friends, and colleagues. This type has great depth of personality; they are themselves complicated, and can understand and deal with complex issues and people.

Counselors can be hard to get to know. They have an unusually rich inner life, but they are reserved and tend not to share their reactions except with those they trust. With their loved ones, certainly, Counselors are not reluctant to express their feelings, their face lighting up with the positive emotions, but darkening like a thunderhead with the negative. Indeed, because of their strong ability to take into themselves the feelings of others, Counselors can be hurt rather easily by those around them, which, perhaps, is one reason why they tend to be private people, mutely withdrawing from human contact. At the same time, friends who have known a Counselor for years may find sides emerging which come as a surprise. Not that they are inconsistent; Counselors value their integrity a great deal, but they have intricately woven, mysterious personalities which sometimes puzzle even them.

Counselors have strong empathic abilities and can become aware of another's emotions or intentions -- good or evil -- even before that person is conscious of them. This "mind-reading" can take the form of feeling the hidden distress or illnesses of others to an extent which is difficult for other types to comprehend. Even Counselors can seldom tell how they came to penetrate others' feelings so keenly. Furthermore, the Counselor is most likely of all the types to demonstrate an ability to understand psychic phenomena and to have visions of human events, past, present, or future. What is known as ESP may well be exceptional intuitive ability-in both its forms, projection and introjection. Such supernormal intuition is found frequently in the Counselor, and can extend to people, things, and often events, taking the form of visions, episodes of foreknowledge, premonitions, auditory and visual images of things to come, as well as uncanny communications with certain individuals at a distance.