In your many roles as a teacher, your interpersonal skills will constantly be called upon. Take time to reflect on what interpersonal skills you possess.
What kind of person are you? What five words best describe you?
Are you, perhaps, flexible, curious, persistent, sensitive, and humorous? Five completely different adjectives? Would your best friend give the same answers?
. Which do you prefer working with: things, information, or people?
How do you think your preference will affect your work as a teacher?
. Are you comfortable interacting with others?
Are you at ease speaking in front of a group? Are there different kinds of groups that instill in you different kinds of discomfort?
Will this matter when you teach a class full of children? Address a group of parents? Need to speak up in a teachers’ meeting?
. Do you have the interpersonal skills necessary to develop relationships with students?
Could you be empathic when a student is disrupting your class? Would you have the patience to spend time getting to know and understand your students as individuals?
