1. Strengths Based Teaching and Learning Presented by Carlene Cassidy, Assoc. Professor, Anne Arundel Community College & Diane Sabato, Assoc. Professor, Springfield Technical Community College

2. Overview: to learn about personal strengths assessment tools and how to leverage strengths in academics, career and beyond. Agenda: Why use this approach? What are the tools? Where can I use them? How can I use them?

3. What is a strength? A strength is a "capacity for feeling, thinking, and behaving in a way that allows optimal functioning in the pursuit of outcomes". Snyder & Lopez 2007

4. Why? Changing focus from deficit thinking to achievement mindset Play to our strengths, set meaningful goals Build confidence in face of entrepreneurial adversity Create well rounded teams Personal, interpersonal and social well-being

5. What are the tools? Gallup StrengthsFinder 2.0 - measures situational themes of talent, strengths of competence. Gallup StrengthsFinder 2.0 VIA Character Strengths Survey - measures positive pychological traits, or strengths of character. VIA Character Strengths Survey Myers Briggs - identifies the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and judgement. Preferences allow us to have different interests, different ways of behaving, and different ways of seeing the world. Knowing these personality strengths and challenges for yourself and others can help you understand and appreciate how everyone contributes to a situation, a task, or the solution to a problem. Myers Briggs

6. StrengthsFinder Goal - for students to: Discover Develop and Apply Strengths

7. StrengthsFinder 5 Themes How they relate to: Academics Relationships Career Choices

8. Sample Themes Activator - makes things happen Arranger - can organize for maximum productivity Command - take control and make things happen Connectedness - faith in links between things Woo - love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over

9. VIA - The Six Virtues Wisdom and Knowledge: cognitive strengths that entail the acquisition and use of knowledge Courage: emotional strengths that involve the exercise of will to accomplish goals in the face of opposition, external or internal Humanity: interpersonal strengths that involve tending and befriending others Justice: civic strengths that underlie healthy community life Temperance: strengths that protect against excess Transcendence: strengths that forge connections to the larger universe and provide meaning

10. VIA - The 24 Strengths Wisdom and Knowledge: Creativity, Curiosity, Open-mindedness, Love of learning; Perspective Courage: Bravery, Persistence, Integrity, Vitality Humanity: Love, Kindness, Social intelligence Justice: Citizenship, Fairness, Leadership Temperance: Forgiveness and Mercy, Humility/Modesty, Prudence, Self-regulation Transcendence: Appreciation for beauty and excellence, Gratitude, Hope, Humor, Spirituality

11. VIA Character Strengths

12. Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory

13. Where can I use them? Classrooms Professional Development Programs Workforce Development Trainings

14. How can I use them? Student examples Tent cards, mid-semester check-ins, setting up teams,"getting to know you" exercises, career counseling Professional development examples Teaching samples, group strength chart, management and leadership Workforce development examples Motivation, team building and communication trainings

15. Details Details, handouts, links Giveaways!!

16. The power of strengths…

17. Contact Information Carlene Cassidy, cmcassidy@aacc.edu Diane Sabato, dsabato@stcc.edu