A Look at Learner

People exceptionally talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. The process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.

CliftonStrengths

This week our guest blogger is Tess Starman. Tess first became involved with TeamMates as an intern with the Central Office in 2015, and she is now the Research Specialist. She has been mentoring in the Omaha Public Schools chapter for 2 years. Her top five strengths are Context, Adaptability, Strategic, Learner, and Individualization. Here’s what Learner looks like for Tess:

My Learner looks like a craving to know more. I like to say that my best friend is Google. My mind naturally gets curious about many topics. When I don’t know something, whether it is a cultural reference in a movie, a question posed by a friend, or a person quoted in an article, I instinctively look it up. I find my search for answers never ends; one Google search leads to more curiosity, which leads to more questions. Soon, I find myself hours down a rabbit hole of googling, acquiring interesting, but often useless information.

This strength has been me from an early age. Personally, my Learner looked like a love of school. I often went above and beyond, completing the optional math exercises and rereading the language arts books. I found that learning didn’t stop when the assignment was completed. I was reminded of this early Learner in me when flipping through scrapbooks at my parent’s house when I was home for the holidays. My mom snapped a picture of me doing school work on vacation (yes, schoolwork on vacation). She said that I brought my homework along on trips and always started it right away. Of my siblings, my mom said she never recalled reminding me to complete my homework. From this early age, I had incredible teachers, mentors, and supporters like my mom who encouraged me in my love of learning.

Of my top 5 strengths, my Learner blends most often and most naturally with my Context strength. My favorite things to learn about are things of the past. I have been infatuated with the Titanic since a young age and poured over all material ever published about the sinking of the unsinkable ship. I did many school projects on this event, and still have a whole section of my personal library devoted to it. I recently finished reading the biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a theologian who lived and died during WWII, standing up to Hitler and the Nazi regime. Although what eras of history and what type of books I read have evolved as I’ve grown, my love of learning has never stalled.

Beyond my own personal reading and learning, I use the strength of Learner in my every day life. In my position as the Research Specialist, I am constantly pouring over the literature regarding mentoring and publications about best practices for youth research. Within my mentoring relationship, I use this talent every week. My mentee, a 4^th grader, LOVES math. On her own, she has worked through the material for this year, as well as the 5^th grade and much of the 6^th grade material. I utilize my Learner by allowing her to teach me the ways she learns math. She recently learned a matrix style of completing long division, something I knew nothing about. Thanks to my mentee, I am getting to recall the things I learned early on in my life, but with fresh perspective.

-Tess