Either I'm Well-Rounded or Really-Confused

Following kinesthesis's lead (the latest place where I found the punctuation test), I took the thinker test at the BBC Leonardo page, based on Multiple Intelligence Theory. Needless to say, the indecisive don't-like-to-lock-into-any-one-option me came up with three, count 'em three, styles of thinking. And no, that didn't come from taking the test three times either. No wonder why I've always had such a hard time figuring out what I want to do when I grow up!

Apparently, I'm a linguistic, logical-mathematical, and musical thinker.

Linguistic thinkers:

Tend to think in words, and like to use language to express complex ideas.
Are sensitive to the sounds and rhythms of words as well as their meanings.
Others include William Shakespeare, Sylvia Plath, Anne Frank
Careers include Journalist, Librarian, Salesperson, Proof-reader, Translator, Poet, Lyricist

Logical-Mathematical thinkers:

Like to understand patterns and relationships between objects or actions
Try to understand the world in terms of causes and effects
Are good at thinking critically, and solving problems creatively
Others include Isaac Newton, Archimedes, Albert Einstein

Careers include Physicist, Chemist, Biologist, Lawyer, Computer programmer, Engineer, Inventor

Musical thinkers:

Tend to think in sounds, and may also think in rhythms and melodies
Are sensitive to the sounds and rhythms of words as well as their meanings.
Feel a strong connection between music and emotions
Others Mozart, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix

Careers include Musician, Music teacher, Sound engineer, Recording technician

I suppose now might be the time to mention that I'm all about words – I've got this stockpile of perfect quotes for every occasion, songs whose lyrics can fit a situation perfectly, and an intense need to always use the precisely nuanced word. And that I was a Chemical Engineering major for two-and-a-half years before switching over to Music Therapy. Made me famous around campus for a while: "Oh, you're the one ..." I figure, 2.5 years of engineering, 2.5 years of music — how much more of a well-rounded education could I get? Besides, I only graduated with 203 credits (we won't mention that you needed 120 credits to graduate, and taking a "full" load every semester would give you 136).

All this led me to jobs running the residential side of a highly-academic college-prep school with a small boarding program ... major youth ministry volunteering ... teaching high school computers and accounting (which I was maybe two days ahead of the kids on the learning side) ... then switching to the math department.

Last spring when the time came to job-hunt, I figured I'd be in big trouble – got a lot of experience in a lot of areas, but not enough in anything to count. No education certification or even coursework, no music therapy internship – the job I was "most" qualified for I had never even done full-time (I have professional youth ministry certification).

However, since God loves to mess with my mind, and since I'm one who loves "decision by default," I ended up in a situation where not only did I have to choose which job I wanted, but even which field I wanted to work in! Elementary music, technology coordinator for a newly-clustered Catholic school, high school theology teacher, youth minister – all this while other folks in my community were on a mad search to find anything in one of the schools. But me, the unqualified one, had my choice of schools and positions. The greatest was this one small Catholic grade school, where by the end of the interview the position had shifted from "Elementary Computers" to "Computers, K-2 Science (with lots of labs), Math (an upper-level group), and PE." Don't get me wrong, I'm all about variety, but even thiswas a bit much!"

And so now I'm back in the world of thinking-on-my-feet, making-it-up-as-I-go-along. No longer a clear-cut math teacher, where the answer is either right or wrong, I'm in the realm of the gray-fuzzy, where my biggest goal is that the kids do the assignment right so that I don't have to figure out how to grade it. Unfortunately for me, they're usually not so cooperative. Not only am I religion teacher, but I'm a nun religion teacher, which means I should be all-the-more expert than I am. And, in case you're thinking "I don't remember reading theology up there in her listed background" that's because you didn't – I've got the classes from my monastic formation to pull me through. Fortunately, I'm good at making stuff up, and surprise myself once I discover how on-track my made-up-ness is, so I'm getting my feet under me.

But I still have to figure out how to grade their re-written versions of the Prodigal Son so I can have mid-quarter grades posted tomorrow afternoon. And here's where the logical brain bites me in the butt.

Any advice from the subjective-subject graders of the world out there?