Lesson Plan: Intro. to Personality
Essential Questions: What is personality? How does personality (one’s own and others’) affect one’s
life? How and why has personality been broken into distinct types throughout history? How can an
awareness of one’s own type and the types of others be helpful?
Goals and Objectives:
1. Students will be able to define personality and describe how their personality affects their lives.
2. Students will learn about the strategy of personality typing and take at least 2 personality
assessments (True Colors and Naviance’s Do What You Are)
3. Students will apply knowledge that they gain about personality types to work with others and to
plan for a career that will satisfy them.
Vocabulary terms and concepts:
Innate
Character
Inherent
Traits
Predisposition
Nature
Tendency
Temperament
Anticipatory Set/Preparation (Home Connection): Ask people (friends and relatives) who have known
you since you were a baby/very young what you were like back then. Gather and record any adjectives,
stories or anecdotes in your e-journal.
Preferences and natural tendencies: Exercise: Write with the hand that you don’t prefer to use.
Describe the experience. What are the benefits of working with your preferences/natural tendencies?
Discuss meanings of vocabulary terms listed above.
How would you define personality? (Definition: -the combination of characteristics or qualities that
form an individual’s distinctive character; -the complex of all attributes – behavioral, temperamental,
emotional, and mental – that characterize a unique individual)
Write a journal entry about your personality. How would you describe your personality? Complete the
sentence: “I’m the type of person who…..” How does your description compare to the information
your friends/relatives gave you about when you were a baby/very young?
Instruction/Activities:
1.
Introduce the concept of personality type theories by providing a brief history (from
Hippocrates 4 Humours (interdisciplinary link with LA - Chaucer; Shakespeare) through Keirsey’s
4 Temperaments –) found at www.personality-and-aptitude-career-tests.com/history-ofpersonality-tests.html or
http://armchair_academic.homestead.com/historyPer.html
Lesson Plan: Intro. to Personality
2. Hand out True Colors Word Searches (http://true-colors.com/resources.html) for all 4 colors.
Students go through each list quickly and circle all words that describe or appeal to them. Sort
by color with most circled words to color with least.
3.
Students complete the personality assessment based on Don Lowry’s True Colors concept at
www.truecolorscareer.com. Students react/reflect on results. Which aspects of the
description of their color do they feel are accurate/inaccurate? Why? (e-journal)
4. Students create visual representations of their “personality type.” (Infuse technology lesson
here.)
5. Students brainstorm and list all areas of life that might be affected by one’s personality/type
(career choice, relationships, partners, friends, recreational activities, entertainment
preferences, style, fashion, learning style, interests, political views, motivations, etc….)
6. Students will evaluate the usefulness and limitations of personality typing. Include discussion of
the difference between personality typing and stereotyping (based on purpose and level of
awareness).
7. Students will discuss Bruce Maxwell’s “Strategies for Working with Each Color” and provide
examples of how they might apply these to classmates, teammates, teachers, coaches, parents,
etc.
8. Students will complete the Do What You Are assessment through Naviance and compare their
results to their True Colors results. (Do What You Are is the perfect jumping-off point for
beginning to discuss careers that fit students’ personalities)
Materials and Resources:
Do What You Are – Personality Type Handbook
Handouts: History of Personality Types; Gold, Green, Blue and Orange Motivators; 16 Types Chart;
Temperament Type Gender Distribution; True Colors Word Searches (http://truecolors.com/resources.html);
Websites: www.personalitytype.com/career_quiz_2; www.personality-and-aptitude-careertests.com/history-of-personality-tests.html;
http://armchair_academic.homestead.com/historyPer.html; www.true-colors.com;
Guest Speaker Suggestion: Mr. Dan Rendine, RTC Instructor of True Colors course