Knowing Me, Knowing You: The I-Sight Way to Understand Yourself and Others [Paperback]

Tom Ritchey (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2001

Millions of people around the world use Inscape Publishing's Personal Profile System® to discover their behavorial strengths, increase their interpersonal effectiveness, and become more successful in whatever they do. Inscape's I-Sight instrument is the Personal Profile System for ages 12-18. Based on the DiSC® Dimensions of Behavior model, I-sight is a simple, powerful tool for building self-awareness and positive people skills.
In KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU, kids learn about DiSC, take the I-Sight insturment, score it themselves, discover their preferred dimension(s) of behavior, and explore ways to interact more effectively with the people in their lives. This book puts the power of DiSC in young people's hands–along with helpful background information, thought-provoking activities, and pratical strategies for improving their strenghts, overcoming their limitations, communicating, resolving conflicts, and flexing their beahvior in various situations. Readers also meet four students–Darius, Emily, Miguel, and Lian–whose experience with Lian–whose experience with I-Sight helps them work together successfully on an important class project. Inspiring quoatations, sidebars, charts, and a "Who's the Real You?" quiz hold teens' interest as they learn and practice I-Sight skills.
The Leader's Guide includes ready-to-use lesson plans and reproducible handouts to support the student book.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-A self-help book that takes a frank look at human relationships, exploring why we are attracted to certain individuals and why we have aversions to others. It allows readers to understand the thought processes of different personality types by examining the reactions of several characters in the same situation. The point of view is through an expert voice that brings in different dimensions of behavior and uses theories of different psychologists to illustrate points in the book. Espeland includes the I-Sight self-scoring form (based on the Personal Profile System, but adapted for teens) that evaluates personal strengths and weaknesses and analyzes personality types. The tests aim to help readers become more aware of how they think, behave, and communicate and ways to improve their social skills. The author discusses the theories of psychologists to illustrate points, and provides background information on the ideas and insights behind the system proposed in the book. Cartoons, sidebars, quizzes, and charts appear throughout. Other books with a similar scope include Stedman Graham's Teens Can Make It Happen: Nine Steps for Success (S & S, 2000) and Malcolm Godwin's Who Are You? 101 Ways of Seeing Yourself (Viking, 2000). Though they are much more detailed and look at many other factors besides the individual, they make similar points and are appropriate for teen understanding. Espeland's book can be a bit dry at times, but the information presented is good and would be of much use to those in psychology or sociology classes, as they also touch on groups, and to those who want to work on their personal relationships.

Nicole M. Marcuccilli, Glenview Public Library, IL

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 115 pages
• Publisher: Free Spirit Publishing (May 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1575420902
• ISBN-13: 978-1575420905
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #526,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #87 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Personal Health > Teen Health > Self-Esteem

More About the Author

Pamela Espeland has written many books for children and teens. Pamela is the coauthor (with Peter L. Benson and Judy Galbraith) of What Kids Need to Succeed and What Teens Need to Succeed and the author of Succeed Every Day, all based on the Developmental Assets. Pamela lives in Minnesota.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Resource for Teaching Social Skills, September 25, 2001

By 

Terrie Bittner (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Knowing Me, Knowing You: The I-Sight Way to Understand Yourself and Others (Paperback)

I recently reviewed this book for my homeschooling column on BellaOnline and was very impressed. It would make a wonderful textbook for a psychology class taught to teenagers. Not only does it travel back through the history of psychology, but it offers an easy and practical application. The book follows four very different teens through the challenge of working together on a school project. As we learn about the preferred interaction styles of the teens, we find ways to work with others who are different from us. The evaluation form to discover your preferred method of interacting is easy to do and points out that it is only a guideline, and also that people react differently in different circumstances. I was extremely impressed by this fun-to-read tool. Free Spirit books are always educational without being preachy or dull!

3.0 out of 5 stars For junior high to high school kids, October 25, 2010

By 

M. Heiss (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Knowing Me, Knowing You: The I-Sight Way to Understand Yourself and Others (Paperback)

This book is right for kids who are very keyed in on themselves ... almost to the point of self-centeredness. It relies on Maslow's hierarchy of needs to induce children to be open to new ways of relating to others, and it uses quiz formats and questions to get them to see the world through other eyes.

It's ok insofar as it goes, but there's not much in the way of bringing out the best in a child within this book. It's more geared toward how to manipulate others by seeing their perspective and touching their hot buttons. In that sense, it seems disrespectful of other people and other styles of communicating.

We have enough of that in the world.

If your child really doesn't get that they are lucky and blessed and need to be respectful of others, then this book is an eye-opener for them. But it may not do much to turn that inner core of selfishness into better things.