Temperament Theory Continued-Teaching the Artisan Child

IV. The Artisan Child
    •    Description
Artisan children, like artisan adults, purely live in the moment. They seek constant pleasure and enjoyment and can be fun and delightful. But when it comes to practice or planning, they are incapable of imagining the future in any way. They are artistic but capricious in their interests, often losing interest in toys and activities quickly. They enjoy performing and like to test the boundaries. Because of this desire to constantly see what they can get away with, negative reinforcement is never an option, for the artisan child will only see it as a test.
    •    As a rational, I have great difficulty dealing with artisan children since they are the antithesis to my being. But I do have artisan students and have found ways to work with them. Firstly, telling them no is not an option. If they are playing with a toy and are distracted, I can’t tell them not to play with the toy. Instead I find a way to incorporate the toy into the lesson. For example, I will use a toy dinosaur to help them sing a line of music or to point out the correct note. One time a child was obsessed with a balloon while I was trying to teach her rhythm, so I had her pass the balloon back and forth to each other to the beat of a folk song. The prize incentive does not work with artisan children, because they are incapable of thinking a week in advance. Instead, the reward has to be more instantaneous. I will have them pick a prize at the beginning of a lesson, and if they complete the tasks of the lesson, then they may take the prize. If not, it goes back into the bag. I set the prize on the piano in front of them, and by having the constant reminder, they are inspired to complete the work assigned in the lesson. Artisan children love excitement, and I have to constantly think of new games and activities to use since they will quickly become bored in a lesson. Often a typical lesson will jump around from rhythm, to note spelling, to playing, to singing, back to rhythm ect. I find that even though I have the most difficulty with artisan children, it is through them that I have learned the most from teaching since they have forced me to use my imagination and stretch my natural creativity to its very limits.
In conclusion, by understanding the various temperament types, a teacher is able to better serve the student. It is of great importance to tailor each lesson specifically to each child and to realize your own limits and strengths for your own temperament type. By being self-aware and intuitive to the needs of every student, you can help them grow faster and learn more in a more efficient and effective manner.

Temperament Theory Continued-Teaching the Idealist Child

III. Idealist Children
    •    Description
Idealists are my favorite children to work with. As a rational I find their imagination and freedom of emotions enchanting and inspiring. Idealist children work best with fantasy and display great passions of emotion even from an early age. They are easily excited and extremely enthusiastic. They possess a genuine and honest quality and are completely authentic in all their actions. They are very sensitive to the needs of others empathize easily.
    •    Example
Recently one of a female idealist teenage student became obsessed with Edvard Grieg. She feels a deep connection with his music, but even though she is very musical, there have been many difficulties in the past to get her to practice. Currently she is working on the piece “Puck” and to keep her focused on this difficult work, I devised a plan that would engage her imaginative side. I knew they she liked to write, so I decided to have her write a story to go with the piece. First I played the piece for her and had her act out the story she heard as if it were a movie. Then we began writing the story together and thinking of characters. I was amazed to see her practice increase each week as she became more and more involved with the piece on a deeper and more universally artistic level. Now I currently am having her work on a collage to go with the piece as well. She has never played better and all our previous conflicts with practice have disappeared all because of my willingness to allow her to fully immerse herself into fantasy and whimsy.

Temperament Theory Continued-Teaching the Guardian Child

II. The Guardian Child
    •    Description      
Guardian children aim to please and are very easy to deal with. They enjoy structure and unlike the rational child, do not desire extreme autonomy. Instead they enjoy being guided by their teacher and expend all their efforts into completing the tasks set before them without question. They relish the fact that adults can depend on them and base their self-worth on being reliable. These children attribute great importance to titles and awards and are the types to treasure stickers and other prizes.

    •    Example
Working with guardian children is a pleasure since they are so obliging. They often go beyond what is required of them and are very pleasant and kind and almost never cause any problems. One of my 11 year old girls is the archetypal guardian. She is the top of her class in school, president of her student council, and works very hard at piano. When working with her, I always know she will do exactly as I say. The only down side is the lack of ability to infer new ideas or learn through self-discovery. The guardian trust rules inherently and wants to be guided and told what to do. Obviously this is in great contrast with the rational child who insists on dismantling and discovering every idea in their own way. Because of this, when working with a guardian it is important to very clearly and concisely explain exactly what is required. Guardian children live for praise and approval from their instructors, but they are also the most receptive of negative criticism of all the temperaments. The awarding of incentives will help to motivate the guardian child, so for my student I have a treat bag that I fill every week with various toys and candy I pick up from the store. The guardian children more than all the other temperament types are the most motivated by these rewards for good work. While all the children are excited by the prospect of a treat, my guardian children have not missed a single assignment since the introduction of the treat bag. The only negative aspect of the guardian child is that in their aim to do well, they often don’t make their needs known. They will work themselves to death to please others and it’s important to look for small signs of exhaustion and fatigue. I try to be very mindful when giving assignments to not go overboard because I know that just because the student will complete all the tasks, doesn’t mean I should since they might overwork themselves.

The next post will discuss the teaching of idealist children.

Temperament Types: The Rational Child

                                               My Own Rational Type: INTJ-Mastermind

I. The Rational Child

A. Description

            Rationals are "logical, dialectical, phlegmatic, curious, skeptical, theoretical, calm, marketing, and tough minded" 1. When teaching a rational child one can easily become confused by their apparent "erratic" behavior. The rational child, like the adult counterpart, has a deep desire to master and understand concepts. They aim to please more than anything, but their hidden emotions might not always show this deep yearning they feel.2 While the child will come across as calm, inside they are constantly feeling with thoughts of inadequacy. The rational child is deeply afraid of failure and is often tortured by a vivid and negative imagination where they constantly imagine every possible negative outcome 3. They will punish themselves for failure more than any adult ever could and that's why it is important to be very careful with any forms of criticism that might be construed as too harsh because they may resign themselves to failure and give up on an activity entirely. The same is true if the child perceives that they are not learning fast enough themselves, even if nothing of the sort has been suggested. All of these conflicts will only be felt internally within the child though, which is why their behavior may seem erratic. For example, a child could be a top pupil, but on a spelling test miss one word. The teacher thinks nothing of this, it’s a small mistake and the child always excels anyways. But the child may become so aggravated by this mistake and beat themselves up so much over it that they decide to give up completely on spelling. 
               When dealing with a rational child, their strong preference for logic will ensure they are predominantly a left brained thinker. By appealing to their logical side and focusing on completing tasks in an orderly manner that follows an easy to follow step by step process, you will ensure they grasp the information in a way that appeals to them. The rational child craves autonomy and they often begin exhibiting signs of a desire for self-reliance as early as two 4. They will deeply resent any perceived threats to their autonomy and will be very bothered if they feel reliant in any way on another person. This is why solid tasks and reachable goals are important when instructing the rational child. Unlike the idealist child, who would prefer a more flowing and varied learning style, rationals need to feel accomplished and need real and tangible examples of those accomplishments.
                The rational child is obsessed with understanding how things work; they are the type of child who appears to have an endless amount of "why"? questions 5. When teaching these children use this desire for understanding and control of their situation to their advantage by setting them one task at a time. Whereas some children learn best when moving back and forth from various topics, the rational child will become obsessed with understanding one idea and will feel a need to understand it before moving on to a new topic. Let them experiment as much as possible as well, for example, if they want to know why a piece has the marking pianissimo and they ask why it isn't forte, have them try the pieces in varying dynamic levels. Let them try it in different octave ranges, have them transpose the piece. Any act that will help them feel they understand the piece better will engage their inquisitive nature and make them more excited to learn. 
  
B. Examples

            Currently in my studio I have one child who is exhibiting strong rational tendencies. He began with me when he was 4 and is currently six. Let's call him Alex for the sake of this entry. Alex is very bright, very shy, and fiercely independent. I believe he is of the Mastermind profile as exhibited by his voracious thirst for knowledge and desire for strict autonomy. Teaching a child of the same personality type as myself has been a very unique experience. I feel that with Alex, more then any other student we understand each other more. I choose to experiment with him most using different methods because of his resilient nature and desire to master tasks. Alex is perfectionist, a characteristic we share, and like many rational children if he doesn't completely master a task on the first try he is prone to thoughts of failure and tends to give up. Because of this, I am extremely careful in my critical remarks. I generally do not believe in negative reinforcement, but with rational children I have to be careful to word everything in a manner that won't cause the child to feel like they failed. Simply saying "Let's try that again" could be construed as a negative remark so a teacher must first tell the child what they liked about their attempt at a task. 
                  The rational child learns best through direct methods and has a deep desire to understand why they are doing each task. It is important you let them infer their own reasons for doing each task for by giving them your own explanation, they will feel disconnected from the task and consider themselves "dumb" for not seeing the value in it from the beginning. The extreme autonomous nature of the rational child can make them difficult to teach since they desire to do everything themselves. To teach Alex, I have to employ mainly discovery kinesthetic learning, since this gives himt eh greatest sense of control. Children love manipulating their environment, and the rational child loves it more then most. For example,one of Alex's favorite activities includes inflatable dinosaurs that he uses to march out rhythms. 
                  In general it is important that activities are structured and include attainable goals so the child does not become despondent. I cannot stress enough the importance of reachable goals, for the rational child really will become so self loathing in their inability to reach a goal in in what they deem an appropriate amount of time, so they will simply give up all together. I give Alex tasks that I know are too easy for him, things he can accomplish very fast. This boosts his confidence and helps get him through his harder work. If your rational student all of a sudden appears to have lost interest or desire, it is important to not get upset but instead assign them a quick task(such as coloring or flash cards) that you know they can accomplish quickly to give them a quick confidence boost. While some might see this as wasting precious lesson/practice time, it is surely preferable to spend a little time on confidence boosting then to have the child quit forever. 
                Use the rational child's desire for autonomy to their advantage. They will often say things such as "No! Let me do it! I can do it! Me do it!" ect. So let them! Let them try and figure it out first to discover as much as they can, then offer your guidance. The independent nature of the child can also be used to help them practice and accomplish their work. Make sure they understand its "their" job. The rational child can't stand being reliant on anyone else and this idea will greatly appeal to them. In fact the rational child can't stand being reliant so much, that they almost don't understand the need for teachers. They are so insecure, that they seem to believe they can learn everything on their own and if they can't, it must mean they are "stupid". I see this all the time with Alex and its why my teaching personality for him is more of an observant cheerleader who will gently correct any mistakes from the sidelines. 

Next post we will explore the Guardian child and an example of from my own studio along with suggestions on teaching for this type!

1 Keirsey, D. (1998). Please Understand Me II. (First ed., p 253. ). Del Mar: Prometheus Nemesis Book Company.

2 (Keirsey, 1998) pg. 771

3 (Keirsey, 1998) pg. 771

4 (Keirsey, 1998) pg. 772

5 (Keirsey, 1998) pg. 773

                  

Temperament Types And The Knowledge it Brings to Teaching

As established by Dr. Keirsey in his book Please Understand Me II, the four disparate personality types along with their sub categorized profiles can cause stress and strain when interacting with one another. This strain is only exponentially heightened in a teaching situation since it demands such close and intense proximity of two individuals. Because of these strains, it is essential for a teacher to understand not only their own personality type, but to become intimate with the various profiles to help them better educate their students. Through understanding a teacher can then best create the optimal lesson planned tailored to each student's individual strengths and weaknesses in the most amicable manner possible. 
        In my own experiences as a teacher, I have noticed the kind of strife that can occur when I do not adapt to the student’s temperament. As a rational, and more specifically as a Mmastermind profile, relating to the emotions of others can be difficult. Children naturally are ruled by emotion and desire and learning to except and work with this has been a great struggle of mine. Learning and accepting that most students will not be like you or learn in the same way as you are critical to understand as an educator, but this seemingly obvious fact appears to be overlooked by most instructors. This is not only a disservice to the child, but also prevents the teacher from growing through their experiences with different types of learning modalities and styles. 
                       In the following posts we will explore the four personality types and strategies and methods for developing pedagogical tools to best match each type as well as provide specific examples of each type and methods that have worked in various situations. 

Teaching Statement-by Dorothy Robbins

 

  Mission Statement

              Love is a powerful word that permeates our lives, saturating our minds with the fantastical
 possibilities it offers to our souls. As a teacher, I find myself driven by forces of cosmic intervention
 to impart to my students this one effectual act of feeling towards music. I wish to discover the seed of possibility that lies dormant inside each student which holds their potential for love and creativity and to nourish this seed so that it blossoms forth creating a comforting wholeness for my students to feel in their most base essence. To accomplish this great task I've set before myself, I utilize my own passion for music to inspire me to be continuously positive and encouraging force in the life of my students. I yearn for them to feel feel the all encompassing love for music that resonates to the core of my own being.
                        Too often in this chaotic world which is rife with distractions and negativity, we love sight as a society of the importance that joy and individual discovery holds in establishing a well rounded and adjusted individual. Instead we focus on rote activities, treating life like a step latter constantly moving upwards. In the name of efficiency we strike down exploration and play, and in our misguided efforts stifle the minds of children till they become shells of their true potential.
                      Imagination is the catalyst of love, through exploration and experimentation we create personalized attachments. As a teacher I encourage a student's individual self discovery, helping them to elicit their own path that will lead them to feel the undying everlasting love that pulses through the hearts of all others who have been allowed to experience the wonders and joys of music. I do not think there is one greater accomplishment as a teacher then to guide a student to the enchanted world of music and to ascertain their own unique love towards it. This love connects us as a society and provides a comfort that will never abandon you. When stripped of all explanation and intellectual scrutiny, my mission as a teacher is summed up thus: I wish to teach others how to love.