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.