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.