Happy New Years! everyone :). I'm going to begin this year with a big topic: the application of personality profiling to the teaching studio. There are several personality profile systems in use in the business and clinical sector. The one I have had experience with is the DISC personality profile system, used mostly in business as a tool for sales/marketing and for personnel management. DISC divides personality characteristics into 4 areas: D for direct, I for influential, S for supportive and C for conscientious. The DISC profile has about 100 questions to it, designed to map out a person's personality pattern. Each one of us has all four elements to our chart, one element is usually primary, then a secondary. DISC is also environment-specific, so a person taking the profile would answer according to one setting; ie, work, or home or school. I'd like to give an overview in this blog, then go in-depth in subsequent blogs.
I don't give the personality questionaire to my students, if that's what you are wondering, but I have taken it myself. I map out as a C primary, with either D secondary or an S secondary, depending on my environment. As a Conscientious primary, I value quality, details and usually ask the question Why? first. When I am teaching students, my secondary is Supportive, which values stability, safe environment and asks the question How? a lot. When am I Direct? In a confrontational situation :).
How is relevant to teaching in the studio? Each personality type has different values, different things that are important to them. If I only taught from my own perspective, then I would always tackle the Why and the How with each student. But what if a student is a Direct? - they won't care about Why? as much as they will want to know What? Or an Influential? They respond to enthusiasm and relationship. I would do great with the C's and S's and eventually lose or alienate the D's and I's.
Of course, personality traits are just one aspect or layer of any person. They will also have learned skills & character, background experiences and environment, etc. that make up a very complex picture. Understanding their personality type allows me to choose a teaching vocabulary that will resonate with them, making me more effective as a teacher.
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