There are three options for a teacher in a classroom – their classes can tick, flatline or explode.
Yes, the best option is for your classroom to tick. That’s when you’re gaining optimum outcomes from your students.
When your class flatlines, the students are bored and switch off. Your class explodes when students become frustrated.
So, how do you get your class ticking?
It’s all about personality – the things that make you tick. According to Jungian psychology, there are four primary drivers of personality.
The first is a driven towards relationships; the second driven towards rigour; the third driven towards randomness; and the fourth driven towards results.
Flatline or explosive environments occur when a task or interaction continuously misunderstands or blatantly disregards one or all four of these personalities’ primary drivers. And that causes conflict.
An example conflict for each primary driver may be continual:
- Tasks set in isolation, e.g. working alone
- Vague guidelines or a lack of detailed information about desired standards
- Repetitive and rigid structure for tasks with no room for creative, innovative expression
- A lack of self-autonomous decision making in a given task
Maintaining a cohesive class through personality drivers helps to revive a flatline environment or subdue an explosive environment.
You can achieve this by identifying what makes you and your students tick and explode, and adapt your own approach to stimulate and engage the range of drivers.
You can also encourage students to apply their own ability to adapt and fulfil their drivers and minimise the conflicts within the given limitations of the classroom.
It’s worth a thought.