Enneagram types and Teaching

[green]

Has or does anyone find the enneagram types useful for figuring out students, friends, student's parents, or yourself?

Being a type 4 I generally am not good at reading people, but was just thinking that this might in fact be quite useful for assessing, programming, and following the interests of students in a more in depth, precise, manner. And of course building on their strengths, and seeing a more complete picture of how to go about doing that.

Just starting to read these:

http://www.wagele.com/beethoven.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Wagele

[keypeg]

(shudder)

[keypeg]

double post

[keypeg]

I should explain my reaction.  I have not dealt with enneagrams per se, but I have dealt with folks who categorized people according to other charts, including two teachers.  Fortunately both were in passing.  As a student, you stop existing as a person.  You become an archetype of whichever category you are in.  What you say and do are interpreted according to the chart.  I don't know if the enneagrams work like that, but those systems certainly did.  For example, I had difficulty understanding an instruction and described what was happening.  This was interpreted as "passive aggressive" and while the teacher was going on about what "feeling" and "attitudes" were there, I went off and figured out how to do it on my own.  When you do say what you think or feel, that is not heard, because the "chart" states what you are "really" thinking (which you are not).

If you want to know what your student is thinking or how s/he feels about something, why not ask?  The main thing that a piano student wants anyway is to learn how to play the piano, and get feedback if they are on track and doing reasonably well.

[green]

this is nothing like that, nor do i intend anything like that at all by using it. lots of info on the net about them, read up! they are fascinating, but as a general guide, of course, one will always defer to personal intuition.

[keypeg]

this is nothing like that, nor do i intend anything like that at all by using it. lots of info on the net about them, read up! they are fascinating, but as a general guide, of course, one will always defer to personal intuition.

I have read up on them.  I was told about it before and read the info then.  I would not want a teacher to try to understand me through these things.  I'd rather be asked.  I would not use them in teaching.

[timothy42b]

I think that using a structure to help understand a student can sometimes be very helpful, more so than asking or relying on intuition.  This would be more applicable with students away from the norm, special needs students, etc. 

This particular example though doesn't seem particularly useful.  It strikes me as rather close to newagey pseudoscience (and I note is not well regarded within academic psychology).  I would be rather resistant to anyone fitting me into the 9 types.  They would lose credibility.   

[keypeg]

nm

[keypeg]

I think that using a structure to help understand a student can sometimes be very helpful, more so than asking or relying on intuition. 

I don't think such structures help understand a student.  I think they form a barrier to understanding.