Promoting a Compassionate Classroom

"If love connects us with others, personality must certainly be the mechanism through which love is perceived and understood." 

Julie Meyers, 2013

As an educator of seven different middle school students, misunderstandings between and among us occur with regularity.  The MBTI (Myers Briggs Personality Type) has documented 16 personality types. Each personality type has discrete preferences for interacting with and perceiving the world.   

In elementary, middle, and even high school, differences among people, are rarely approached from a scholarly perspective.  Most often, students are told that we are all different and that we need to learn to get along with others.  The behavior of "not getting along" is then redirected, referred, or disciplined.

As an educator, helping students to become cognizant of the variety of personality types in the world, may help to promote a more compassionate learning environment.  In the coming week, I will be informing my students about personality type.  They will  participate in an age-appropriate version of the MBTI.  Then, we will discuss how similarities and divergence among personality types affects communication, understanding, and learning.

To optimize student learning, my belief is, that the classroom environment needs to be infused with love, compassion, and understanding.  Raising student awareness regarding personality differences and learning styles is one step toward improving student performance.