How time flies! We are nearing the end of the first month in school. In a blink of an eye, the Chinese New Year season will be upon us. Before we get to the festivities, let us first focus on the lesson at hand.

Today, to round off this series, we are looking at the Withdrawn Types – Type 4, 5 and 9.

For our previous lesson on the Assertive Types – Type 3, 7, 8, click here and for the Compliant Types – Type 1, 2 and 6, click here.

Here we go!

Type 4 students

Type 4 students are the ones who have the ability to accurately express themselves to the question, “How are you feeling now?” When they do not have the opportunity to express how they feel, that is when you see them withdraw.

As a student, they may have to learn the hard way that the world does not revolve around how they feel, and that they could be of service to their classmates by using their gift of empathy to provide a listening ear to others.

How do you help these emotionally deep souls in your classroom?

Here are some ways we can help:

  • Encourage them to be thoughtful about others. Type 4 students tend to do a lot of self referencing, “I, me, mine, myself”. When that happens, you need to help teach them to look beyond themselves and help their classmates who may need a listening ear or even to have a shoulder to lean on. Buddy system in nurturing a younger peer helps them move beyond themselves to serve others.
  • Give them space to be creative. For Type 4 students who have waded deep into their emotions and have a huge need to express themselves, a good way would be to allow them to express their emotions healthily by engaging in creative pursuits. These can include journalling, painting and even scrapbooking.

Type 5 students

Type 5 students are the ones that are just present and do not like to engage in group discussions. They may be highly observant

For the most parts, they tend to be quiet and have a high need for personal space and may seem unreachable. How can you help them?

Here are some ways:

  • Telling them in advance the topics that are taught in class. I know this may be counterintuitive to you as an educator but hear me out. Type 5 students crave predictability and the reason for the constant barrage of questions during your lessons is because they feel unprepared. So, if you are able to give them a brief outline of what you intend to teach for the next few days, that would help give them a peace of mind as they can prepare beforehand.
  • Giving them time to prepare before presenting their views in class. This is in line with the first point. If you would like them to contribute their ideas and views in a large group discussion, you may want to give them your discussion questions beforehand and to give them a specific deadline to when you would need them to do the presentation.

Type 9 students

These students are the ones who are always calm and nice to everyone. However, when conflicts arise, they would be the first ones to mediate or withdraw.

They also do not want to be seen as leaders, even though they may be more suitable a candidate than a student who is angling to be one. They shy away from these opportunities because they do not want to get into potential conflicts with their classmates.

Here are some suggested ways to help them:

  • Give them a safe space for them to express their opinions and views. Type 9 students are always worried that if they express their opinions, they would lose the friendship or they would get ‘marked’ by their teachers. That is why they rather not want to express themselves in class. But, if you tell the Type 9 student that you want to hear their opinions and views because you value what they have to say and that they would not judged, it will give them the assurance to speak their minds. In fact, you may even want to praise them for saying ‘no’ and making a stand for themselves!
  • Guide them to find what interests them. Type 9 students tend to ‘go with the flow’ and that includes them taking on other people’s interests as their own. Many times, they may even be vague about their preferences. In order to help them find out what their preferences and interests are, you may ask then to rate them from a scale of 1 to 10 to help them assess how much they like or dislike something.

There you have it! How all 9 Enneagram Types would present themselves as students in your class. I hope that this has been an informative series for you and it has allowed to see how each child can be nurtured according to how they want to be nurtured and seen in your class.

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Learning is a lifelong endeavour and it is always good to continually get to know yourself on a deeper level as you progress in life. Why not start that journey of self-discovery by attending our Enneagram Level 1 Course? SkillsFuture credits can be used to offset the course fees, so contact us!