The Enneagram Intelligences - by Janet Levine (Hardcover)

About the Book

First taught in the United States in 1971, the Enneagram is now used in counseling settings, corporations, university classrooms (including Stanford Business School) and other educational institutions. The Enneagram system is a model of human development which describes nine patterns of personality. Each type is distinct with its own point of view and focus of attention based on nine psychological strategies. Janet Levine, a long-term educator, and with many years experience using the model, has through research and refinement, pioneered an application for educators and students in their quest to facilitate teaching and learning. This is an in-depth description of the system, and a practical guide.

The Enneagram Intelligences pioneers a new field, a study of the impact of personality in education on both teaching and learning styles, and other areas of institutions--for instance, the faculty roles and rewards debate. The Enneagram model describes with great accuracy why we behave the way we do. The book is a practical guide to understanding personality and applying that knowledge in all educational dynamics. Through the words and observations of educators, we gain insight into the Enneagram. We can see and understand the 360 degrees of human possibility, and are no longer limited to our forty degree take on reality. This liberates us into a new understanding of ourselves and others, a new way of perceiving differences.

Levine's book does for personality and teaching and learning styles what other great innovations such as those of A.S. Neill, Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner, John Dewey, Isabel Myers and Katherine Briggs, and Ernest Boyer have done for education in general: move forward the frontier of understanding, shift the paradigm, change the perceptual lens.

Book Synopsis

First taught in the United States in 1971, the Enneagram is now used in counseling settings, corporations, university classrooms (including Stanford Business School) and other educational institutions. The Enneagram system is a model of human development which describes nine patterns of personality. Each type is distinct with its own point of view and focus of attention based on nine psychological strategies. Janet Levine, a long-term educator, and with many years experience using the model, has through research and refinement, pioneered an application for educators and students in their quest to facilitate teaching and learning. This is an in-depth description of the system, and a practical guide.

The Enneagram Intelligences pioneers a new field, a study of the impact of personality in education on both teaching and learning styles, and other areas of institutions--for instance, the faculty roles and rewards debate. The Enneagram model describes with great accuracy why we behave the way we do. The book is a practical guide to understanding personality and applying that knowledge in all educational dynamics. Through the words and observations of educators, we gain insight into the Enneagram. We can see and understand the 360 degrees of human possibility, and are no longer limited to our forty degree take on reality. This liberates us into a new understanding of ourselves and others, a new way of perceiving differences.

Levine's book does for personality and teaching and learning styles what other great innovations such as those of A.S. Neill, Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner, John Dewey, Isabel Myers and Katherine Briggs, and Ernest Boyer have done for education in general: move forward the frontier of understanding, shift the paradigm, change the perceptual lens.

Review Quotes

"[A] remarkable book. The belief that we can improve teaching and learning by understanding differences among personality types is as old as Aristotle. Levine has pulled together, for the first time, the enneagram intelligences into a comprehensive set of descriptions covering every possible student and teacher. Her descriptions are complete and comprehensive with compelling examples drawn from teachers and students in their own words. There are practical, useful tips to help educators work effectively within the strengths and limitations of each enneagram personality type.... The Enneagram Intelligences provides valuable insight into the different ways we act, teach and learn."-Daniel S. Cheever, Jr. President, Simmons College

"[A] truly fresh and promising approach to meeting the needs of a diverse student population and enhancing our own instructional effectiveness. We need to read The Enneagram Intelligences to understand our students and ourselves, and our students need to read it to understand us."-Linda B. Nilson, Director Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University

"In her book, Janet Levine has successfully captured her many years of experience connecting enneagram intelligences with teaching and learning. Her perspectives will enhance our understanding and practice both inside and outside the classroom."-Dr. Milton Cox Director, Lilly Conference on College Teaching Editor-in-Chief, Journal on Excellence in College Teaching

"Janet Levine's The Enneagram Intelligences plows new ground, turning over successful tips and strategies for immediate application in the classroom as well as in your life. She balances history and theory with practical, easy to understand ideas which can open an individual's view of the classroom, the learner, the school and most importantly the self....[Her] significant contribution should be read by everyone concerned about the education of children."-Dawn Youdan Assistant Superintendent, Lufkin Independent School District

"More than giving a systematic and compelling presentation of the nine different intelligences in action and how to work with them in a world of people, the book is overridingly an invitation to one's empathy and one's imagination in our human encounters. Perhaps best of all, the author gives us strategies to understand better and to be understood better."-David Mallery, Director of Professional Development National Association of Independent Schools

About the Author

JANET LEVINE is founder of Learning & The Enneagram, and the Director of the National Educators Institute for Enneagram Studies at Milton Academy where she teaches English.