Interpersonal Learners

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4 (ESV)

              Kids can be brutal. The teasing, poking, and bullying often happen when teachers aren’t around. That’s exactly what happened to Clyde.

              Clyde was in my fifth-grade math class. As an infant, Clyde had eye cancer, and his right eye was removed. His classmates all knew his story and were kind to Clyde, but my new group of third graders had no idea why Clyde’s eye would sometimes face the wrong direction and make him look wonky. They began calling him cross-eyed and four-eyes, all the hurtful names kids hurl at someone with eye issues. I had no idea this was happening until he stayed one day during their activity class.

              “Mrs. Adams, I need your permission to teach your third graders one day soon.” Of all the words I expected from this small-framed boy, those weren’t it.

              “And just what would you like to teach them?”

              “I don’t want you to discipline them, but they have been teasing me about my eye. Their words hurt in the beginning, but then I realized they didn’t know my story. I want to tell them and bring my spare eyes in for them to see. Maybe they’ll understand after that.”

              Clyde exhibited wisdom beyond his years and of course I allowed him to teach my third graders. When the day arrived, he created a whole lesson on the type of eye cancer he had, including pictures of him as a baby. He explained to them what it was like to only have one eye and then he passed around his spare glass eyes in a bag for them to see. The third graders were fascinated and Clyde allowed them to ask him all the questions they wanted to, which he handled like a pro. Instead of being the laughingstock of this class on the playground, he instantly moved into the position of superhero.

              Whether he knew it then or not, Clyde possessed the Interpersonal Intelligence. Instead of acting on impulse or internalizing the teasing, he looked at the bigger picture of the situation socially. Once he stepped back, he saw the missing piece: understanding. Then he went about making the knowledge readily available through a relatable, honest presentation. He understood people. And he knew how to rightly divide the knowledge for the occasion.

              Like Clyde, students with the Interpersonal Intelligence have empathy for others.  They communicate appropriately, sense emotional tension, and quickly pick up on social cues. These students are also great at finding solutions to conflict. These are your future salesmen, counselors, political figures, teachers, managers, nurses, and customer service representatives. They are also missionaries, preachers, social workers, ministry workers, and community leaders. The kids with this Intelligence have potential to make a huge difference in the world around them.

              Think about the kids in our classrooms who exhibit these traits. What changes could they make? What programs could they create? What gaps could they bridge?

Do the Heart Work

1.      What activities could you include on a regular basis that would grow and foster this Intelligence in your classroom?

2.      Which of your students would bloom if this Intelligence was groomed?

3.      Have you ever met someone who seemed to have a way with people unlike anyone else?  What impact did they have on your life?

Digging Deeper

              I think of Paul standing before the Areopagus in Acts 17:22-31(ESV). He needed a way to bridge the conceptual gap with the people so he could share the message of Christ with the people of Athens. Read the story below and discuss his tactics.

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

If You Get Spare Time 

             Solomon was known as the wisest king of his time. Many wise sayings and teachings came from his lips. Read 1 Kings 3:16-28 and read about one such incident. Only a man who understands the nurturing heart could have known how to solve this matter. Solomon possessed the Interpersonal Intelligence.