About 8People
Pairs
Pairs are the top of the 8People hierarchy and they serve as headings. Pairs combine 2 of the 8 personas, and together they represent a broad aspect of a teacher’s work. The pairs sit opposite each other in the 8People logo, to represent the tension that may exist between them.
Environment Pair: Relationship Builder versus Captain
These two personas work together to establish the learning environment, but they also pull against each other. Considering classroom teachers, the teacher being a Relationship Builder uses his or her interpersonal skills to constructively make connections with students, whereas the teacher being a Captain acts more technically to use deliberate acts of management: to be in charge. A successful learning environment will see these two personas in balance. A flawed learning environment will flow from an imbalance or weak skills in one or both personas.
Awareness Pair: Analyst versus Scholar
These two personas are complementary. A teacher being a Scholar may be insulated from the real world and immersed in the wisdom of teaching for its own sake; whereas a teacher being an Analyst is applying technical skills to the real learning needs of children. The Scholar needs the practical experience to make sense of the theoretical perspective, and the Analyst needs teacher knowledge before they can analyse student data.
Teaching Pair: Coach versus Empowerer
With this pair of personas there is a tension between actions to cause learning that are taken directly by the teacher in the role of Coach, and actions taken less directly by the teacher in the role of Empowerer: actions to inspire students to take more responsibility for their own learning.
Professional Pair: Colleague versus Self
These two personas are both about the teacher as a person but the focus differs. For Self, the focus is inward onto the teacher, and for Colleague, the focus is outward towards others.