Honoring the Introverts in your Classroom

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Well, hey there, friend, and welcome to another episode of Artworks for Teachers. I’m your host, Susan Riley. And today’s episode, I think, is so important, especially as we’re headed into the beginning of the year at the time of this recording. So I don’t know about you, but personally, I actually identify as an introvert, very much so. And I think this happens a lot, right, where people who generally… Others would assume are extroverts. Like I get this a lot. People assume I’m an extrovert because I do a lot of online presentations. I do a lot of keynotes. I’m constantly talking to people. But that’s a wrong assumption, right? I’m not an extrovert. I am very much an introverted heart. Those things take a lot of energy out of me.

And it takes me time to recover, right? And so the idea that we have a lot more introverts in our classrooms than perhaps we initially think is something that’s really important to remember. And if you yourself are an introvert as an educator, that’s even doubly important. What I actually noticed in the classroom was that even myself, who was an introvert, I tended to call on and maybe even enjoy more of the extroverts in my classroom, and I just naturally defaulted to that. And so today’s episode is all about how to honor the introverts in your classroom, including yourself if you are one of those educators like me, who is also an introvert. So I think that this episode is going to be really helpful.

There’s a lot of tactical tools, and we’re going to be using some of the research from Susan Cain, who talks a lot about this in her books. So I can’t wait to get started. Let’s go. Today, I actually want to talk about the idea of introverts. Now, Here’s an interesting thing that I have found over the years. Most teachers that I know are actually introverts. And I don’t know if that’s because I’m an introverted heart. And so I just tend to gravitate towards introverts or if teachers are actually more likely to be introverts. And so, you know, like many introverts, when the pandemic first hit, I was kind of like, Y’all, I’ve been preparing myself for this for a long time. I do not have to go out and see people.

I do not have to put on a brave face today. I can do my stuff in my house. This is a dream, right? I was okay with it for a little while. But what I’ve found, of course, is that we need people more than we think we do, even us introverts. So if you are not an introvert, that is okay, because what this episode is gonna talk about is not being an introvert, but honoring the introverts who are in your classroom. So whether you are an introvert or not, knowing how to engage those students who are introverted in your class, whatever that looks like right now, I think is really important, especially now and where we’re at in terms of all this change, right?

And so today we’re going to hop into this idea of introversion, what it really means. We’re going to use that book Quiet from Susan Cain as a jumping off point and explore some of these ideas a little bit. If you are an introvert, being able to honor that for yourself and recognizing when you need to be able to have that time for yourself and to to calmly go back into the places where you feel a little safe. So let’s dive in together. So I was a quiet kid in class. I was never the one who had a ton of friends. I had very close friends. I had maybe two or three really close friends at any given time during school, but I didn’t have like 20 different friends and groups that I floated between.

And I always looked to my peers and my classmates who were so much more outgoing and gregarious than I was. And I didn’t understand why I was different. I preferred to work alone. I needed solitude to recharge, not an event, right? And really, not much has changed in the decades since I sat in the classroom as a student. So… If that sounds like you, you are my person, right? So when I read Susan Cain’s book, Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, I finally, after all these years, felt understood. And soon after marveling at how and why I have always been misunderstood, I had a sobering thought. Had I, as an educator, isolated students just like me? Had I favorited the extroverted ideal, as Kane calls it, and failed to provide support to the quiet kids in class?

Had I somehow overlooked the kids who ironically were most like me? Our society places so much value on the traits of the extrovert, doesn’t it? Like, have you noticed that, that we kind of idealize that? that popular kid or the extrovert who can talk with anybody in any room. A Stanford Business School study actually determined that extroversion is an important predictor of success, believe it or not, right? So as we in the classroom prepare students to be college and career ready, we’re taking the cue of those promoting the extroverted ideal and placing a tremendous amount of value on leadership, collaboration, public speaking, presentation skills, team learning, et cetera. And so is there value in these skills? Absolutely. And I actually would say, I would argue that many of us introverts actually have those skills and utilize them well, right?

But do all students, introverts and extroverts alike, need to develop these skills to function in our society? Yep. I wholeheartedly agree with that. However, as we’re discarding the strengths of the introvert to chase the extroverted ideal, are we doing that? Are we saying the strengths of the introvert, that’s okay, but what we really want is this extroverted ideal. I actually think we’re doing that too. And I think it’s fairly easy to do. So let’s talk about how to recognize introversion in the classroom. So first we we have to recognize that just as we differentiate for our students academically, we must also differentiate for different personality profiles as well. And before we begin to look outward for strategies to engage and honor introverted students, we have to look inward.
So are we promoting an environment that honors the tendencies of the introvert, or are we expecting students to perform to the extrovert ideal? Do we value noise over insight? Loud versus quiet leadership. Speaking over listening. Are we grading students based on class participation? And if so, are we measuring that engagement by the number of times a student raises his hand? Are we directing the majority of our attention to our more vocal students? Are we providing wait time to allow our introverted students to reflect and think critically? Or do we put too high a premium on quick responses from our students. And if I’m honest, when I think about this as an educator, I think I default to the extrovert ideal, even though I’m not that extrovert ideal at all.
I am the introverted student. I need a little bit of time to think through my answers. I’m not going to be the very first one to put my hands up, nor do I really want to be. And so but yet when I teach, that’s what I’m looking for. That’s what qualifies as engagement to me. And so maybe you don’t do that. And if you don’t, that’s awesome. I’m so in awe of you. But I think for me, default mode is the extrovert ideal. So if that’s the case, how can we honor our introverts in the classroom? How can we prepare them for the real world without trying to convert them? So here’s a few tips for supporting our introverted students that came from this idea from Susan Cain’s books.

So introverts tend to listen more than they talk and think before they speak. So we need to rethink group work. Collaboration is an important skill, but being able to work in solitude also holds tremendous value as we have all seen during this pandemic. So that isn’t to say that we need to do away with team learning and group projects, but students should be grouped intentionally. The dynamic of the combination of personalities must be considered to avoid the potential for extroverted group members discarding ideas of less vocal people. There’s got to be an atmosphere of respect for differing work styles and personality types. So the best way to do that is a student inventory form. we have one that we use with our certification students that is so valuable.
It’s literally just a checklist, but it gives students a choice. Like, would you rather do this or this? Would you rather this or this? And it gives you some insight in terms of personality types for your students so that you can make intentional group choices. Also, carve out quiet time. Introverted students need time for thinking and recharging, and schools don’t tend to be quiet places. So how can you accommodate the introverts need for solitude and for peace? This is going to look different in various places around the school or outside of school, but it’s important to recognize the value of silence. And then lastly, allow introverts to choose to perform to their strengths. I think this is one of the most difficult ones for us to do as teachers, but I think it’s one of the most valuable ones for our students.

Kane says that introverted children often have an easier time identifying their interests and that they become extremely passionate about pursuing those interests. Introverts tend to express themselves better in writing than in conversation, and they tend to be quite reflective and often listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and make intentional decisions about how to express themselves. So think about how you can allow them to honor those decisions, right? Allow students to express themselves through writing and music and visual art and theater and small group discussion and role playing. So allow introverts to explore their passions to maximize engagement. And this is where arts integration can be so powerful in conjunction with the SEL and understanding of our students and meeting them where they are.

When we use arts integration in conjunction with this, we’re giving our students the opportunities to express themselves in ways that are meaningful for them and are addressing who they are as people instead of who we’re trying to get them to become sometimes. So I think that’s a really powerful way to look at introversion versus extroversion. and that we can honor both. I don’t think it has to be and or, it can be both. It can be the way that we provide differentiation. It can be the way that we celebrate both of these tendencies and recognize the strengths in both, right? So I hope that that was helpful for you. And so I wanna give you just something to think about, something to mull over just a little bit before we head out.

I hope that you will take time to reflect, think about this past year, get ready for a refresh because I’ve got some incredible things lined up.