Introverts and Extroverts in a School Environment - Part I

(Elementary and Secondary Schools)

By
David A. Berresford

The previous three articles (See Archives) have addressed the matter of introverts and extroverts. Let’s Party! gives an overview of the differences between introverts and extroverts and Introverts and Extroverts in a Church Dynamic examines how these two personality types may look differently upon the church experience. The last article examined Introverts and Extroverts in the Business World.

Mrs. Extrovert, as kind a teacher as you could ever find pushing a piece of chalk, walks into the faculty lounge distraught over one of her students. “I just can’t get him to come out of his shell. He does his work and gets good grades but he’s just so quiet. It’s not that he doesn’t talk to the other students and he does answer questions when I call on him. But he is just so shy. Well, I’ll get him past that. I haven’t lost one yet.”

Mrs. Extrovert jubilantly walks into the lounge a few weeks later to announce, “Well, I finally got him out of his shell. Now if I could only get him to calm down a little.” Mrs. Extrovert is a good teacher but is unable to adequately recognize individual student differences and this inability hinders students from reaching their full potential. If she understood that her student was an introvert and was quite comfortable and successful until she pushed him “out of his shell” both the teacher and the student would be better served. The student’s attempt to level to her expectations was completely misinterpreted.

Other well-meaning teachers will have students sit for lengthy periods of time listening to a lecture or reading silently. Page after page of worksheets is another ‘oldie but goody’ (Read in “sarcasm”). Extroverted students can become restless if denied the opportunity to interact with others. This restlessness is often addressed as poor behavior, sometimes resulting in a missed recess or other punishment. One of the activities the extroverted child seeks most is interaction with other students and having that child sit quietly while others play can exacerbate the problem.

Behavior issues are best solved by keeping students engaged in learning. Learning experiences must be varied to address the needs of all students. Teachers are cautioned not to emphasize certain teaching strategies over others at the expense of learning styles and personality types. Inventories are available to determine if the student is an extrovert or introvert and if their learning style is primarily visual, auditory, or kinesthetic.

A good rule of thumb for all instruction is remembering that a student’s attention span in minutes is approximately equated with their chronological age. For example, a six-year old child has an attention span of approximately six minutes. This is true of introverts and extroverts and with all learning modalities. The topic (content) can remain the same for lengthier periods of time, but an effective teacher will appropriately change the learning activity.

The use of small group activities has been popular for many years. Unfortunately, some teachers do not understand that small groups need specific direction and oversight. In an unstructured small group setting extroverts can be found visiting with others discussing a variety of topics and introverts will be working independently on something or visiting with one or two other students. As the volume in the room increases with each small group competing to be heard over the others, the sensory overload can be especially irritating to the introverted student. A teacher sitting behind the desk saying, “Get busy” or “Hold the noise down,” does not effectively redirect the students. Small group activities can serve a purpose if the students are given clear expectations and are kept on task. However, this type of learning activity should only be used whenever the learning outcome is best reached by the activity.

Independent learning stations are also used in the classroom, especially at the elementary level. Students are able to move from station to station at designated times resulting in a varied learning experience. The length of time at each station should be relevant to the age of the student and must be connected to a specific learning outcome. Teachers must move about the room observing the activities at each station. If more than one student is working at a station the extrovert’s desire for social interaction can preclude optimum learning.

Teachers and principals should realize that there is good noise and bad noise in a classroom. A quiet classroom cannot be equated with a good learning environment. Bad noise is that noise that is unrelated to learning, causing chaos in the room and is a distraction from learning. Such chaos stresses all of the students, especially the introvert. Good noise is the beneficial interaction of student to teacher and student to student. Students sitting silently at their desks for lengthy periods of time is probably more reflective of the teacher’s need for quiet then it is of learning. The relationship between physical activity and effectual learning is a subject for a different discussion.

In a classroom discussion or question-and-answer session, “wait time” becomes significant. “Wait time” is the amount of time a teacher allows for a student to answer a question or share a thought. In the attempt to maintain “flow” in the discussion, teachers often fail to give students enough time to process information before they can give an accurate answer or make a beneficial contribution. Introverted students especially must be given sufficient wait time to respond and teachers must recognize that introverts need more process time for that response.

Counselors and principals, as possible, should take the student's learning style and personality type into consideration when assigning students to specific classrooms at the elementary level. Parents should know whether their child is an introvert or extrovert and be aware of their learning style. If permissible, they should assist in the decision for classroom placement. Picking the most popular teacher should not be the criterion for such a choice. Administrators, teachers, and parents should consider who the best match is for the student. The current teacher can give valuable input when considering the teacher for the following year.

At all levels knowing the student and teaching the student is much more important than teaching the subject. A caring teacher will be invested in each individual child. That child may not remember much of what is taught. That child will remember their relationship with that teacher.

In the next article we will look at Introverts and Extroverts in a School Environment (Colleges and Universities).