Introverts, a strength??? Who would have thought......

Introvert people have typically been described as quiet and shy and as something that should be changed or altered to meet the needs of their environment or the people around them.  As Susan Cain explains in her Ted Talks Video, introverts are quieter and more reserved, but they are thinkers and have great potential to give back to the world.  Typically however, we are told from a young age to “come out of our shells” or “be more social”. Being extroverted was something that was more value and encouraged, both in the school environment and in social settings.

Over the last many years of my life, I have started to give more thought to the idea of introverts and challenging the notion of it being not as valuable as an extrovert.  Mainly this is because in my place of work I run across people who are quite and what we call “processors”, in which I am also in that category. Some of those people are the brightest people I have encountered are introverts. Although more reserved, when they have something to offer verbally and socially, it is of great value. 

I think I have internalized the belief from my childhood that being social and more extroverted is given more value than being introverted. It has impacted my life profoundly as I always finding that I am trying to find something to contribute in a conversation or debate, even if I have to force myself. Quite often, sometime later, I come to my real thoughts and ideas on the topic. This makes me believe that I am an introvert, but feel the pressure of being an extrovert because of the value it is given in society. I think if channeled in the right direction, by this meaning given positive reinforcements, it can be a positive connotation in society.

I think by being aware of my own internal struggles and the value of introverts, finding a way in my classroom to support this will be important. I know for myself, in reflection, I wish that there was a safe place for me to have that time and space where I could process and think and then offer my contributions in my way. Keeping that in mind, while in the classroom I think implementing a technique such as reflection is a great way to accommodate both introverts and extroverts learnings. They can choose to write a reflection in that moment (extroverts) or at a later time (introverts). I think another way is when giving assignments, to allow some time before actually beginning them. For example, if we are starting a group assignment. Giving the assignment idea and expectations a day or so before we make the groups could help. This way, it allows introverts to have time to do the thinking, research and processing they need to do so they can bring to the table what they can contribute, confidently.