Are introverted children hurt by classroom focus on participation and group activities?
Education Week has a fascinating story on introverted students and whether today’s classrooms are hospitable to such quiet, reflective children.
One comment struck me in the piece: “The kids who are bouncing around the room and punching people in the face need to be addressed right away. In a classroom of limited resources, that’s where the resources go,” Mr. Coplan said, adding that the quiet students often get ignored.
It made me recall a former co-worker who had her baby in a child care center with video cameras so she could log on from work and watch her baby. What she saw was that her baby was quiet and contented and, as a result, ignored for most of the day. The child care staff picked up and coddled the babies who cried or fussed. My colleague realized that her very quiet baby was not commanding any attention in large child care center and ended up hiring a home sitter instead.
Her quiet baby girl grew up into a quiet child, and my colleague would tell me that her introverted daughter was overlooked or underestimated in school because she did not speak out a lot or frantically raise her hand to answer every question.
This piece talks directly about such kids and what studies tell us about them.
Here is an excerpt but please read the entire Education Week piece:
“Whoever designed the context of the modern classroom was certainly not thinking of the shy or quiet kids,” said Robert J. Coplan, a psychology professor and shyness expert at Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada. With often-crowded, high-stimulation rooms and a focus on oral performance for class participation, he said, “in many ways, the modern classroom is the quiet kid’s worst nightmare.”
Susan Cain, the author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, published by Random House this year, argues that such children often stop learning when they feel emotionally threatened in a class environment in which being an extrovert is considered the norm. “There is too often a tendency to see it as inferior or even pathological,” Ms. Cain said, “so teachers feel they have to turn the introvert into an extrovert.”
Take a typical class review session, in which a teacher asks rapid-fire questions and calls on students in turn. “So if a teacher asks a question and the person doesn’t answer right away,” Mr. Coplan said, “the most common thing is the teacher doesn’t have time to sit and wait, but has to go on to someone else—and in the back of their head might think that child is not as intelligent or didn’t do his homework.”
That slowness to speak can dramatically affect a student’s success in classrooms where vocal participation and group activities are critical. A 2011 study found teachers from across K-12 rated hypothetical quiet children as having the lowest academic abilities and the least intelligence, compared with hypothetical children who were talkative or typical in behavior.
Interestingly, teachers who were identified as and who rated themselves as shy agreed that quiet students would do less well academically, but did not rate them as less intelligent. As many as half of Americans are introverts, according to the Center for Applications of Psychological Type, located in Gainesville, Fla.
There’s a distinction between shyness—generally associated with fear or anxiety around social contact—and introversion, which is related to a person’s comfort with various levels of stimulation. A shy student, once he or she overcomes the fear, may turn out to be an extrovert, invigorated by being the center of attention.
By contrast, an introverted child may be perfectly comfortable speaking in class or socializing with a few friends, but “recharges her batteries” by being alone and is most energized when working or learning in an environment with less stimulation, social or otherwise, according to Mr. Coplan and Ms. Cain.
Mr. Coplan and his colleagues found differences between shy and introverted students as early as age 4: In play observations, shy children tended to hover anxiously just outside a group of unfamiliar children, while introverted children played quite happily on their own and did not attempt to approach other children. “It seems clear,” the researchers concluded, “that ’solitude’ is an insufficient criterion for characterizing children as ’socially withdrawn.’ ”
The research is mixed on when and why quiet students are academically challenged. Previous, separate studies by Mr. Coplan; fellow Carleton University psychologist Kathleen Hughes; Mary M. Reda, an associate professor at the City University of New York; and others have found that quiet and shy students often have difficulty with class grades, but that largely comes from lower levels of class participation and oral skills.
Some studies show introverted students can be better than extroverts at taking standardized tests.”Parents of extroverts have told me [those students] never actually learn to work alone, so when the time comes to take tests, … they have trouble,” said Ms. Cain, a former corporate lawyer and researcher. On the other hand, she said, focusing too much on students’ work in a 30-to-a-room class environment doesn’t necessarily prepare students for the project-based group work more common in the workplace.
“I actually think our [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] shortages are a cultural problem as much as a pedagogical problem; the type of kid who likes to sit by himself and do math problems or science problems is not supported,” Ms. Cain argued. “Most science operations are done as teams, but scientists still have quite a bit of privacy and autonomy to their workday,” she said, noting that such environments are also hard to replicate in classrooms.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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57 comments Add your comment
TheGoldenRam
May 29th, 2012
1:51 pm
As Dr. Spinks succinctly points out, all of the kids in disruptive classrooms are suffering. He and Dr. Trotter correctly and consistently raise the issue of discipline and order as the fundamental precursors to successful education.
I wonder how many of these “introverted” young people become that way because of their environments. Less an inherent character trait and more so a necessary defense mechanism. Defense against ridicule from peers for academic engagement. Defense against raising one’s profile within the near perpetual chaos that characterizes so many of our classrooms.
When my brother was born, my mom took off a number of years from teaching to be a stay at home mom. For her, stay at home meant PTA President, Cub Scout leader, soccer coach, etc, etc.. The woman is a force to be reckoned with. She was/is the embodiment of what it means to be a matriarch. Anyway, after a few years she returned to the classroom. She knew where she wanted to teach, but in our district you have to move up the proverbial ladder to get assigned to the school of your choosing. I don’t know if that goes for most districts, but I imagine it’s a fairly common thing. Her first assignment back was a low-performing, Title I school in the south side of our county. I was in high school, but when given the opportunity, I’d spend a day in her class as a helper or tutor or doing whatever she needed of me.
My very first impression of my inaugural visit? My mom does not @&%$ around. I was floored by her demeanor. I joked to friends that if my mom had been that stern and controlling with my brother and I growing up, we’d have run for the hills long ago. It was a bit disconcerting to see her that way. It was also very, very impressive to see her take control of a classroom like that.
I’ve been asked if I recognize the irony in my public schoolteacher mom choosing to send both of her sons to private schools all the way up to college. Of course I do. However, mom(and dad) saw a necessity in the choice. Mom fought the good fight in public schools for so many years. She knew that there are many great teachers and the schools we were zoned for were pretty good. My parents just sought a more predictable level of parental participation, school accountability and environments conducive to academic development. Volunteering in mom’s classroom made me appreciate that gift more than anything else ever could.
I remember working with many of those quiet children over the years. I found a disproportionate number of them to be quite intelligent and thoughtful. I remember feeling guilty about seeing that these kids had to literally carve of pockets of normalcy and stability just to have the opportunity to learn. My mom could manage a classroom with the best of them, but underneath that thin framework of order, the chaos and disorder was always present. You hear of parents that refuse to answer phone calls from the school. Administrators that either ignore disciplinary referrals or return problem children to the classroom over and over again. You see that “bad” teachers and “bad” administrators get dumped in “bad” schools because “bad” parents can’t or won’t do anything about it. You see how 3rd graders behave after a breakfast of Red Bull and Lucky Charms. Or after nights in homes with no rules, no order, no discipline, no sleep and very little behavior that qualifies as parenting. You come to see that in some places, if school wasn’t legally mandated, many of the kids wouldn’t even show up. You see the dysfunction in these homes and neighborhoods manifest itself in the school as disrespect, disorder, ridicule, violence and apathy. Sadly, I could go on and on with the examples.
I often wonder how many kids we “lose” by trying to “save” everyone and everything. And I wonder how many of those quiet and introverted kids, just trying to do right and get an education, are lost through the inefficiency and dysfunction of the system. I think society would be better served by protecting and promoting their interests. Public schools too often take those kids for granted. They should be given priority to our resources, not appreciated for their perceived lack of need for such.
eddawg
May 29th, 2012
2:14 pm
Really Lee?
Ole Guy
May 29th, 2012
4:48 pm
Quite possibly, we’re talking about two entirely different issues…are “quiet” kids quiet because they’re (so-called) introverts, and not too disposed to active participation in group activities, or do they simply have no meaningful input which lends to the common activity? Kids…as the article points out…who “bounce around the room”, generally making a pain in the six of themselves, are neither extroverts nor introverts, but simply undisciplined bratts who have no regard for others.
I’ve seen (so-called) extroverts who, in all reality, had absolutely nothing, of common value, to add to the issue; similarly, many a “quiet” (so-called) “introvert”…once observing an opening into the issue at hand…had much to contribute.
As facilitators, teachers, managers, supervisors, and anyone having responsibility for others, should be able to identify the so-called introverts and foster participation. The title, “ARE INTROVERTED CHILDREN HURT…” merely points to a failing on the teachers’ part.
As we grow up and face the mean ole world, whether we like it or not, we will all have to participate/interface, to one degree or another, and regardless of our “stations in life”, with others. Group activities, within the world of education, are the best means by which to prepare kids for life.
Really amazed
May 29th, 2012
6:08 pm
The new problem in the classroom will be…the quite shy hardworking student..oh no, someone is actually focused and sitting still.. something MUST be wrong with him!!! So, let me get this straight, the majority are ADHD, the new norm, the quite well-behaved, focused child is the one with the problem??? Welcome to public education. If your not shouting out and interupting the whole class, your not as smart. I think they have this one backwards! This happened to one of my children, until the teacher realized that my child was the one thinking and working on the problems in her head before just blurting out the answers. The teacher had to admit to me that..boy did she have that one figured out wrong. I had to tell her that my daughter disliked it when people looked like know-it-alls that she thought everyone should raise their hand until called on. Funny how when the teacher did call on my daughter she was the one usually that had figured out the correct answer in her head.
Ron F.
May 29th, 2012
9:21 pm
amazed: You’re right about one thing: ADHD is becoming the “new normal”…and it isn’t just in the public schools. I know kids who attend private schools who are ADHD also. It’s a societal issue, and the reasons for it are varied depending on who you ask. I think you’re also right that a child shouldn’t be punished for being the quiet, thoughtful kid. A good teacher should figure it out and you did the right thing to advocate for your child. See what can happen when we work together, whether in a public or private school? I see over a hundred kids a day, and I don’t always understand every one. I try, but I always appreciate the help parents can give me to understand their child.
Anonmom
May 30th, 2012
9:00 am
I’ve read some stats (from memory here..) that appx. 70% of kids are on ADD/ADHD meds… this is appalling to me … reports from college/grad school …those not on the meds feel at a disadvantage since they can’t study and “focus” quite as long and “non-stop” and other reports of the “intervention” of HIPPA whereby (unless parents get HIPPA releases from kids like I did) — parents can’t communicate with coaches and professors to check on things like medicines being taken (my sons are not on meds — I’ve got the releases in case of emergency and to check on grades….). There was a very sad case at Emory a few years ago where a girl drowned in the pool (a varsity swimmer) who appeared to not have properly been communicating about these issues because once they hit 18 they are now “adults” even though as a society we treat them as “kids” at 17.
Diana Senechal
May 31st, 2012
5:34 pm
I was interviewed for the Education Week article, but only a fraction of my points made it into the article (and are not brought up here).
I question the introvert-extrovert distinction. There are students who shut down among peers but eagerly take part in math, literature, or history discussions (and vice versa). There are students who go for stretches without talking (as they put their thoughts together) and then enter into the conversation when ready. There are those who have difficulty articulating their thoughts spontaneously but excel at giving prepared presentations. There are students who disrupt class and make noise not because they’re “extraverts” but because they want attention.
Nor do teachers favor the more vocal students, in my opinion. Yes, in this country there’s great emphasis on “class participation,” but before things got manic with group work, you could speak one day and not the next. And if you were truly averse to speaking in class but did excellent written work, the teachers would notice this.
The problem lies not in the favoring of “extraverts” but in the exaltation of social activity in the classroom. Excessive group work is bad for the subject matter itself. Many topics do not lend themselves to rapid small-group discussions and “hands-on” activities. They need, first of all, exposition–a lesson given by the teacher. Then they may need discussion led by the teacher, who has insight into the subject and knows how to pose questions and interpret the answers. There is also a place for individual and group projects–but it should not precede the actual learning.
Most subjects require a great deal of quiet and solitude. You can’t go far into them unless you are able to work on them on your own. They also require dialogue with others; even reading a book is a sort of dialogue. The dialogue must have substance; it must go beyond chatter. So, in addition to toning down the group work, schools should give students something substantial to learn, something that requires practice and thought.