Introverted? Welcome to the club!
Introverts, it seems, are all over our social media feeds these days. But it’s only in the past few weeks that I’ve seen some real thoughts about how to teach introverts—and how to maintain your own energy as an introverted teacher and tutor. In this piece from the Atlantic, Michael Godsey points to the rise of collaborative learning and group work as a factor in teacher burnout: when we don’t have time to recharge, it’s harder to be “on” in the classroom.
As for students, when there’s a lack of quiet “book learning” in the classroom, introverts may be so overwhelmed by the end of a school day that it’s hard to focus on learning. Godsey tells us:
“The ideal, of course, would be to establish arrangements that facilitate differentiated instruction for varying personality types, but this might be difficult in large classes with students of diverse levels of proficiency and motivation.”
Thankfully, we have no such problem at Tutor Delphia: we work with your child one-on-one. But there are still steps we can take to improve our work with an introverted student.
What can tutors do?
The role of a tutor sidesteps many of the problems with teaching introverts in a crowded classroom: we work one-on-one, and we work in the student’s home. But there are still steps we can take to match our teaching style to an introverted student’s learning style.
- Work with Parents
We can work with parents to be sure that the student has had enough recharge time after school but before meeting with us. Perhaps weekends are better, for instance, when your teenager has had ample rest. Or perhaps a snack and some quiet time in the late afternoon are all that’s needed.
- Try a silent activity
We can start the session with a quiet activity, such as five to ten minutes of silent reading, brainstorming, or review.
- GoogleDoc it
Social media and document sharing can be a powerful way to get quieter students involved in a tutoring session. Don’t feel like talking out loud to your tutor about Hamlet? Open up a shared Google Doc and you can write to each other about it.
- Put down the computer
Conversely, some students learn best without the potential distraction of a computer and an Internet connection. Try printing out your work and doing everything in analog. It can be surprisingly soothing for the student, especially if screens surround your child all day!
- Ask your student!
By far the most important thing you can do as a tutor is to stay in communication with your student and their parents. Chances are, they know what works for them: we just have to listen!