The introvert in the classroom

Are you allowing your students enough thinking time?

I have been invited into a classroom to observe the great questioning that is going on. Certainly the answers  flowing from the money men and women (the students who constantly have their hands up almost before the question is completed) are great but there is also a section to one side that is definitely a silent squad. They are not going to volunteer an answer and from what one can see they take no part in the lesson.

To read the full article, members please log in here. To subscribe please click here.

Screen Shot 2016-06-23 at 1.50.19 pmWhen report writing, or parent interviews are held, these are the students who are referred to as, “Part of the wall paper,” or as “Quiet, shy and retiring.” Labels such as this demonstrate the way teachers, parents, and others so carelessly mistake a difference as a deficit.

Two of the current educational buzz words are ‘personalised’ and ‘differentiation’. Teachers at least pay lip service to this; many much more than just lip service. Nevertheless, the silent group noted above is more often neglected than nurtured as my classroom visit above demonstrated.

So who are these students and what can be done to ensure they are nurtured in the classroom? Generally they fit a particular personality type, which Myers Briggs calls ‘introverted’, and the Dunn and Dunn Learning Styles theory calls ‘reflective’. Although there are no definitive facts to give a definite size to this group, they are not a small minority. Myers Briggs conducted research in 1998 which put the number as fifty percent of a typical school population. Another estimate has the number much lower, about twenty-five percent, but that is still a quarter. In the literature there is some consensus that the number is probably closer to fifty percent. There is also some suggestion that there may be more potentially gifted students in this group.

The thinking process for this group includes the need for time in order to have a covert internal discussion/debate inside their own heads to work things through. This is a prerequisite for taking part in overt question answering or collaborative input with both the teacher and other class members.

These students need time to work things out – thinking time that is. They have to get it right in their heads before going public, whether it be answering a class question or speaking out in a one to one or a larger group situation. While this thinking time is important for them at every stage, it is particularly important with the initial learning in a new project or when they strike a difficulty or problem.

Their silence does not indicate a fixed mindset that has given up. Instead it shows a growth mindset meticulously solving the problem of understanding except out of public view.

From the extrovert/impulsive at one extreme of a continuum to the introvert/ reflective at the other there will be varying degrees of need. Those toward the centre will not be affected to the same degree as those on the extreme, but any student on the introverted/reflective side of that continuum may still respond better if they are given some thinking time before an answer is required. Almost paradoxically the impulsive/ extrovert will benefit from this too.

Wait time as a solution

Most, if not all, teachers have practices which discriminate against reflective learners. Questioning rituals are an example of this.

Mary Budd Rowe’s research from the 1960’s explains why. Her analysis of teachers’ questioning rituals showed that teachers waited a second or less for students to begin to answer the question.

If the reply was not within this time limit, teachers would call on someone else, rephrase the question, or in some cases, especially where only a partial answer had been given, answer the question themselves. No thinking time is provided.

This early research would have been of little use if it had stopped there, so she proceeded to look for a simple solution. The solution she found was introducing a wait time of three seconds – or more if the question was particularly difficult. Thus, as a ritual, wait time pauses can be introduced as:
First the teacher alerts the class by indicating that a question is imminent. In my case I often use an imperative statement such as, “Let us think about this.” Followed by the mandatory 3 seconds of wait time.

Then the question is asked, followed by a further 3 seconds of wait time, before calling on a student to answer.

A further period of 3 seconds wait time is allowed to enable the student to organise an articulate response so that it is both precise and accurate, devoid of the fluffy and woolly. If required, the teacher may need to prompt, but it is important that the focus is on the student answering, and not on teacher direction. A suitable prompt may be along the lines of telling the student that that was a general answer and inviting more detail.

After the student responds there is a further period of 3 seconds wait time for all students to reflect on what had been said, and then a second student is called upon to respond. It may or may not be necessary to include a prompt here depending on the stage at which the class is. “Let’s develop that idea further,” or something challenging such as, “What other ideas are there?” are possibilities here.

At this point, if a prompt is offered, a further period of 3 second wait time is then given to allow the student to collect his/her thoughts in order to give a fully reasoned response with evidence to support the point of view.

Mary Bud Rowe’s research showed that prior to this wait time being introduced, student failure to respond with an answer when called upon was reduced, from as high as 30% in some classrooms, to just 5% or less. Because wait time gave time for the extrovert/reflective student to get their head round an answer; it is safe to assume that many in this 30% group would be them.

Random selection when asking a student to answer is my preference – no hands up. There is research that demonstrates that this keeps the class focussed and engaged.

When to ask the reflected/introverted student is a crucial refinement. Even though wait time gives time to get it right in their heads, it may be an advantage to only ask them later in the questioning chain.

A digital solution
Another pedagogical practice which provides space for the extrovert/ reflective student to get their head round the learning is Flipping. Simply put, Flipping is presenting the lesson as a short video either for homework or at school (but not as a class lesson) and then following up in class with activities that allow the teacher to interact with individual students as they problem solve to apply the new learning and begin the shift into long term memory.

The key point is that the students must have individual control of the video, so that as they make their notes and start the process of learning the new content they can press the pause button, giving them space to get their head round it, construct their notes and move on. Alternatively, they can slide back to a previous point in the video if the meaning was not clear, or a later point causes confusion, perhaps from an original misconception.

As in the questioning ritual, Flipping also benefits the note taking ability of all students. Marzano’s research based guide to note taking stresses that note taking is best done as a deliberate activity, not on the run so to speak. To make this so, he advises that the teacher pauses from time to time to allow student note making space.

The negative in this is that when the teacher decides on the pause time it is central control, so any time allowed risks either being too short for the slower thinkers, like the introvert reflective students, or too long and therefore boring for the extrinsic/impulsive. There are thus advantages for both groups in the differentiated personal control that Flipping allows.

Conclusion

John Edwards espouses the importance of PPK (Personal Practical Knowledge). Putting into practice one or both the ideas in this article gives the essential: the doing part of PPK. To turn it into Personal Practical Knowledge requires more than just doing. It also requires reflection and feedback. Moreover, this reflection and feedback has the clear aim of ensuring that those participating are continuous learners, striving to be better than before. My article in Teachers Matter Issue 30, Using Collaborative Teams for Professional Development, gives a proven method to do this.

Related Posts

Navigating Challenging Conversations

Navigating Challenging Conversations

Managing in Moments of Conflict

Managing in Moments of Conflict

Having the Wrong Conversation?

Having the Wrong Conversation?

Critical Conversations: Finding the Sweet-Spot

Critical Conversations: Finding the Sweet-Spot

Alan Cooper


Alan Cooper is an educational consultant based in New Zealand. As a principal, he was known for his leadership role in thinking skills, including Habits of Mind, learning styles and multiple intelligences, information technology, and the development of the school as a learning community. Alan can be reached at: 82napawine@gmail.com