Please excuse my short rant against this article:
"Introverted Kids Need to Learn to Speak Up at School"
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/02/introverted-kids-need-to-learn-to-speak-up-at-school/272960/
This is a really great example of how misunderstood introverts are and the incorrect assumptions made about them. Basically, this is a self-admitted extraverted teacher forcing introverts to act like extraverts. Any real science will tell you that introverts brains are physically different and that this can't/shouldn't be done. Her world view is obviously U.S.-centric as she advocates extraversion as correct and the only path to follow... even though places like China, with way more population than the U.S., generally value introversion and see it as a sign of respect. Finally, she obviously does not have a grasp of the difference in introversion and shyness.
"I am aware that as an extrovert, I naturally teach to and understand the needs of extroverts."
Kudos for being up front about this. Now, exactly what makes you qualified to speak for introverts and how they should be taught? Ah, you read some Susan Cain book.
"However, I also teach introverts, who live in fear of being asked these sorts of questions."
Introvert does not equal shy.
"If you can't speak up for yourself, if you can't muster the courage to tell the person you love that you love them, if you can't advocate for your own safety, the world will be a very intimidating and frightening place. I don't want my kids to be intimidated by the world."
Again, mixing up introversion and shyness. Imagine Sheldon in Big Bang Theory. He is certainly an introvert (ISTJ probably). Does he have _any_ problem at all speaking up for himself? Does he seem afraid of the world or intimidated by it? I realize that this is a exaggerated fictional character but it is a great example that everyone can probably find to a lessor extent in their own interactions.
I'll speak a little about myself in school. First, I was not very vocal because I am a very visual oriented person. Auditory data is very hard for me to parse but I can take visual data and quickly interpret and expand upon it. Written communications are more precise and understandable for me. So visual vs auditory learning may be why some students are not "participating" as much as you would like. Forcing extraverted behavior is probably detrimental to your students learning if they are in a similar situation.
Next up: While teachers were slowly talking their way through whatever topic was being discussed, I had already read the chapter we were on, understood it and was generally reading the next chapter (or usually chapters that the class would never cover if it was an interesting topic for me). I was bored with the slow pace to be quite honest. Most classrooms have to teach to the speed of the slowest learning members. I hold no ill will and I know it is hard to make smaller, more agile classes. When you force this oral participation, you mandate that kids stay at the same lowest common denominator rate that you are teaching. That doesn't seem fair to the bored, faster learners in class. But hey, they must just be scared little introverts that need to be brought out of their shell right?
Introverts need more time to process information. See some previous articles for the science behind that. This seems very applicable to iNtuitives as they need to understand how this new data fits into the web of knowledge they hold and understand the interactions that may result. Sensors are able to take data for its face value and process it mentally more quickly. Being intuitive is great for inventiveness and finding new ways to look at topics but it also slows down the processing of new data. This means that some introverts and intuitive personality types may not be able to speak quickly to a new topic as they need time to digest the information. Calling on a student that is in the process of internalizing information may disrupt the process and cause them to have difficulty answering in a way that makes sense.
Finally, let me talk a little about how insanely "anti-intellectual" kids were when I was in school. Being smart was not "cool". Being very smart was isolating and quite honestly caused me to be the victim of much physical and mental violence/bullying. You know why I didn't raise my hand to answer a question (that I could usually practically answer in my sleep)? I didn't want to get beaten up again or become more isolated! So you force some poor smart kids to face that reality or make them basically lie and act stupid. Yes, I've done that too. I used to purposely miss just enough test answers to always make a C. C is average right? One year, I decided to make all Cs to stop messing up the grading curve for the rest of the class and hopefully become more accepted socially. You may be contributing to more bullying with the view you have taken in this article.
