teaching and extroversion

One thing I've noticed is that I'm pretty different from a lot of other teachers, and one of the key differences is that I'm a lot more introverted than most teachers I know.

A lot of people would argue (convincingly) that you have to be an extrovert to be a good teacher, or to enjoy teaching. Sounds pretty logical, since as a high school teacher, you can potentially spend your day with around 150 kids, not to mention all the staff members you interact with outside of your teaching time. But I have to disagree.

While I am decidedly not extroverted, and generally prefer keeping to myself, talking as little as possible, and tend to maintain a somewhat detached state, I don't have any problem whatsoever relating to most kids. Although I interact with students in an entirely different way than a more extroverted teacher might, I get pretty good results doing it my way, and on my terms. Someone asked me once "how do you do that" (get the response out of kids that I do), and really I don't know. It just kind of comes naturally, I guess. It's not something that I do a whole lot of thinking about. I think it's just a frame of mind.

As a more introverted individual than the vast majority of my colleagues, I probably do have to put a bit more effort into my teacher persona, but it's not something that I particularly struggle with. I kind of enjoy getting to play another version of myself. One thing I learned during student teaching is that I can get real uppity and lay it down when I need to, and if anything, it's probably more effective because I'm not like that all the time.

I think part of the reason that it works for me, in spite of my introvert tendencies, is that I have enough mental energy to think deep thoughts AND interact with groups of teenagers, grade their papers, redirect their off-task behaviors, and simply chat. So while I am the sort who would definitely rather read a book than do anything that involves large crowds, I do genuinely enjoy the time I spend working with kids.