College And The Introvert By Julia Fawal

Talking is something I could do all day. Anyone that knows me knows I love to ramble on and on about things. Even in my classes when my teachers make us read aloud or discuss in groups, I loved it and was always one to volunteer first. I fed off of other people’s energy. Every time we got into small groups I would lead the conversation especially when it came to which idea to share. But there was always that one kid in the group that would choose to not talk, regardless of how brilliant their ideas were. Every time I looked at their paper they had the best and most creative answers written down, they just didn’t like to share them. So although a majority of learners can benefit from groups, not all can. In institutions today, the extrovert

It is very common for teachers to lean towards a more extroverted teaching style than an introverted one. In the article “College and The Introvert,” writer Julia Fawal even talks about Daniel Ullucci, a college professor who relates to unintentionally favoring students who speak up in class. But, unlike many professors he knows that “‘Giving time for students to think about what they want to say is important as well. I think instructors have to learn not to fear silence’” (Fawal). He acknowledges that introverts tend to formulate their ideas in their heads before saying them unlike extroverts who think out loud and formulate their ideas with talking to other people. So as a mentor, a teacher should understand that just because a student is quiet does not mean that they are disconnected from the discussion or just don’t care enough to participate. It means they process information differently. Knowing and acknowledging the two different learning styles will lead to success of all students instead of just the more extroverted ones. To add to that point, Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking and co-founder of the Quiet Revolution even narrates that, “One of the most interesting findings, echoed by later studies, was that more creative people tended to be socially poised introverts” (Cain). She is depicting that although extroverts are favored in the classroom for speaking up, introverts have creativity flowing through them and just because they don’t speak up doesn’t mean that they don’t have equally if not better ideas and thoughts. Even in the article, “Caring for Your Introvert”, Yale graduate, author, journalist, and activist Jonathan Rauch also makes a claim that introverts are "a minority in the regular population but a majority in the gifted population”