In “Teaching the Quiet Child” Edweek (tiered subscription) guest columnist Sherry Armstrong raised the question of the best way to actually help introverted students in the classroom. Citing an article by James McCroskey (Quiet Children in the Classroom: On Helping Not Hurting) “When asked what one should do to help a child that is quiet, the most frequent suggestion of the teachers with whom I have worked is to give them more speaking experiences. While this approach may be helpful to some people, it is very likely to be harmful to most. Not all quiet children are alike.”
Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking recently posted an informal survey asking readers to discover their greatest character strengths using the VIA Survey tool. Will character strength patterns emerge among self-identified introverts? Might VIA measures (character strengths, core positive capacities for thinking, feeling, and behaving in ways that benefit others and oneself) open a pathway to deepen a personalized learning experience for the introverted student?
