{"id":30337,"date":"2013-02-11T10:00:58","date_gmt":"2013-02-11T17:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/?p=30337"},"modified":"2013-02-10T13:54:17","modified_gmt":"2013-02-10T20:54:17","slug":"introverts-unite-stop-calling-us-shy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/02\/introverts-unite-stop-calling-us-shy\/","title":{"rendered":"Introverts, Unite! Stop Calling Us Shy!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

I immediately clicked on Jessica Lahey\u2019s article \u201cIntroverted Kids Need to Learn to Speak Up at School\u201d<\/a> because I am both a teacher and an introvert. As far as the headline goes, I agree with Lahey\u2019s argument as well as her premise\u2014that the outside world demands dialogue and discussion, and educators who coddle children and never require them to speak ultimately do the children a disservice.<\/p>\n

However, I take issue with many of the claims Lahey uses to support that overall argument. For instance, she writes:<\/p>\n

When it comes time to assess my students\u2019 engagement with these questions, I could quiz them daily and force them to write reams about the topics I want them to consider. Or I can ask them to open their mouths, turn on their brains, and share their ideas with the rest of the class. I opt for a happy medium, and require a little bit of both.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She correlates \u201copening their mouths\u201d with \u201cturn[ing] on their brains,\u201d as if writing itself required no thought. She also admits what I see as a problem with some extraverted communication as well, though she doesn\u2019t seem to see it as problematic, i.e., where people open their mouths first and think later. I also find it odd that her portrayal of writing as forced production of \u201creams\u201d seems so negative when she is, after all, an English teacher. Me too. I often use a balance of writing and discussion in my classes so that there are multiple means of assessment\u2014Lahey seems to do the same\u2014but I value writing itself as a method of learning that is at least as valuable as speech. Writing ought not to be taught or viewed as spewing out half-hashed ideas, but, then again, I don\u2019t think productive discussions do that either.<\/p>\n

I see no problem with Lahey\u2019s class participation component, but her argument is flawed in that she\u2019s basing it on social anxiety, which isn\u2019t the same thing as introversion. I\u2019m not afraid to share my ideas. I simply process them internally before I say them out loud. That sometimes puts me at a disadvantage because I\u2019m rarely the loudest or the first to speak, but what we introverts might lack in spontaneity, we make up for in thoughtfulness. In the end, introverts and extraverts need to learn from each other a balance of listening and speaking, contemplation and action. Unfortunately, I don\u2019t feel terribly confident that Lahey has gleaned that message the way she claims to.<\/p>\n

Photo by\u00a0Malate269<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“In the end, introverts and extraverts need to learn from each other a balance of listening and speaking, contemplation and action.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1225,"featured_media":30382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1484],"tags":[1845],"class_list":["post-30337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-culture","category-ofthemoment","tag-introverts"],"yoast_head":"\nIntroverts, Unite! Stop Calling Us Shy!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""In the end, introverts and extraverts need to learn from each other a balance of listening and speaking, contemplation and action."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/02\/introverts-unite-stop-calling-us-shy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Introverts, Unite! Stop Calling Us Shy!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""In the end, introverts and extraverts need to learn from each other a balance of listening and speaking, contemplation and action."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/02\/introverts-unite-stop-calling-us-shy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christ and Pop Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-11T17:00:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-02-10T20:54:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/280\/2013\/02\/classroom.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erin Wyble Newcomb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erin Wyble Newcomb\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/02\/introverts-unite-stop-calling-us-shy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/02\/introverts-unite-stop-calling-us-shy\/\",\"name\":\"Introverts, Unite! Stop Calling Us Shy!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-11T17:00:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-02-10T20:54:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/870b8a210af6daa9acae651c24bad3a0\"},\"description\":\"\\\"In the end, introverts and extraverts need to learn from each other a balance of listening and speaking, contemplation and action.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/02\/introverts-unite-stop-calling-us-shy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/02\/introverts-unite-stop-calling-us-shy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/02\/introverts-unite-stop-calling-us-shy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Introverts, Unite! Stop Calling Us Shy!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/\",\"name\":\"Christ and Pop Culture\",\"description\":\"Where the Christian faith meets the common knowledge of our age\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/870b8a210af6daa9acae651c24bad3a0\",\"name\":\"Erin Wyble Newcomb\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0deca352f418bb7703a43e8ebb5d694b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0deca352f418bb7703a43e8ebb5d694b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Erin Wyble Newcomb\"},\"description\":\"Erin Wyble Newcomb earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction and Women's Studies from Penn State University. In addition to parenting her daughters, running marathons, and making things with glitter, she teaches in the English Department at SUNY New Paltz. Follow Erin on Twitter @ErinWyble or at http:\/\/phdmama.com\/.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/author\/enewcomb\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Introverts, Unite! Stop Calling Us Shy!","description":"\"In the end, introverts and extraverts need to learn from each other a balance of listening and speaking, contemplation and action.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/02\/introverts-unite-stop-calling-us-shy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Introverts, Unite! Stop Calling Us Shy!","og_description":"\"In the end, introverts and extraverts need to learn from each other a balance of listening and speaking, contemplation and action.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/02\/introverts-unite-stop-calling-us-shy\/","og_site_name":"Christ and Pop Culture","article_published_time":"2013-02-11T17:00:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-02-10T20:54:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"600","height":"300","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/280\/2013\/02\/classroom.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Erin Wyble Newcomb","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Erin Wyble Newcomb","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/02\/introverts-unite-stop-calling-us-shy\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/02\/introverts-unite-stop-calling-us-shy\/","name":"Introverts, Unite! Stop Calling Us Shy!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-02-11T17:00:58+00:00","dateModified":"2013-02-10T20:54:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/870b8a210af6daa9acae651c24bad3a0"},"description":"\"In the end, introverts and extraverts need to learn from each other a balance of listening and speaking, contemplation and action.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/02\/introverts-unite-stop-calling-us-shy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/02\/introverts-unite-stop-calling-us-shy\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/02\/introverts-unite-stop-calling-us-shy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Introverts, Unite! Stop Calling Us Shy!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/","name":"Christ and Pop Culture","description":"Where the Christian faith meets the common knowledge of our age","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/870b8a210af6daa9acae651c24bad3a0","name":"Erin Wyble Newcomb","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0deca352f418bb7703a43e8ebb5d694b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0deca352f418bb7703a43e8ebb5d694b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Erin Wyble Newcomb"},"description":"Erin Wyble Newcomb earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction and Women's Studies from Penn State University. In addition to parenting her daughters, running marathons, and making things with glitter, she teaches in the English Department at SUNY New Paltz. Follow Erin on Twitter @ErinWyble or at http:\/\/phdmama.com\/.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/author\/enewcomb\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}