Being a quiet person.

Hi there,

I have a different kind of post planned for today, it's going to end up being a pretty long one. Today I wanted to share what I think about 'class participation'.

Every semester (that's twice a year) I receive a school report and must go and meet with all my teachers to discuss my learning. The feedback is almost always good. I am doing my work, achieving well in my assessments and I do most of the things that the teachers ask. But the one thing I hear from almost all my teachers is that I need to speak up and participate in class more. Sometimes every single one of my teachers will tell my parents and me that I can get better grades, especially for application to studies, if I participated in class discussions and shared my ideas with the rest of the class.

Honestly it makes me annoyed that I am expected to be willing to share my ideas with the rest of the class all the time, even if that is not who I am or what I want to do. Often it is overlooked that I do all my classwork and go up to ask the teachers questions when I need to. I am told that because I do not put my hand up in class discussions very often I am not participating in classes. I am always told that one of my goals could be contributing to class discussions more, and to a point that is a good goal. But my point is that it is not fair to expect me, or anyone else to be someone who they are not and do things they do not what to do simply to be participating.

I am an observer. I don't like jumping into things that I don't know anything about. I will listen, and think and form an opinion and idea and then, if I want, I will share it. I am not the sort of person who puts their hand up every single time the teacher asks a question, or just shouts out the answers. If I know the answer I will occasionally offer a response. But I don't want to be called upon all the time when I am perfectly happy to write my thoughts down and share when I have something meaningful to say.

I am tired of being overlooked, or told that what I am doing is not what they want. Especially when it comes to class participation. It is not taken into consideration that I take the time to carefully formulate my ideas before sharing them. No, it just isn't good enough that I am rarely sharing my ideas and answers. I am expected to adapt and fit in with all the noisy students in the class who shout out and are perfectly happy to share meaningless responses with the rest of the world. I am generally not allowed to learn in the way I prefer, quiet.

I believe that we, as a society, need to learn that it is important to value everyone how they are...not make them change to suit to circumstances all the time. I understand that I need to learn to adapt sometimes, but I do not think that it is fair to expect me to change all the time when there are some students who meet all the requirements, simply because they are vocal with their ideas- all the time! I find it difficult, especially since starting high-school last year, to be comfortable enough to speak up in my classes when the people I am around are constantly changing. Eventually, usually around this time of year, I am comfortable enough to start regularly contributing my ideas. But even then, I find it hard to keep up with the pace at which the discussion moves- I barely have any time to think of a response. I think that it is vital that we learn in include everyone, and give everyone equal opportunities to succeed and have a go- regardless of what type of learner they are.

There are ways around this problem. One of my teachers uses discussion based programs that give everyone a chance to properly think of a response before sharing it and seeing what others have done. Some teachers mark class participation on more than just speaking up, they take into consideration class work that you complete and completing the required activities. But some people don't seem to understand that not everyone wants to share, some people participate in different ways. There is one class in which I often get ignored because the teacher is too distracted by people yelling out to them.

I understand that I need to learn to work with others and share my ideas. But I don't believe that it should be this way all the time. The class needs to be suited to all different types of students not just those who work best bouncing their ideas off others. Or, at least, if we must do group work and share our ideas with everyone else at least the students pick people they are comfortable with talking to. Knowing one person in a group of 5 makes all the difference for me, yet no one seems to understand this. I am constantly being overshadowed by more vocal students.

Our world is increasingly becoming one for vocal and extroverted people. People who want to share and work in loud and stimulating environments. Everyone needs to be reminded that there are people who are not like this, people who mightn't work best in loud and stimulating environments. Yet no consideration is taken for these types of people. Everything is tailored towards more confident, out-going and extroverted people. We need to remember that our world is a balance of different people and just because someone doesn't speak up doesn't mean they don't have a valid opinion and something to share.

Below I have included a TED talk that I watched and found related closely to what I was taking about in this post.

Also, take a look at these articles, about being a quiet learner in the busy classroom, quiet students and being a quiet person.  

Please let me know in the comments if you enjoyed this post, any thoughts you have or if you would like to see more of this type of post.