A guide for teachers of quiet or shy students
Please share with the teachers (and managers) in your lives!
Dear All,
Last week, I wrote to you with tips for socially anxious teenagers (and adults). And I promised that this week I’d share with you a guide that teachers can use for report cards and parent-teacher conferences, to describe their thoughtful, reflective students in the positive light they deserve.
Here now is that guide. It’s designed for the classroom, but you could equally apply these ideas to managers giving feedback.
Please share this far and wide, with the teachers (and managers) in your lives!
xo, Susan
Thank you so much for sharing this, Susan! I *feel* the value in two directions. One is as someone who works with children in a school. You’ve provided such a large number of valuable and helpful comments. The second is as a human being. I was instantly transported back to my experience as a student throughout my education. Reading certain comments brought tears to my eyes. If someone has said or written these comments about me, I think it would have been life-changing! I went through most of my life feeling like there was something wrong with me or I was lacking something. Comments like these would have helped me feel seen and understood by the teacher. I would have seen the way I was as a strength instead of a weakness. It would have helped ‘build me up’ instead of ‘push me down’. I plan to be more intentional at remembering this as I communicate with children and their parents.
I'm sure most kids are introverted or shy for psychological reasons, don't forget about the ones who act shy or introverted because they have a hearing problem. In my personal experience, behavioral issues that were attributed to being "inattentive" or "stubborn" or "disobedient" or "quiet" were actually caused by the inability to understand what was being said.