An introverted teacher.

Teaching does not seem like a career suited for introverted people: you spend all day talking to others, be it students, your colleagues or managers, you can't hide yourself in the office and pretend you're not there, because it's not that sort of a job.

When I started teaching, I was a little worried about this side of things. I had an office job one summer and it was really enjoyable, just sitting at my desk, getting tasks done with very little distractions. Having come to a classroom, I had to get used to high pace, unpredictability and sometimes controlled chaos. And having people around you all the time.

I don't crave human contact after work, I'm not keen on those pub outings on Friday afternoon: after a buys day, I just want to go home and finally be on my own. I will call Mr Magic and speak to my parents as well, but beyond that, I'm pretty happy to do my own thing. Every fortnight or so I might reach out to a friend to go out for a cup of coffee or to see a movie, but I'm not a sort of person who needs entertainment involving other people every night.

As it turned out, teaching is a pretty good match for my introverted personality. I reckon it's all about purposeful interactions.

If I went to a crowded party, it would make me feel uncomfortable, because these interactions would have no defined purpose. However, in a classroom, the purpose is really clear: I'm there to teach the children, and the children are there to learn. Of course, it's also about building relationships and I don't spend 100% of time talking about Maths. But this is something that I had to get used to, because I'm not naturally good at having those little chats about pets, movies, apps and whatever else children are obsessed about at that moment. So it took me some time to become comfortable with interactions going beyond strictly teacher-pupil structure. But as I got more confident and got to know my pupils better, these unstructured moments became less painful. Sometimes I'm still thrown off guard but what my pupils share with me, but I feel that I can deal with it in a much better way now than before.

Being an introverted teacher really gives me the best of both worlds. I get my dose of human contact during the day, but after work I get home to my quiet place where I can recharge. Of course, I need to manage this human contact during the day: I have quite a low noise threshold, so I struggle with loud classes and this drains me more than anything. After an hour in a particularly noisy environment I need time to recover and this might not be possible immediately, since there might be more children waiting at the door. But I can spend a break in a quiet space, or close the doors for a minute and gather my thoughts before moving on. It takes a bit of thinking and effort in terms of finding techniques which work for me, but it it necessary: otherwise the danger is that I will become emotionally burnt out.

I love my pupils and really enjoy working with them. Teaching is such a fulfilling profession and I wouldn't change it for another job. In the past two years I've found that my introverted nature doesn't hinder me at all in becoming a successful teacher. I embraced who I am and how I work, letting go of the ideas what teachers should be like or what they should do. I'm doing things my way instead, making it work for me and my pupils.