How Teachers Can Help Children Overcome Shyness

Shyness is a feeling of emotion where a person feels timid or intimidated in a situation. Many people don't know the basics of this feeling and tend to get confused that maybe it is in a particular case that it is triggered. However, shyness is not a temporary early childhood phase that you can grow out of with time. It is an inhabited feeling that may start as early as in infancy and may take up your lifetime to overcome.

According to statistics published in this regard, 10 to 15% of newborns are born with shyness as an inhabited trait. In addition to this, 40 to 60% of adults say they are currently still regarded as a shy person. Thus, these numbers represent that not many people are born with shyness but develop the feeling over time.

Therefore, to nip in the bud sometime before it fully blooms, here are eight ways teachers can work with their young students to overcome shyness.

Eight ways to how Teachers Can Help Children Overcome Shyness

1. Provide Plenty of Options Allow non-verbal option to initiate a conversation and carry it along for a student that might be feeling shy of actually speaking up. Even something as small as asking your students to raise their hands among a question and answer session can be very intimidating. Therefore, as a teacher, you need to come up with a different strategy for children to notify if they have a question or they want to answer and join in the discussion. Teachers might think providing a nonverbal option to a student who is already shy is playing into the child's weakness. However, that is not the case. Gradually shifting the kid to speak up or raise their hand is the way to go.
   
   
2. Build a Supportive Relationship with Your Student Teachers are supposed to be already well versed in speaking a language that not only kids understand but love and respond to. Teachers can naturally build a friendly environment in the classroom that encourages relationship development. It is one quality of a teacher that makes them successful in their profession and can be more useful when it comes to shy or timid students. As a teacher, you should bring about your core capabilities to the front and work to find out a child's interest, what sparks their passion, and be compassionate towards their slow process of opening up.
   
   
3. Use Collaborative Learning in the Classroom Shy students tend to exclude themselves out of the group or some activity that might involve more than one of the people with whom they don't feel comfortable. This can be a classroom activity with fellow classmates or a group discussion or creative team activity. But as a teacher, you have been assigned to carry the whole class together. Leaving a student or two behind they didn't want to be a part of the activity will not cut it and would be seen as a drawback on your capabilities. Thus to carry collaborative learning successfully, encourage the students being shy to make friends, make group activities more fun than competitive, and indulge things that naturally attract children like colors, balloons, puzzles, etc.
   
   
4. Don't Pressure the Child To all those parents and teachers who think pressuring and actually forcing a shy kid to speak up is a way to go then, this is the most horrifying thing you as an elder can do to a child. It is not only morally incorrect, but it will get you nowhere except now you have to deal with a child that as shyness in addition to social anxiety. Therefore, your approach shouldn't be any least bit of pressurizing. It would be best if you dealt with them calmly. Never deliberately put them in situations that can be stressful or embarrassing for them to deal with.
   
   
5. Set Individual Goals of Every Student Setting goals is a general classroom ethic. However, with students who are shy, setting prolonged goals can be intimidating. Try having a one on one discussion with them and as they start to feel more comfortable, set small achievable goals with them that you know they will be able to achieve. Not only will this let them adopt a goal-oriented approach towards other life tasks, but reaching a goal successfully will help them gain confidence and lose their shyness during the process.
   
   
6. Allot Significant Time Limits for Completion of Tasks Now that maybe you shy little flower has started to bloom, don't bombard them with things they have just begun to undertake. Instead, take a slow and steady approach in letting them do these tasks. Don't bind them with time limits and give them a free hand to take as much time as it may require completing a task successfully. Giving them this freedom would work out successfully, and just when you feel they are capable enough, slowly put the time restraint on them and gradually increase it to ensure they learn time management.
   
   
7. Hold Activities to Boost Confidence Now your shy, timid student has learned to talk, raise a hand, and ask questions. Now they just need a confidence booster that reassures them that they are on the right track. Activities held in class that plays to their strengths can be the perfect booster to their abilities that they need right now. Use coursework writing service UK to help you arrange creative writing activities for your students.
   
   
8. Talk to the Parents Now you have a masterpiece ready to present to the parents who, in coordination with you, must have tried best to their capabilities too at home to bring about their shy child as a confident one. Talk to them about what you have achieved and ask them where they have reached with their progress. It is highly likely that both parents and teacher working incoordination can successfully help the child shine out of shyness.

Bottom Line All in all, shy children need support, love, and someone who truly sees their potential before giving-up on them. As a teacher, become a mentor to your children and see them flourish to the best for their abilities in no time!


Author Bio: Claudia Jeffrey is currently working as an Assistant Manager For Research & Development at Crowd Writer, an excellent platform for getting custom essay writing service. Having taught herself in pre-school and students' favorite, she understand feelings associated with the young ones well. She shares her opinions online through her blog.