The Extraverted Feeling Personality Type: An Introduction

Curriculum planning techniques and strategies designed to engage and inspire an extraverted-feeling class mix.

By Jen Lilienstein

The mindset of an extraverted feeling student

Looking for actionable strategies to better identify, design, and tailor plans for a predominantly extraverted-feeling class? Look no further. This article will cover insights that can also be used to help determine what types of interventions will be most effective or engaging for students with RTI, IEP, and 504 plans, or simply spark a passion for learning in pupils that aren’t as engaged as they could be.

For a free tool to help determine the personality types of your individual learners and class as a whole, click here.

Instruction Content

Consistently focused on the welfare of others, Extraverted Feelers come alive when the instructor focuses on how new knowledge can be used to help others (Kise 2007).

Tying current events into curriculum plans—whether global or hyper-local (e.g. what’s happening at school)—will grab extraverted feelers fastest as it keys into what is directly and visibly affecting the lives of others in the present tense.

Incorporate group discussions that leverage self-disclosure (Berens 1999) and help the class understand different sides of an issue by relating it to first-hand student experiences. Extraverted feelers are particularly adept at consensus building, so make unanimity the goal of the discussion whenever possible.

Process and Techniques                                                                                                                              

As with all extraverted types, these pupils learn most effectively when they have an ability to think out loud (Lawrence 1996). Therefore, provide as many opportunities as you can to think-pair-share or implement group learning.

Because these kids thoroughly enjoy both leading and helping others, give extraverted feelers who understand a concept well the opportunity to be an assistant teacher every once in a while. Let them know that you would like their help to assist their peers in understanding the topic and give them a couple of days to put together a plan. This will not only allow your struggling learners to get a new perspective on the topic they find challenging, but “When students are involved in designing the lesson, they better understand the goal of the lesson and become more emotionally invested in and attached to the learning outcomes (Immordino-Yang and Faeth 2009)."

Like all people with judging personality types, extraverted feelers hold a special place in their hearts for teachers that maintain a consistent routine over the course of the school year. Judgers, in particular, like to be able to anticipate what’s coming up when—whether it’s within a daily, weekly, or monthly scheduling framework.

Work Product

For all feeling personality types, both introverted and extraverted, no feedback is the same as negative feedback. Be sure to praise these kids’ strategies, effort, and attitudes to keep them motivated (Dweck 2007). When grading essay assignments for extraverted-feeling pupils, be sure to highlight what you liked about each assignment, not just the aspects that negatively impacted their grades.

As for the rubrics you generally keep to yourself for grading purposes, think about how you can make your rubrics student-friendly and distribute them to scholars at the beginning of the school year. This will provide your extraverted feeling class members with well-defined expectations for assignments so that they know exactly how to please you—something that is of utmost importance to these learners.

Exercises That Extraverted Feelers Would Enjoy:

Invention Inquiry

A science exercise that explores how and why people invent tools. There is a focus on what the tools are and types of tools; but the aspect that will pique the interest of your extraverted feelers is why we make them and what impact they have had on society.

Applying Principles of Civic Liberty

A social studies lesson that explores community and school rules. Group discussions include equal access to community and school resources, who benefits from various school and community rules, and what rules or resources would be of maximum benefit to the school. There’s even an extension that involves pen pal letters to determine services available in other areas of the state/country, and why those rules and resources are important to the other group—a component that’s sure to whet the appetite for learning in your extraverted feelers.

Save Your Vessel from Pirates!

In this math unit, scholars put their Common Core math skills to work. Pupils pretend they are commanding an 18th century naval vessel and have to make sure they keep their ships safe from pirates. Explore how sailors in the 1700s used math, and what life was like as a sailor or pirate. This exercise makes math come alive in a way that will engage an extraverted feeler. 

Exploring Brothers & Sisters in Literature

This language arts unit explores sibling relationships in fiction. Learners tie what they know about sibling dynamics in real life to those in books that they have read. Discussions include parallels between family challenges in books and what is happening in pupils’ own homes; stereotypes of eldest, middle, and youngest children; and interviews with other kids in the class that have different family structures.

References

Kise, Jane. 2007. “Differentiation Through Personality Types.”

Berens, Linda. 1999. "Dynamics of Personality Type."

Lawrence, Gordon. 1996. "People Types and Tiger Stripes."

Immordino-Yang, M. H. & Faeth, M. 2009. "The role of emotion and skilled intuition in learning."

Dweck, Carol. 2007. "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success."