You Probably Have An ESFJ Student In Your Classroom- Here’s How To Foster Their Personality

This is part of a series of using Myers Briggs personality types in the classroom. For more information, click here. For information on how to figure out your student’s MBTI type, click here. 

Dedicated, loyal, social, and personable. Does this describe a student of yours? If you have an ESFJ student, this could be a great explanation of their personalities. ESFJ students are your cheerleaders, your star football players, your student council leaders. They like to be the ones who set the stage and lead others to success.

Extroverted 
Sensing 
Feeling 
Judgment 

When you’re teaching an ESFJ student, you are teaching a future nurse, teacher, or child care worker. Their careers lead them down a path to take care of others because that’s what they do best, therefore it only makes sense that group work is where they work best. In a group work setting, they are the ones to look over everyone, making sure each person is involved and participating. 

They learn best when the material learning is systematic and organized in a manner they can visualize. Having the study material beforehand to access helps them vastly succeed. They also thrive on hearing different angles of how to accomplish what they are learning. For example, it would be very beneficial to teach them two or three different processes for long division, instead of sticking with one. This can help them fully connect the concept in their minds. 

ESFJs don’t handle criticism well and can be uncomfortable in a classroom where they have been criticized in the past. They need to feel validated and will flourish in an environment with a happy, comfortable culture.   

How can you use this information to better teach the students in your classroom? How do you teach your ENFJ students? 

Tips For Teaching Logical, Curious Students

This is part of a series of using Myers Briggs personality types in the classroom. For more information, click here. For information on how to figure out your student’s MBTI type, click here. 

The INTP personality is described as a logician, and for good reason. They thrive on logic and organized data leading them to discover theoretical ideas. They tend to spot liars fairly easy because they love to look for inconsistencies.

Introverted
i(N)tuition 
Thinking 
Percieving 

These students the ones who are quick to point out flaws or ask deeper questions in the material you may not know information on the depth they are inquiring about. Because they can be very critical in their speaking and questioning, they are often the students told to stop asking questions or to accept the material the way it is. This does nothing but infuriates them. INTP students are looking for deep, logical conversations where they can bounce theoretical ideas back and forth, sometimes not even making complete sense of their thoughts before moving on to the next. 

Most introverted students do not think group work is ideal, however, most of them do okay with limited amounts of it. For INTP students, it can actually harm their learning potential. In group work, they can feel limited by others because they cannot become lost in their own deep thoughts and instead are forced to listen to ideas from multiple peers.

A very interesting fact about INTP students is their lack of concern for test scores or grades. “INTPs are more concerned with meeting their own standards than they are with meeting an external set of standards. They have high intellectual goals for themselves and if the lessons they are being taught don’t align with what they think is worthwhile they will often spend their time thinking about other more stimulating ideas.” 

A tool to facilitate better grades for these students is to meet with them and figure out what their personal goals as a student are. This conversation can lead to a discussion about how their academic goals can line up to create better scores and grades, keeping everyone satisfied. 

INTP personality types can exude shyness from the beginning, but once they open up, the logical conversation can easily flow if it’s an interest of theirs. 

If you’re teaching an INTP student, there is a good chance you are educating a future architect, political scientist or engineer. However, there is a great chance you are also teaching a procrastinator. They work as quickly as possible, often finding shortcuts to cut down their workload in order to accomplish it on time, with the little time they do have. 

INTP students are constantly curious and challenging others. This can be a great tool in the classroom. Don’t underestimate these shy students, they can surprise you. 

Do you have any INTP students in your classroom? What tools do you have when teaching these students?