As a person I am incredibly socially awkward and I prefer to not be in crowds of people. When possible, I don't mind staying in my classroom. I tend to withdraw from the world.
A lot of my co-workers tell me that they rarely see me. Well for me, strangely enough, that is not a bad thing. The older that I get, the more antisocial I become. I wonder if this is part of my persona because when students come into my classroom I force myself to be happy and interested in them and it drains all of my social energy to invest it into them.
As a result, I have a difficult time walking through the hallways. I have always been bad about walking from point A to point B without wanting to divert my attention. I usually have my head down. My students often make fun of me and point out how much of a different person I am in the hallway. They see me as aloof and so serious while in my class, I don't have any missions to solve like outside of class.
I've been really trying to be outgoing. I have been forcing myself to stand outside of my door and greet people as they walk by. Even if they are not in my class, I try to smile at everyone. In previous years, I would sit at my teacher's desk and wait for students to come in.
But I have found in the days that I stand at the door and greet students with a smile, there tend to be less classroom management problems. It's almost as if that small validation of me welcoming the students has that much of an impact of their expectations of class. It's still not a perfect world, but I am trying to instill in them that I do care about them as individuals. That's an important starting point for us instructors with our students.
I'm still learning.
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