INTP's as teachers

[Beholder]

I'm wondering if there are any INTP teachers this forum, and if so how they like their jobs.
In my current position in the army I sometimes have to teach, usually three or four people, but occasionally classrooms of 10+, how to use these old manual aiming devices for artillery. It's highly theoretical, and despite what I originally expected, not only am I really good at it, I actually enjoy it, it gives me a sort of satisfaction. I'm also tutoring a friend in math for highschool, which I'm also enjoying.
I find when I'm teaching a group of people I can easily put on my "extroverted" face, and really become a sort of entertainer. It also gives me a lot of confidence, I think I'm one of the only people in the country who fully understands the geometry behind how these things work.

I would like to hear about other people's experience with teaching, I always imagined that doing it for a long time or for a living would be terrible for an INTP. Thoughts anyone?

 

[Words]

I think I've met plenty cheerful INTP professors, though I'm not sure. Always positive in class and all. I'm not a professional, but my small occasions of introducing knowledge to relatives and friends have felt really exhilarating. I'm currently looking for a teacher though.

 

[Fukyo]

I think teaching would be a rewarding way for an INTP to share their Ti gifts via a Fe conduit. Not to mention that information sharing is also something that comes naturally to Ne users.

 

[Particle]

It might depend on how long you've been at it, too. I remember that when I first started running a particular game server, I used to love to teach people how to do the various things they could in the game. New players often had questions and problems, and I was the lifeline for resolution. In essence, I was serving as a teacher for the population there.

The same situation arose many times throughout my adolesence with trying to impart knowledge about various topics to people around me in school. Programming for instance was a topic a few people wanted to learn about in electronics class. I was the only person there with years of having done it and the class didn't really cover the topic. Since I was in charge of leading the computing part of that class anyway, I decided I'd finally start teaching people about the subject.

In all these instances I found that at first, I really enjoyed it. As Fukyo mentioned, it was a rewarding feeling to have shared knowledge about a topic with others. With time though I've become jaded. In the subjects I know the most about, I find that the thought of trying to get someone up to speed to be discouraging. There's that long period of the other party not knowing much about the topic that you have to get through before you can share anything meaningful and complex with them.

Then you have to face the reality that if you're going to become a formalized teacher of a subject, you're going to be repeating the same cycle over and over again. Just when you get to the good part where the people know what's really going on, they'll be taken away from you and replaced with a fresh bunch of blank minds (on the subject). Everyone is different, but I just don't imagine it being enjoyable for an INTP long term if you're covering the same subject time after time. Of course, your unique personality complex might react differently than others' or mine.

 

[Jennywocky]

I think teaching would be a rewarding way for an INTP to share their Ti gifts via a Fe conduit. Not to mention that information sharing is also something that comes naturally to Ne users.

That.

I think the organization needed to do lesson plans and all the stupid teacher paperwork, etc., might be a little tedious; but especially in the higher levels of education, the INTP seems especially suited to impart information and enjoy instigating well-rounded discussions.

(It's even naturally one of the prime facets for my relationship with my kids -- teacher, helping them learn how to think for themselves, helping them explore contrasting views, etc. I love seeing the a-ha! look on their faces when they come up with something new, and am pleased when they manage to catch/challenge me on something I've overlooked.)

 

[jachian]

I love teaching. But at the higher levels.
I currently dont do it as a full time job, but twice a week I teach pre-college maths to adults. And I quite like it.

I do hate the paperwork part but, the actual teaching is great.

Again, I seem to do better teaching adults and teaching more advanced subjects like maths, chemistry and computer science. I once taught basic computer literacy and stuff and i hated it. the material was boring and it was just a mess.

So I guess if its specialist information, with a lot of abstractions you should enjoy it.
Though, if you teach the same stuff over and over again, you will start to get bored and may begin to hate it; so challenge yourself and learn new knowledge and methods.

 

[perkins]

I agree with the posts above.

I have been teaching (martial arts) for a little over 10 years. I think it depends on the environment your working in and how much flexibility your given. The less restrictions the better.

I try to delegate any paperwork, phone calls, cleaning, and any other tedious chores as much as possible.

 

[Pride]

I like imparting knowledge and information. It gives me a sense of self-worth and self-importance.

 

[HDINTP]

Well i don´t know what type of teacher would i be but when someone who i can´t say i hate(better i am interested in) want me to help him understand then i usually explain him so easily that i am even suprised by myself and suddenly he has no problem. What really doesn´t bother me at all is just explaining math problems just to one. What sometimes makes my mind go crazy is when i can´t understand that somebody else can´t understand probably because i don´t have key for entering his brain. I used to have one friend in my class who didn´t have excellent grades but he still was kind of intelligent one so i was just trying to motivate him tried to show him things from different angles and after few days i came to conclusion i expected probably the most.

 

[Guess]

Since I was a child, I realized that I was oddly different from most people:
1) Among small groups and doing small talk I was very shy, especially if I did not know the people yet.
2) In front of a large audience, doing some presentation I felt really confident, whereas most people would sweat.

Then, first time I read about MBTI that it was saying that many INTPs have such a trait...
That´s to say I really like doing presentations and teaching. At the same time it feels good to me, but most important it is good to share the knowledge.

Like the others on the thread, I´d rather talk at a university or technical level.

 

[Cogwulf]

I would love to teach, but I can't think of many jobs worse than being a teacher.
If you know what I mean...

 

[Hammo]

That's a little odd. I mean, aren't INTP's supposed to have a tendancy to explain things in what they think is the simplest way possible, but in reality no-one understands (I know I'm like that.) That doesn't sound like good teaching.
<cogwulf: Hah! Perry Bible Fellowship avatar. Nice.>

 

[HDINTP]

That's a little odd. I mean, aren't INTP's supposed to have a tendancy to explain things in what they think is the simplest way possible, but in reality no-one understands.
>

Yes that is a problem

 

[Iuanes]

I think students see a legitimate interest in an INTP teacher on the subject they teach (assuming they're interested). Students will be impressed and engaged with a teacher who seems to have a lot of knowledge or intelligence. If an INTP knows their stuff and can get over their enthusiasm for the subject it'll pull students in. On other hand, teaching styles that require lots of 'artificial' or 'social' energy, arent really our strongsuit.

One mbti site I looked at likened to the INTP to an 'aloof professor'. I tend to agree with it as a generalization. I think we're suited for highly level classes where the quality, complexity of ideas, and the creativity in which they are expressed, matters a lot. We're not as well suited for classroom management, moral instructor/inspirer, role model type classes .

(I teach esl by the way)

 

[Beholder]

That's a little odd. I mean, aren't INTP's supposed to have a t[FLV][/FLV]endancy to explain things in what they think is the simplest way possible, but in reality no-one understands (I know I'm like that.) That doesn't sound like good teaching.
<cogwulf: Hah! Perry Bible Fellowship avatar. Nice.>

Well to tell the truth, I have no way of really knowing whether or not I really did a good job of it, but it seemed to me like I did.

One mbti site I looked at likened to the INTP to an 'aloof professor'. I tend to agree with it as a generalization. I think we're suited for highly level classes where the quality, complexity of ideas, and the creativity in which they are expressed, matters a lot. We're not as well suited for classroom management, moral instructor/inspirer, role model type classes .

I started all my lessons with "ok guys, here's what's up. I'm not a teacher, I don't know how to handle interruptions and stuff. I'm gonna give you whatever grade you want at the end, I honestly don't care, but if you want to learn pay attention, I'll gladly teach you and explain as many times as I need to. If not please just be quite, play with your phones or something."

 

[Solitaire U.]

I teach EFL to 7-10 year olds in a private academy. Also teach small groups of adults, mostly local artists/craftspeople, at a non-profit cultural/language school. Finally, I (at this moment... always working to expand this segment as it's by far my favorite) privately tutor a psychiatrist (whose passion is music), businesswoman (whose passion is Economics), 17 year old male (whose passion is...sleeping would be my guess), and 8 year old male (whose passion is all things Transformers).

The passions are important to note because I structure my private lessons around a 3/4 grammar/ 1/4 conversation approach. One hour class: 45 minutes grammar/usage, 15 minutes free flow conversation.

The psych and businesswoman are great. The 8 year old is also great. Their raw ambition makes them a pleasure to work with.

The 17 year old doesn't care about actually learning to speak English. He just wants to pass his prepa exams. We do his lesson entirely in Spanish because that's how he wants it, and I believe he should get what he pays for. Probably the easiest private tutoring class I have in terms of preparation... I just throw rule charts, drill worksheets, and cheat sheet translations at him and leave it up to him to either absorb them or sneak them into his classroom to cheat on his exams as he sees fit.

The private academy is another matter. Kids, fellow staff and superiors are great, but the overarching bureaucracy is bullshit. I'm the only native English speaker in the joint...this commands both respect and resentment from fellow employees, but so far very minor amounts of the latter. The school has its own what passes for curriculum but is actually a McGraw Hill textbook titled 'Kid's Safari'. I basically follow the units in the book, but IMAO it's an overfed, under-producing Jersey Cow. Luckily I'm pretty much given free reign to milk that fucker for all it's worth, so I do. I'm probably not conforming to my (nonexistent) contract in the strictest sense, but I've learned over the years to use an overabundance of charisma as a screen for my lack of conformity issues.

I was taught to consider structured lesson plans as paramount to success in the classroom. My personal experience has been otherwise. I view every lesson as a system of intersecting conduits. My goal is to circumnavigate the system's most efficient route of learning from start to finish. This is rarely the most direct route in degrees of abstract distance. Mostly, I just let the students lead the way. It's up to them to decide which branches are worthy of exploration...I'm really just a guide, not a leader, and I love this.

My weaknesses:
Teaching by rote
Following curriculum not of my own design, or at the least of my own tweaking.
Sticking to a structured lesson plan, even one of my own design.
Working with students who don't give a shit.
Being saddled with Disciplinarian responsibilities.
Higher learning bureaucracy.

My strengths:
Charisma
Exploiting chaos and disorder into productive learning environments.
On the fly lesson navigation.
Bilingualism - awareness of idiosyncratic English/Spanish relationships and ability to intercommunicate with my students in both their native and the target language is IMAO an essential element of teaching EFL.

These strengths/weakness surely equal lower paying jobs, but I'm not riding ESL teaching as a career train to higher position or free ticket to self-centered exploration of foreign lands.

Perhaps better to think of it in terms of what the great INTPiquity can contribute to the profession than whether or not the profession is suited to INTP stereotypes.

 

[HDINTP]

I started all my lessons with "ok guys, here's what's up. I'm not a teacher, I don't know how to handle interruptions and stuff. I'm gonna give you whatever grade you want at the end, I honestly don't care, but if you want to learn pay attention, I'll gladly teach you and explain as many times as I need to. If not please just be quite, play with your phones or something."[/QUOTE]
Good you are not the only one how did it work?

 

[Beholder]

It actually worked really well, it kinda had the opposite effect of what I was hoping for - it made them really like me and take interest. I was hoping I would just be teaching a few interested people, but I ended up actually teaching a bunch of people who were interested in everything I said. Which was also fun.

 

[HDINTP]

It actually worked really well, it kinda had the opposite effect of what I was hoping for - it made them really like me and take interest. I was hoping I would just be teaching a few interested people, but I ended up actually teaching a bunch of people who were interested in everything I said. Which was also fun.

Ok so now i would like to ask what would you change if you could go back there and knew what will happen? I still think this is good but want also to ask can´t help it.

 

[Architect]

I used to teach, I always thought I loved teaching and was a great teacher, but I really wasn't that good. Too draining, basically it's a service job, and your customers ultimately don't want to be there either.

Don't mean to sound too downer but that's my perspective.

 

[Taniwha]

My father (who is an INTP was) a maths teacher during his early 20's before going on to optometry. I was home schooled under his wing during my teens, though he didn't teach me much except 'think for yourself and become your own person'. I have to confess though I was a lousy student as far as academics went.

As for myself, I love teaching, especially in the subjects that I'm passionate about. I practically enjoy working with kids due to their ability to question, their open honesty and probably the fact that they have developed their biased opinions yet.

 

[Vrecknidj]

I've taught university-level courses for about 20 years, mostly biomedical ethics. I've also taught high school (about 5 years), and have done 15+ years of tutoring for high school students.

I really enjoy teaching university students; I find teaching younger people exhausting.

Dave