Embrace the back row: the start of the school year is a time to reflect on our past practice and relationships with students.

Embrace the back row: the start of the school year is a time to reflect on our past practice and relationships with students. I once watched a professional dancer and choreographer lead a danceclass for middle school girls. As the complexity of the dance stepsincreased so did the restlessness and inattention in��at��ten��tion?n.Lack of attention, notice, or regard.Noun 1. inattention - lack of attentionbasic cognitive process - cognitive processes involved in obtaining and storing knowledge of the girls farthestfrom their instructor. During a break I remarked to the teacher,"Them seems to be a mutiny in the back row," to which heshrugged and said, "There's always a back row." Those words have haunted me ever since. Can the back row be avoided? While it might not be possible toengage every student at all times shouldn't teachers try to do so? Schools are full of all sorts of kids Some are a bit more eccentricthan others. Others are more needy or less attractive. Some lackmotivation while others are so enthusiastic about learning that they canseem like pests. The start of the school year is a time to reflect onore" past practice and relationships with former students. Suchintrospection will help guide the types of human interactions that mayhave a profound impact on the lives of the children in your care. Daniel was a nervous, yet articulate first grader whose personalityquirks were set to cause a heap of trouble. The school's child study team had prescribed that a pen bebuilt around Daniel's desk because he didn't like beingcrowded by other people. This "pathology" was based on theobservation that he said, "I don't like it when you stand soclose to me" when he felt crowded. Daniel's method ofaddressing his phobia phobia:see neurosis. phobiaExtreme and irrational fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation. A phobia is classified as a type of anxiety disorder (a neurosis), since anxiety is its chief symptom. seemed quite rational to everyone, except thechild study team. Thankfully, his gifted teacher objected to the pen andcreated meaningful activities in which Daniel could experience thebenefits of working collaboratively, even closely, with his peers. John was a gifted kid who read at 2 programmed computers by 8,spoke at national conference by 10 and was doing cancer research by 12.His thirst for knowledge Noun 1. thirst for knowledge - curiosity that motivates investigation and studydesire to know, lust for learningcuriosity, wonder - a state in which you want to learn more about something was unquenchable ant his talents limitless.Despite his good cheer and the generosity of his parents, John wasvictimized by teachers hell-bent on finding something he was not goodat, and by middle school administrators who did little to protect himfrom bullies. I am confident that John will use his PhD/M.D. and senseof social justice to make the world better place. Thomas is a kindergartner kin��der��gart��neralso kin��der��gar��ten��er ?n.1. A child who attends kindergarten.2. A teacher in a kindergarten. who no only reads like a pro but also isfascinated by geography and flags. He can locate any location in anatlas and recite the population density of Gabon. It took his teacherabout six months to acknowledge that Thomas could read One day,Thomas' teacher made a gesture to acknowledge the student'sinterests. He wrote, "Does Thomas know the capital ofColombia Noun 1. capital of Colombia - capital and largest city of Colombia; located in central Colombia on a high fertile plainBogotaColombia, Republic of Colombia - a republic in northwestern South America with a coastline on the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean ?" on the back of a homework paper. Thomas wrote"Bogota Does Mr. G. know the capital of Burkina Faso Burkina Faso(burkē`nə fä`sō), republic (2005 est. pop. 13,925,000), 105,869 sq mi (274,200 sq km), W Africa. It borders on Mali in the west and north, on Niger in the northeast, on Benin in the southeast, and on Togo, Ghana, and ?" Thatplayful challenge brought an abrupt halt to the game between teacher andstudent. Michael, an incarcerated incarcerated/in��car��cer��at��ed/ (in-kahr��ser-at?ed) imprisoned; constricted; subjected to incarceration. in��car��cer��at��edadj.Confined or trapped, as a hernia. 17-year-old, was said to be illiterate. Heinstalled software, programmed robots and demonstrated all sorts ofintelligence. A few days before his release he typed a 12,000-wordautobiography. When questioned about whether or not he could read andwrite Michael replied, "I can read and write but I was a slowreader, and I didn't like reading about bunnies. I like readingabout NASA NASA:see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASAin full National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationIndependent U.S. ." Gestures matter. Kindness matters Reaching out to kids who need abit more attention or occasionally laughing at the class clown mayprovide the spark that spurs a student to greatness Some kids will learnmore from you through the sharing of your humanity than from theproscribed PROSCRIBED, civil law. Among the Romans, a man was said to be proscribed when a reward was offered for his head; but the term was more usually applied to those who were sentenced to some punishment which carried with it the consequences of civil death. Code, 9; 49. curriculum. Celebrate diversity; find the right balance between being amused bychild's quirk and ignoring an annoying habit or two. Respect thelittle people who bless your classroom. Gary was a fourth grader who realized that painting everythingblack could get him evaluated by the child-study team on a regularbasis. His teacher tied him to his chair with jump rope jump ropeor skip ropeChildren's game in which players hold a rope (jump rope) at each end and twirl it in a circle, while one or more players jump over it each time it reaches its lowest point. just two yearsearlier. So, as we go forth into this new school year please do all youcan to embrace the back row. Perhaps that slightly wacky even annoying,kid will grow up to do great things. Maybe he'll even edit aneducation magazine. Gary Stager, gary@stager.org, is editor at-large and an adjunctprofessor a Pepperdine University Pepperdine University is a private institution of higher learning affiliated with the Church of Christ in unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States. The university's location overlooks the Pacific Ocean and is adjacent to the city limits of Malibu. .