The back of the class kid

[HiPointDem]

I have a student, let's call him Tom, who from day one of my class mastered the art of taciturnity. He's one of those teens for whom speaking is just too much to ask. Silent, back of the class all the time, barely ever cracks a smile. But he did his work and his home work and I figured I should just let him be. He also scored very high scores on all my tests, when the rest of the class was struggling to kick out 65's or 75's. Not a surprise that even though he's in a remedial class he scored very high on the January test as well. Clearly somewhere in the totally silent, introverted head of his was a brain.

Today I walked by his usual spot in the back of the room and glanced at his notebook. To my surprise it was filled with notes from my lecture, but more than that, he had created drawings of analogies related to my lesson. The respiratory system notes had a drawing of two men, one labeled "Cell" and the other a UPS delivery guy. The UPS delivery guy was delivering packages of "oxygen" to Cell guy. For my lecture on the digestive system he drew a factory robot and a conveyer belt, as it churned out digested molecules, clearly labeled in the notes "starch --> glucose, proteins --> amino acids."

These analogies were so clever I actually want to steal them for future use...

I then looked on his transcript. He's repeating a grade. On paper he's a very poor student. I spoke with his science teacher from last year and she shuddered. "Forget him," she said. "Not worth it."

This year has been hard. I did find myself a position and it's worlds better than being an ATR but I'm just a provisional hire, I have no job security, and some days it's hard to wake up to travel 1.5 hours one way to work. But things like this keep me encouraged. I realized that the silent, sullen back of the class kid in his own way was the one paying the most attention to me. That I has triggered in him an interest in science that wasn't previously there. There isn't a paycheck in the world that can equal the joy I felt flipping through his notebook today, and seeing everything I said in class reinterpreted into drawings.

http://nyceducator.com/2013/02/the-back-of-class-kid.html

[daleanime]

1. I pray that his teachers continue .....

his progress. I

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Many times as a substitute teacher, I've encountered a kid,

usually a boy, whom the class and the teacher have labelled "the worst" kid in the class. I watch the kid; I listen to him speak; I throw him a few extra questions when others are waving their hands in the air. This kid more times than not is the unrecognized smartest one in the bunch. He's just ignored and mislabeled.

And he's being denied the education he deserves. OTOH, he relishes on a certain level his label. He's the "best" at being "worst".

I won't take the bait. If he's keeping another kid from doing work, I'll address that and only that. I'll take him out in the hall, address him privately, and won't humiliate him in front of the class.

In the regimentation of public (and many times private) education, children are expected to behave in a uniform fashion and any one who wants to be recognized as an individual or whom requires more attention will be punished one way or another.

[LWolf]

5. fyi

I have never, in 2+ decades of teaching, ever, labeled a student "the worst kid in the class."

Ever.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. I'm very pleased to know that.

I've watched teachers and administrators peg kids and then teach down to them.

[canoeist52]

3. The comment section makes it worth viewing the article.

[LWolf]

4. I wish

the majority wouldn't stereotype the minority.

Introverts haven't always "checked out." We aren't always isolated by bad circumstances, silently plotting revenge on the world.

Most of us just have a very rich inner life, are immersed in our thoughts, and aren't that interested in the surface activity that comprises most of human interaction.

No "back of the class kid" has ever gone unnoticed, or ignored, by me.

I wish I could get more middle school students to spend more time thinking, more time reflecting. The reality is that the vast majority are really uncomfortable with quiet, and really uncomfortable with just themselves.

Put that quiet kid in a very small group, no more than 3, and make sure everyone in the group has to add to a discussion. Then sit back and listen to what she has to say. Do that regularly, and pretty soon, everyone in the class will want the back of the class kid in their small group, because they know their group will have something worthy and interesting to report out to the larger group.

[canoeist52]

7. From a "quiet one", I thank you for this thoughtful post.

[LWolf]

8. You're welcome. :) nt