Avoiding Siberia

Generally speaking, the classes at NCC are small, but there is still room to get lost.  Think of the layout of your classroom: There are seats lining the front row, many seats in the middle of the room, and a row of seats pressed against the back wall.  Where is one to sit?

It seems for some of us that we gravitate to the back.  I'm an English Professor, not a Psychologist, but I observe a lot of student behavior.  Now the following two points certainly don't apply for all rear-of-the-classroom dwellers, but for some of you, the rear maybe be more comfortable because:

1. You won't get called on as much: If you stay out of the instructor's sight then you'll stay out of the instructor's mind.  The instructor will be so busy answering questions from the front and middle rows, so busy asking volunteers in the front and middle rows to read passages aloud from the textbook, that you can safely stay in your own cocoon.  Or, 
2. You can do other things:  If the instructor is not calling on you to contribute in class you can sneak in some studying for the class after his in which you have a test.  Or you can, with your phone strategically placed next to your text book or resting on your lap (out of the sight lines of your professor), continue with texting, Facebook, Twitter conversing.  The class can stay a backdrop to what you feel are more important, interesting, pressing concerns in your life. 

I had a professor in grad school who had widely written about pedagogy and student engagement in the classroom.  He labeled the back row in his classroom "Siberia," a cold place where some students chose to sit because they knew they wouldn't be called upon to fully engage in the life of the classroom. He found much more enthusiasm generated in the front-end of the classroom and more disconnection in the back.  

I would challenge you to mix-up where you sit in the room.  And you can change things up at any time during the semester.  Try the classroom from different perspectives.  If you're a rear-sitter, move to the front.  You may find out that being so much closer enables you to become so much more engaged in what the professor/class is doing.  You'll get more and you'll miss less.  If you've ever been directly in front of the stage in a concert, you will know what I mean.  The performance becomes immediate and engrossing.  The difference between a great show, a good show, and a so-so show can relate to your vantage point of where you were sitting/standing during the show.  

The same can happen in a classroom.