All Students Are
was working through difficult issues
at home, including the question of
whether he should take medications.
Staying focused in Mr. Sosa’s science
class was hard for him. He could derail
the class in seconds with a nasty quip to
a peer or an inappropriate comment in
a whole-class discussion. Getting Darren
to work and make progress was a daily
battle.
The arts teach
students persistence,
empathy, teamwork—
and much more.
Linda Nathan
Not long ago, Mr. Sosa came to me in a fit of exaspera- tion. “I’ve had it with Dar- ren. I’ve moved his seat right next to my desk. I’ve
spent extra time with him after school.
I’ve called home. I’ve put him on a
contract. I’ve talked to the counselor.
In my 30 years of teaching, he’s one of
the most frustrating students I’ve ever
taught!”
Darren was a 10th grade dancer with
severe attention deficit disorder. He
Darren: From Dance to Science
As Mr. Sosa and I talked, I realized that
at that moment Darren was in ballet
class. “Let’s go see what he does in
there,” I suggested. “Maybe we’ll observe
something about how he learns.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF LIZA VOLT
I don’t want to overblow any claim
about the arts as the key to unlock
learning issues, but as we entered
Darren’s ballet class, I felt as though
we had walked into a fairy tale. This
uncontrollable, impulsive, and often
mean-spirited young man was beautiful here. He moved fluidly, with grace
and poise. He was at the front of the
class, and other students followed his
movements. Darren picked up nuances
so adeptly and quickly that the teacher
often used him to show corrections to
the rest of the class. He seemed completely secure in his body—happy and
free. He knew he was in control, and
he knew he was good. How could we
transfer that self-knowledge and self-confidence to science class?
A few weeks later, in Mr. Sosa’s
room, Darren stood at his table working on his problem set. For the entire
90-minute block, Darren rarely sat
down. He sometimes moved around
the circumference of the room, but he
wasn’t bothering other students. I asked
Mr. Sosa what had changed. “We talked
about what I had seen in dance class
