“The teen brain is similarly attuned to oxytocin, another neural hormone, which makes social connections in particular more rewarding. The neural networks and dynamics associated with general neural reward and social interactions overlap heavily. Engage one, and you often engage the other. Engage them during adolescence, and you light a fire.” (Dobbs, D. (2011, October). Beautiful brains. National Geographic Magazine.)

That social interactions neurologically are rewarding for teenagers is a fact that I think should be integrated into the classroom, especially if there are some adolescents who would rather not come to class. This weekend I attended the Preemptive Education Conference. On the professional development day, I went to a session about making the curricula engaging for students. One suggestion that stuck with me, when the topic came up that it is hard to ensure that all students show up for first period, was to start the year by establishing a beginning or opening class ritual. The speaker, Jayson, gave an example of what he does in his Freshman English class. He starts everyday with the same game: the class must count to 19 (the number of students, plus the teacher in the class) together. They have to count, one person at a time (and you can only say one number), and if anyone says a number at the same time, they have to start over.  Jayson would not start the class until the counting had been successfully completed. In order to get up to 19, the whole class had to be in attendance, and if they could not, it would become obvious that someone was missing. Jayson explained that this made the boys want to come to class. Not only would their peers notice that they were missing, but the class couldn’t go on without him or her because they would be unable to count to 19. While the first two weeks were “rough,” Jayson explained, and the students at first were annoyed, soon enough, the students initiated the start of the game. By the end of the year, Jayson had one of the best attendance records for a morning class. Through this simple activity, he created a community in his classroom. Each member mattered and each student knew their presence was valued. Jayson acknowledged the fact that social interaction and peers offer rewards to students. Not only did students come to class, they wanted to be there.