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Lecture Information:  Avoidance Goals

1. Work Avoidant:
   For many of these students, school is scene as a kind of game.  The object of this game is to do as little as possible.  It is like the old joke, "What did you do in high school?"  "As little as possible!"  There are various permutations of this orientation.  Some might try with all industry to be invisible in your eyes, to go as long as possible without being noticed, fly under the radar.  Others might be the ones who are constantly trying to renegotiate assignments for lower expectations, easier content, and fewer requirements.  This latter type can be seen as more an active participant in the above mentioned "game."
2. "Work Avoidant" Characteristics:
   1. Wall-Flower:
      It might be as late as Christmas break and you still don't know their name.  They have most likely practiced their art of dodging work for many years and fully expect to successfully get through your class with a minimum of effort. 
   2. Negotiator:
      Every assignment is a battle.  This type will constantly bring up circumstances that may not apply, exceptions that invalidate the project, deadlines that need to be moved back, etc.  They are always looking for their angle, some sort of diminishment, or special treatment. 
   3. Little Eye-Contact:
      They don't want you to remember them in virtually any way, so making eye contact is pretty risky. 
   4. Proximity:
      Work avoidant generally sit on the edges of the classroom.  They go right to the back of the class, or to the sides, depending on where you are doing most of your interactions with the class.  If you stand in the center, they will move to the corners.  If you stand to one side, they will move to the middle. And so on.  The object is to stay as far away from you as they can.
   5. Posture:
      Generally speaking, barring physical abnormalities, they just can't stand up straight, sit up straight, or keep from leaning against something.  This is basically someone whose ambition is to have no ambition.  Mr. Highly Minimal.