Student who thinks he is smarter than teacher
I have a student who believes he is smarter than me. I am teaching a research class and the first day he walked in and announced he will have the paper done in two weeks so he will not be in the rest of the semester. I believe he will be disruptive to my class which I want to be a group discussion on research and research methods can you give me some advice on how to handle him. By the way I told him that the class was much more that just a paper and he was to attend class
Kelly,
I like you am OK with students thinking they are smarter than me and in fact they probably are. But what they do not have is the experience and expertise that I have in relation to what I am teaching. If they are willing to learn from me I am willing to learn from them and together we (he or she) can be successful in the course. You are right about their performance they still need to meet all of the expectations of the course or they will not pass the course, simple as that.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I think we all have had one or two of these students. I attempt to make an honest effort to address every student in the first class- whether they believe they are smarter than me or not. I try to build an honest rapport regardless of their attitude and make my attendance and class participation policy well known. Regardless of the paper written, his grade still may not be enough to pass him if he does not attend and participate.
Cary,
Good advice for handling a student like this. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
When I have students like this situation, I usually response to him or her enthusiastically. I would say something like, that is great to have a proactive students. However you wold be an asset to be in class and work with other students to expand on your project or scope of study, too. Just keep that in mind.
And leave the conversation as it is.
At the same time it will depend on your school's attendance policy, I would use that as a point of discussion if the school have certain number of attendance requirement.
that suggestion was so helpful! I will certainly try it, and am actually looking forward to using this method. I did see that format also discussed in the module.
Patricia,
One way I handle situations like this is to have the students write down on a 3X5 card their questions. Then I collect them quickly review them so I can put them in categories and then address the questions. I don't normally do this because it is much easier to just have the students ask questions and this is the way I prefer to have a Q&A session but I use the card method when I am trying to control a student like this. By having the student write down the question you are forcing him to think about what he is asking and then putting that question on paper. Also, by collecting them and putting them into categories you can skip his question if it is off topic. It doesn't take long before students like this will change their behavior because of the extra effort involved. What a student like this wants to do is to derail the class rather than ask a question that has bearing on the topic.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I have similar situation; however, my student does this by asking a question, which is not germane to the topic and thinks by asking these types of questions that it "scores him points". I tried redirecting the question, and asked if he understood the initial topic. He became rude and said insisted that I didn't understand him....how would you handle this?
Margret you're not alone, all of us have a few of those in our class. Mr Meers thanks for the advise it is much appreciated!
Dean
Some schools allow students to test out of a subject. I used Dantes and the Clep tests as an undergraduate student. I don't know if this is an option for your program.
Margaret,
I would assign him a topic so you can manage his input when you are discussing the different aspects of research. Also, even though this is an upper level course I would call the student out when you perceive him crossing the line and trying to take over the class. Establish that you are the learning leader and while you respect his opinions and input he must still conduct himself in a professional manner and in return he will be treated with respect if he earns it.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
