Hi Vallene,
It is always good to have this type of conversation in a private setting. Students will get very disrespectful if you handle something of this nature in open forum. They will display inappropriate behavior in front of their peers to save face.
Patricia Scales
Hi Jamie,
Listening is key! Listen without interruptions. Sometimes just listening to the angry student will calm them down tremendously.
Patricia Scales
I agree! My classes are all hands - lots of interaction, collaboration and conversation which creates an atmosphere where potentially distracting issues may surface.
By listening/observing I'm able to remain in front of those issues and ideally redirect the dynamics.
I ask them to come into the hallwayand may say
"I want you to be successful and I'm very concerned with your (comments, behavior, etc.) will you tell me what's going on?
Listen to their complaint, Tell them that you will talk with them in more detail after class and that you would like to resolve the problem.
As was stipulated within this course; listen.
Listening to what their focus of angry is can help you better be prepared to assist them and possibly redirect some of that angry in a more positive direction.
Listening and observing their body language. Are they angry at you, homelife, life in general...you will not know until they tell you.
I am a really GREAT listener and I would bring them to my office and let them talk. Sometimes this is all they need is to just voice there concerns. If I can not handle it, then I would involve my program director to see if we can handle it together, if not then we would involve students services and or the academic dean.
My process in general with dealing with angry people is to listen. I recognize that more than likely they are not personally mad at me and if I take the time to listen it significantly reduces their anger enough to deal with the actual problem.
I have always found if you take them aside and privately listen to them and waited for them to finish with thier complaint. That most of the time the two of you can come up with a compromise to the problem.
positive behavior strategies give us phrases to diffus situations before they become hostile. ex. a student complains about course/work/ teacher we can say, "I know this is difficult but lets try & get through this together"
I will try to discuss with the student his/her issues but outside of the classroom as to not involve others.
To stop talking and just listen....sometimes people just need to vent! Most of the time there is always an underlying problem that has nothing to do with why they are angry in class.
Listen, listen, listen. Do not challenge them or argue. You never know how far an individual is capable or willing to go when they get angry. In today's society, unfortunetly,you never know if a student is armed or what physical harm they might enforce.
Hi Bethany,
Listening is paramount when it comes to hearing out a student.
Patricia Scales
I will pull the student out of class to ask what is going on. If they give me the usual about their outside life,(school, studying, money, relationship), I let them know that they will have to learn how to leave their problems at the door when they come in. Everybody in life has problems, but, you chose to be at this higher institution of learning and now you want to come in and unload all your problems on everybody else and blame them? NO!!!! I nip a lot of that in the bud right away and let the student know, everybody has problems and everybody has a bad day and it is understandable, but, get past it and move on.
I like what they say to listen! Listening isn't always our number one human reaction, but it is the best option in order to get the student to calm down and breathe. Then all parties involved are ready to adressed the situation/problem at hand.
Listening is the first thing that needs to happen when dealing with an angry student. You must let them talk then reply to their situation. Use terms like " I understand, I'm sorry to hear that, that's unfortunate, etc". You need to sympathize but you need to be the one in control. I let them calm down then I restate policies if need be or I let them know they can take it higher if they don't like my decision. It lets them know they have options or it calls their bluff. You have to be able to differentiate between somethng real and a temper tantrum.
Most importantly, listen. In a Sociology class when we reached the chapter on Education one of my students got quite agitated and vocal. I reminded myself that she was not angry with me... I let her speak, with limits, and realized quickly that she was afraid. Her upcoming graduation, looming debt(that her struggling single mom had cosigned loans on) and not having secured employment yet left her terrified. I took that oppurtunity to let the class relate to the topic, explore their fears and identify/solidfy plans to approach this as a class. Then we focused on the 'sociology' of what had just happened.
I would say listening attentively, and silently will allow the student to vent, and perhaps bring up a valid complaint, at the same time. Also, having them put their grievance in writing might help to further diffuse the situation, and provide more details for evaluation.
