Managing angry students
What should you do when confronted with an angry student?
Hi Scott,
You are definitely on point. Listening is key. Sometimes after you have listened, the student feels better simply because he/she wanted to vent.
Patricia Scales
I think we must take the time to listen to what the student has to say. Listening lets the student know you care and are interested in helping them with the problem they are presenting. Also, displaying a calm demeanor will cause the student to relinquish some anger because you are not responding to their angry delivery.
We need to show respect to the student as an individual by listening carefully to his complaints. It is even best to ask the students to submit a written version of his complaint if that was spelled out in the course syllabus. Let the student know that you will evaluate the complaints and will get back to him at next class.
It is important to listen to angry students and completely allow them to finish. When an angry student verbalizes their frustration they feel less stress and pressure. Also having the student put into writing his/her thoughts and concerns will allow them to clarify the real issue.
Hi Michelle,
Listening is key! You will gain your students respect simply by listening.
Patricia
I have had the experience that if it is a new group of students that they meet me for the first time and they come from an instrutor that did not listen to them they come in with their guard up.
The first class is very important and I take the opportunity to listen to who they are, why they chose the program and what do they expect.
It usually works for me.
The student might only need the listening part with no judgement and everything might be fine. We should never assume they want advise. Always ask the student if they need the advise or not.
Hello Ms. Scales and colleagues:
Most of my courses are taught online, and therefore, email communications from angry students are occasionally received. If it is grading that is of concern, it is easily resolved, as I am typically explicit with point values and rubrics.
If it is material or content that is the source of the anger, I ask them to schedule a phone call with me. If students truly want to advance their knowledge (and they are not merely displacing some other source of anger directly at you) they will typically warm and be receptive to direction. When they won't agree to a phone call, sometimes they are being evasive in general, and require assistance in other areas of their life. At that point, sometimes all you can do is wish them the best of outcomes. Mature students will appreciate your concern.
Best,
Susan
Hi Jill,
Great advice! I tell my students all the time you have to be smarter than you are angry. Listening is key! Some students simply need to vent.
Patricia
Listen to what they have to say. Sometimes they are angry because of things that have happened at home and are bringing that anger to school with them. I try to teach my students that they do not have to react to their anger.
Give them a brief opportunity to vent, if its more than can be discussed in 3 min, ask them to see you after class
My technique is to not only listen and take notes, but attempt to reflect back to an angry person their concern and ask them if I am interpreting their concern correctly. This is a technique taught in Mental Health Counseling and related fields. The act of affirming the validity of a particular complaint often defuses anger and leads to a calm discussion of this issue.
This is a good point, too often I try to analyze or fix the problem too quickly. This is definitely something I will take to heart.
I have not had the opportunity to reach out to an angry student yet. I am enjoying reading all of the ideas and challenges other instructors are presenting. I do have a question of what will work when you have more than one student confrontational, almost as if they are feeding off one another. I have witnessed this with other instructors at this school, and have questioned taking students individually wout to discuss the situation. My question is would taking all students involved into a private room for discussion, where the attention is no longer on them be beneficial or excusing those students not involved from class and politely ask the angry or confrontational student to stay and discuss? again, the attention is no longer on them.
I'm dealing with an angry student in my class now and has tried every approach I could think of to defuse the problem. I simply allow the student to vent out her frustrations.
I like the note writing idea. I have to address one of my angry students next class and I was trying to figure the best way to handle it. I believe each situation should be handled based on the student but with consistency and I really think this is just the way to go about it. Great idea.
Hi Larry,
Listening is key! Sometimes our students just need to be heard.
Patricia
Allow the student to communicate his/her reason for being angry which mean, listen, listen, listen.
1) Listen and take notes to show that you are fair and take the student seriously
2) Don't give the student a large audience for which to show off
3) Don't be defensive, which will escalate the scene
4) Have the student write out his/her complaint to refocus their anger and to clarify their complaint
5) Get a mediator if necessary to avoid escalation
6) Keep a log of contacts just in case you need to take further measures
