problem students
we all have them. What do you do with them when they don't respond to all the disciplary actions taken. YOu hate to give up on students but at the cost of the other students?
Hi Peggy,
You did the right thing by maintaining control of the situation and letting her know she is not the teacher you are. I also talk with such students and let them know that they need to back off and let me carry the lecture and discussion.
Gary
Like Charles, I recently had a student who repeatedly "helped" with my instruction by finishing my sentences for me or by jumping ahead in the subject and asking questions which I felt were intended to show the class how "smart" she is. Most of the time I was able to pause and make it a point to finish the sentence myself. Sometimes I would simply tell her that I would be addressing her question later in the lecture. I'm not sure if I did handle the situation effectively, sometimes I felt like I was not the one in control. Any feed back?
Hi Jeremy,
This is a tough one. If the student is not convinced that your education and field experiences are sufficient to prove yourself then you may not be able to win that individual over. By mentioning that you have had x amount of years in the field and chose to move to teaching to share the knowledge and expertise you have gained with the next generation of individuals entering the field you should be able to establish your self as an expert.
Students like this are not looking for answers to their doubts they are just wanting to keep you off balance in terms of trying to justify why you are teaching and not in the field. I talk with them and show them respect and ask the same in return from them. If they don't return the respect I move on to the students that are there to learn and want to grow their careers.
Gary
How do you deal with a student who feels the only reason you are teaching is because you could not make it in your field?
Hi Tiffany,
Good point about accepting the challenge of working with these types of students. It is fun to see if you can "win" them over to what you are doing in the class.
Gary
I think most instructors will at some point experience their fare share of "challenging students" I look at these as opportunities to exercise conflict resolutions skills and to connect with students who often are misunderstood and take on this "victim" role or students who expect for professors to give up on them rather than listen, offer positive advise and encouraging words despite how negative a student might present themselves as...
Hi Carla,
I wish you the best in your new career. I know you are going to enjoy being an instructor. You are going to have a real impact on the lives of your students.
Yes, you must set your standards for the course and then maintain them. What you can do is to provide a variety of options to students to help them reach those standards. For example you can provide guided notes for your students. Those that are experienced in taking notes will move right through the guided notes and those that are in need of developing note taking skills will benefit from having the highlights of the lecture outlined for them. This helps to keep everyone on pace in the course and you haven't given any one student anything the others haven't been offered.
Gary
I am a new instructor as well. My program director has given me a lot of helpful hints in regards to problem students. As you said your institution does, our does as well - clearly define the expectations up front - and stick to them. If you don't, like others have stated, then they will walk all over you. I have sympathy for what goes on in students lives and I want them to succeed. However, what I do for one student I must do for all of them. Whether I like the circumstances or not.
Hi Richard,
I do the same. Such students are not going to disrupt the instruction of others. I have a standard of behavior I expect from my students and I am going to enforce that standard throughout the course to do less is to short change all of the students.
Gary
As an adult such students are responsible for their own behavior so if this student seems to wander in and out of the classroom at will while you are lecturing, I'd take him aside for a private discussion and let him know that that behavior is rude and disruptive to you and your class and try to get him/her to cease such behavior while you are lecturing.
Thanks Gary, This person doesn't ask questions; he/she really just blurts out statements that they think are relevant to my lecture....they rarely are. Your suggestion to tell him/her I will make eye contact with them when I feel he/she is interrupting too much is great. If that doesn't work I will have to just pause as you said and request he/she not interrupt again.
Hi Charles,
I have put students like this on a quota for questions. I talk with them privately and tell them that they can ask a set number of questions (say 3 during the class lecture/discussion) so they need to think through what they want to ask. Also, I tell them that if they interrupt I will pause and ask them to stop just as I would with a middle school student. I say that I am sure they don't want me to do that so they need to remember not to interrupt. I mention that if I cue them to be quiet by looking directly at them they are to quit talking. After several of these talks they generally start to take the cues and not distract the class. I also let the students know I will not let them ruin the class for the other students so if they don't stop disrupting the class I will have to remove them from the class.
If you have any further questions or can provide me with any additional information I will be glad to talk with you further.
Gary
I have a student who is a recovering alcoholic with some health problems. This person also has moderate to serious health issues with the heart so I try to be extra patient and understanding. My problem is that this person speaks a lot and interrupts frequently. I have already asked her to talk less so others can contribute but it hasn't worked. What do I do next?
After Googling all the posts on the Internet about problem students and disruptive students it's not suprising that you have this question. Ultimately you can't control another person. However I type a set of rules before the class starts. I hand that out. In my class there are no cell phones, no texting, and no Googling. Because you have opened the door to laptops you can't control whether the students are focusing on the topic or not. You can hope that they are but it would be counterproductive to go and look. Just do your best job - and don't take it personally!
Agree with Denise. The aim of many disruptive students is to enlist the other students against the professor, and to defer your response to these students till after class robs them of that. Maturity can't be taught but immaturity can be averted.
Hi Charles,
I to teach a required course so I know of which you are speaking. Something I do in my course in relation to computers is to have them closed until we do work assignments. This way I limit the time students can access the computers to writing on specific assignments. I have let them bring them and we use them when needed so I am treating them as adults but with limitations. This has worked well for me and my students.
Gary
I have high expectations that the students are in college and in class to prepare for their futures. Imagine my surprise when some of them give evidence of caring very little about succeeding in a required composition class. Deadlines to turn in papers seem irrelevant.
My newest concern is laptop computers in class. If we are writing an in-class essay, they are a great tool, but when a student never looks up from the screen during a discussion and is obviously not taking notes, I assume the student is wasting time on computer things. Treating the students as adults is very important to me, so I hesitate to call the person out if that is how the student wants to spend class time.
Of course, I am attempting to make class so riveting that the students hangs on every word.
Any suggestions?
It depends exactly on what the problem is however even though I am new my intuition tells me that you clearly define the expectations up front. If after a few times and individual counseling the problem persists you have to take action after documenting all your attempts. I will try to be fair but if someone is disruptive I can't deprive the other students of their learning opportunities. Tell the students you are treating them as adults - and you are also treating them the way their future employers will. Explain that to be lax is not doing them any favors. Hope this helps!
Judy, I am fairly new to this - I am teaching my forth class. At first, I feel I was too forgiving, wanting everyone to succeed. I spent a lot of extra time managing a handful of students. I have since realized that I need to hold the students accountable to my expectations just as I manage my team at work. I think I fell pray to wanting to be a pal. I still make efforts to communicate and determine what issues are causing poor performance but I am not longer working harder to get a student to complete their work than the student is.
