Managing the Disruptive Student
With all the classroom planning and preparation, what different techniques can be used by the instructor?
Amos,
You did the right thing in talking with her and learning more about why she was in the class, having problems and her career goals. The fact she dropped says that she was not ready to be a student or that her attitude, life experiences or other situations were too great. When I lose a student like this I always feed sad for them but I won't nor can I let them disrupt the learning of the other students. I try to have them leave the class knowing I am there to support their efforts should they come back. In many cases they do because they know I will support their efforts if they put forth the energy required to be successful.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Hi Dr. Meers, I wanted to read on this subject because I had a student with resistance and disrepectful behavour. Of course the class wasn't flowing well. After consulting with her I found out she had problems following males instructions and didn't really want to take that classs, so the results was behavour disruption. She ended up droping the class, we couldn't work things out. How would you have handled a student with this type of situation?
I'm going to take the replies that I read and use them to inprove myself as an instructor. Maybe there's something I could have done to have maintain that student. Thanks for all the help.
Nancy,
First I would try and determine when the passive behavior occurs and then the aggressive behavior. By knowing this you can determine if the behaviors occur as a result of the class structure, organization or format. Also, look to determine if the behavior is content based, meaning when dealing with the content the behavior is used to avoid working on content. Once you have an idea of what sets the student off and when the behavior occurs then you can talk with student about changing the behavior.
Put the student on a contract and ask for his/her cooperation. It that does not occur then I would seek the removal of the student from the class. A student cannot be allowed to impair the learning of other students.
Gary
How do you deal with a very passive-aggresive student?
Being professional at all times, and treat the classroom as your work place.
I have discovered that most classroom discipline issues arise from poor planning. Students lose interest and then become disruptive. If we fail to plan, plan to fail. Planning can, therefore, avoid most of the discipline issues in a preventive fashion.
Hi Kerry,
Just offer the variety in your delivery. Give a lecture for 15-20 minutes and then have a discussion time. Give another lecture and have them work in small groups, do a case study or problem solve. All of these things help students to use their different learning preferences.
Gary
