Students with attitude issues
We need to be patient at all times.
Hi Casey,
Suspend them for school. Sometimes the punishment has to be more punitive to grab their attention.
Patricia Scales
I agree that as instructors we need to have patients but how do you handle "repeat offenders"? The ones that you talk to all the time, and send them home but they continue with the attitude?
Hi Huyen,
You are on point! Our students have a lot of outside challenges. We have to do the best we can to support them to help them overcome the challenges. Having a professional relationship with a student is definitely a plus. Our students need our support!
Patricia Scales
Hello Mark and Vania,
Many of the students in my classes are nontraditional students, who work full-time, attend school full-time, and have a family. Their responsibilities and personal issues outside of school creates a challenge for students to focus on their studies. Our school encourages faculty to identify these "high risk" students and refer them to our student services consultant (SSC), who specializes in helping the students meet their needs that are beyond my scope of training. For example, if the student needs counseling, the SSC will help arrange telephone counseling or one-on-one appointments with a counselor. These services are provided to the students free of charge.
I agree that issues regarding "students with attitudes" needs to be addressed because it hinders student learning and is disruptive to the rest of the class. By offering help to the student, the student realizes that we as educators care about the student's success in the program. Being open and listening to student concerns has helped me build rapport with my students, which creates a working partnership for student learning.
Hi Mark,
Our students need us! If they are experiencing a problem/issue that is beyond our scope, refer them to the appropriate expert and follow up with the student.
Patricia Scales
I agree with your comments about patience. Students that are "acting out" are really asking for help. It is our responsibility as professionals to try and figure out what they need help on and help them if it is within our legal and ethical boundaries.
I couldn't agree more. I beleive that a student's mood reflects, first and foremost, that student's day experience. For example, I had a student once who came to class with a very defensive and confrontational attitude and a few days later she confide in me that that very day she had a terrible fight with her boyfriend and that had put her on a very defensive mood for the rest of the day. In these cases patience is the key, but also finding a way to get to "the bottom of things". If we don't really know the underlying issues many times we may pass judgement on our students to quickly or apply the wrong "remedy" to the situation. In that student's case when she told me about her quarrels with her boyfriend I found out that she was naturally very insecure and defensive and did not take criticism well. That helped me critique her academic work with great sensitivity and avoided bad situations in my classroom.
Hi Jami,
You may need to have a guest speaker come in and speak about attitude, getting along with others, and team work.
Patricia Scales
Hi Stephanie,
I agree! I can tell you are very caring. Our students need to know that we really care about them personally as well.
Patricia Scales
I have been dealing with this in my classroom. I have to seperate classes that meet together during their lecture class. It is really frustrating when the classes have bad attitudes towards each other. It's like night vs. day. I like the idea of deducting points. Are there any other suggestions you may have to get my two classes to get along with positive attitudes?
Patience is key as an instructor, and sometimes is difficult to demonstrate when dealing with certain students. However, remember that each of these students has a different set of problems outside of the classroom. What we might see as a "bad attitude" in class, might be a student who has been struggling with the demands of a special needs child at home. If I observe an "attitude" in the classroom, I may pull the student aside after class and ask if they are doing okay. Even if they don't have a specific problem going on, I think it's important for students to know that I truly care about them as people, and not only as students.
I agree that patience is a virture. However, I don't think that as in instructor we are doing our students any favors by allowing them to have a bad attitude and not have any consequences to pay. In my classroom, if a bad attitude is observable, the student looses one point off their final grade for each occurance up to 5 points. Since I have implemented this rule, nobody has lost more than one point. Classses are enjoyable for both the students and myself and I find we are getting more accomplished in our time together.
