My question to the group is to ask how do you handle students who blame you or other faculty for their errors??
Hi Jennifer,
I've experienced students as such as well. These students are real hard nosed. They have to learn that their attitude will not get them good grades and after failing a time or two, they realize I better change my ways or else I am not going to ever graduate.
Patricia Scales
I recently had a student with an "everyone hates me" attitude, she even told me she hated me. Her attitude an actions made the class very difficult. I explained to her the value of the material & that it was vital for her to understand the course work. I offered tutoring & had the school resource center try to work with her. In this case, it reqired her hitting rock bottom & everyone tired of her getting by on their handouts, for her to realize the consequences of her actions. She is currently repeating 2 classes for this reason
Whenever a student tries to shift the blame onto another student, I ask the student how he or she could have dealt with the problem in a more constructive way. I try to get the student to understand his or her part in the problem. Owning their faults is a key part of learning to overcome them.
I many times will simply ask the student, "What's your responsibility in this situation?" I am always surprised either by how much they will own, or by how litle some will.
Hi James,
We need to hold students to very high standards because in the workplace they will be held accountable.
Patricia Scales
Great point! We try to model job behavior and expectation in the classroom also. Students are held accountable for their own results. They are also held accountable for their punctiuality, ress and overall appearance, just like at an externship or job site.
Patricia, I really like your method! I do a similar deal, but I give a quiz at exactly 8:00am. All they have to do is write the date, their name, and "I am here" and they get a point for extra credit. Since I also give a real quiz every Friday, it works well for them. It is amazing how soon the blame shifters have realized the bus suddenly runs on time, or the alarm clock works now, the partner now gets them up on time, etc. Of course, there are always a few who refuse to change, and although I have met with them and tried to help them, some will just have to learn the hard way.
I try to talk to the student and make them realize that no one has the power or control over them to make them succeed or fail, that they alone hold that power. I try to get across the importance of accountability. In life the only person we can control is ourselves and in doing such we can sometimes change our circumstances and bring about positive outcomes.
Melissa Katsanos
Hi Elizabeth,
I can attest after teaching for more than 23 years, a lot of our students never had to get serious about their education in their home. I preach to my children as well as my students the importance of an education.
Patricia Scales
Thank you for your comments and thank you for acknowledging that I care about my students and that I try to be fair. The importance of education was instilled in me from a very young age and sometimes I forget that the importance of education was probably not instilled in many of my students.
Hi Elizabeth,
I like how you make learning apply to the real world. I can tell that you genuinely care about your students. You are very fair with your students, and it shows. I love the idea of peer grading; students need to know that being accountable is extremely important in the workplace.
Patricia Scales
I had this experience just yesterday with a young male student, and it was amazing that he just did not see his fault inb a lot of things that are going on around him at school. I had to stress that although he may have felt that he was right, that a lot of people whose opinion really mattered were perceiving his words and actions in a different light, and that it might behoove him to take a step back and re-evaluate before he speaks or acts in a negative way. I tried to let him know that even if he WAS right, that it was the perception by those around him that mattered and he had to adjust his behavior to achieve success. We shall see if it works!
Hi Sheri,
That's right! Our students need to learn how to accept responsibility and stop putting the blame on everyone else.
Patricia Scales
Students need to be accountable for their own actions. This is a great lesson for professionalism.
First, I use a lot of small group and whole class activities to help them understand various topics, concepts, theories, etc. I also tell them that even though only one person in the group will be reporting to the rest of the class for the small group activities, everyone should be writing down everyone's responses that are stated verbally and that I write on the board. I explain to them that every activity makes a point, so if they write down the questions and responses as well as the point it makes in the end, they can always refer back to it to reinforce their understanding of the concept it conveyed.
I also assign a final group project at the end of the quarter/semester and I provide each member of each group with an evaluation form in which each student evaluates himself/herself as well as each of the other group members. This form helps them to take responsibility and account for their own contributions to the project as well as evaluate other members in terms of their contributions or lack thereof. So if three out of four group members report confidentially and independently that the fourth person did not do his or her share of the work, then only that student's grade will suffer, not the whole group's grade. This form is optional for students to fill out and the sole purpose of it is to protect the group from freeriders.
Sometimes when a student approaches me about not having completed an assignment or not having done the work, I will ask them if they are understanding it. If they are not understanding it based on their performance on assignments, etc. that they have completed, I hope that they would tell me that they are not understanding it so well. In other words, I would hope that they would be honest with me about not understanding the material instead of being afraid to admit it. At this point, even if they say that they are understanding it, I offer extra help to them outside of class. I also remind them that they can always ask questions in class and they can always send questions to me over email. Sometimes I will ask them if they would like me to introduce them to other students in the class to exchange contact information so that they could help each other.
I also explain to my classes that they are paying money to take this class, so they might as well get their money's worth by coming to class, participating, and doing what is expected of them.
I also tell them that the classroom is a professional setting and that they will be expected to take responsibility for their actions/behavior in the workplace. If they do not take responsibility for their actions/behavior in the workplace and they do not do what is expected of them, they will lose their jobs.
I am in the healthcare profession and the students that I deal with are those that will be dealing with the lives of patients. There is no room for blame shifting in such a career, there are real lived at stake. The best care can be given to patient or clients when one own their work responsibilities. The person that shifts blame does not get any satisfaction from their work and people see and feel that. Co-workers will not trust, no one wants to take over a patients care from someone that blames others for their mistakes. What if something happened with a patient and the person you took over for doesn't own up to what happened or didn't chart correctly, then you can be stuck with a mess.
I haven't had many students who fall into this category. I did, however, have one student who blamed her lack of progress on a research paper on family responsibilities and a recent holiday. The way I dealt with that was by acknowledging the way she felt about the situation, agreeing that juggling family and holidays with assignments is indeed difficult, but ultimately reminding her that she knew about the assignment due date for a long time. Additionally, I reminded her of the way that I had structured our weeks leading up to the due date so that she, and the other students, would work on the paper in manageable pieces so that the bulk of the work would not fall to the last minute. I was firm in making sure she understood that it had been her responsibility to follow along with the research paper timeline, and that she would still be responsible for turning it in on time, but I did also work with her closely to help her during what was obviously a very stressful time for her.
Hi Erin,
I also try to relate each situation as to how it would be in the workplace.
Patricia Scales
I remind students that we can only control our actions. I tell them that I understand that there may have been circumstances that made it harder to complete the task, but then I ask them what they could have done differently.
