We have a student who refuses to take any type of correction or direction from female instructors. He is also disruptive to the classes as he seems to enjoy creating issues with female instuctors.
His primary instructor and advisor, a male instructor, has cautioned and advised him. This seems to help temporarily, but the calming effect is limited.
The student had switched courses of study but this may have only magnified his disruptive tendencies.
At this point the opinion of his advisor is that his personal life pressures have reached the level where his outlet becomes verbal aggression in the classroom.
To be continued...
Listen to the student. Don't make them feel that you do not care.
I generally try to stay calm and listen to what they say. I always take a minute to think about my response before I say it. In one instance in particular, this tactic worked out okay. The student was very hostile and angry on the first day of class and I could see the rage behind her words. She said that she didn't like my teaching style and wanted to drop the class. I calmly told her that it was her decision and if she felt that this was the right choice, she should do it. This seemed to diffuse the situation and she did drop the course. I of course tried to work with her before it got to this point, but her anger seemed to build. It was obvious that she did not want to be in class for whatever reason.
I have asked the student to meet with me outside of class (during break or before or after the class session). I find that by listening to their complaint and working with them towards a solution builds rapport. I have not had a situation where it escalated beyond conversation and solution-building, so I haven't had to ask a third party to intervene.
Hi Mark,
Listening is key! It seems to get better just by listening. I listen to the student fully before saying anything.
Patricia
Listen and try to re-direct the energy in a positive direction.do not minimumize the anger but help the student focus on whet needs to be accomplished in class and assist them is seperation.
Listen! Do not become defensive, or try to go counterpoint to each of the student's points. I admit that I have had to learn this over the years, and still have a bit of a struggle with this sometimes. I struggle with the attitudes that some students have (not generally the older adult learners)that they have a sense of entitlement, and a blatant lack of responsibility. When this is the source of anger, I do have to temper my own thoughts about this, and simply listen to their complaints, and then calmly point out where they may be off base. Of course, if they are correct in their complaints, then I let them know that I agree, a mistake was made, perhaps by me, and that it will be corrected. However, I would also point out that a calmer, less angry approach to the problem would be encouraged!
Hi James,
I like this procedural technqiue. It sounds like this is very effective. Listening is always key when dealing with an angry student.
Patricia
My experiance comes from customer relations. Even though the customer may be wrong about what they think you must first get the person to slow down. The easiest method is always "wait I need to get a pen and paper to write this down." Then the next step is to listen to the complaint and paraphrase it back to the customer and say "did I understand you?". The next step is to ask the customer what they think should be done about it. And finally Explaining the options available and providing a choice. It is never as good as the customer would like but explinations concerning the possible outcomes will usually carry a lot of weight and smooth out the result.
Hi Nicole,
You are right! A student should never be allowed to disrupt the learning of others. The disruptive student needs to be handled.
Patricia
After reading this module, it dicsussed that the best way to handle an angry student is to listen to them. Listening show that we care and often calms them down. If they have disrupted the of learning of others rather, they should be dismissed from class because this inhibits the success of the entire class.
Hi Ricky,
You did all you could to handle this situation as empathetically as possible. You do understand with your dad's disability, no you did not make a mistake by telling him you understood. You handles this like a champ.
Patricia
Hi Peter,
For most people it seems to be a calming effect when you mention I understand, it is kind of like, oh I see.
Patricia
Hi Peter,
A neutral party seems to be way more open to the situation. Good idea!
Patricia
That sounds like the perfect way to handle it. Bringing in another teacher not only provides a witness, protecting you, but it also provides a fresh ear and an unbiased perspective on the situation at hand. And how good that the other instructor backed you up with the policy. Congrats on a case well handled.
I don't think you made a mistake at all by expressing that you understood. That's what I would have done too. But sometimes people take offense to that, saying, "How could you possibly understand? YOU don't have a prosthetic leg!"
It sounds like the situation was already pretty escalated, and whatever you would have said would not have helped. Don't feel badly.
Hi Jean,
I typically simply listen to the angry student without interrupting at all so that the student can vent. This practice really allows the student to calm down.
Patricia
I agree -most of their anger is due to external factors especially with adult students who return to school after losing their jobs.I ahd an incident in one of my classes --It was the first class and we were going over the syllabus and she hasd an outburst and walked out when she returned after our break -I listened to her issues which turned out to be family problems that night and her concern for the work load.She reamined in class and ended up being my #1 student.
Often the anger has nothing to do with school. Sometimes you need to just listen . If it is a school problem you need to allow the student to vent in private and then encourage them to speak to a school representitive from the school.
I was confronted by an angry learner, it had nothing to do with the classes the learner was taking. They were angry about a parking situation that they had complained about several times before, but not to me. The conversation took a bad turn when I tried to express that I understood the situation (the learner has a prosthetic leg and non-placarded vehices were parking in the handicap spots). I tried to listen to his side of the complaint, but his voice got very loud after that and caught the attention of management. At which time they took over on the conversation with the learner. Did I make a mistake by telling him I understood? Because my father is handicaped and cannot walk for more than 10 yards at a time. I certainly wouldn't want someone taking a spot away from him that didn't need it. But this person did not want to hear any sympathy from me.
