The Confrontational Student
In today's economy, with competing interests of making a living, spending time with family, and trying to develop a career through schooling, students are in a high pressure environment. And in college they are expected to expand their learning by thinking in ways that they are unaccustomed to. At times this can cause a lot of frustration, especially when having to remember 20+ different aspects of the assignment they have never had to deal with before, such as word requirements, deadlines, days to post, what to include, citations, objectivity, how to respond to classmates, and the list goes on. This situation can create a confrontational student who acts out against other classmates and their instructor.
Having a scheduled phone meeting with the student, I would attempt to take the student through the assignment instructions and compare them to the grading rubric and the student's performance. Since the student is being confrontational, this is a difficult position for a faculty member. On one hand, no person (especially a college instructor) should be subjected to violent verbal behavior from a student. This creates a harmful working environment. On the other hand, the instructor really wants to help the student and teach him how to succeed in academia so the student graduates and gets the job of his (or her) dreams.
Facing this situation, I would be supportive, explaining to the student that I sympathize with his or her feelings and want to talk about it. But we must do so professionally, adhering to the standards of excellence required by the college/university. If we cannot, no progress can be made. If the student is still upset I would ask him if he would like to talk about this professionally. Then I would tell him that I would be happy to help him improve, but we have to follow the rubric because it is the college standard, one that must be held to every student. I can take him through the assignment instructions, his work, and the rubric to help him learn how to improve and perform well, but we must conduct this phone call professionally.
Hi Christina,
I like how you sandwiched your concern for the student's feelings with a restatement of the class policies. I also liked how you offer to take the student through the assignments, especially the rubric. I think I'd also suggest to the student that he/she can also feel free to "vent" some of the pent-up frustration to me in the individual email forum. I have done this and have found that it saved some students who told me they had "no support system" at home. I learned, through those emails, that many of those students had been considering dropping out of school but "hung in there," because they felt someone truly cared.
Christina,
I like your comprehensive approach - especially the scheduled meeting time with the student. I do concede that students probably prefer phone contact with their Instructors; however, I believe email contact or one of the synchronous tools - live chats, office hours - can be just as warm and personal for students, with the added benefit of creating a record of the discourse.
A phone conversation does not lend itself to a recorded event, thereby leaving the Instructor's comments open to interpretation or intentional misinterpretation, as the situation would have it. A recorded session protects both the student and the Instructor and leaves little room for speculation.
Christina,
This is a very constructive solution. Thank you for sharing.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
