{"id":13485,"date":"2013-07-12t08:00:25","date_gmt":"2013-07-12t13:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/?p=13485"},"modified":"2013-03-06t11:15:40","modified_gmt":"2013-03-06t16:15:40","slug":"ask-professor-pedagogy-disruptive-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/2013\/07\/ask-professor-pedagogy-disruptive-students\/","title":{"rendered":"ask professor pedagogy: disruptive students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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ask professor pedagogy<\/strong> is a twice monthly advice column written by 2022年世界杯中国小组赛积分 staff. one aspect of our mission is to cultivate dialogue about teaching and learning, so we welcome questions and concerns that arise in the classroom; particularly those from vanderbilt faculty, students, and staff. if you have a question that you’d like professor p to address, please send it to us<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

dear professor pedagogy,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

i am a new instructor and am reflecting on the spring semester. the semester started out fine. but as it progressed, several students have began to challenge me in the classroom in ways that were increasingly disruptive. at first, i welcomed their interjections as engaged challenges to the material, but their conduct became less helpful and more argumentative. it seemed that they never failed to contradict whatever i had to say or the works i presented. with each class session, they seemed to get bolder in not only attacking me or the works under consideration, but became increasingly intolerant of other student\u2019s voicing their opinions. i feel like i lost control of the class, and don’t want to to happen again in the fall! help!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

frustrated and confused<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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dear f.c.,<\/p>\n

this happens more frequently than many suppose, especially when you’re new to teaching and you’re teaching undergraduates. you are not alone and it sometimes happens to the best teachers because the erosion of authority takes time to occur as you have observed. students, who were at first engaged, become mildly disruptive and within a week or so, the same students can be downright uncivil. it is difficult to tell exactly what has happened in your class because so much of what happens is often contextual and dependent on factors that are hard to discern in a question, but here are some \u201cbest-practices\u201d that the cft has identified as being extremely helpful in preventing student incivility and effectively addressing the challenge of incivility when it surfaces:<\/p>\n

prevention<\/strong>: establish your authority and the expectations for proper class decorum at the beginning of a class. set the tone. put your expectations in the class syllabi. some other successful strategies include maintaining and conveying \u201cthe same level of respect and confidence in the abilities of\u00a0all<\/em> your students.\u201d additionally, you can set a good example by displaying a positive attitude and refraining from making comments that might invite a hostile response from your students.<\/p>\n

get feedback<\/strong>: ask your students, at mid-term if possible, for feedback (both positive and negative) that can be used to improve your teaching and interaction skills. the cft can perform a small group analysis for you, if you’re interested. additionally, many instructors find that asking the cft to perform an observation of their course provides them with valuable feedback about their teaching and their students.<\/p>\n

classroom intervention<\/strong>: it is important, especially at the beginning of the semester, to intervene and stop disruptive behaviors as soon as possible. incivility happens in many forms and can be addressed in a variety of ways:<\/p>\n