Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board
Voicelessness and Emotional Survival => Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board => Topic started by: Lupita on February 23, 2008, 07:50:29 PM
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When New Teachers Meet the Classroom Terrorist
Cognitive Process for Dealing with Troublesome Students
Virleen M. Carlson
"Thursday we had a confrontation again after I handed her an assignment back. I was fearing it. I knew she would come back at me....I felt nervous. I couldn't think clearly, couldn't get my points out, I stayed up all that night with nightmares. The next day I didn't want to teach any more. I wanted to be removed from any further grading responsibilities."
-Female Engineering TA
36-years-old, fourth semester in the classroom
A definition of a "troublesome student" would be in order. It is easier to define this in terms of what it is not. Every classroom has those students who are a "challenge" and who have challenging behavior. Whether it be the students who monopolize the discussion, over-extend their welcome at office hours, or play a devil's advocate to points made in class - these behaviors in and of themselves are a daily lot of a teacher's existence and are generally taken in good stride. At some point, the generosity and good will of the teacher is strained, causing those teachers to realize that they are in the center of a power struggle and that it is affecting their teaching and their life outside the classroom. Robert Boice has coined a term for these particularly troublesome, unruly students. He calls them "classroom terrorists" and lists their behavior as within the top three problems new and experienced professors alike encounter (Boice, 1996a, 1996b). Students rated this type of "classroom incivility" as strongly disturbing, also. Boice defines it as, "The presence of one or perhaps two 'classroom terrorists' whose unpredictable and highly emotional outbursts (such as insulting complaints or intimidating disagreements) made the entire class tense" (1996a, p. 11).
I am interested in teacher's stories of their dealings with troublesome students. I am particularly interested in those of new college teachers, and for the purposes of this paper, those narratives of women. I hope to trace the teachers' thinking patterns as they sort through a sometimes perplexing maze of choices as they try to make their classrooms better places for learning, and more enjoyable places for their teaching, with the ultimate result of retaining women in the classroom as faculty.
The developmental stage called "Silence" or a pre-formative stage from Women's Ways of Knowing (Belenky et al., 1986) is intriguing, particularly since it is framed within the interviews of women only. "Silence" occurs prior to the time of "gaining a voice" (p.24). In its pure definition it is characterized by the idea that other people's words are used as weapons to make women feel small, isolated, and otherwise cut off from others. There is no comparative stage of thought in Perry's Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years (Perry, 1970) or in any of the other epistemologies currently in vogue. "Silence" seemed to be unique in and of itself. This paper proposes that women remain in a prolonged stage of silence before finding a resolution to their problems with over-aggressive students.
Indeed, aggression against female teachers seems to have a startling basis in fact. An unpublished study from the University of Nebraska titled "Classroom Management Issues: A Survey of International and U.S. TAs" by Jiali Luo, Laurie Bellows, Ph.D., and Marilyn Grady was presented at the Sixth National Conference on the Education and Employment of Graduate Teaching Assistants in November 1997 (Luo et al., 1997). For the subset of female US teaching assistants (n=117), 9% reported, "Student gets angry in class and shouts at me or other students." For U.S. males (n=131), the response was 2%. This preliminary finding suggests that a female Teaching Assistant has almost a 500% greater chance of witnessing, or being the recipient of, a student's outburst than does a male TA.
Although the University of Nebraska survey did not go further to ask the teaching assistants what actions they took when a student shouted at them or at others, neither did the researchers probe further into what effect this occurrence had upon the TA's thinking.
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This paper reflects data from interviews I conducted with two different female teaching assistants. They initially came to me in late fall, 1997, for private consultations regarding troublesome students in their classrooms. Within a few days of their consultations, I asked if I might interview them. The purpose of the following interviews was to examine their thinking processes, not to arrive at a decision about action to be taken, which was the purpose of the earlier consultation. The first teaching assistant (TA) was a 36-year-old graduate student in agricultural and biological engineering whom I will call "Sharon" (personal communication, Nov. 25, 1997). Her troublesome student was a 26-year-old woman. The second teaching assistant was a 26-year-old graduate student in romance languages whom I will call "Annie" (personal communication, Dec. 5, 1997). Her troublesome student was a man who was also in his mid-twenties.
Since I interviewed only one person of the two people involved in these "power struggles," it would be a common assumption to hold that only half of the story had been told. However, for the purposes of consulting with new teaching assistants, the TA "voice" is the more relevant and always the more accessible. If changes are to be made, they will have to come from within the teaching assistant; the attitudes, behavior, and values of each individual troublesome student cannot be addressed except through strategies the TA employs.
Sharon
This case study might be unusual only in that it is female-on-female aggression, whereas the more common pattern is male-on-female aggression. The TA was 36-years-old, married, and in her fourth semester as a TA. She was responsible for grading, among other things, the ten writing assignments for this class, a senior-level Watershed Engineering Design class. The professor was new, but his father was in the department and currently serving as department chair so he entered the semester with slightly different standing than other newcomers. The professor was considered to be young and popular. The TA had felt successful in her past assignments and was considering a career in academe.
Sharon, the teaching assistant, gave the following definition for a troublesome student.
TA: In this case it's a student who is undermining my teaching ability creating a difficult environment for me to teach in and with the students. Compromising the level of respect that I get from the students and the professor. She's been going to him about my work, so she's attempting to do that.
Since Sharon hoped to teach at the college or university level after finishing her Ph.D., someone "reporting" her to a supervisor was particularly threatening. This served ultimately to elongate a period of silence she experienced because the disruptive student's words were used as a weapon to keep the TA from openly discussing her inner fears with the one person best positioned to move her thinking process along.
The specific problem seemed to be that the student would challenge every grade received by complaining so loudly that everyone could hear.
TA: I can just hear her speaking, "I just don't know what she's thinking..." Criticizing my work very loudly to the point of distraction to a group of students. I had to take her aside. I said, "I can't but help hearing your comments. Can we talk about this." She continued to talk to the classroom, "I don't know what you want."
Sharon was already demonstrating what should have been a successful strategy to finding a peaceful solution to this situation, that of taking the student aside privately and attempting to talk through the problem. This solution is advocated by Wilbert McKeachie in his long-standing text on college teaching, Teaching Tips, now in its 10th edition. According to McKeachie (1999), this strategy solves the problem. In the case of a true "classroom terrorist, " it doesn't solve it. Perhaps the answer has more to do with McKeachie being an older, majority culture male than anything else. His power and implied credibility is more readily apparent than Sharon's. Her credibility had to be inferred in other means. Sometimes credibility, and its ensuing power, can be conferred more easily early in the term. The professor was new, young, white, and male. The professor gave Sharon credibility on the first day of class through his introduction of her.
TA: I'm an older student, they look at me and they can tell I'm a good ten years older. So for her to be confronting me is even more so of an assault. So it's even more disrespectful for the ten years or so I have on them. I've worked. The professor introduced me, portrayed me in a nice light, how I've worked and been out as a consultant. The students were respectful, except for this one student. There's certain formal rapport and she breaks all those boundaries.
One "boundary" that the student seemed to break early-on was that she self-disclosed startling information about herself in response to the initial query from the professor to, "tell us about yourself so that we can get to know you." In her first e-mail to the professor, the student indicated that she had been touring with the Grateful Dead as a "deadhead" for five years and that she had used large amounts of drugs during that period of time. Later, Sharon would come to realize that "acting out" behavior, such as shocking statements and verbal public displays, were part of a pattern that was set in motion before Sharon got involved with grading her.
This was Sharon's fourth semester working as a TA. In the conference session where the Nebraska study's findings were reported, the presenters fomulated a hypothesis for further exploration. They suggested that the number of classroom management problems tended to go up the more semesters a teaching assistant was in the classroom (Luo et al., 1997). Anecdotal evidence suggests that newcomers who are concerned with survival don't recognize larger concerns, but begin to recognize the bigger picture after the first-level teaching concerns were met. Sharon reflected this awareness.
INTERVIEWER: Have you had this type of student in a class where you were a teacher?
TA: Never that I recall. Maybe I did and I didn't catch it because I had other issues at that time. Maybe it wasn't a large issue at that time. I might have been concerned about the technical level (grading). Now that I'm confident I am able to pick up on the management issues, which are control, interaction issues. Every one has been a senior level course in the past.
She had been hand-chosen for this teaching assignment because of her past performance.
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TA: I did two years here as an undergrad and when I taught at first people knew me. Now I have been away for two years and I might look like a new person to her. I am not familiar with her reputation, and she thinks she deserves something based on her reputation.
Thus, the TA was aware of various levels of concern and underlying dynamics that a brand new TA might overlook, such as something as nebulous as one's personal history at the University.
Sharon demonstrated an awareness of diversity issues, had been aware of gender differences for example, and had written about them in an independent study class she had taken with me in 1994. This paragraph reflects her diversity awareness.
INTERVIEWER:Many situations have diversity issues embedded in them. Might diversity be at the core of this?
TA: No. If it was a male. Many internationals in the class. Anyone who comes to me for assistance, I am here to help you. The professor's philosophy is we're here to help these people get some information. She [the student] doesn't stick out drastically. She fits right in, I have 30 year olds, 20 year olds. She isn't that different. I enjoy these students so much. I like males and female students both equally. They're all a great bunch, except for one and her enlisted her cohorts she's been working with. I can see the others are kind of resisting. One girl went with her to the professor's office, and now that girl is trying to be pleasant to me against the wishes of the first girl.
Later she indicated the physical mannerisms that the student used that bothered her:
Of course students are going to talk. She does it so others can hear. She has really long blonde hair she shakes around annoying, and she plays the coquette.
Both women were white, from the U.S., and slightly older, correspondingly, than their peers, but overall not that different in cultural background. If diversity played a large role in the conflict, it went deeper than the primary indicators of diversity such as race, gender, ethnicity, age, handicapping conditions, or socio-economic status.
I wanted to find out if anything in past teacher assistant training workshops, or conversations with peers in TA offices, had prepared her for troublesome students, particularly in light of the culture of silence in higher education. When she first broke the silence by going to the professor with her initial concerns soon after the first sets of grades were returned (there are 10 papers in all), he confided in her.
TA: At midterm, the professor had been concerned about three other students who were seniors and who had a comfort level, so comfortable with the department, they'd get an A. The three were the better students and they were doing OK. The ones that he mentioned aren't troublesome, and a different one is. He only divulged that information when I told him about the problems with the troublesome students.
Thus, the professor warned her about students who needed no warning, and failed to alert her to the one who was troublesome, perhaps because the early warning signs (the manner in which she introduced herself initially; her early grade negotiations) weren't signals to him, or perhaps because his experience hasn't afforded him a particularly troublesome student.
Once someone has had a troublesome student, the physiological changes are similar and repeatedly recognizable. Sharon describes the emotions and feelings:
TA: Yes. Thursday we had a confrontation again after I handed her an assignment back. I was fearing it. I knew she would come back at me. I feel bad about grading her way too high. I felt nervous. I couldn't think clearly, couldn't get my points out, I stayed up all that night with nightmares. The next day I didn't want to teach any more I wanted to be removed from any further grading responsibilities.
I'm always thinking about this. I have little talks with myself. I don't like having this trouble. I feel concerned about that because it is becoming emotional. If I had control it shouldn't be bothering me so much. It doesn't have a resolution. I don't know how to make it rest.
I think that I can't stand her. I have started to not like her. I don't think that's helpful. Yet I'm a fair person and I won't allow it to influence. I can see her face in my mind and I want to punch it, I want to pull her hair, I want to wring her neck. I've never hated anyone ever. In my dream I can. I'm grading her higher to make sure I'm not using my dislike of her to grade her lower. I gave her way too good a grade on her last report just to make sure. She thinks she should have a perfect grade on every paper. She is so far from exceptional. In her mind she can't believe she isn't getting perfect scores. She'd be in the lower percentile of the class. She's going to force herself on me, on the professor, on the chair of the department.
She does it in a schmoozing kind of way. She doesn't have a technical basis to back her up. She can't make a single point in her defense. It's all whining and no facts.
Sharon elaborated on a strategy that resulted in the offending student being rewarded with higher grades than deserved in an effort to be give the benefit of the doubt.
This point alone bears further study because it could lie at the core of this type of aggressive behavior. If higher grades are the direct reward for aggressiveness, the pattern has a high likelihood of repeating itself from TA to TA, from new professor to experienced, with loss for all in the teaching profession.
TA: I thought, at first, when she expressed dismay at my grading, I thought I needed to be more conscientious and I started evaluating hers more closely. It's like when you learn the name on the first day. I have to look at this with no room for error. She put more pressure on me. I wanted to make sure I was correct. I'd go back once, look again, feel comfortable. I felt like it was properly graded. She'd always come back every time.
For example, this is her objective for class paper:
"The object of this lab was to design a vegetated channel to handle the runoff for the watershed surrounding the University married students slum housing.": She knows I'm a married student. I was offended as to the wording, but it bothers me. Her work is childish. I gave her 19.5/20. She deserved B+/A- at best. It's the only time I did this, and it didn't help. I doubted myself, benefit of the doubt. What I was giving her was right. She still complained.
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The Solution
The professor in charge of the class seemed to exhibit a second level of cognitive thinking and action where he tried to refute point by point the student's concerns. It did not stop the aggressive behavior by the student because the TA was still in charge of the grading and the professor was acting much as a referee who was attempting to keep both "sides" communicating with each other. The thought behind this stage appears to be that if one has an air-tight grading scale, well-thought through, the problem student will see that his or her behavior should cease.
TA: At one point she went to the head professor and he told me about it afterwards. We talk a lot. I mentioned it. He said, "Yeah, she brought a couple other people with her." He backed me up and said he would have graded it more harshly. Could she find any comments that were unfair. She couldn't. He would have found more flaws and given her lower grades. She's like inciting, by bringing one or two more students. She's causing trouble for me.
After consulting with a variety of sources over a weekend, the TA decided to go to the professor with a proposal. She asked him to relieve her of grading the troublesome student's work. This seemingly straightforward decision was not arrived at easily. The TA talked to the director of the engineering writing-in-the-classroom program, himself a Ph.D. in English; to myself as a consultant on teaching assistant matters; to her husband, who was a graduate student; to the professor himself, including further conversations, and even to other professors.
TA: I spoke and asked advice of other professors, "Have you had this come up?" I started feeling a little bit better. I let a couple days go by. I felt like I wanted out - to say I hadn't been able to approach the professor, I had already gone to him a couple times. S. Y.[writing program director] was very helpful (gave same info as you). Gave me the confidence to talk to the professor. He was so encouraging. We were able to come up with a solution. I was able to get back to work again.
The professor will assume the grading for the four assignment revisions of hers. Her grades are probably going to go down. I won't be as kind. I offered to give the professor anchors [samples of high, medium, and low-scored papers].
The Reflection
I asked Sharon to be reflective and to pretend she were giving advice to someone else who might have a similar student next semester. The result seemed to show fair-mindedness but there is a hint that deep reflection might need to be deferred until a time further away from the moment of conflict.
TA: I don't want to bias someone against her. I'd share some of the ways she tries to whine in order to receive preferential treatment. [I'd use] my head, to get me mentally toughened up. If you are on the technical material, I'd say have faith in yourself. Don't let her influence you about the way you criticize her work or correct her assignments. [I would] advise [someone] to give her the mediocre grades she deserves. You have to give the proper grade.
Sharon seemed to make a "rule" or principle for herself during this thinking process, that to cave in to pressure will come back to haunt one. Ethically, she seems to realize that meting out preferential treatment is not what she wants to be about in the classroom.
TA: It's unfair to give preferential treatment. I'm really mad about it. It's easier to give her what she wants. It's not fair to the other students. She won't go away if you give her higher. It's going to backfire and then when you grade her fairly then you're totally messed up. Then she's going to come back and say, "Well, why did I do so well on that previous one, " and you're gonna have to say, "Well, I messed up."
Again, she pulls together some themes about how grading and student relationships interact throughout a semester, and how early but low grades have a way of smoothing themselves out through quality work later on. This was a lesson she learned in the first semesters in the classroom. This theory played itself out with the rest of the population this semester.
TA: I found her work has not gone up throughout this torture. We're playing this game and her work is not improving. Everyone else is improving. She never made progress. I never saw any improvement in her work. She's not thinking. She's demanding and expecting and pushing and whining. She sighs and rolls her eyes at me. No smile or 'hi ' for me like every other student does.
She's got some idea that she's got some huge position here. She's very immature in my opinion.
The Aftermath
In some respects, the problem was that Sharon doubted herself and wanted to leave not only the grading to someone else but she also wanted to quit teaching. She reflected about what it was like to want out, and the process of looking at the event as written out on paper:
TA: At first, when it was at it's lowest point last Thursday, I wanted to leave teaching this course. I wanted to relieve myself of the grading responsibilities.
I feel better that now that we've got it down on paper. Since Friday I've talked to the guest presenter, the professor, my husband, you.
These events are real, I didn't overreact to them. Sometimes the professor made me feel like let it go, it's not important in the context of the overall course. I'm glad I took the time to write it down, to rationalize.
When S.Y. [director of the writing in engineering program and a guest presenter] was presenting, she got up and announced, "I gotta pee." I couldn't believe it. Howard [my husband] was there. He said all the other students rolled their eyes. I think the other students know it's just her. She came back in and persisted in talking to the professor during the presentation on presentations. It was distracting, S. Y. might have noticed. The professor probably doesn't want S. Y. to think he's disrespectful. He's a new teacher.
I wonder should I let it go. Haven't I taken this far enough. Today when she walked in half an hour late, and disrupted the lecture, bolted right in. The professor was up at the blackboard - he brought donuts in 10 min. before class began. If she hadn't been such a constant disruption. He's always there Tuesday,Thursday, and I'm always there, and I always hand back the papers. I spend at least a minute with each student. Even with a good paper, I stop and talk to each. She doesn't want to wait, just take the paper and run and that's not the way I do things.
Now she knows I'm not grading the revisions She sighed and walked. I felt such a relief to have her go away.
At this point in the reflective process, Sharon's thoughts were still almost entirely focused on the immediate incident of having the student go away without yet another outburst. In light of the past problems, this signaled not only the end of the semester, but the end of the negative interaction with the student. Indeed, the problem could be seen as 'solved' with the absence of any further inflammatory statements on the part of the student. Sharon was ready to put together a few final rules for herself in the future, including an awareness of a pattern.
TA: I picked up on a few things. The inflammatory statements the first day, the behavior, the distractions during presentations. It's not a personal or emotional event, but a real issue. Still doesn't make it any less troubling. I like the house in perfect order.
You can't be a perfectionist about how to make this go away. To really make it better. To realize it. Document it. Logged. Protect myself. To move on. To not be afraid of grading her papers. I think I can now. Because I know I was doing a proper job. She made me doubt myself. I had to step back.
There was an awareness that although the student was an actual, not a made-up, problem, there was room for improved grading practices on the part of the TA. Thus, the TA was leaving room for culpability on her own part, which signals fair-mindedness and maturity.
TA: The guest professor of writing helped me make clear my grading expectations. What is clear to me is maybe not clear to them.
For the next student, it will be the same old things again. There isn't a recourse for this type of student except for the grading. To give her the lower grades, I might have made more progress with her. I kept thinking I was imagining the problem, that it was just a personality thing.
I hadn't thought of power, authority - I think students have to treat the TAs with respect. You can't openly criticize in front of classmates.
Her final comments were extremely practical in nature.
TA: What I need is some strategies to deal. There aren't places to go. The professor doesn't know them. He says, "I'm here with you, I'm right behind you." I was glad he said, 'What can we do.'"
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Annie
Annie, the teaching assistant for case number two, taught an intermediate French class filled mainly with freshmen and sophomores, plus one graduate student in political science who was taking the course against the wishes of his major advisor. The graduate student, male and international from a former part of the U.S.S.R., was approximately her same age, except he was a second-year graduate student and she was on the job market hoping for a scarce position as a French instructor and considering Lubbock, Texas. This was her sixth semester in the classroom. She is US/Canadian. She too is married.
Her problems with this student began the week of September 22 which coincided with the first graded test. Problems continued until approximately November 14 when they stopped abruptly after he got sick. The interview took place December 5, well after the problem had cleared up seemingly on its own and after the TA had experienced a Thanksgiving break. The difference between this case study and the first one, where the problem had been "resolved" only hours before the interview, seemed to be a marked difference in the level of reflection.
To set the context, I will quote a segment of Annie's private notes. I have received permission to use a portion of an unsent memo which documented the dates and events with the student in question.
"...During class, he criticized the tests' design, and pursued the discussion for 15 to 20 minutes.
"This constant criticism undermined my authority as a teacher and created a very tense atmosphere, that hindered the students' learning as they all were up in arms about their marks. At the beginning of the semester students' marks are often lower than they would like; many are then driven to perform better." (personal communication, Nov. 11, 1997)
Themes emerge from this short segment that echo Sharon's interview. Unlike the unhappy female student, this male student tended to take a direct (solo) attack with challenging the marks given, using class time to confront the teacher and in this way getting others in the class to listen. The female student challenged by verbally getting others to listen outside of class, and by entreating others to accompany her to the professor's office. Annie echoes the feeling of her authority being undermined. Similarly, her students also started the semester with lower marks, and then eventually came around to very acceptable levels, much as Sharon indicated ("Everyone else is improving").
To indicate the level of disruption this troublesome student evoked, the following example is given:
"On Monday, October 27, after a presentation by D.[a female student] on French politics from 1789 to 1997, [this male student] zeroed in on an error she had made and proceeded to discus how the Fourth Republic began in 1945 not 1946. While this would be valuable information in some contexts (information I do not know myself and could not have provided), it is not an issue of importance in Intermediate French where we are concentrating on basic cultural knowledge (Who is the current President? When did the French Revolution begin?). After class, [this male student] reproached me for not ensuring that information discussed in class was accurate."
Not only did this student challenge the TA on every point, but he was able to upset the female student in the above example and at least one other female student after her presentation. This troublesome student, unlike the prior example of Sharon's, did not stop at criticizing grading procedures. He criticized difficulty of exams, test design (too many multiple choice), deadlines, presentation dates, her flexibility, her failure to correct fine historical points, and her in-class grading for taking off for "trivial" accent marks which produce different letters - in short, every task.
The Solution
Without any direct intervention or any overt change in behavior other than a few missed classes, the problem student began to attend class again, sit quietly, and comply with normal classroom requests. Annie reported the change:
TA: Things today are fine. Everything just kind of stopped. I wrote that report. I didn't send it to the dean or anybody because the supervisor didn't want me to. He [the student] got sick and missed a few classes. You don't have any energy to act up in class or whatever. So there aren't any problems any more.
The supervisor of the French class had been involved with the unfolding problems from the beginning, and while she was supportive of the TA, she was unwilling to do too much. The troublesome student's initial request was to switch sections into the supervisor's section, and that solution was not appealing to her (the supervisor). The TA indicated an interest in trying to work things out without having the student removed or switched.
TA: I guess the most important thing is to come see you. It's the best decision I made. Mention it at the workshop. Supervisors are not the ones to talk to sometimes. They have to act. Sometimes they seem over conscious. Too measured. It's nice to relate to someone outside the context. To go to someone outside the context - they tell you you fit a general pattern, they have been doing this.
I didn't always do the right thing. Sometimes I came in under prepared. You feel it was you that did something. Nobody's perfect. You do the best you can - you shouldn't feel you did less than you could. And then it's not you . You think it was you and he thinks it was you... or it could have been something in his life that he was projecting on me and I don't have any way of knowing. We found some things out by contacting the GFR [Graduate Field Representative] and he was always having problems in his own department. Right then, I didn't have the distance that I would need to process that information.
Both Annie and Sharon mentioned that their professors might not be the best persons to help them solve the problems in the classroom and that outside sources sometimes can help a TA gain distance and perspective that the supervisor doesn't have. Also both TAs realized that they might be part of a pattern that the troublesome students use when they relate to the world, and just seeing that objectively and impersonally helped to gain distance. They both also realized that while they initially perceived the problems almost totally as flaws within themselves, they retained the possibility that they held a piece of responsibility for classroom interactions (a grading scale that needed to be refined; a need for preparation in class), but that those acts alone do not mean a classroom terrorist should emerge. Annie devised a solution on her own that provided an imperfect peace of mind:
TA: One time that I talked to him, I had a friend in the office with me. Afterwards she confirmed he was psychotic and I was normal After a while you start to think you're psychotic. That happens in any situation, not just difficult students.
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The Reflection
After the initial time when she thought about this problem both inside and outside of class, Annie eventually reached a resolution stage where she was able to lead her old life again. She reflected on the difference:
TA: I don't think about this anymore anymore. Before I thought about it all the time, and now I don't think about it. That's the way I operate in the class. I don't think about the students outside the class. I think that's the way a teacher should operate in the classroom. They're individuals, but not my friends, so I don't think about them that much.
This is not a negative statement about her commitment to teaching nor to students. Rather, it is the realization that thinking about students when it is appropriate, and not all the time, is a healthy view of teaching.
She was able to think about the semester in its totality, and not just the isolated piece that came to be its focus. She was able to have distance and perspective, and quite possibly exhibit strategies more indicative of the most "advanced" epistemological stage of development, that of the constructed knower (Belenky et al., 1986).
TA: How to think? ...it wasn't ME. I wasn't the one having the problem. The problem came to me. My own mistakes (I did make them), they weren't the cause of the problem. You realize you're aren't that bad teacher but that you had a challenging experience and you get through it and then you're better and the semester's over. That's how my thinking has changed the most. I feel confidence; I can be fair, I don't have any more negative feelings any more towards the student. I don't think about him. I don't have the negative feelings anymore. Before you take it personal - they don't like you and you don't like them. Now that this situation has disappeared I think he's an interesting person. Not that I want to get to know him, but I don't want to get to know any of my students.
Annie remarked that she thought she could be fair, but conceded in her earlier memo that his B+ as a class participation grade reflected this student's mixed, often negative contributions to the class, and that this grade was high. Once again, a student seemed to be bullying his or her way to a seemingly better grade than might be indicated by more objective indicators.
An ultimate goal of these consultations and case studies is the retention of promising teaching assistants in the classroom. At the onset of Annie's problem, and that which initially motivated her to seek outside consultation, was the fact that she was on the job market and this student, she felt, was powerful enough in his complaints to her supervisor that she might be facing a tainted evaluation in a tight job market as she searched for positions. With the conclusion of the semester, she recounted what the past few days and weeks looked like, and how her future now looked more promising:
TA: Now that it's not sticky I feel even more competent especially with the things that you told me - that it's standard. Many people have this problem. I'm just another statistic. That it wasn't just me and him. I covered my back and everyone supported me and the problem disappeared.
In that sense I still want to remain in the classroom. I just got an interview call from Florida State - Tallahassee. So I'm excited. That's a good job. The people were positive on the phone. I got a telephone interview the same day from University of Southern Alabama. It was interesting to have responses. So much is happening to me this year - I have my defense on Monday, people are calling, so I don't need the [this student] problem and I'm glad to put this behind me. It coincided with finishing the dissertation. It's been dragging on for long. Trying to make it perfect...then I had to spend time writing that report. Too much happening. When three things are happening per day, that's too much.
The report to which she referred was the documentation, or log, of the student's behavior and her responses during the semester. It came as a suggestion from her supervisor, with the instruction that it was to be as factual and non-emotional as possible. It served as a starting point for both my initial consultation with her, as well as being quoted in earlier segments of this paper. This report was never sent or placed in any departmental files, but it did serve a purpose in getting her to see the totality of the situation on paper, as well as moving her into a more objective frame of mind.
She was able to think about diversity as an issue and whether it might have been at the core of this problem. She surprised me by not mentioning gender or ethnicity as the primary factor of diversity, but another factor:
TA: Well, you suggested that it was and I agree with you. Age based, graduate amongst undergraduates; his ability to say intelligent things far outweighs the ability of undergraduates. But now he sort of listens and that's fine. The other things - his being Estonian, his being a confessed misogynist, but I don't think they would always play a factor. I have a Polish and a Russian student - quite a diverse class - so he's not the only ex-Russian from that part of the world. He stands out when you combine all the factors.
His views about women - he has other women teachers - and we may be reading into that. The age thing stands out. And it doesn't always stand out. I've taught a class with two graduate students in it. Sometimes you have a senior with the freshmen. Freshmen are bewildered and the senior stands out. When I was being trained I had to sit in on a class - three students, one was a professor, an older woman, she helped the young frat boy - it's often quite nice to have the grad student or the older member.
In the last paragraph, when talking about the related experiences, Annie is able to tie this experience in to other diverse classrooms, much as a constructed knower is able to pull a variety of parallel examples into consideration (Belenky et al, 1986).
Finally, Annie is able to set some rules for herself to use in future situations. She, like Sharon, focuses on the practical.
TA: Maybe set some clearer guidelines for evaluation at the beginning of the semester. I hate a four-page syllabus with rules, rules, rules. In humanities classes there is a large subjective component. I would set that up. I had set up conferences which I would continue. Make sure everyone comes.
In what might be the most revealing segment of the interview, Annie talked about the idea of advice-giving to those who haven't experienced a classroom terrorist yet. She came to the idea that once the process has been set in place, it is virtually impossible to stop until it has played itself out. Of course, the answer is, "Just forget about it." But when a TA is in the middle of a challenging situation with a troublesome student and they can't forget about it, that is the correct, but least-helpful advice to receive. TAs need a vehicle or a way to think it through so they can think about other things eventually.
TA: And maybe act sooner if I see someone was challenging me. Nip it in the bud. What do I mean by "nip it in the bud?" You know, the next one won't see it develop. That's the point. They won't see it. I said, "This person has a genuine concern." The next time, "This person has a genuine concern."
Another person? If you start getting worked up about it - how you have to go thorough the whole thing.. You have to go through the whole thing. Say,"You'll get through this." You can't interrupt the process. Many people said two months ago, "Don't worry about it." It didn't really help.
I hope this doesn't happen to other people but I know it will.
With this worldview and her knowledge that it will happen to others with no way to truly warn them, her final words, like those of Sharon's, were extremely pragmatic with just a hint of reflection.
TA: At the end of the semester you have a different perspective on everything. Knowing you never have to go back.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Theoretical implications
The epistemological development of both women began within a position of silence. They may have initially shared concerns with spouses or supervisors, but they neither were alerted internally for a need to document with dates and words specific incidents, nor were they worried about an action plan. Eventually, within their minds, the "silence" seemed to be replaced with a steady stream of concern about the particular, troublesome student, yet the voice within said that the student's voice was the only legitimate one, and that their professionalism would solve the problem. Each TA continued to have private, often drawn-out, discussions with the troubled students, hoping to refute points, or at least take considered listening into account. At no time did either TA stoop to demeaning, demoralizing, critical words in hopes of stopping the verbal assaults. Still, the period of silence continued in that the TAs had not reached a turning point in their thinking to where they believed the answer could be outside themselves, or that they were capable of constructing a suitable answer based upon a variety of internal and external resources. Following the documented path of other women in Women's Ways of Knowing, eventually both TAs actively sought outside consultation with a variety of sources. Sharon talked with professors, a teaching constultant (myself), her husband, and eventually the course professor. She went to him and asked for a specific intervention, no longer taking, "Don't worry about it" as a defense or an answer. She was no longer afraid that the professor would think she couldn't handle it alone, because she couldn't at that point. Annie, on the other hand, included the above sources but sought advice early on from a peer who confirmed that she was, in her words, "not psychotic." Annie also found out the student's history by consulting people in beginning French, and also received information in some manner from the GFR [Graduate Field Representative] within the student's department. Throughout the process, both women kept the professor or supervisor informed at all times, while holding back the deep turmoil that these students were causing.
After a period of silence (indicative of institutional silence on the subject of college students who are discipline problems evidenced by a lack of published articles in the literature), followed by a period where outside authorities are consulted, the TA formed a tentative plan of action. For Sharon, it was to ask to be relieved of grading that student's work from then on. For Annie, it was the writing of a memo documenting the events, with a possible use of sending it to any and all supervisors or deans as a "heads up" note. The troublesome student had threatened to take his complaints on up the chain of command much further than Annie's supervisor.
After the cognitive thinking, and action plan formation, a period of reflection (metacognition) would be expected. It would be premature to expect metacognition on a dilemma while the person is still extremely troubled by the actual problem. This hypothesis held for the two case studies. Sharon's interview was one hour after the last class where she saw the student for the last time and seemed to be qualitatively different in its reflective level than was Annie's. Annie was on her way to the final class where the evaluations would be handed out at the time of her interview. Annie indicated that she felt a few weeks removed from the crux of the problem, and her interview pulled together many global, reflective themes. She reported 1) That you can't interrupt the process; 2) That "Don't worry about it" is not helpful advice; 3) That it will happen to other people and nothing much can be done to alert them; 4) That she is able to find the troublesome student as an interesting individual today; 5) That she tended to grade higher than if he were not so troublesome; 6) That she'd seek help from a variety of sources earlier, as well as write documentation earlier; 7) That she'd notice warning flags earlier, such as those people who are upset after the first exam; 8) That she knows she's part of a pattern that may have more to do with what is going on in his life that anything else; 9) That having the support of everyone was wonderful; 10) That she still wants to teach; and 11) That she sees how the many factors of diversity intersect in a classroom.
An elongated period of silence occurred before the female TAs felt that they knew how to answer their own perplexing questions. During this period of "silence," they were speaking almost non-stop, of course, with internal conversations, talks with supervisors, sharing with spouses and colleagues, and other professionals. However, they didn't feel a voice of empowerment and a peace of mind that would only come with closure. They were unable to be reflective until after the incident with the troublesome student had been put into the past.
These two TAs hold that what they encountered was a sticky problem which they didn't create but in which they found themselves nonetheless. Just as they didn't create it, they didn't find its solution, either. It was an ill-structured problem in that there is no one right answer that will solve problems like this. Certainly there are definite guidelines and strategies people can employ, the least of which should be to avoid sarcasm, humiliation, and other ploys to magnify a teacher's power, and instead to focus on credibility - gaining and making. The constructed knower will be able to cross-apply strategies from prior experience, whether that be in teaching or other work and personal experience, to get to the "other side" of a classroom terrorist dilemma with as much ease and grace as possible.
Researchers of epistemological development and cognitive process theory often ask the question about what causes one person to move from one stage to a higher stage, or exchange one set of strageies for another set from a seemingly more advanced and complex level. A life crisis, followed by time to think, might be part of the advancement process. Certainly neither of the two teaching assistants emerged from the above incidents at the same level from which they started, or employing the same strategies they used at first. They can't go back after having lived through this semester - nor might they want to.
Cornell University
December 12, 1997
first revision October 21, 1998
REFERENCES
Belenky, M., Clinchy, B., Goldberger, N., and Tarule, N. (1986). Women's Ways of Knowing. New York: Basic Books.
Boice, R. (1996a). First-Order Principles for College Teachers: Ten Basic Ways to Improve the Teaching Process, Bolton, MA: Anker.
Boice, R. (1996b). Classroom incivilities. Research in Higher Education 37(4), 453-487.
Luo, J., Bellows, L., and Grady, M. (1997). Classroom management issues: A survey of international and U.S. TAs. University of Nebraska. Unpublished paper presented at the Sixth National Conference on the Education and Employment of Graduate Teaching Assistants, Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 7, 1997.
McKeachie, W. J., (1999). Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers. 10th Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Perry, W. G., Jr. (1970). Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years: A Scheme. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
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This is a must read for any teacher. I think.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I'm a teacher, a high school teacher at that and everyday-every hour of an 8 hour day I have hundreds of teenagers viably challenging my authority without regards to consequence, or how strikingly, plainly ignorant that decision may be at the time.
Granted, there are hundreds of rules to follow in a school setting. Within my personal classroom setting however there are only five. I don't have these rules to torture kids or make their lives more difficult than it already may be. I have these rules in place so that their chances of success are actually increased.
1. Raise your hand to speak/be acknowledged: Don't talk out of turn, make sudden outbursts, or carry private conversation during instruction time.
Now why on earth would I want a kid in my class not to talk while I'm trying to teach them? Hmmmm.... Under normal circumstances, you'd think this would not even have to be a rule, but the children I teach need constant reminding of this. It's almost as if my trying to teach them is rudely interrupting their private little scepters of conversation, latest gossip spread, or some crude joke they're "supposed" to tell every class period.
It's beyond tiring trying to fight endlessly to educate some uninterested teenage boy or girl!
For chrissake, Talk later! I don't want to get in the way of your social life. I just don't feel like repeating myself five thousand and two times every hour everyday! Neither would you, or the students who talk constantly no matter who's standing in front of them.
Kids think they're getting over when their wise cracks can last almost an entire class period. It's a relishing accomplishment to them when they can make a teacher's frustrations surface. Little do they realize that when they become adults and truly have to face responsibility, all their jokes are painfully on them, and they're the ones terribly frustrated when they experience how serious life can be and their croonies aren't there to laugh about unpaid bills or long term unemployment.
I'm tired of trying to convince kids all day: I'm a teacher, not a correction officer. I shouldn't have to "win" control over you, nor do I want control over you. I'd love however to see and know that you can control yourself.
I don't want to break up your fights or have to ask you to go wash your potty mouth out with soap ten to fifteen times a day.
I don't have to continue going through the whole spill of my classroom rules. You've been to school before. Most likely you've been educated while you were there too.
You're lucky if in your classroom your teacher wasn't a moderately paid babysitter, or...correction officer having to spill out "order" after "order" or in my case plea after plea for kids to shut the puck up or sit their fannies down all class period!
Most of my kids complain they aren't learning anything in class. Despite the hours I spend each week on lesson plans, they're probably right. Not because I'm incompetent or they're unteachable, but because of their flat out unwillingness or possibly inability to follow five simple rules.
Listen when someone is speaking to you, Keep your hands and mean words to yourself, Be positive, No phones, gum or candy, and Show up on time and prepared.
Seems simple enough. If followed, what a wondrous, full educational experience I could deliver without going home in dire need of Tylenol and/or a stiff drink and a sad/soft heart for those few kids who followed the rules but were still left out from a full quality educational experience.
I tell the "rule breakers" all the time...they're robbing others of a chance at education. If you come here to party, socialize, rebel, do that stuff outside of a classroom where they'll be no teacher there paid, willing, and waiting to actually teach you something.
As far as authority outside of a classroom goes: sure, there's lots of authority to challenge. I don't think you can viably get away with it as easily as many teens do in school though (away from their parents).
But consider the roles of authority you play in life. Maybe you're a parent yourself, a husband, or Wife. Do you really want the people "under" you (ha) challenging the authority you may have over them?
Do you intentionally abuse this "authority" you have? Or is the authority you carry actually more of a responsibility?
That is, your authority is given because you're the person others' welfare, safety, nutrition, wellbeing, or even lodging is dependent on?
Just think of that for a millisecond before you go rebelling some highly or merely significant cause/authority figure.
They could be there for your protection, wellbeing, or advisement.
Just follow their rules, big, small, immeasurable, or few: See how much you can actually gain from doing that.
Trust me. Life would be much simpler if you play along, rather than fight with the current.
I just wish my partially educated high school students could figure that out sooner than later.
By Carol Smith
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Lupita,
Fascinating! I think it's interesting the "period of silence" where they seemed to be working out the problem.
I still think that it's critical to "catch" this when it happens, instead of letting it brew.
"If you have an issue with the way I graded your paper, see me after class."
If there is further discussion, one warning, then OUT! Get out of the classroom if you cannot follow the rules. See you in the morning, MS. Smith.
Silence and stillness until she leaves.
Again, easy to say and reality is always different. But some students are N-isstic. Ways to deal with an N:
1 - flatter them, go along with them :(
2- point out their "lack" (MS. Smith you obviously have some formal training that makes you an expert on that. Will you share what that formal training might be?")
3- Call them out. "In my class, someone who speaks out of turn is not welcome. Are you ready to play by my rules? Let's move on."
I hate game playing, wish everyone were just there to learn. But that's rarely the case.
My thoughts are with you while you deal with this! Keep us informed about your progress,
Dandylife
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I want to go on record as having felt empathy for my dd's pre K teacher throughout our nightmare experience in her class.
She was dealing with 20 5yo's..... she had many little boys who weren't socially mature or able to follow rules consistently. She bent the rules all the time bc it must surely have been easier than barking at them all the time.
But it drove my little rule follower NUTSEY ROCKSEY KOO KOO CRAZY!
I think I would be bonkers if I was a teacher and maybe she was on the verge at times?
I know she was dealing with bad backpain and I listened to her problems and tried to help.
I know I'm not up to the challenge of teaching and so I take my hat off to all those who rise to the occassion.
::taking hat off::
As this thread illustrates..... it's a thankless high stress job and challenging students are part of the job descpription, Lupita.
that's where challenging adults come from, I suppose: /
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Challenging students are part of the daily work, abusive students are too, but should not be.
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I agree Lupita.
I feel the same way about dialy life.
Abusive people shouldn't be allowed to be abusive but..... I have no idea how to stop it.
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Hi Lighter, nice to see you. I had a filed trip today, and it was very nice. Those are the days a give thanks for.
So, I come to the board and get in a bad mood. Nice to see old friends here.
Miss you.
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I really hate that your unable to enjoy your solitude.... the ability to read and take a long bath and luxuriate over a plate of nummy food bc of your mood.
When I lived alone..... I so enjoyed my solitude.
Of course..... a delicacy then was a can of spagettios, eaten cold, with a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos or a bag of pop corn eaten with half a bag of milk duds :shock:
I was also partial to english muffins, toasted, with turkey and mayonaise. Mmmmmm. And lettus. I could sit in the tub of hours.... reading. Controlling the temperature with my toes, lol.
At least the field trip day went well for you.... glad for that.
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I allow external things to put me in a bad mood. I allow what people say to put me in a bad mood. Why do I do that? I dont know.
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We were discussing coping mechanisms on the board a bit today.
I learned that when we're triggered, or flooded (as it was referred to) is something we can't control and it takes over 20 minutes before our bodies can begin to recover from it.
That made sense to me bc I can't get out of it when I get triggered.... it has to pass and it does take a while.
The only way to get around it is to NOT go there in the few seconds before it happens.
We have to find some way to manage our emotions/responses so that we avoid the trigger/flooding.
I'm not sure how to do that, Lupita.
Still working on it.
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Is this the one? Dear?
I am still coming out of the triggering I had this afternoon. I know people are trying to help, but I am irritated so easily.
I am trying to get there too. To not get paralized. On Friday I had a wonderful day until third period. On third period onw student said if I was going to sit on the overhead. Totally disrespectful. I got paralized, took me 24 hours to relized if I seated on the over head my ass would be reflected. So, on Monday I did not do anything.
So, I am working on it too.
Dont know what to do either.
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I'm so sorry, Lupita.... lol.
You finally figuring out the part about your ass being reflected 24 hours later.... lol....
so sorry.
::recovering::
And you can't even give back the smart ass comments, to the little shits.
You're in a tough spot and I don't know how I'd deal how many ever teens you deal with 5 days a week.
Esp with little monsters mixed in.
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One of the most important things is to build credibility. An Ebglish teacher does not have to prove him self. Only has to work and it is granted.
A foreign teacher with an accent has to build a reputatio, build credibility, earn respect, much harder than a native English person.
Guess is the same in any area.
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I think you care too much and are dependant on their opinions.
When you care more about your own opinion..... thiers mean less.
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YOu are probably right Lighter. They push my bottons because they know.
Thank you for your opinion.
It is eleven weeks for the end of the eyar. And this year was not as bad as the last year was. Not even close.
So, I am getting little by little, better and better, just slowly.
Gid bless you.
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Growth hurts.
Changing hurts.
Staying the same hurts.
You absolutely couldn't stay where you were last year..... too much discomfort to do that.
Sometimes it seems to me that those of us who have less discomfort stay stuck longer...... myself included.
Huge unbearable pain is usually the main catalyst for big life change..... for most people I guess.... definately for me.
"when the pain of staying is worse than the pain of leaving, we go"
I guess that's one of the gifts problems and painful situations hold in their hands.
We'd be exactly where we were if we didn't HAVE to find a better way.... different path.... new belief systems.
Aint nuthin easy about it..... but what a relief to look around and suddenly realize you've moved through a particularly dark place.... and now can see.
It's a surprising sensation..... bc it just sort of sneaks up. It doesn't break over us in a moment of clarity. It has to run it's cours and eventually we figure that out and stop fearing the pain so much.... begin accepting that it's all part of the process.
This will definately be a better year for you, Lupita.
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Not this, but the next one. Next year I will be a wonderful new teacher. I mean, a new teacher.
With thik skin, detached, professional, grown up, mature......bleh, ......di you believe me?
well, I will try at least.
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I believed you, lol.
And you pretend till it becomes familiar then it becomes real. ::nodding::