Have you ever been there? Your class is running with a well-prepared interactive lesson only to have it sabotaged by disruptive behavior...again. It only takes a few students misbehaving to ruin the experience for the rest of the class. Have this happen a couple of times in the first four weeks of class and your mind begins to seek a label for "that class." And so it begins--seeing the class as a forest instead of seeing the trees that make up the forest.
Once again I have one of those classes. Comparing the two sections of the same course, one is doing great with just a few hiccups here and there, nothing that can't be handled swiftly or even overlooked without much interruption. The other section, however, needs constant vigilance of any disruption or it snowballs. I have already had two students in that class complain to me because they are so distracted by the disrupters.
The epiphany came for me when I was talking with another student this week about an entirely different situation. After multiple emails and sending out an early alert, I was able to meet with this student for a second time just this week about his grades. The first time we met, he assured me that now he was over his illness he would be attending class regularly and turning in all his assignments. Three weeks later, he has accumulated 4 days of absence (two weeks out of six so far!), and no homework has been turned in. His response upon being confronted the second time was, "I got this! Honestly, from now on I'm going to be a good student. You are going to really be pleased. Don't worry, Schafer!" As I pondered this response, I realized that what I had heard was a coping reaction. This student knows how badly he is doing, and he probably feels helpless to change his performance in the class (a fixed mindset). Hence, he covers up his dilemma with a smoke screen of optimistic bravado. Masking the reality is a lot easier than facing it. Unfortunately, I don't have confidence that things will turn around for this student by the end of the semester. He may need to fail and face the consequences, but I am going to attempt one more time to break through his defenses to see if we can't strategize a better solution.
So what was the epiphany? When I pondered his response, I began to ponder the behavior of the disrupters in "that class." As I broke apart the group and looked at the individual players, I could see the same misguided attempts at coping in their new, unfamiliar circumstances here at college. One student is resorting to the class clown role to maintain his status in the group while camouflaging his insecurity. Another is using his disruptive behavior to mask his failing grade in the midst of his achieving buddies. A third is resorting to behavior that worked in high school to maintain acceptance, and the rest of the group just gets entangled in the entertaining moment. None, of course, is considering the impact upon the instruction taking place or upon the other students in the room.
Having looked at the individual trees again, I have a renewed compassion for each student's plight, and I can now devise a more appropriate approach for each individual. I may not be able to reach every disrupter, but I might be able to lessen the mass impact by dealing with some of them. This week I will be meeting with two of the students, and I am already thinking about how I can change my discussion of the issue with each of them.
Again and again, I come back to my main defense in behavioral issues in the classroom--getting to know my students as individuals. Since I teach required and remedial courses, I face resistance of all kinds every semester. Some students don't see the need for the course; some just don't want to be there. If these students choose to act out because of their attitudes, then other students lose valuable opportunities for learning. As the instructor, I can't let the behavior monopolize the atmosphere of the classroom. I handle it in the classroom when it happens, but that may not solve the ongoing problem. In fact, it may increase the bad attitude. I have found another approach that is effective for me. If I require each student to conference with me early in the semester, I can begin to develop a relationship with these individuals that mitigates many of these inappropriate coping responses, thus stopping potentially disruptive behavior before it begins.
A lesson learned once again...and spring semester conferences planned for the second week of classes. I need to keep looking at the trees in the midst of each forest.
