Ah yes -- problem students

Many of us have had to deal with at least one problem student. Though each one has their individual issues, we tend to group them into one category. After the readings, I have a different opinion of problem students. Instead of seeing the student as a threat or irritant, I see them as a person I need to assist. Many times there is an underlying reason a student acts out or does poorly in class. It is my job as an instructor to find these reasons and try to help the student.

The following are things I found useful in this week’s reading and how they can be implemented into my field:

1. The entire section on plagiarism in First Day to Final Grade was extremely interesting. I am currently investigating a speech which may have sections that were copied from another student. Even though we have a university policy on plagiarism, it was interesting to read Curzman and Damour’s take on the varying degrees (p. 130-131). Was the plagiarism an honest mistake or did the student blatantly steal someone’s work? In my mind, anything that is not your own work needs to be sited. But I’m not sure students, especially first-year students, understand how strict this concept is. The authors say that this distinction should be a factor in the severity of the punishment. The student may not necessarily know what they are doing is wrong.

I think this is an important distinction to make because we need to educate students on the concept of plagiarism. If it was a mistake or the student wasn’t aware of their fault, I’m not sure kicking them out of school or giving them a zero in the class is productive. We need to use instances where plagiarism is the result of ignorance to educate them on how to research, site, and develop their own work correctly. Their future work depends on this.

I started to think about my discussion of plagiarism from the beginning of the semester. Did I explain the definition and consequences correctly? Does the student understand plagiarism and all of the components? Do they understand this includes work by other students? First Day’s discussion on the matter can help me better explain myself during the first class. I must minimize the opportunities, guide students in research, and fully explain the depths of the consequences (p. 125). I believe that many instructors assume students understand plagiarism because we stamp a university policy on our syllabi. The extra 10 minutes I could have spent explaining plagiarism may have stopped my current student from making a poor decision.

2. McKeachie sighted two distinct concepts about cognitive development by William Perry and Barbara Hofer (p. 174). Perry believes, in the first stage of cognitive development, students see things as right or wrong. They expect us to know the answers and teach these definitive answers to them. Hofer believes that students understand, and may believe, multiple perspectives in the first stage. There is not always a right and wrong, and students will use this principle to debate the information you give them. While this is the first time I have read about these concepts of cognitive development, it was interesting to apply it to the reactions I get in class discussions.

Many of my students can be argumentative about concepts of pubic speaking and the reasons behind their usefulness. I have had many occasions where students will dispute why a step should be used in developing their speech. While I generally find common ground with the student, I was always annoyed with their argumentative tone. The concepts of cognitive development gave me some insight and I was able to reflect on my experiences.

In my opinion, I think students can be stuck in the middle of Perry and Hofer’s perceptions. They understand that there can be more than one opinion, but they are unable to weigh concrete evidence in evaluating their own opinions. They know that they are entitled to their own opinion, but they believe it constitutes validation for their argument.

By utilizing both Perry and Hofer’s findings, I can try to understand the reasons students take an argumentative stance. I have to remember that students are still in an important stage of cognitive development. They may be meshing the beginning and middle stages of Perry’s model, but I need to encourage them to support their argument. They are aware of their opinions, but I need to help them find when there are justifications for arguing what they learn. This will allow me teach them on a higher level. It will also help me check my own understanding so I can stay sane throughout this process!

3. McKeachie gives readers great suggestions as to why students may be having problems in class. Often times it goes beyond effort and motivation, especially when a student is underprepared (p. 175-176). After reading this section, I thought about students in my class that aren’t performing well. I found it enlightening that McKeachie encourages the instructor to forget the past and work in the present. This was important to me because it helps instructors realize that they can’t do anything about the past. They can only move forward. I also found his suggestion about student learning centers extremely important. We aren’t always prepared enough or able to give students the extra instruction they need. This is part of the reason for learning centers. This section of the text was helpful in defining a problem for a students’ work and giving useful instruction as to how to handle it.

I plan to use McKeachie’s suggestion about giving quizzes and tests at the beginning of the semester to diagnose problems. This will allow the student get adequate help early on, and help them for the remainder of their work in my class. I also plan to utilize the student learning center more often. It will be helpful to use the first day of class to explain what the learning center is and why it is available to students. Students will then have an opportunity to seek out help, if they are already aware that they are underprepared.

The following are techniques, theories, or suggestions that I want to incorporate in my own teaching:

• I plan on saving all of my email records, regardless of how trivial they seem. I also need to save my replies to students as record of my correspondence with them. I think this will help me if a problem student tries to put words in my mouth or pretend they were unaware of something I discussed over email. I also feel that students don’t treat email as they do face-to-face interaction. Many times things are said that they wouldn’t normally say if they were talking with you in person. It is important that I keep these records in the case that there is a communication breakdown.

Additional resources:
NDSU Academic Counseling Center

NDSU Center for Writers is a great resource for instructors. I have even used their services in writing for my own classes.

Classroom Management Strategies. Many of these are for younger students, but it does give more in-depth strategies for behavioral problems than found in our text.

And if all else fails, there's always intimidation!!!