A survey of more than 3,600 students at a public university in the Midwest provides an answer to that question. After reviewing previously published work on incivility in the classroom, faculty researchers identified 23 uncivil classroom behaviors. The list is included in the article. Students were asked, “To what degree do you consider the following behaviors to be uncivil?” Respondents ranked each behavior by using a five-point Likert-type scale, with 1 being not uncivil and 5 being extremely uncivil.

Four of the 23 behaviors had means above 4.0. They were continuing to talk after being asked to stop (4.50); coming to class under the influence of alcohol or drugs (4.45); allowing a cell phone to ring (4.14); and conversing loudly with others (4.09). Nonverbally showing disrespect for others followed closely, with a mean of 3.94. The two behaviors ranked lowest were nose blowing (1.72) and yawning (1.88). Just above them was eating and drinking, with a 2.03 mean.

Some of the midrange behaviors, those not of great concern to students in terms of classroom civility, still do compromise the climate for learning in the classroom and therefore must be of concern to teachers. Examples include using a PalmPilot, iPod, or computer for nonclass activities, with a 3.25 mean; getting up during class; leaving and returning (2.99); doing homework for other classes (2.88); and reading nonclass material (2.70). Although students may not consider these behaviors seriously uncivil, they are behaviors indicative of a lack of engagement with the content of the class.

Students were asked to respond to a second question that inquired about the frequency with which the behavior was observed. As might be guessed, texting topped the list, with a 4.00 mean. It was followed by packing up books before class is over (3.76), yawning (3.47), and eating and drinking (3.39). Those behaviors observed least often included coming to class under the influence of alcohol or drugs (1.65), continuing to talk after being asked to stop (1.97), nonverbally showing disrespect for others (2.04), and making disparaging remarks (2.06).

A Pearson product moment correlation calculated between the mean ratings of the degree of incivility of student classroom behaviors and the means ratings of the frequency of these behaviors was significant at minus 0.46. “This negative correlation demonstrates that the most egregious classroom behaviors are perceived to be occurring less frequently.” (p. 17)

The faculty researchers make this observation in their discussion section. “Whatever approach an individual faculty member or administrator takes, the rationale for addressing the behavior can be squarely located not in the individual’s personal preferences or idiosyncrasies, or even in the perceptions of faculty generally, but in the perceptions of students. Faculty or administrators can have greater confidence that they are indeed addressing classroom behaviors that may interfere with learning.” (p. 17) Said more succinctly, when it comes to classroom incivility, students and faculty are pretty much on the same page.

Reference: Bjorklund, W. L. and Rehling, D. L. (2010). Student perceptions of classroom incivility. College Teaching, 58 (1), 15-18.

Reprinted from The Teaching Professor, 25.1 (2011): 4.

Handling Annoying, Disruptive, and Dangerous Students

It’s your classroom and you set the rules. But that doesn’t mean students will follow them. If you’re like most instructors you have already encountered students who exhibit annoying, distracting, or even dangerous behaviors. Chances are you will be faced with more of these problem students in your future.

Many see a rise in incivility throughout society, and the college classroom is no different. Difficult students don’t just get under your skin; they also interfere with other students’ abilities to learn. Whether they are texting beneath their desks, carrying on side conversations, or making racist comments in online discussion groups these students damage the educational environment for everyone.

That is why you need effective tools and strategies to manage student behavior. Fortunately you’ll find them in Handling Annoying, Disruptive, and Dangerous Students.

Led by Brian Van Brunt, EdD and Laura Bennett, this 75-minute video seminar will teach participants how to:

• Identify, distinguish, and categorize various negative student behaviors;
• Develop unique intervention and management strategies for different kinds of problem behavior, including annoyances, disruptions, and threats of danger;
• Initiate conversations that lead to positive changes in student behavior;
• Identify when to report potentially dangerous behaviors to a Behavioral Intervention Team or to other campus departments or offices;
• Handle emergencies and other high-stress situations;
• Employ Change Theory techniques;
• Recognize personal triggers and enact strategies to overcome them;
• Use persuasion and body language;
• Defuse, rather than escalate, crisis situations;
• Identify campus resources and determine when to engage them; and
• Appropriately document and report incidents when necessary.

This seminar gives you the tools you need to take control of your classroom and to promote learning without judging, alienating, or demonizing students.

When you order the recording of this seminar on CD, you’ll also receive the complete transcript.

An optional Campus Access License is available for an additional $200. It allows the purchasing institution to upload the CD of the seminar onto the institution’s password-protected internal website for unlimited access by the entire campus community.

Order CD + Transcript Package

Who will benefit:

• Faculty—full time, part time, and adjunct
• Instructors
• Teaching assistants
• Deans
• Department chairs

As if teaching isn’t hard enough, now you have to deal with the added stress incivility brings to the classroom. Learn how to turn problem situations around with a copy of Handling Annoying, Disruptive, and Dangerous Students.

All seminars include a discussion guide for facilitators
Participating in a Magna Online Seminar as a team can help leverage unique insights, foster collaboration, and build momentum for change. Each seminar includes a Discussion Guide for Facilitators which provides step-by-step instructions for generating productive discussions and thoughtful reflection. You’ll also get guidelines for continuing the conversation after the event, implementing the strategies discussed, and creating a feedback loop for sharing best practices and challenges.

Managing Student Discipline Issues Legally and Effectively

Not only do instructors have to deal with the everyday problems, such as disruptions in class, disrespect for the teacher and other students, and cheating, but they also have to be aware of the signs of more serious issues as well.

One of the key issues facing every faculty member these days is classroom management—maintaining appropriate discipline without alienating students or compromising the course. Would you like to get better at handling discipline problems, or preventing them altogether? What about avoiding liability issues?

Managing Student Discipline Issues Legally and Effectively will help you make your classroom a safer place for learning.

Information You Need
Preparation makes the difference in classroom management. During this 90-minute audio seminar, presenters Deborah Gonzalez and Rob Jenkins will help you:

• Take a proactive approach to disciplinary problems, from cheating to disrupting class to threatening public safety
• Recognize how disciplinary actions affect your liability
• Understand the rights of students and instructors
• Avoid lawsuits by protecting your and your students’ safety and rights.

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• Using your syllabus and opening lectures to pre-empt behavior problems
• Handling discipline problems without further disrupting your class
• Confronting students when necessary
• Spotting the danger signs for extreme anti-social behavior
• Knowing how to respond to potentially dangerous behavior.

When you order the recording of this seminar on CD, you’ll also receive the complete transcript.

An optional Campus Access License is available for an additional $200. It allows the purchasing institution to upload the CD of the seminar onto the institution’s password-protected internal web site for unlimited access by members of the campus community.

Experienced Presenters & a Lively Seminar
Jenkins and Gonzalez draw on their years of presenting nationally and internationally to make this intermediate level seminar practical and engaging. You’ll explore real-life classroom management and liability issues through case studies, and other learning activities. You’ll receive these additional materials:

• Sample statements for your syllabus
• Questions for self-assessment
• Questions for further discussion

Order the CD + Transcript

All seminars include a discussion guide for facilitators
Participating in a Magna Online Seminar as a team can help leverage unique insights, foster collaboration, and build momentum for change. Each seminar now includes a Discussion Guide for Facilitators which provides step-by-step instructions for generating productive discussions and thoughtful reflection. You’ll also get guidelines for continuing the conversation after the event, implementing the strategies discussed, and creating a feedback loop for sharing best practices and challenges.

Students’ expectations for top marks, whether they earned them or not, unfortunately can be coupled with foolish tendencies on the part of some teachers (this writer excepted of course) to play the role of the avuncular professor. The kindly avuncular professor is easily deluded to think that “encouraging” students with exaggerated praise and slight grade inflation will be helpful. It isn’t. How do I know? For me, the tell-tale sign is that often after handing in my grades, I feel a mild self-loathing. This is the feeling I get when I give grades that don’t truly reflect the totality of what I experience from students.

For professionals in the psychology field it is particularly important to be evaluated in this way because our patients give us marks on an experiential level. For that matter, spouses, friends give grades too. They grade us by the feelings we give and receive. For too long I felt an undeserving, inappropriate loyalty to test scores, the totals, the “numbers.”

Not this year. This year I would give grades that would reflect performance as people, as students as professionals. How would they manage the side of them that was good, and the (unacknowledged) part that was not so good, that was snide, selfish and denigrating and well, bratty? I and others had seen that in the class, felt it, knew it was there as sure as the air we breathed.

I anticipated wrath and hatred from students and was frightened. Yet when I allowed myself the very freedom that I gave them, the freedom to exercise just a tad of healthy cruelty, the smallest dollop of therapeutic hate, I felt energized. Why attack myself (through depression and disappointment and the usual despair) why not use the aggression to help the educational relationship that I am sworn to uphold.

So what monstrous, “cruel” thing did I do? I gave them just a tad below what they were expecting. An A- instead of A for the most part, although some did score slightly lower based on their performance.

Shortly after logging in the grades I received emails from five of the students. Some of them were incensed. “Why did I receive only an A-?” One irate student wrote: “I will not accept less than an A for this class. I will go straight to the dean and complain about you.” A classmate wrote something quite similar. Clearly the A- (and in one case, a B+) were attacks on their sense of self, or perhaps just their academic vanity.

I did not answer any of the emails. My silence more than my words, I determined, would help them reflect. But had I responded, here is what I might have said: Why indeed did you get an A-? You got an A- because you did well enough in the class to get an A-, but not well enough for an A.

Woody Allen is famous for saying that 90% of life is just showing up. But that’s just it, you don’t get an A for just showing up. You have to be extraordinary to get an A.

You do not get an A in life for just showing up and complying or even for cooperating. You get an A for adding to the experience, for giving, for risking, for showing enthusiasm, for adding life.

After several days of email messages unanswered, I received one this morning from a student whom I love dearly, but to whom I gave a B+: “I wanted to say thanks,” he wrote, “because you know what … I failed this semester (B+ was a failure for me) [but] it just gives me the fuel to push myself and remember that I have to work for things…, thank you for considering me enough to not lie to me and just place an A because [you and I] have a good chemistry. Thank you, that means a lot and is the ultimate lesson….much love and much respect to you Dr. F.”

My dear students: Hating me is one of the most constructive things you will ever do if it leads to reflection for you and for me. Thank you for your candor and have a wonderful summer.

Simon Yisrael Feuerman, PsyD, LCSW, is the director of the New Center for Advanced Psychotherapy Studies (NCAPS), and an adjunct professor of psychology at Kean University.

Before I stand accused of holding all kinds of warped pedagogical attitudes and beliefs, I want to make clear my belief that most learning, whether in kindergarten or graduate school, is built on a foundation of love and trust.

But as in many relationships, things can go askew, and within the love matrix negative feelings, even hatred, can develop. Good teachers and students deal creatively with strong negative feelings.

One might think: what kind of animosity can develop in say, a classroom of first-graders or at the other end of the educational spectrum, graduate students in a doctoral program? Experience tells me that there is plenty of it to go around.

For example, in the graduate school of psychology at the university where I teach, we studied such topics as psychopathology of childhood and analysis of group processes this past semester. It was a large class of bright, appealing and motivated students. They were as good as you will find in most places. Yet even in these seemingly intellectually-laden precincts, an exciting palpable sense of hatred started to brew.

A significant number of students found the class was not what they expected. “Too much free-floating discussion, not enough text-driven material” was what a few said. This seemingly minor quibble erupted into full-fledged despising and white-knuckle stare-downs. Although satisfying compromises were seemingly reached (we could talk about actual situations with children and refer verbally to text), there were holdouts.

One particularly bright and articulate student wrote to me in her weekly log (a requirement for each class session) “This class has just dragged on and on. This is not what we paid for. I won’t talk about how I feel during class and if you ask me to do it, I will disavow that I wrote this!”

And so the semester haltingly progressed. Students did learn, but the educational flow was impaired. It was a bit of a slog.

Of course, at the end of the semester came grading time. I had always found grading students to be joyless and depressing, and on occasion it would bring about periods of self-loathing.

Brooding about this semi-annual task, I came upon an idea. Why not share the burden with the students? On the last day of the class I asked everyone to divide into groups and grade each other. After brief discussion they handed in their grades. Not surprisingly, they gave each other A’s. I said I would take their recommendations under advisement.

I came to understand that many, if not most, of these students expected to get A’s almost as their birthright. They walked in with that expectation even before the class began. After all, they were “great” students. They were young, bright and articulate. One had the sense that they had been told that all their lives and what’s more, they had the scores to prove it. Their silent demands of the academic world were potent and powerful. It was if they were saying I am an “A.”

Editor’s Note. Coming tomorrow, part two of this article in which the author describes his final lesson for his students: “You do not get an A in life for just showing up and complying or even for cooperating.”

Simon Yisrael Feuerman, PsyD, LCSW, is the director of the New Center for Advanced Psychotherapy Studies (NCAPS), and an adjunct professor of psychology at Kean University.

What are some common behaviors of difficult students?

Brian: Some behaviors that I have experienced in the classroom that I would consider disruptive often center on inattentive behaviors and those indicating a poor sense of classroom motivation. Here the students are surfing on their laptops, checking their phones for text messages, or generally not paying attention to the lecture at hand. More serious disruptive behaviors have involved students who directly and persistently challenge my authority in the classroom or seek to disagree with points in the lecture merely to make their own unrelated points.

Perry: The common behavior I see is chronic tardiness to class. These are the students who are perpetually late and as they come in, usually find the one seat in the room that causes the most disruption as he or she settles in. Other disruptive behaviors have included side conversations, monopolizing the discussion with your own agenda, electronic issues (cell phones, PDA, inappropriate laptop usage, etc.), and leaving early without discussing it with the instructor.

Are there certain difficult or disruptive behaviors that are becoming more prevalent among college students?

Brian: I think the inattentive behaviors mentioned above are the most common for students to demonstrate in the classroom. These are often followed quickly by either rude or disrespectful behavior or what I would consider a general lack of civility and manners in the classroom.

Perry: There has been an increase in a lack of respect and common manners towards each other and the instructor. This comes out in classroom discussion, private conversations between the instructor and the student, and a lack of a willingness to meet someone halfway.

What are some common mistakes professors make in dealing with difficult students?

Brian: I think the most common mistake is adapting the approach of “It’s my way or the highway” or exerting power and control too quickly and in a heavy-handed fashion when a more sophisticated, tactical response would get the job done more effectively—for example, embarrassing a student who is misusing technology in the classroom in front of the entire class instead of taking the time to meet with the student after class and have a more respectful conversation with them about what they are doing and why you find it distracting. The latter approach takes more time and requires more patience from the faculty member—but it often is more effective in achieving long-term compliance. It also teaches the student the idea of giving respect to get respect.

Perry: One common mistake is instructors who do not share their classroom expectations at the beginning of the course. Often the syllabus contains all the course assignment information but very few classroom expectations. Additionally, if the expectations are in the syllabus, they need to be shared during the first class, just like you would share the information on the assignments. The expectations also need to be flexible to meet the needs of the instructor as he or she teaches AND the students as they learn. It is generally not a one way highway.

What are some possible consequences of ineffective classroom management?

Brian: If they are too heavy-handed in their approach, faculty can end up creating an atmosphere of fear in the classroom that will ensure compliance but never quite achieve a respectful classroom atmosphere. Students will comply with behavior out of fear of being embarrassed and never truly buy-in as stakeholders in the process of learning. If a faculty member ignores classroom behavior then they run the risk of losing total control of their classroom, which also drastically impacts the creation of a successful learning environment.

Perry: Not being clear about your expectations leaves the students with no boundaries and sets them up to have a run-in with the instructor. Also, being rigid with your expectations invites silence in the classroom, with students not buying into the course because they do not respect the instructor.

In the online video seminar, Classroom Management 102: Working with Difficult Students, Drs. Brian Van Brunt and Perry Francis provide four live-action demonstrations of typical classroom management problems, including the right and wrong way to respond to the unwanted behavior. Learn More >>

What Should I Do When a Student Challenges my Authority?

Program includes a CD with the video presentation, plus supplemental materials, PowerPoint slides, and complete transcript • $99

Students can challenge your authority in all sorts of ways. Some are overt (is he actually snoring?!), and some are not (that gentle pitter-pat you hear is most likely not rain on the roof … it’s texting).

Regardless of the method, such challenges can be detrimental to your classroom environment, to your ability to teach, and to other students’ ability to learn. So they must be handled. But how?

You can gain valuable insights from the 20 Minute Mentor program, What Do I Do When a Student Challenges My Authority? Led by classroom veteran Dr. Ike Shibley of Penn State Berks, this content-rich video program will examine effective and appropriate responses when students cross the line.

You’ll learn:

• What can cause challenges to occur.
• How to assess their seriousness.
• Your best options for private, one-on-one responses.
• A four-step method for addressing incivility publicly, in class.
• Appropriate repercussions for bad behavior.
• When and how to establish expectations for your classroom.
• And more.

This mentor will provide you with the tools and techniques you need to deliver appropriate, measured responses to challenges.

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What Should I Do When a Student Challenges my Authority? • CD • $99

This Magna 20 Minute Mentor includes a CD with the video presentation, supplemental materials, a copy of the PowerPoint slides and the program’s transcript.

Want to make this program available for your entire campus?

Contact us about a Campus Access License to load the CD onto your institution’s internal web site for unlimited, convenient on-demand access to members of the campus community. The Campus Access License is ideal for ongoing group or individual training or to build a library of professional development material.

As you know, some students are late to class on a regular basis, and in doing so are probably displaying a form of resistance or defiance—and it is wise to see it as such.

When questioned about their habitual lateness, students are apt to justify or excuse it on the grounds that they have other tasks to attend to, such as child care or job responsibilities that preempt punctual class attendance. Many instructors are thus made to feel guilty and are thereby disarmed by such reasons or excuses. They allow students to talk them into considering these excuses as authentic extenuations.

If this sounds familiar to you, here are a few opinions on the subject to consider.

1. Arriving to class punctually is an important responsibility borne entirely by the student, not the instructor.
2. Although child care or job responsibilities are clearly time consuming, and when combined with the demands connected with attending college can be downright overwhelming, it is again largely the responsibility of the student, not the instructor, to decide which takes priority — one’s job, one’s child care responsibilities, or punctually attending classes.
3. Lateness is often a rude and disruptive form of behavior, especially when it is accompanied by doors opening and shutting, loud noises, and students distractingly passing in front of the instructor to get to their seats.
4. Habitual lateness to class, much like when friends or family members habitually arrive late for social gatherings and usually infuriate us because of their thoughtlessness, is typically a sign of devaluation of and contempt for instructors and other students who have arrived to class punctually. Even more important, it is most likely a sign of devaluation and contempt for one’s own education, albeit unconscious, since the student’s habitual lateness will necessarily curtail his or her time in class and cause the student to forfeit important opportunities for learning.
5. Instructors who habitually arrive late to class themselves are poor models for their students and should find any reasonable means possible to correct this form of unprofessional behavior.

Generally speaking, strict rules and adverse consequences for chronic lateness almost always improve attendance and punctuality. Remember, this form of passive-aggressive behavior can be remedied if you allow yourself to use a clear, fair, and proportionate set of adverse consequences to deal with it.

Excerpted from Coping with Seven Disruptive Personality Types in the Classroom. Learn more about this whitepaper »

In those cases in which a student is openly abusive to the instructor or other students, it is essential for the instructor to immediately refer the issue to administrative authority. But there are many students whose disruptiveness, if skillfully handled by instructors at the start of such behavior, can be forestalled from reaching the extremes.

Posting a code of conduct in the class can certainly help set the tone for the class, but there are a few other general techniques that seem to be effective:

• Assume a tone of formality when handling a problem—formality in online classrooms signifies seriousness and firmness, especially when contrasting with an otherwise more casual instructor tone.
• If the student has made his or her issue publicly known by posting something inappropriate in the class forum, handle the issue by using both private email communications and a public clarification.
  The latter should not address the disruptive student but the class as a whole by calmly reminding the students about the course requirements, restating objectives or purpose, or referring students to resources for solving problems, as the case may require. Meanwhile, a private email to the student can allow whatever personal communication seems appropriate.

• Do not allow yourself to argue on the level of the student or get too caught up in one student’s drama. Remember that the other students are equally deserving of your attention.

For more information about managing expectations and working with difficult students, see Ko and Rossen, Teaching Online: A Practical Guide, 2nd edition (Routledge, 2008).

Susan Ko is the executive director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Maryland University College.

Reprinted from Tips from the Pros: Three Tips for Handling Disruptive Online Students, Online Classroom, February 2009.

If you were in this professor’s shoes (and maybe that’s not too hard to imagine) how would you handle a student like James?

During the recent online video seminar Classroom Management 102: Working with Difficult Students, Brian Van Brunt, EdD and Perry Francis EdD used role playing to demonstrate both effective and ineffective responses to students like James. Some of the ineffective approaches include ignoring the behavior and hoping it improves, embarrassing the student in front of the class, and enforcing a new, no technology rule for everyone in the class.

But there’s a better way, of course, and it centers on setting clear expectations upfront and communicating those expectations to the students. It also means being willing to share a little bit of yourself so your students can see you as a real person. In the case of a student like James, you could, for example, let him know that you’re addicted to your Blackberry or iPod, but when you’re in class you shut it off out of respect for the class. And while you can sympathize that it’s sometimes hard to pay attention in a class that fulfills a requirement, but is not part of one’s major, you also need to be firm in communicating your expectations for classroom behavior, and the consequences for ignoring class rules.

“One of the things that I’ve discovered in the time I’ve taught is if we don’t address things appropriately they have a tendency to fester and not just impact that particular student, but impact the entire classroom and make it less than it could be,” says Francis, a professor of counseling at Eastern Michigan University.

The scenario with James was just one of four scenarios played out during the seminar. Others involved a veteran struggling to adapt to civilian life, an extremely shy student, and an ultra-competitive student who participates in class to the point of distraction. In working with each of these student types, Van Brunt encourages the use of what is known in the counseling field as motivational interviewing, which includes the following five techniques.

Express Empathy

• Avoid communications that imply a superior/inferior relationship.
• Respect the student’s freedom of choice and self-direction.
• Attitude change attempts are gentle, subtle and change is up to the student.

Develop Discrepancy

• Change occurs when a student perceives a discrepancy between where they are and where they want to be.
• Help student develop a discrepancy by raising their awareness of the adverse academic consequences of their choices.

Avoid Argumentation

• Don’t argue, it tends to evoke resistance.
• Show the consequences of their behavior.
• Help devalue perceived positive aspects of their negative choices.

Roll with Resistance

• Invite new ways of thinking.
• View ambivalence as normal.
• Evoke solutions from the student.

Support Self-Efficacy

• Persuade student that it is possible to change his or her own behavior and thereby reduce overall problems.

Students with a narcissistic personality style are apt to challenge instructors on relatively minor matters, as well as cast scathing aspersions on their professors’ characters and their very qualifications to teach.

For example, one rather young, unmarried, and childless psychology instructor at a Midwestern college once complained about how some of her older students who were parents would blister her with complaints that she did not know enough about the psychology of children because she didn’t have any.

A pertinent question here is how they even knew that she had no children. In this particular case, she had shared this personal information with them when they pressured her to disclose it. Clearly, there was no reason for her to share this information with her students, and they were crossing personal boundaries by pressuring her to disclose it. Had she remained tight-lipped about her personal life, she might have averted this particular form of attempted denigration and devaluation.

This struggling instructor merely needed to be reminded that there are many people with children who have poorly understood and atrociously raised them. Conversely, there are many people who do not have their own children but who, like she does, understand the psychology of children exceptionally well. In other words, having children does not necessarily qualify a person to teach child psychology, and not having children is not a disqualifying factor for this assignment.

How to Respond
This type of student can be very hard on an instructor’s confidence and sense of self-worth. When confronted with a student who challenges your worth, remind yourself that you were hired to do your job based upon the strength of your qualifications.

Keep in mind, for your own protection, that self-entitled students do not respect personal boundaries or privacy especially well. They may attempt to intrude on your privacy by asking inappropriate questions. Try to refrain from answering personal questions asked by students with personal self-disclosures unless you are absolutely certain that your disclosures provide an absolutely relevant and positive contribution to the topic under discussion.

A short, straightforward comment to inappropriate inquiries is all that is required, such as, “I’m sorry, but information about my personal life is neither relevant nor essential to the topic under discussion, and therefore I prefer to maintain my personal privacy here and will do all I can to respect and protect yours.” That should suffice.

There is some indication that this current generation of college students includes more people who exhibit self-entitled behavior. Assuming this is correct, we can expect to have to deal with more narcissistic traits than we might have seen a mere generation ago. In the past, students seemed to be somewhat more deferential, more conforming, and more self-sacrificing than are some of the students we are seeing on campuses today. If this is the case, then instructors will have to adjust their behavior accordingly to accommodate the growing presence of certain narcissistic characteristics among their students.

Narcissism is just the beginning. If you’re struggling with difficult students at your institution, Coping with Seven Disruptive Personality Types in the Classroom will provide the practical and effective solutions that will prepare college officials to handle the full range of student misbehavior. Learn more about this valuable new resource »

Believing in students is the right stance, but it doesn’t prevent students from coming to class unprepared, handing in assignments late, asking for exceptions, and talking in class. The principles of Motivational Enhancement Therapy, originally developed by W.R. Miller and S. Rollnick to help college professionals engage students with drinking problems, offer strategies that faculty can use with disruptive students in class. Each of the four principles described below has the professor acknowledging the problem and then working with the student to develop a plan to correct the problem. It’s an approach built on collaboration.

1. Express empathy—The professor communicates with the students from a position of power, but the professor still respects the student and practices active listening. Despite the power associated with being the professor, the teacher recognizes that the behavior that needs to be changed can be changed only by the student.
2. Develop discrepancy—Students are motivated to change when they perceive a discrepancy between where they are and where they want to be. The professor can make students aware of this discrepancy. “You want an A in this course and yet you are regularly losing points by not being in class to take the quizzes.” “You want to be a successful manager and yet you fall asleep whenever you lose interest. What’s going to happen when the staff meetings you’re required to attend get boring?”
3. Avoid argumentation—Arguing with students only makes them more resistant. It is highly unlikely that the professor is going to persuade a student (whether that student needs to come to class or get work done on time). A more indirect approach may be better. “When you miss class, you are wasting money. You pay for each class and get nothing when you aren’t there.”
4. Roll with resistance—Don’t meet it head on. Invite the student to think about the problem differently. Rather than imposing a solution, see if the student might not be able to generate one. “You missed the assignment. What’s a fair consequence for that?”

College professors aren’t law enforcement officers. They aren’t expected to be entertainers or hand-holders. They do have the responsibility to create a classroom setting that engages students and fosters relationships based on mutual respect. Students should not IM in class or arrive late or hungover any more than professors should show up the minute class begins, lecture, and leave promptly when it’s over. Learning occurs when both work together, treading softly on differences and celebrating strengths.

Reprinted from Successful Classroom Management, The Teaching Professor, October 2008.

White Paper: Coping with Seven Disruptive Personality Types in the Classroom

At some point in your teaching career you are going to be faced with a disruptive—maybe even out-of-control—student. When that moment comes, will you know how to keep yourself, and the other students in class, safe?

In a perfect world, college students are always eager, well disciplined, and respectful.

In the real world, some students come to class late, miss deadlines, or fall asleep during lectures. Others monopolize class time, make insulting or abusive comments, and even physically threaten or intimidate other students and professors.

In extreme incidents, there is even the occasional student who poses a dangerous risk to the entire community.

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This report takes the bewildering array of unacceptable student behaviors and classifies them into seven easy-to-recognize styles, along with recommended approaches suited to each type’s idiosyncrasies. The recommendations are based on Dr. Amada’s approaches drawn from his 30-year career in which he authored of eleven books and more than 100 articles and book reviews on the subjects of mental health and disruptive college students.

Coping with Seven Disruptive Personality Types in the Classroom delivers realistic, practical guidelines on:

• Red flag behaviors that may portend violence
• Dealing with passive-aggressive behaviors such as sleeping in class
• When incidents should be reported
• ADA compliance issues
• Nuisances versus threats
• Setting enforceable standards and expectations
• When to call security
• Due process requirements
• Recognizing and managing physical risks
• Handling rude, disrespectful students
• When to allow extensions and when to refuse
• Dealing with nonverbal resistance and under-the-breath comments

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“So much of classroom management strategies relate to the effort that we put into it,” says Brian Van Brunt, EdD., director of counseling and testing at Western Kentucky University. “It’s what the professor comes into the classroom feeling, whether they’re going to be successful with their interactions with students and reach a common goal, or whether they’re rushed, distracted, or not really very interested at all in connecting with the students and moving forward.”

In the online seminar Classroom Management 101: Working with Difficult Students, Van Brunt and Jason Ebberling, associate dean of student affairs at Menlo College, used role playing to illustrate how best to respond to students are who are disruptive, lack motivation or expect special treatment.

Classroom Management Techniques for Responding to Difficult Students
Using principles of Motivational Enhancement Therapy, Van Brunt and Ebberling outlined strategies college faculty can use to acknowledge the problem and then work with the student to develop a plan to correct it.

Express Empathy – Avoid communications that imply a superior/inferior relationship between the professor and the student. Respect the student’s freedom of choice and self-direction.

Avoid Argumentation – Arguing with students typically only makes them more resistant. Instead, employ other strategies to help them see the consequences of their negative behavior, and to begin devaluing the perceived positive aspects of their negative choices.

Roll with Resistance – Do not meet resistance head-on, but rather “roll with” the momentum – with a goal of shifting student perceptions in the process. Solutions are usually evoked from the student rather than provided by the professor

Support Self-Efficacy – According to Albert Bandura, self-efficacy is the belief that one can perform a particular behavior or accomplish a particular task. So the student really needs to be persuaded that it’s possible for him or her to change their problematic behavior. If they believe that they can change their behavior, then they’re more likely to move forward through the change process.

Three Tips for Working with Difficult Students
Van Brunt and Ebberling urged faculty to keep the following in mind when working with disruptive students:

1. Set rules for classroom behavior early. When discussed in class and included as part of the syllabus, these rules provides a base point for future confrontations with students. Allow students to have input into developing a set of classroom standards and manners.

2. Work as a team. Don’t feel you have to go it alone when it comes to working with difficult students. You can refer at-risk students to counseling services, or you can seek guidance from counseling on how to best approach a situation.

3. Remember the professor always wins. In the end, when all is said and done, you retain the ultimate ability to grade your student and control your classroom. Most schools respect a professor’s right to ask students to leave the classroom if they are disruptive.