College Instructor? Do you ever criticize a student in class? (business, colleges)
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So because the student pays tuition he is the boss! OMG!
If he does not do the job and refuses to participate in his learning and just warms the seat without doing his homework and does not listen in class I should just ignore him. I am not harassing him or picking on anyone, giving tough love to the students who waste everyone's time.
It is obvious none of you have been a college instructor!
And it's responses such as these which clearly indicate that your cognitive perception is very flawed. It's common throughout your innumerable threads which are rife with interpersonal problems with family, peers, bosses, medical professionals and now students. It's never too late (no, not even in your 60s) to get some help if you're open to it.
I still don't agree. I have thought about the answers all afternoon but are not convinced that teachers in a college setting should not hold lazy and unmotivated students to task publically. Giving them a poor grade or talking to them out in the hall after they mess up does not seem to motivate them to do better, maybe us Instructors need to move to PLAN B. (Tell them they messed up and embarrass them in front of their peers.)
As far as I know, how a student is doing in class is a private matter and should not be made public by the teachers. It is a policy at most colleges, and schools. A teacher I had in high school got in BIG TROUBLE for using this to motivate students. It nearly cost her her job.
I still don't agree. I have thought about the answers all afternoon but are not convinced that teachers in a college setting should not hold lazy and unmotivated students to task publically. Giving them a poor grade or talking to them out in the hall after they mess up does not seem to motivate them to do better, maybe us Instructors need to move to PLAN B. (Tell them they messed up and embarrass them in front of their peers.)
If the expectations are made clear to the students from the first day I see nothing wrong with it. Many of these posters here would NEVER make it in a first year law school class.
If the expectations are made clear to the students from the first day I see nothing wrong with it. Many of these posters here would NEVER make it in a first year law school class.
He isn't teaching at a law school. He is teaching in a community college.
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I generally disagree with much the OP has stated before, but this thread he started reminded me of something I experienced in Grad School...
There might be an acceptable "method" of calling out the student that some of you might find acceptable.
The Topics class - a science class which covered ecology & evolution - was taught by the Socratic method. We were expected to read something before the class time, then we would be expected to participate in the Q & A discussion during class. On one particular day, I was lazy and didn't do my reading. The Professor asked my the very first question of the day, and I told him I couldn't answer it - I didn't do my reading.
He just stared at me.
And stared at me.
What felt like five minutes was probably 5 seconds, but the humiliation was just the same. He didn't need to say anything - verbally - to me, but his look said it all. Then he moved on to anther student.
Needless to say, I felt humiliated. But I also never missed another reading. What my professor did worked. And he became a role model to me - as well as one of my favorite professors. We had a very good working relationship afterwards.
I was an adult in a Grad class, and my professor expected me to act like one. And not just my work output, but my behavior as well. His method of "calling me out" was very effective. But it's still quite possible that it wouldn't work on everyone. And as stated by someone else in here, if the behavior in the classroom is sufficient enough to disturb the classroom learning environment, then a professor must do what s/he can in order to put a stop to it. Other students are paying a lot of money to get something from this class, and it's the professor's responsibility to make sure they have the environment to do so. Maybe not verbally bashing the student's lineage or birth, and probably not calling them lazy, apathetic lumps of flesh that would make good speed bumps some day.
But sometimes the most effective method of truly learning a lesson from unacceptable behavior is to suffer some for it. Not physically perhaps - but there are different forms of suffering.
And there shouldn't be a single person in here that can deny the truth of the last two sentences. Anyone who knows anything about pre-teens, teens and young adults and their most effective learning method knows this.
Last edited by Starman71; 05-07-2014 at 05:09 AM..
I liked the last response. Finally someone who gets it.
I especially liked this statement: But sometimes the most effective method of truly learning a lesson from unacceptable behavior is to suffer some for it. Not physically perhaps - but there are different forms of suffering.
I still don't agree. I have thought about the answers all afternoon but are not convinced that teachers in a college setting should not hold lazy and unmotivated students to task publically. Giving them a poor grade or talking to them out in the hall after they mess up does not seem to motivate them to do better, maybe us Instructors need to move to PLAN B. (Tell them they messed up and embarrass them in front of their peers.)
You are missing one fundamental thing - as my boss has actually said to me several times, the student has a right to fail the class. Your job is to give them as many opportunities as possible to learn the material. In any case, you will not succeed with that shaming tactic - they just won't come to class, and will fail even more quickly. If students are doing poorly, you will have more luck by improving your teaching. For example, if you really need them to read a passage before class, then give a quiz on it. I put mine on Blackboard, so they have to take it the day before they come to class. If you really want them to come to class on time, then shut the door at the beginning of class and mark them absent if they're not there, or count lateness as partial absence (and then make attendance part of their grade), or give a quiz one minute after class starts every day. If they are consistently not doing homework, then ask yourself if either you are giving too much, or it isn't relevant enough. Try giving action items for homework instead of just reading. The danger in being the boss is that most bosses are lousy - they don't do a great job and then blame everyone around them for not meeting expectations while never looking at their own performance.
I generally disagree with much the OP has stated before, but this thread he started reminded me of something I experienced in Grad School...
There might be an acceptable "method" of calling out the student that some of you might find acceptable.
The Topics class - a science class which covered ecology & evolution - was taught by the Socratic method. We were expected to read something before the class time, then we would be expected to participate in the Q & A discussion during class. On one particular day, I was lazy and didn't do my reading. The Professor asked my the very first question of the day, and I told him I couldn't answer it - I didn't do my reading.
He just stared at me.
And stared at me.
What felt like five minutes was probably 5 seconds, but the humiliation was just the same. He didn't need to say anything - verbally - to me, but his look said it all. Then he moved on to anther student.
Needless to say, I felt humiliated. But I also never missed another reading. What my professor did worked. And he became a role model to me - as well as one of my favorite professors. We had a very good working relationship afterwards.
I was an adult in a Grad class, and my professor expected me to act like one. And not just my work output, but my behavior as well. His method of "calling me out" was very effective. But it's still quite possible that it wouldn't work on everyone. And as stated by someone else in here, if the behavior in the classroom is sufficient enough to disturb the classroom learning environment, then a professor must do what s/he can in order to put a stop to it. Other students are paying a lot of money to get something from this class, and it's the professor's responsibility to make sure they have the environment to do so. Maybe not verbally bashing the student's lineage or birth, and probably not calling them lazy, apathetic lumps of flesh that would make good speed bumps some day.
But sometimes the most effective method of truly learning a lesson from unacceptable behavior is to suffer some for it. Not physically perhaps - but there are different forms of suffering.
And there shouldn't be a single person in here that can deny the truth of the last two sentences. Anyone who knows anything about pre-teens, teens and young adults and their most effective learning method knows this.
I don't think that's what the OP means - the professor didn't really call you out. Staring at you is a perfectly acceptable response, and I use it myself. I don't consider that shaming someone. If a peer did something disappointing, staring at them for a few moments would probably be the normal response. It's kind of what you do when another adult does something really rude or disappointing and you just don't know what to say without being rude.
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