Teachers: How do you deal with the students who look at you with a smirk on their face? (career, degree)
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I am a new teacher of adults in a college setting. I teach a class that is required but many of the students in the administrative support degree program would prefer not to take.
Many of the students come to class with a bad attitude and wish that they did not have to be there. The defense mechanism of many of the students is to show a look of boredom or have that smirk on their face that says, " who is this fool talking in front of me?"
I do everything I can to make the class interesting but you can not please everyone.
Teachers: how do you deal with bored looking and students with a smirk?
Try dancing and singing? sorry I work with smaller age groups .. ahhhhhhh I prefer my little guys .. good luck
I do not know what class you are referring to but the college I went to we were made to take a "HOW TO STUDY AND SUCCEED At College" ..and I was upset about this class .. it was a more of a get to know myself class - personally I felt it was a waste of my time and money .... but in the end I had a good teacher that helped me in other areas.
I used to put a big smile on my face and start asking the bored/smirky looking students to answer questions... as if it was really QUESTION ANSWER time...I would also ask the kids I knew were listening... that puts the bored kids on the spot... if they didn't know the answers I suggested the students who did not know stay after school for extra help... I would also email the parents if the suggestion was not followed. OR I would give a non graded pop quiz... this was more work and I only did it if it was an extended period...I would quickly grade it and more times than not the bored kids would do poorly... I never use the grade in the grade book but I would use it as again...a tool to SUGGEST they stay after... and again, if they did not I would let the parents know that they did poorly and should have stayed but chose not to.
I used to put a big smile on my face and start asking the bored/smirky looking students to answer questions... as if it was really QUESTION ANSWER time...I would also ask the kids I knew were listening... that puts the bored kids on the spot... if they didn't know the answers I suggested the students who did not know stay after school for extra help... I would also email the parents if the suggestion was not followed. OR I would give a non graded pop quiz... this was more work and I only did it if it was an extended period...I would quickly grade it and more times than not the bored kids would do poorly... I never use the grade in the grade book but I would use it as again...a tool to SUGGEST they stay after... and again, if they did not I would let the parents know that they did poorly and should have stayed but chose not to.
The OP is in the college setting...definitely can't do the parent thing in the there :-) I don't think that would work too well!!
I do remember going in to some college classes with a "smirk" because I knew they were classes I had to take and didn't want to be in. However, I almost always had professors/TA's that made the class enjoyable. The smirk usually goes away when they learn to respect you for whatever reason. Set up your class with expectation so they know you are in charge but don't put yourself on a pedestal...you have to earn the respect but show a great amount of respect for your students as well. Sympathize with them for not wanting to come to your class (if your class is a requirement...); maybe tell stories about a class that you were forced to take (make one up if you have to!) Be sure to allow a lot of time for discussion and let the smirking students be the experts.
Teachers: how do you deal with bored looking and students with a smirk?
I don't. As long as they don't disrupt the class, I could care less what their facial expression is. They're adults. It's not my job to entertain them; it's to teach them what they need to know to succeed in their future career. Can you make the experience enjoyable? Sure, but there will always be some who won't care one way or the other.
Quote:
The smirk usually goes away when they learn to respect you for whatever reason. Set up your class with expectation so they know you are in charge but don't put yourself on a pedestal...you have to earn the respect but show a great amount of respect for your students as well. Sympathize with them for not wanting to come to your class (if your class is a requirement...); maybe tell stories about a class that you were forced to take (make one up if you have to!) Be sure to allow a lot of time for discussion and let the smirking students be the experts.
Please don't follow that advice. The students will walk all over you. As the instructor, you ARE on a pedestal. You're the expert. The students know jack. An instructor does not have to earn respect. The respect should be a given. If you go in trying to earn respect, your confidence and ability will come into question by students. And if you attempt to sympathize with the students who don't want to come to class, guess what? They'll stop showing up and after you fail them, they'll complain that YOU said the class was unimportant.
This used to bother me, but now that I'm confident in what I am doing/teaching, I really just ignore it. I have joked with students before that there isn't an "invisible wall" where I can't see their faces/them talking/them texting and they usually laugh. Beyond that, as long as I know that I am doing what I can to make the class good (and that the majority are enjoying it!), I could really care less!
There's some questionable advice on here, but I'm not going to address it. Instead I am going to say this: your role in the classroom is not to entertain, it's to teach. You didn't determine that they had to take the class, the college did. Therefore, you have no ownership over any bitterness or drippy emotions that they may harbor or the passive-aggressive behavior that it manifests into. Ignore it. It's immature, especially for college kids. They're adults now and they have to suck it up. Being that they are in college, they know what the incentives are and they know what the consequences are if they don't pass the course, so let them stew in their own juice. Ignoring it means that it will either go away, or it will escalate. If it escalates, it's a behavior issue which colleges will not tolerate, and of course neither should you.
I'm surprised that college students have such an attitude about taking a core class. I guess for many of them, Mom and Dad are paying for it and they think it's 13th grade.
OP: Do YOU think the course you teach ought to be required? If so, then you should be able to convey that to them explicitly or implicitly. By "explicitly", I mean that it may be worth your while to take a few moments of the first class to explain why the class is required, assuming that the rationale is one that you feel comfortable defending. I've done this with composition classes, and I think it can help set the right tone for the class if it is done properly. That said, you can't reach everyone, and at this level, students must take responsibility for their own learning.
we live in a culture of disrespect. the parents don't think it is any big deal. the teachers social workers and even cops endure. but when they hit the job market that is where the tire meets the road.
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