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I ask for respect in the classroom, but I don’t blow up every micro aggression or unfair complaint from student.
That’s cuz sometimes it’s a trap. Students that are having trouble with the material will sometimes start a fight. I learned this teaching second graders.
That’s cuz sometimes it’s a trap. Students that are having trouble with the material will sometimes start a fight. I learned this teaching second graders.
I had 2nd grade student that every time math started he’d do something crazy to get sent to the office. The behavior kept escalating. A few months of this and i found out he was dyslexic and would transpose numbers. We got him therapy for this and he chilled out.
In my experience, college students can sometimes do the same thing. They can be frustrated with the material, and that there’s a person of color or woman, particularly a woman of color, adds a cognitive dissonance to it. So creating conflict unrelated to the material...
...takes your attention off the material and you get drawn into this back and forth worth the student that can eat up ALOT of your energy and take attention off the material. Now they are more comfortable because they don’t feel lost anymore.
I’m not saying you should put up with bullshit from students. I try to correct that shit and move on directly back to the material. If it isn’t disrespectful I often won’t follow them down that road at all. Sometimes racist and sexist shit, or unreasonable complaining...
...is related to trying to distract your ass from the fact that they ain’t keeping up well and the material is kicking their ass. They only chance they have is to fuck with you and get you flustered and on your heels so you just hand them a grade to get them out of your way
I’m a big boxing fan. Do y’all remember the Mayweather-Victor Ortiz fight several years ago? Ortiz didn’t really have a chance against a technician. He was doing dirty shit all fight. Low blows, excessive holding. He ended getting his ass knocked out, but the point...
...of all that was to get his opponent frustrated and out of his game. After two rounds it was clear he was outmatched, so he tried to lure him down his rabbit hole of mess and bullshit so maybe he’d have a chance.
Correct that shit, but as long as you have a reasonable department head that’s going to back you when students try dumb shit, i’d try to avoid these long drawn out back and forths over email/meetings with students. I can’t think of one professor happy that they ever did.
