When the Students Groan
I really dislike fake positivity, the idea that no matter what happens we should be positive and smile. I find it invalidating. The things that hurt us and upset us and make us uncomfortable define our values and are remarkable sources of influence to inspire change. I find it extremely important to embrace negative feelings and use them to work through situations. But damn, my students are NEGATIVE negative.
Part of their participation grade (worth 20% of their final grade) is contributing to a twitter where they have to tweet twice a week. TWICE. A. WEEK. 605,000 seconds in a week and they complain and gripe about spending 40 of those on interacting with their classmates. Then, when they do use their Twitter, they use it to complain about the Twitter. I know it’s nothing personal but it feels degrading and insulting to have spent so much time tailoring my syllabus to my students wants/needs (on the first day of class we talked about our classroom policies/expectations and created them together).
Every day that I’m in there I’m finding more and more validation in the cynical comments of senior instructors who have warned me time and time again that students don’t care and that students can’t be trusted. I’ve tried and tried to explain why I do what I do, but it seems like the more I justify it the more that they try to fight back. I’m at a loss for what to do and I’m feeling like my openness with co-constructing the classroom with the students has led to them to feeling entitled to wallow in their negativity (I’m a firm believer in ‘if you’re going to come with a problem, come with a solution’).
I’ve had a couple conversations with them about this, but I’m not sure where to go from here. I’m having trouble executing my idea of a learner-centered classroom without sacrificing the fact that I should be able to say “I know better than you about this! I’m doing it for a reason!”
Help???
I understand the impulse, but I think it's important that you don't take the students' disinterest or negativity personally. Just the fact that you're asking them to do something is enough for some students to huff and puff and complain.
ReplyDeleteCase in point: my first day of class this semester I gave out free candy and had more than one student acting like I was imposing on them. It's just 18-year-olds being 18-year-olds.
I think tone is important, but if the students feel comfortable enough to air grievances, is there any way you can do that too? If their response to your justifications for the activity are negative, maybe it's the formal presentation. They don't like the teacher telling them to do something, and now the teacher is telling them how important the thing is they were told to do. That still falls in the abstract notions of school and authority figures that they're rebelling against in their waning adolescence. I wonder if they would respond any differently if you let yourself be human and explain to them that their negativity is having a negative impact on you.
-Lucas
JJ,
ReplyDeleteI totally feel you here – I have so much trouble getting my students to do anything outside of class, no matter how little time it will take. Example: this week I asked them to post three questions about the upcoming essay on the discussion board before the start of next class, and only eight of them did. Eight out of twenty-five. For a task that would literally take five minutes. I don’t know how much of it is about them not listening to anything I say and how much of it is just apathy, but I’ve kind of just accepted if I really want them to do something, I’m going to have to work it into class time.
I get your hardship in feeling like you need to justify the importance of what they’re doing, especially if there’s pushback. I think sometimes it’s more helpful to turn it on them – ask them to explain why something you’re doing is important. Let them hash it out in a group discussion instead of putting all the pressure on yourself to explain. I’ve done this once or twice, and they always come up with something – and a lot of times they’re far more willing to accept an explanation if they come up with it rather than the instructor trying to force it down their throats. Students are psychological creatures, so sometimes it helps to play mind games with them.
-Jessie
JJ,
ReplyDeleteI understand your frustration. One thing that helps me is to remember that our students are adults; they're going to do what they want to do and not do what they don't want to do. It's 100% their responsibility whether or not they succeed in my course when I've done everything to make them successful, so I don't concern myself with whether or not they do the work. If they don't do it, that's on them and not me. I think we were trained to take things so personally because we really zeroed in on student success in ID601 instead of our own mental health, but it's important to remember that we can't control 25 full-grown adults if they don't work with us. That might sound like me saying I don't care whether or not my students succeed, which isn't true at all. I just don't link their personal success to mine as an instructor so I can retain a shred of my sanity.
I open my students up to feedback when things seem like they're going wrong. You could try this for your Twitter activity to get some feedback about where it could change/how your students would like it to change. The activity I do requires them to reflect and free write about the problem in question and then use that free write to provide anonymous feedback through a paper throwing process. I know it sounds a little unconventional, but I have them write one statement/piece of feedback from their free write on a piece of paper, ball it up, throw it across the room, pick up a classmate's paper, and repeat the activity until there are five statements on each page. We then get in a circle and I have the students read the 3 statements from the 5 total that they believe are most important for me to hear. This allows them to put down precise feedback that they get to filter through themselves that you can then use to revise your activities. I've found that by implementing the things they suggest, I've formed a closer, trusting relationship with my students. They also love throwing shit, so there's that too! You could take a few of their suggestions that aren't too much work on you and implement them so the students see you will use their feedback. This might help to quell some of the dissent in your classroom.
I wish you the best of luck moving forward in your classroom; teaching really isn't easy. Thank you for your honest post.
-Natalie
JJ,
ReplyDeleteI understand a lot of the frustration you are feeling. It can be really difficult to get little to no interaction from your students, and even more so when it feels like open defiance. One thing that really helps me is remembering that we are doing all we really can, and there reaches a certain point when student learning is placed on the student, as it is their responsibility to participate.
It may be beneficial to consider switching up the styles of learning you are catering towards, as well. It can help your students who are maybe struggling as well as give you some valuable experience on how you might mesh other learning styles with your pre-existing style! I know this is something I have had to work to practice myself, as I am a very visual learner, but not all of my students learn best that way. Maybe integrating different modes of learning and application would make them feel more invested in things they are otherwise being grumpy about?
I hope things turn around for you in the classroom, and just know that teaching has been a challenging time for all of us. Hopefully things will begin to turn around and your students can see how beneficial the instruction your are trying to impart will be for their learning.
Abbie
JJ,
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's really a struggle to get them to motivate. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I think some of it boils down to the idea that "trying hard isn't cool." I don't know. A lot of times, I put myself out there and try to come up with something fun or interesting to them, and I'm scoffed at. I guess the way i work through it is to just laugh it off and try again the next day. I praise the students who don't complain and I try to empathize with those who like to trivialize the class.
In my classes I usually do a weekly "check-in" that's up to the students. They can tell me about class, their other classes, their life, or any questions they have. Sometimes looking at those helps me remember that students might cause problems or be disruptive because they have other things they continuously focus on.
Who knows! It's really hard and often frustrating, but hopefully the class will be a small but good blip in the timeline of their lives.
Kristen