Reaction to Readings (Blog #6)

This week's readings concerned one-on-one interactions with students, focusing primarily on dealing with student's problems. There were several important suggestions in this week's reading. Two general office management tips I'd like to note for future reference include saving old email records and meeting in the department office rather than in public. First, I think it is important to save the old emails in separate folders for each semester. Not only does this promote organization, it ensures there are no questions about my interaction with students in the future since I can provide evidence of such interactions. The second suggestion, meeting in the departmental office, I feel is simply good practice. Often what is being discussed with a student is sensitive and personal, such as grades, and therefore should not be discussed in situations that can be overheard. In addition, it helps to establish my professional nature and boundaries between myself and my students. Beyond these more general suggestions, there were specific aspects of the reading I feel are important to note, which are outlined in this post.

I related to a few of the areas discussed in the reading on a personal level this week. For example, as a young freshman, from a small town, attending a larger state university, I experienced a shock in regards to problematic terminology. Although I'm ashamed I used such terminology ("that's so gay/retarded"), I'm not ashamed to admit it because I feel the experience of learning how these common phrases affect other people was an important part of my maturation. I was fortunate enough to have an individual in my life who would regularly bring my attention to what I was saying and remind me to use more proper language. Eventually, the habit stopped and I learned not only to stop by why such language should be avoided. I hope to be that person in my students' lives. I plan to implement corrective feedback in response to problematic terminology. I think that it is a great teaching opportunity me and learning opportunity for all of the students to push them to understand how word's affect people. I think that the first time a student uses such terminology, I will point the phrase out, and ask the student not to use such terminology in my class. I will relate and empathize with the student that I realize it is a common phrase and that it often becomes habit to say such things. However, I will point out the importance of being aware of our words and how they affect others. I could continue the teaching lesson with asking the class to come up with a few ways in which words can or have hurt people. If the problematic terminology continues to be a problem, I will seek one-on-one correction with the student after class or during my office hours.

The second area discussed this week that I have personal experience with is belligerent students. Technically, my experience is with belligerent adults with mental illness, but the de-escalation and coping skills I've learned should be applicable to situations with students. As suggested in the reading, I plan to implement the technique of remaining calm when faced with an angry student. If I've done my job and covered by decisions, by following my carefully outlined and detailed syllabus and keeping records of our conversations, I should be confident that I have made the right choice and that what I'm doing is for the benefit of the student. I think the suggestion of remaining calm and confident is important because, just as my work experience has told me, if I rise to the situation, their reaction will only escalate further, risking my emotions continuing to rise, and the cycle continues. Just as with the use of problematic terminology, this is a teaching opportunity. It is important for the student to learn to respect my decisions and communicate their needs more effectively, rather than becoming angry. Also, if I waiver in my decision, the student will see this and possibly detect this as a weakness on my part or even an opportunity to get future grades or decisions changed in their favor. It is only fair to all of the students in the class, as well as to myself, to adhere to the guidelines established. Lastly, if I am in the wrong (an no body is perfect so I anticipate there will be times when I am wrong), I plan to graciously correct the mistake, but still explain to the student that there are more effective ways of communication, still utilizing the teaching moment.

The last aspect of this week's reading that I have personal and professional experience with is interacting with student's with personal problems. The reading from these week makes several very important suggestions for how to approach students who might be experiencing some personal problems:

• Use examples of differences in or difficulties with class work or involvement to show the student you have noticed that there might be a problem. This is important for an instructor because it provides the student with solid evidence to back up your concern. Without this evidence, it may seem strange or inappropriate to a student if a professor is questioning them about their personal life.
• Ask the student to meet with you after class or during office hours to discuss the issue. This is a vital suggestion because it shows the student that not only do you care about them as a person and are taking time to seek them out, it provides a more private environment to discuss the personal matters.
• And perhaps most importantly, refer the student to the campus counseling center. This is important because as an instructor, you do not want to blur the boundaries between you and the student by providing counseling services yourself. Also, this guides the student in an appropriate and the most helpful direction. I currently work at the MSUM Counseling Center and several of my clients ultimately came in to seek help because a professor or advisor advised them to do so. In my experience, people tend to minimize their problems and it often takes several suggestions from outside sources to help them realize the extent of their issues. As a professor, I feel it is part of my responsibility to the students to let them know the services that are available to them if I believe they need help. If the student decides not to take the advice, I believe my suggestion would at least register with them and perhaps add to others suggestions, ultimately making the difference in the student getting help. In the field of psychology, I believe this suggestion is implemented to a greater extent. As former graduate students in the field, and many also have clinical experience to draw from, professors in psychology often have skills in this area of work that others professors may not have. I feel that I can draw from my educational and applied experiences to be more observant when it comes to my students and be more diligent about referring students for help.

As I asked in class, one thing I am worried about for my future teaching is not recognizing plagiarism and correctly addressing plagiarism, therefore allowing students to get away with this unacceptable behavior. Therefore, I think the authors' suggestions of how to minimize and recognize plagiarism are very important. Curbing plagiarism is vital because not only is it a form of cheating, but I'm interested in what the student's are learning, not reading others' work. Teachers can recognize plagiarism through noticing changes in tone and writing and also finding that the papers do not quite fit either the topic or guidelines of the paper. According to the reading, professors should design papers as specifically as possible to the class. I plan to implement this through being creative in my paper topic ideas, making the topics as detailed, interesting, and least general as possible, and also to provide specific guidelines for my papers. The second suggestion offered by the readings is to ask the students to turn in drafts or outlines of the paper. I think this is possibly the most important suggestion because not only will it help recognize plagiarism and reduce a student's temptation to engage in plagiarism, according to McKeachie, it will also help me check the progress of the assignment and reduce student excuses for not having it done. These suggestions have been commonly implemented in the field of psychology, according to my personal experience. I've frequently had classes for which I had to turn my paper in to an electronic database which checks for plagiarism. Also, since the topic of psychology is so vast and interesting, there are a wide number of paper possibilities and my professors have tried to change paper topics to a specific topic on a regular basis.

One last suggestion I feel is important and plan to implement it in my future teaching, is the use of study groups for struggling students. As an undergraduate I worked as a peer academic advisor and created study groups for all of the major classes based on which dorm the students lived in. I plan to do a similar procedure for my students. I plan to not make these study groups mandatory, but simply encourage students to meet and study because chances are it will increase the likelihood of the student earning a higher grade. Study groups are important because students can compare notes and gain information they might have missed, clarify issues that might have been unclear, and if the group is made of a variety of achievement levels of the students, those who are struggling can benefit from learning from those who are doing well. Also, I've found that those who are doing well can actually benefit from "teaching" those who are doing poorly.

Further Information:

• A RECOMMENDATION FOR ALL TA'S AND PROFESSORS: From the Counseling Center for the University of New Hampshire - How to Recognize and Handle Students in Distress: A Guide for Faculty
• From Collegeboard- The Power of Study Groups
• From the University of Oregon Counseling and Testing Center - Strategies for Dealing with Angry Students Outside the Classroom