How to Avoid Being a Jerk in the Classroom

This is a great post. I put my obligations “not to be a jerk” into a student/instructor contract. Here’s an example: http://www.natekreuter.net/courses/engl-101fall2010/studentinstructor-contract

I often have a “fall guy” in classes, the one whom I can bounce stupid humor off of and who can usually trade (lighthearted) barbs when the mood needs to be lightened. But a year ago, I discovered that my fall guy was, in fact, deeply offended by what he took as consistent public rudeness toward him on my part–and he didn’t say anything until well into the term, when unfortuantely, he also thought that my “dislike” of him had affected his grades. I was mortified! I’d become the jerk I’d so tried not to be! I do think twice now about the practice, although it was always useful before that instance.

I think a good general principle is to ACTUALLY respect the students. Put yourself in their shoes. See where they are coming from. Expect a lot from them. Don’t feel you are superior to them. If you actually have those feelings genuinely, the actions will follow. You don’t have to be a pushover when they are twerps, but don’t go into the classroom on the first day assuming they will be twerps. By expecting them to be responsible, professional, and hard-working, they will be much more likely to rise to the occasion.

Don’t enforce excessive formality, but don’t require or excessive informality either. I was most put off as an undergrad by the prof who started off the class by saying, “My name is John. I don’t want you to call me anything else.” It felt like instant intimacy, and I resented it.

Thank you, lsalin. I am bone weary of colleagues who continually whine about the slackness of students. That hasn’t been my experience, and I suspect that we see what we’re programming ourselves to see. I both like and respect my students, and they, in turn, generally respond with hard work and genuine effort.

Excellent post. @6 I used to use a “fall guy” as well, but at some point I realized that there were often a few others who didn’t get the joke. They thought I was just being mean. So even if the fall guy is ok it just isn’t that great an idea.@7 You are of course right about some students, but standing around complaining about doesn’t make it better and just embitters us. Try to create assignments that minimize the shoddy work, grade the poor work fairly, and move on. You will get bitter otherwise.

Do not ever belittle the university that employs you! Most likely the students of said university will feel offended.

Looks like the Chronicle moderators are cracking down on “tangential” comments not connected to topic of the moment so not sure this will make it through the filter. But even if it doesn’t can someone on staff please explain why in an article in Chronicle yesterday, the author could not give the name of a well-researched published book on human waste management aptly named “Holy Shit” but the the following post is allowed:Do you say things like “I can’t bear to read that crap” about student effort? Maybe another line of work would suit you better? “Don’t talk shit about your students outside of the classroom.” I don’t believe you should treat your readers like children and keep “offensive” language from our delicate eyes, how mauny 5th graders read the Chronicle? Is the puritan influence in this country still so strong? How can we have meaningful discussions of any truth value when the Chronicle staff cringes at references to “naughty bits.” Who are you afraid of? In my humble opinion it makes you look pathetic and cowardly.

All of these seem to me to be things that we ought to know and do without requiring a reminder, as the baselines of professional behaviour, with one exception, re: insisting on no late work from students without displaying the same time management skills ourselves:’”The worst are professors who go nuts about due dates but who themselves are continually asking for extensions from editors and colleagues”.I don’t think so. I think if we insist that we will not accept late work, then we have a duty to get the work we receive from our students back to them on time. It’s a reciprocal relationship. But how we handle our lives outside the classroom, and outside our relationship with our students, is simply not their concern. Whether my mortgage payments, my dentist appointments, or my papers to journals are late is no business of theirs.

All common sense really. Bottom line, keep your personality out of the classroom. Try and be considerate in one, and above remember, you were in their position not too long ago. If we remember our student days, I think the professor wasn’t actually beloved at any point of time.vcp @ Webster University Thailand

I wonder how effective this advice is. How many faculty members who are jerks 1) recognize their jerkiness and 2) care enough to try to change? These are good suggestions, though, and here are more for the list, some mentioned in comments above:* If you make students buy a book that you don’t use, you’re a jerk. The more expensive the book, the bigger the jerk. And put it on reserve.* If you substantially and suddenly change the assignments and timetable for the course during the semester without a really good reason, you’re a jerk.* If you grade arbitrarily, or change grades because a student asks rather than because you made a mistake, you’re a jerk.* If you cancel or hold partial classes frequently, you’re a jerk. * If you overlook plagiarism and cheating because it’s too much trouble to do something about it, you’re a jerk.* If you allow students to behave badly toward other students in your classroom, you’re a jerk.* If you act as if you were given your teaching position to indoctrinate students, you’re a jerk.* If you trash-talk your colleagues or administrators to students, you’re a jerk.

Replying to #4 (crankycat):”And if you want students to be interactive, don’t ever make fun of an honest question, no matter how elementary.”A few years back I remember a fellow student who used to ask questions in class that were of the “obvious” kind. Other students would laugh at the questions she asked. In retrospect it seems it would have been nice if the professor would have said something like “That’s a good question”, and then answered the question, instead of just answering the question. There needs to be an atmosphere in which people feel comfortable asking even the “stupid” questions.This might be deleted as off-topic, but it’s worth the try.

@kchristi, you raise a great point. When my grandmother died the second semester of my first year, the syllabus said that she would not accept late work for any reason, so I didn’t turn in the first essay because it was the day of her funeral. Later, I turned in the second and was the only student to earn an A. The professor called me in I realize now because she thought I plagiarized. If I were such a great writer, why did I not turn in the first essay? When I explained that my grandmother died and pulled the paper out of my folder (I had written it. I just got the call about her death after I’d written it), she was stunned. I could tell she was really flabbergasted that 1) I’d read the syllabus and 2) I took her words seriously. She said I should have told her. I asked why since the syllabus was clear.She was not a jerk and ended up becoming a mentor of mine, but she did change her syllabi after that (I took other classes with her). And I build in grading cushions and have developed a late policy that, for me, works with students with genuine excuses and made up ones.So, maybe one thing to say is that it’s jerky to create policies that do not enhance learning and punish good students.