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[dr_alcott]

C'mon guys, this is a grad student TA, likely dealing with his/her first semester. Of course it's difficult to deal

. . .

OP, you've gotten good advice here. Don't be too upset, even though I agree that this semester is "lost" for you. The good news is, the semester is almost over. More good news: with experience this disrespectful stuff becomes easier to deal with.

Agreed. Mooged, we speak from experience. Anyone who can't think of a classroom situation they could have handled better isn't being reflective enough.

Good luck. For now, focus on the students who are paying attention.

[lasquires]

C'mon guys, this is a grad student TA, likely dealing with his/her first semester. Of course it's difficult to deal

. . .

OP, you've gotten good advice here. Don't be too upset, even though I agree that this semester is "lost" for you. The good news is, the semester is almost over. More good news: with experience this disrespectful stuff becomes easier to deal with.

Agreed. Mooged, we speak from experience. Anyone who can't think of a classroom situation they could have handled better isn't being reflective enough.

Good luck. For now, focus on the students who are paying attention.

Chime. The good news is that every semester is a clean slate.

[mooged]

Thank you all for this advice. 

I think one of the reasons that I started off badly with this class is I tried to keep them in a circle from the beginning of the semester. I'd never done this before and only attempted it on the advice of a mentor. It threw off the classroom dynamic from the start (mostly because I was not comfortable with it) and set the stage for their coup.

I'm also able to assert my authority much better when I have a strong handle on the material. This semester was only the second time I've taught this course and we were using a new book as well. I am also finishing up my dissertation and applying for positions, so I'll admit this class has not been my top priority lately. Those factors definitely contributed to my weak leadership. One of the best classes I ever taught was the semester I made the least amount of progress on my dissertation...I see a connection.

Thanks sugaree! It is really distressing in that first moment of disrespect just because you don't know how to react! For me at least, ignoring was all I could think to do. Now I know better because it's happened before.

I'll get through this last week telling myself what others have said to me before (and what I hope is true): good teachers don't necessarily help bad students and bad teachers don't keep good students from learning. Next semester will be a great opportunity for me to put what I've learned from this situation into practice.

Thanks again for all your input. I needed a wake up call and your perspectives were an amazing one.

[thehighking]

I just want to chime in here. I think all of the advice you've received is good...but I don't think that this semester is *necessarily* lost.

Students of this sort are a bit like stray (non-rabid) dogs--they respond to alpha behavior. You need to re-assert your authority. This may be much more difficult given the situation that you're in, but it's not impossible. You can start using many of the tips you received, but also just leverage the s*** out of your position of power (remember, you control their grades and their ability to remain in your class). Once you start using this power, they will respond, and will do so quickly and decisively. I would also suggest, that perhaps directly engaging some of the more problematic students (publicly or privately) may be worthwhile. There is still the possibility of genuine conversation here, but it will require some subtlety, and plenty of resolve (and perhaps some ice cold water running in your veins).

It might be worthwhile to try to go this route just to end on a positive note, but given everything on your plate, it might not be worth it to try it.

Just put everything in perspective--we've all been there, and as long as you learn from it, it's not a complete disaster.

[watermarkup]

There is one thing you could try this semester, even with just a couple weeks left. Get a faculty member member to come observe you teach. Arrange for that faculty member to jump down the throats of anyone who steps out of line. That's what I did for the new adjunct whom I observed a couple weeks ago. When we discussed her teaching afterwards, I told her to be more authoritarian in the classroom.

[burnie]

I disagree with writing off this semester.  I think it does the students a disservice if they leave thinking this is acceptable.   Do you have participation points?   I ask because I had a similar semester where a pack of students engaged this sort of behavior and ignored my demands for them to stop and my requests for conferences.   So I announced to the class that I was posting participation grade estimates based on their contributions to date so they could "more accurately predict their final grades and make necessary adjustments." The problem students received zeros (15% of the final grade, btw). You better believe they agreed to conferences after that, and we had frank conversations about behavior and credibility and how they could redeem themselves in the time left.   They were angels.   Two didn't bother with a conference, and just stopped coming to class.   Win all the way around.

[anon99]

I think one of the reasons that I started off badly with this class is I tried to keep them in a circle from the beginning of the semester. I'd never done this before and only attempted it on the advice of a mentor. It threw off the classroom dynamic from the start (mostly because I was not comfortable with it) and set the stage for their coup.

Assuming you literally mean the chairs are arranged in a circle, walk in at the start of next class and tell them this isn't working and put them back into rows.  With the next interuption remind the students that they need to follow the rules of proper classroom etiquette for adults and then do something like the writing assignment a previous poster mentioned.  I can't imagine having something thrown at you.  I was in a class once where a student did that (large class of 500 students) and the prof walked out (and rightly so).  Never happened again.  The feedback you've gotten has given you some ideas as to how to handle the situation the next time it arises, so you are in a better position.