Responding to Insults about One’s Lessons

“This is boring”.

“This stuff is stupid.”

“Why are we doing it this way?  It’s dumb

A big part of our professional identity is whether we are able to keep the interest of our student's while teaching.  When we fail to engage them, or if they insult our presentation, the hurt to our professional psyche is severe.  Here are some suggestions for handling insults from students.

1.      Respond to the student’s negative comments about the lesson with “Thank me tomorrow when you are smarter because of what we are doing today.” 

2.      Help the student tounderstand that there is a purpose to the lesson and that s/he will benefit from it.  Students will be more invested in a task that seems to have a purpose and contains meaning for them.

3.       Respond to students’ negative comments about the lesson by explaining why you chose to have the students work differently today.  Explain why they are working in groups, experiencing this lesson in a hands-on way, researching answers, working at centers, or whatever the form.

4.      If conducting cooperative learning activities and/or group work, make sure that the groupings for a group activity are of mixed abilities.  In that way, no group is at a big advantage or disadvantage. 

• Make sure that the students understand why they are working in groups and what their individual and group responsibilities are.  Clearly explain to them how long they will be in this group and what they are supposed to accomplish together.
• To get students excited and feeling positive about the lesson offer a reward to the entire group for completing the task well.  Peer pressure should help to deter negative comments from individuals.

5.                    The student who is making negative comments about the lesson may be intimidated by the assignment and/or need help to complete the task.  Therefore, you may want to:

• Make sure that the assignment and the directions are clear.  Give this student private instructions regarding what needs to be done.  Allow questions so that the directions are fully understood.
• Ensure that the readings or the problems assigned are on the student’s level and are not too hard or too easy for him/her. 
• Slow down the pace of the lesson and the instructions given so that the student can be successful, and therefore will feel more positively about the lesson. 
• Give the student some of the research materials or a checklist of what he will need for the assignment in order to help him keep track of what he is supposed to do. 

   6.  The students may be making negative comments about the lesson because they are bored with the topic or how it is being taught.  The following are ways to remedy this problem: 

• Let the students have input into how they like to learn best and what they are interested in learning (regarding the curriculum topic). 
• Try to engage the students into the lesson by letting them each have specific roles in a group activity (i.e. recorder, speaker, artist, etc.) or by giving them a “mystery bag” filled with the tools that they will need to complete the assignment.
• Make learning fun by giving students a reward for good work or meeting a stated goal.  In a group lesson, give a reward to each member of the  group or to the group as a whole.  You could even give them tickets for good work and good behavior, and put all of their tickets into a jar.  Choose out one name that day for a prize from the treasure box.

• Make learning fun and experiential by using manipulatives, pictures, charts, graphs, videos, audio-visual aids, computer programs, guest speakers, games, and humor. 

7. Make sure that you have the class leaders behaving on task and expressing positive attitudes towards the lesson, because their behavior and attitudes will affect the other students.

8.  A student’s negative comments may just be aimed at getting at gaining your attention or irritating you.  Try saying something akin to the following with little emotion shown: “Thank you for your opinion” or “I’m sorry that you feel that way.”  Give a one line, quick response and move on.  If the student cannot move on and seems to really be upset about the assignment or the nature of it, speak to him privately after class and find out what specifically was so upsetting to him. 

9.  Be enthusiastic when you are teaching.

10.  Ensure that the activities are challenging, yet achievable and enjoyable for the students.

11.  After the lesson, ask the students to give feedback on what they liked and what they did not like about the lesson.  This feedback will help you gear your lessons towards what your students enjoy and will respond to.  Additionally, it lets them know that you care what they think and about what makes them happy.  This approach involves them more in the teaching and learning process.

11.  Use Jacob Kounin’s “Group Alerting” to keep students involved and excited in your lesson.  Incorporate it into your teaching by mentioning to your students ahead of time that you will be calling on them at random to answer a question related to your lesson.  This strategy will build suspense and will keep your students on their toes.  They will actively listen to your lesson so they can figure out the answer to your question, just in case you call on them. 

12.  Ignore the student’s complaints by advising him or her to put all complaints in writing, signing and submitting them to the classroom’s complaint box.  Tell the students that you will read these complaints and address them as you see fit.  Advise the students to think of a solution or an alternative in addition to their complaint, and let them know that you will seriously consider these possibilities.  In this way, you will only have to address the complaints about which the students feel strongly enough to write them down and sign them.  Additionally, these complaints will not disrupt your class lesson and interfere with other students’ learning.    

13.  Develop an out-of-class friendly relationship with the negative youngster.  Students are more likely to be agreeable with adults with whom they feel a personal connection.  Go for pizza together and discuss how he is feeling in a non-intimidating environment.

14. Go to the www.BehaviorAdvisor.com and read the suggestions inside the pages titled “Managing behavior with your teaching style” and “Managing the behavior of groups”.

This listing was submitted by Elana Cohen while she was a graduate student in the Behavior Disorders Program in the Department of Special Education at Hunter College of the City University of New York.  It is used with her permission.

  Thanks, Elana!

Posted to www.BehaviorAdvisor.com on 7/4/06