Today's blog deals with a dilemma common to teachers: the problem student. I currently have a challenging student in my class and have been struggling to reach her. It may surprise you to hear that she currently has an A in the class and yet I still label her a "problem student." Here's why: her grade does not match her level of mathematics understanding or mastery. This misalignment between grades and knowledge is not a new problem of course; but, especially as high-stakes testing is becoming the predominant measuring stick for mastery, it is a problem that has taken on new import and resulted in more drastic consequences for remaining unsolved. This blog entry aims at one tiny aspect of this very large problem: an individual teacher's effort at reaching a single student in a particular class.
Before I tell you about my intervention attempt, let me give you a bit of back story, both about the class itself and about my 8-week history with this particular student. The class this student is in is a rather unique one for me, the teacher, as it is highly dictated by the college and I have very little control over anything: the content, the order items are taught, the assignments, the problems asked, the weight given to various assignments, and even the grading itself (great majority of the course grade comes from online work graded by the computer) are all things beyond my control. It's the first time in my 25 years of teaching that I've taught a class quite like this -- suffice it to say, it's been a learning experience for me! One unexpected silver lining results, though, because I don't have the typical control a teacher normally would have: the students and I are all on the same side, as it were. I am able to say to them, truthfully, "We're in this together and I'm here to help you get through it successfully." I can agree with them, for example, that #8 on the last exam was "stupid" and then, from a position of mentorship, offer ways to get it correct despite that fact.
The class is a very ambitious one in terms of the content and the time / structure. Topics include set theory & Venn diagrams; linear, quadratic, exponential, & logarithmic equations and functions; finance; counting (permutations & combinations); logic; probability (including conditional probability); statistics (including normal distributions and z-scores); voting & apportionment; and graphing, among others. It is a hybrid course that meets face-to-face (F2F) one day a week for 10 weeks. F2F sessions last 3 hours and 45 minutes. The learning management system (LMS) used is Blackboard and the course shell (also provided to me, not created by me) includes lectures *yawn* of each week's material as well as the links to their online assignments. Their HW, quizzes, and exams are all done online and graded by the computer system. The only items I have the ability to grade are two written assignments, but again, the assignments themselves, the due dates, and the grading rubric are all dictated to me. The only other direct affect I may have on their grade is the 10 points they can earn each week for "discussion". In my case, I have divvied up those points to reward various behaviors I would like to see: promptness, preparation, participation, & endurance (staying for the entire class period). So, for example, a student might earn 8/10 for their weekly discussion grade if they arrived to class on time, had their pre-class work done, and participated, but left class early. Just to give you a bit more perspective, I have direct control over 20% of their final course grade; yeah, not much!
We are currently in week 8 and for the last two or three weeks, the student in question has become increasingly disrespectful, disruptive, and disengaged. This is a college course so all of my students are adults, most with jobs, families, mortgages, & responsibilities. As a result, I rarely have discipline problems like my fellow teachers in K-12 may face: I typically don't have to deal with hair-pulling or shouts of, "He took my pencil!" Instead, the behavior problems I face are more subtle, insidious, and perhaps more detrimental, long-term. These include apathy, intelligence & effort focused on "gaming" the system rather than learning the content, and downright resistance to learning often manifested in the unwillingness to try. Sadly, all of these undesirable behaviors have been mastered by my A-average problem student. Each week, she sits in the back of the room with her laptop open and works on the online assignments while I attempt to teach and engage the class with the actual content & facilitate understanding of concepts not just steps to arrive at answers. She often exclaims, out loud, how ridiculous she thinks it is when I ask them to do something designed to aid in learning, like rolling a die and tossing a coin 10 times and recording the results so we may discuss the difference between empirical and theoretical probabilities, for example. She routinely interrupts whoever is speaking (me included) to interject that there's an "easier" way or a "shortcut"; this, by itself, would be fine (though still rude) if her methods yielded the correct results, but sadly, they do not. I have tried several strategies: humor, direct confrontation, one-on-one private discussion, etc. and, so far, nothing has worked. In fact, it seems to be getting worse. Now, since they are adults, I recognize their right to sabotage their own learning; however, I draw the line when a student's individual acts of sabotage are affecting other students as well. Her actions in this week's class crossed that line. So, I decided to confront her indirectly via email. In addition, in order to not single her out, and to provide the same level of personal feedback to everyone, I decided to write each student an individual email titled "<course name> update for <student name>" where I gave them my state-of-the-union address on how they are doing in class. This op-ed included not just their numerical grade but also my observations and suggestions. So far, I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from several of the students so I think this will be a technique I add to my toolkit for future classes as well.
This is the actual email I sent to my problem student:
Hi <student name>,
I'm writing to give you an update on how I think you're doing in <class name>: before I answer, please indulge me in a thought experiment: Imagine for a minute that you are a climber who has summitted Everest several times. Imagine now that another climber comes to you to help get them ready to tackle Everest for the first time. Since you have already done the thing this person wants to do, you try to point out the parts of the process that are potentially dangerous, the parts that are most important, and generally try to make it easier for them to succeed. You try to give them the benefit from your experience, hoping that they won't make the same mistakes, and to generally help them make the most of their training efforts.
Do you have a full mental picture of this situation? Ok, now let's go a bit further. Imagine that you are trying to show this other climber how to properly set their equipment, which involves a lot of tedious attention to details like the type of rope, the type of knot, and the appropriate way to tell if the carabiner is locked. You, of course, having done this very difficult climb many times, understand more than anyone WHY those items are so critical to success and how important they are. However, the other climber's actions confuse you because it seems she doesn't care about anything you say. When you try to demonstrate the proper way to check a harness for safety, she calls it "ridiculous". When you give her very specific instructions on how to tie the proper knot to withstand a fall, she refuses to watch, instead looking at videos of other climbers while you're standing right in front of her. When you explain, step by step, the exact procedure she'll need to follow in order to succeed on her climb, she doesn't write down one thing you say. When you try to point out the most critical aspects of the climb, she argues with you and instead insists on focusing on things you know are not at all important (like the color of the rope). When you get frustrated at her resistance to learning and point out these things to her directly, she gets mad at you. When she sets up her harness and it fails the safety test, she's mad at you despite the fact that she wasn't watching you demonstrate it, hadn't written anything down, and wasn't even paying attention while you showed it to her. You are even more confused when you remember that she came to you for help.... you didn't seek her out. Got the picture?
That, <student name>, is how I see your actions in our class. For the last several weeks you have been increasingly disrespectful and disruptive. Now, you are an adult and it is your prerogative to derail your own learning if you so choose; however, when your behavior starts affecting others in class, that's when I must step in. That is what I saw last night. Perhaps you don't realize how much your negativity, unwillingness to participate, and resistance to learning affects others, but it does. I do not want to see behavior like that again in class. You should call <another student's name> today and express gratitude for her patience in being your partner because you did not carry your share of the responsibility for learning in your team. Instead, you were petulant, insisting that you alone knew a better way despite the fact that you were getting only wrong answers. You were disruptive, complaining loudly about how ridiculous everything was. You need to understand something: I have been to the summit, you are still doing the climb. I am trying to HELP you... WHY are you so defiant and resistant to that?
Now, I could have easily just "let this go" and let you continue with this self-destructive behavior you have embodied; however, here's the thing: I want you to succeed in this climb. I am on your side. We are not enemies. I don't understand why you insist on treating me like one.
Obviously, you can ignore this email as you've ignored most everything else I've attempted to teach you this semester. But I hope you don't. You are clearly an intelligent woman. If you actually focused on the learning and the understanding, instead of obsessing only about points and answers, you could be a fantastic math student. That is what depresses me the most. You have the capability but are standing in your own way for realizing that.
Your current grade in the course is, as you know, very good (A) and my only wish is that it actually reflected the level of mathematics that you know and understand instead of simply your ability to manipulative the system and the online program of problems.
I would really love to see you at the top of the mountain,
Dr. Perdue
As of this posting, I have not heard a response from her. As always, I would love to hear from you. Have you done something similar? What were the results? Have you had a student like this? What did you do to try to correct the behavior / disposition? You can either email me or send a direct tweet to me @RimweLLC and use the hashtag #teachersplea. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Read the UPDATE here!
The Solver Blog
Author: Dr. Diana S. Perdue