Dean Dianne, thank you for sharing this story. Thankfully, there are not too many students out there with this kind of severe personality disorder. Speaking as a psychiatrist, some tips: (1) there is no treatment that works, so forget referring for counseling; (2) letting her know this last time that she will be by herself is good, get a zero if she can't behave; (3) firm and unequivocal limits/consequences is essential; she may make you feel sorry for her, which would be part of her manipulations - have no pity, as cruel as this sounds. We too had one student like this in 9 years, and she will never be a practicing doctor. The TBL helped us identify her early.
Dean
Sent from my iPad
On Oct 16, 2010, at 4:53 PM, "York, Dianne" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> I have a student in my introductory biology course that is quite a challenge for me. This is the third time I’ve had her my class. She failed the first go round, and did not work well with her team, then. More than halfway through that semester, she begged me to let her change teams. She said she could not see the board, and that she did not get along with her team. After a short conversation with her, I reluctantly agreed and moved her to the front, joining her with another team. It was immediately apparent that I’d moved her into a team with a friend of hers that also sat in the front row. They chatted their way through the rest of the semester.
>
> Last semester, I assigned her to a team that sits in the front of the class. (I use a seating chart.) Right away she approached me and begged me to change her team to one that is seated near the rear of the class, presumably to be in a team with her friend. I steadfastly refused, reminding her that I know she needs to be in the front of the room. She stormed out of the room and withdrew.
>
> This semester, I again assigned her to a team at the front. For several weeks, she sat with her friend on another team. She never even attempted to work with her team. We had several conversations after class, and she offered various reasons for her behavior, including she doesn’t get along with someone on that team, the team is “too full”, etc. Repeatedly, I told her that none of the students pick their team. I reiterated why that is and why she shouldn’t be in the same team as her friend (who also failed the class previously, BTW). I reassigned her to a different team because she stated difficulty (a “judicial”) with another student in her original team.
>
> I was relieved when she seemed to be working with the new team. Then, one of her teammates came to my office stating that the student is reportedly distracting the others, not contributing, and basically sabotoging their efforts. Their team was working fine before the problem student joined. I spoke with another student in that team who agreed. So, I pulled her aside the other day and told her that she needs to fix things quickly or she will be a team of one for the rest of the semester.
>
> Anyone have experience with a similar situation? Ideas? Advice?
>
> I’ve been using teams for about 4 years now, 200 students per semester, 50 students per class. I’ve not had anywhere near this kind of resistance to teamwork before.
>
> Dianne York, MS, MT(ASCP)
> Lecturer, Biology
> Lincoln University, PA
> [log in to unmask]
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