Dear TBL list:
Perhaps related to the concerns that Bill has with his
recalcitrant/social-outcast student, I have a deaf-mute student this
semester. I'm concerned how well the deaf-mute student will be able to
participate in team activities. My plan is to call the service our
university has for disabled students and to ask for advice.
My advice for how to deal with a recalcitrant student is probably worth less
than what you'd have to pay for it. My guess would be to offer the
recalcitrant to be his own team... but I'd have to be there, really, before
I'd be able to tell you what I'd do.
Best,
Fritz Laux
Economics
Northeastern State University
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Team Learning Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Bill Goffe
> Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2008 9:40 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Dealing with a Very Recalcitrant Student?
>
> First, I wanted to thank all those who helped me with my question about
> unit objectives. The answers were very helpful.
>
> As luck would have it, I have another question. Yesterday, after forming
> teams (done openly, which indeed seemed to work well) and doing a sample
> RAT on the syllabus, we did the exercise where the weights on the graded
> portions of the class were determined within bands determined by me. It
> went well for all teams but for one where one student would not budge from
> high weights for individual work. (Luckily it was near the end of class
> and it wasn't apparent to the other teams.) It isn't appropriate to go
> into too much detail, but he's one of the oddest students I've had in 20+
> years of teaching (he was in a previous class of mine). He has poor social
> skills and would appear to be a social outcast, so one could imagine that
> he is being recalcitrant as a way to exert some power over "others" who
> have
> ignored him or worse. I'm worried that even if this one incident can be
> bridged, he might really hinder this team given his personality.
>
> I'm thinking of the following approaches:
> 1. Talk to him explicitly and ask what is going one. So far, I've only
> told the team that they need to reach agreement.
> 2. Put him into his own team. This doesn't exactly help with dealing
> with being a social outcast, it would look pretty odd to the
> class, and he'd miss quite a bit of learning. But, it would kind of
> solve the problem.
> 3. Offer him an independent study in the class. I'd willingly do this to
> avoid him torpedoing the entire class.
>
> How have other approached such students?
>
> Thanks
>
> Bill
>
> --
> *------------------------------------------------------*
> | Bill Goffe [log in to unmask] |
> | Department of Economics voice: (315) 312-3444 |
> | SUNY Oswego fax: (315) 312-5444 |
> | 416 Mahar Hall http://cook.rfe.org |
> | Oswego, NY 13126 |
> *--------*------------------------------------------------------*---------
> --*
> | "Are not gross Bodies and Light convertible into one another?"
> |
> | -- "Opticks," Isaac Newton, 1704. Today this is described by E = mc^2,
> |
> | which was formulated by Albert Einstein in 1905. It is of course
> |
> | most forcefully seen on Earth in nuclear weapons.
> |
> *-------------------------------------------------------------------------
> --*
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