Hello Kathy,
I don't think it's something you could have prevented. Many years ago, I
had a student like this. I wasn't using TBL, then. But the fact that I
haven't had another student like that isn't because I've gotten better at
handling them. It's because another one hasn't been in any of my classes.
I think the reason most people have not had this problem is because it's
relatively rare. It's not unusual to have a difficult student, but it does
seem to be rare to have a student who is (seemingly?) immune to any attempts
from faculty, or from fellow students, to change the behavior. In my class,
students (even his friends) started sitting as far away from him as they
could, and he just seemed to feed off this, rather than tone down his
behavior. Yes, I think I could have handled it better, and that might have
made things easier for me and for the rest of the class; but I donšt think
it would have changed his behavior. So if you feel your interactions with
the rest of your students are pretty good, donšt fret about this one. (I
did, and for years, until I realized that there hadnšt been another like him
and it was just a rare occurrence.)
Best Wishes,
__________________________________________
Lynne O. Fox, Ph.D.
MND 3032
Department of Philosophy
California State University, Sacramento
916-717-3980
Philosophy is the headache for which it is the cure.
(Attributed to both Wittgenstein and Wisdom.)
On 2/25/10 5:11 PM, "Marjorie Baier" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Makes me think I should have been able to prevent this
> meltdown.
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