Goof Offs, Gunners, and Grade Grubbers: Can You Create a

Comfortable Classroom?

Mike PolitesIUPUI Department of Communication Studies

Senior Lecturer

Recognize different civility issues in the classroom

Connect questionable student actions to possible reasons for the behaviors

Handle various issues with increased confidence

Know where to turn to if problems persist

Learning Objectives

What are YOUR experiences with incivility?

“Rather than putting in effort toward learning, increasingly students appear to want to be entertained (Edmundson, 1997), to feel comfortable (Trout, 19997) and to be rewarded with high grades for simply attending class (Gose, 1997). In this environment, students take on a passive learner role while faculty bear more responsibility for student learning” (as cited in Nordstrom, Bartels and Bucy, 2009).

Think about this…

“Civility is not another piece to be added onto the plate of an educator. It ‘is’ the plate upon which all else is placed” (Vincent, 2006, p.28)

“Civility sets the tone for how course subject matter in any course is learned and shared and overall helps establish a supportive and sharing environment conducive to learning” (Connelly, 2009, p.58).

“Classroom incivility is any action that interferes with a harmonious and cooperative learning atmosphere in the classroom” (Feldmann, 2001, p.137).

Research

Apathetic nonverbal communication (slouching, head on desk, eye rolling etc)

Challenging, badgering, complaining or verbal sniping

Making long-winded or off-task comments Arriving late or exiting early Conducting side conversations Sleeping You ALL probably have stories of your own!

Examples(Peluchette, Karl, & Kopf)

Incidents of classroom incivility are “more common than uncommon” and occur regardless of the level of teaching experience of the instructor (Boice, 1996).

Males more likely to see incivilities as “appropriate” and are also more likely to engage (Nordstrom et al., 2009).

“The longer the incivility continues, the higher the level of response will be necessary” (Feldmann, 2001).

Research

“Why is this happening to me?”

Incivility◦ Cheating◦ Excessive talking◦ General incivilities

Common Causes◦ Parental pressure for

better grades (Michaels and Miethe, 1989)

◦ Narcissistic tendencies (Nordstrom et al., 2009)

◦ If students think their peers will think it’s okay (Bray and Del Favoro, 2004)

Research - Causes

Faculty Causes◦ Disrespectful behavior◦ Defensive responses

to student questions/concerns

◦ Lack of recognition of students

◦ Lack of classroom integrity

◦ Problematic teaching style

Student Causes◦ Health problems◦ Personal or family

problems◦ Academic difficulties◦ Less esteem for

professors◦ Seeing themselves

as “consumers”◦ Influence of TV and

other media

Research - Causes

High levels of incivility led to low levels of student attentiveness and note-taking; and to lower levels of teacher enthusiasm (Boice, 1996).

“Student violations of behavior norms affect the learning of others, the teaching of the instructor, and the atmosphere of the classroom” (Herschy and Braxton, 2004).

But, how does it affect the other students? “A good classroom climate fosters student

learning” (Braxton and Bayer, 2004).

Research - Effects

Over 50% of the nearly 2800 full-time, part-time, and graduate assistant faculty surveys sent out were completed

The survey looked at:◦ What scenarios do you consider “incivility” ?◦ How frequently do these occur?◦ What did you/would you do to handle the situation?

These respondents answered “Always” or “Under Some Conditions” (%’s have been rounded off) to the following sample questions from the survey:

IU Study on Academic Incivility (Royce, 2000)

1. Do you consider students arriving late for class as incivility?

a) 85% (20% and 65%) 2. Do you consider students using a computer during

class for purposes not related to class as incivility?a) 95% (70% and 25%)

3. Do you consider students being unprepared for class as incivility?

a) 65% (15% and 50%)4. Do you consider students creating tension by

dominating discussion as incivility?a) 80% (10% and 70%)

IU Study (cont)

5. Do you consider students cheating on exams or quizzes as incivility?

a) 90% (85% and 5%)6. Do you consider students demanding

makeup exams, extensions, grade changes, or special favors as incivility?

a) 85% (30% and 55%)7. Do you consider students challenging your

knowledge or credibility in class as incivility?

a) 80% (20% and 60%)

IU Study (cont)

8. Do you consider students hostile verbal attacks or challenges directed at you as incivility?

a) 90% and 10%9. Do you consider students inappropriate Emails

to you as incivility?a) 75% and 25%

10. Do you consider students' harassing comments concerning race, ethnicity, or gender, and directed at you in the classroom as incivility?

a) 96% and 3%

IU Study (cont)

Faculty Responses to Incivility (IU study, 2000)

77% - Speak to student outside of class 76% - Address problem in class 66% - Seek advice from colleagues 56% - Ignore or take no action 49% - Make class more fun 17% - Report to dept/campus officials 9% - Drop class requirements, make class easier 53% - Some other type of response

IU Study - Responses

“So, how do we create a comfortable learning environment?”

Establish a climate of mutual respect (IE avoid condescension, sarcasm, belittling etc)

Make expectations clear on first day of class (including grading policies, late work etc.)

Organize a department or school-level discussion of civility in the classroom

Keep your cool when situations arise Be firm but fair Address certain situations one-on-one after class Document incivility and action taken Have students create their own “classroom

expectations” list to abide by

Creating a Comfortable Classroom

Self reflection of YOU as the instructor Encourage participation from everyone (as

appropriate) Address the Gunners privately Indirectly address the Gunners openly Walk around or walk it off Names! Names! Names! Answer Emails within 24hours (Lemos,

2007)

Creating a Comfortable Classroom

Be proactive. Be specific. Ask why the incivilities might be occurring Have a plan for addressing certain issues Follow through Avoid getting defensive

Creating a Comfortable Classroom(Schroeder and Robertson, 2008)

Communicate your availability Encourage visits during office hours Instructor sets his/her pace to match

students’ level of understanding Ask questions: “Do you understand?” “Is

this making sense?” etc. Praise for progress or good work Express interest in the lives of students

Creating a Comfortable Classroom(Peluchette, Karl, Kopf)

Make direct eye contact with excessive talkers Pause until talking ceases Direct a question to the general area where

talking persists Use the last five minutes in class in ways that

circumvent the temptation for students to pack up early

Student openly challenging instructor? Suggest we “table this discussion” until later

Creating a Comfortable Large Lecture Class

(Sorcinelli, 2002)

For constant tardiness– be sure the rewards outweigh the perceived costs

Help students reframe common uncivil behaviors as “problematic” (Nordstrom et al., 2009)

Civility should be taught in the Intro to College type classes

Creating a Comfortable Classroom

Talk to your department chair Talk to your dean’s office Talk to your University’s Ombudsman Talk to your University’s Behavioral Consultation Team Report all serious incidents immediately “Blue Folder” policy

If Problems Persist

CASE STUDIES

Professor Peart teaches a class on listening. On Wednesday he asks the class “What are some of the differences between how men and women listen?” A 10-15 minute discussion follows with students sharing their thoughts and opinions. The following Monday the topic for the day is emotions. After lecturing about some of the things that impact emotions (culture, age, gender etc) he asks the class, “The other day we talked about how men and women differ in their listening, what about with regard to how emotions are shared?” After a brief class discussion, Kelly, clearly agitated with the discussion, raises her hand and says, “Look we GET it! Men and women listen differently, and they share emotions differently too. So what! We’ve sat here STEREOTYPING for two class periods now and it is a WASTE OF TIME. Can we PLEASE just move on?” The class is visibly shaken by her obvious frustration creating an awkward silence for everyone.

Case Study #1

Professor Lifeson works to include all students into the classroom discussions. It tends to be the same 5-10 students who speak up in class. Geddy, who sits close to the front raises his hand to tell a story. As soon as he is called on, Professor Lifeson looks around the room to see the other students all rolling their eyes (likely at the thought of hearing Geddy go on and on about something).

Case Study #2

It is the first day in Professor Van Halen’s class. She finishes going over the syllabus, answers questions and dismisses the students. With a few other students approaching to ask questions afterwards, a rather tall male student approaches her, looks down at her (making sure she realized that he was taller than her) and “jokingly” says, “Wow. I never thought I’d have such a SHORT professor!”

Case Study #3

Ace is a student in Professor Guinness's Psychology class. Ace likes the attention he gets from the other students when he makes funny quips and comments during class lectures. Usually, Professor Guinness chuckles too as she is good-natured. Lately though, the comments have gotten old and everyone, including the instructor is pretty much done with them…but this behavior continues to happen. Ace has been warned about this once already (discretely).

Case Study #4

Alex P. Keaton is a student Professor Buckeye’s Economics class. During every class lecture, APK can be seen in the back corner desk paying attention at first, but eventually “just shutting his eyes”. Mallory, the student that sits beside him is engaging in an identical behavior. This behavior persists nearly every class period for about a two week period and is becoming (personally) annoying to Professor Buckeye.

Case Study #5

Second year adjunct instructor Aniston teaches English. She has just passed back their third paper for the semester and grades were less than stellar. Kate has been vocal (though privately) about the grades she received on the first two papers, though they were not changed. As students were looking over their papers, Kate received hers and sarcastically and outwardly exclaimed, “Okay, SERIOUSLY? What do we have to do to even get a ‘B’ on these frickin’ papers? This is ridiculous. I was an HONORS student in high school.”

Case Study #6

In a close-knit TLC (Themed Learning Community) Freshmen Ross and Rachel had been dating for nearly 2yrs until midway through the semester when they had a “nasty breakup”. Being a close-knit Intro To College class, everyone knew what happened and began taking sides. During class lectures there was often a hanging tension in the air, a cloud of awkwardness among certain students which often became evident when they were asked to share opinions about the lecture topic. It was beginning to affect how Professor Gump taught the class.

Case Study #7

In Professor Hetfield’s 400 seat Anatomy lecture, James comes strolling in 10 minutes late nearly every day. He sits in the 3rd row and precedes to zip/unzip his bag as he gets settled in causing the students around him to become annoyed. This behavior went on for two weeks before Professor Hetfield finally had enough and sarcastically said upon James’ entrance “Ahhh, James so nice of you to join our little class here.” James made his way to his seat as usual and was clearly embarrassed and replied, “Quite frankly if I could TAKE this class with ANOTHER, less boring instructor, I WOULD.”

Case Study #8

Betty, a 48yr old sophomore in an Interpersonal Communication class has 15yrs of public speaking experience at her job. She gives a group presentation in class and receives a “C” for her portion. She comes up to talk Professor Kist after class while others do too and angrily goes into a long story about how she does public speaking for a living, has spoken for CEOs, CFOs and dignitaries and cannot fathom why she got a “C” on her classroom presentation. Other students in line to see the professor hear this, and awkwardly walk away.

Case Study #9

Dena is constantly texting in Professor Demetri’s Greek Mythology class. She sits in the middle of the room. He has given her discrete but clear nonverbal indications to put her phone away. That works for about a week and then she continues to do it. This habit has become bothersome to him and looks as though the students around her are becoming quite annoyed too as she is often chuckling silently or grinning widely as she texts.

Case Study #10

For a copy of this presentation Email:mpolites@iupui.edu

Good

Thank You!

Boice, R. Classroom Incivilities. Research in Higher Education, 1996a, 37, 453–485. Braxton, J.M. & Bayer, A.E. (2004) Introduction: classroom and student improprieties. New Directions for

Teaching and Learning (2004, issue 99) (3)5 Bray, N. J. and Del Favero, M. (2004), Sociological explanations for faculty and student classroom incivilities.

New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2004: 9–19. doi: 10.1002/tl.154 Connelly, R.J. (2009) Introducing a culture of civility in first year classes. Journal of General Education (58)1. Feldman, L.J. (2001) Classroom civility is another of our instructor responsibilities. College Teaching, (49)4,

p.137-141. Hirschy, A. S. and Braxton, J. M. (2004), Effects of student classroom incivilities on students. New Directions for

Teaching and Learning, 2004: 67–76. doi: 10.1002/tl.160 Lemos, R.S. (2007) Etiquette for the professoriate. Academe January/February 2007 (93)1 p.46-49 Michaels, J. W., and Miethe, T. D. Applying Theories of Deviance to Academic Cheating. Social Science Quarterly, 1989, 70(4), 870–885. Nordstrom, C.R., Bartels, L.K., and Bucy, J. (2009). Predicting and curbing classroom incivility in higher

education. College Student Journal, March 2009, (43)1. Peluchette, J., Karl, K., & Kopf, J. ().Students behaving badly: Causes and possible strategies for dealing with

classroom incivility. www.usi.edu/.../Students%20behaving%20badly%20handout.pdf Royce, A. (2000). A survey on academic incivility at Indiana University. Preliminary report, Center for Survey Research, June 14, 2000.   Schroeder, J.L. and Robertson, H. (2008) Civility in the college classroom. Observer (21)10. Sorcinelli, M.D. (2002) Promoting civility in large classes. Engaging Large Classes: Strategies and Techniques

for Faculty. Anker Publishing Company, Inc. Bolton, MA. Vincent, P.F. (2006) Restoring school civility. Greensboro: Character Development Group.

Goof Offs, Gunners and Grade Grubbers: Can You Create a Comfortable Classroom?

Works Cited