Re: Obnoxious Student

[Bernard Cleyet <anngeorg@PACBELL.NET>]

A story to remember:  Back in the late '50's and '60's there was an explosion
of Phys. students at UCSB + the grad program was begun.  A researcher from the
Rad lab. was hired.  He compared, invidiously, the students to those at
Berkeley.  Unfortunately for him, the son of the Science chair was a member of
that class.  At the end of the investigation, etc., I heard he would never
teach in the UC system again.  His crime:  pillorying the students.

bc

P.s. Not a good idea to make enemies -- they may own a pistol



"John S. Denker" wrote:

> On Wed, 24 Oct 2001 12:52:59 -0400, Cooper John N wrote:
>
> >  Don't give her what she expects, e.g. retaliation, punishment, etc.
>
> Right.  Call that idea [1].
>
> >    She obviously wants to be the center of attention.
>
> That's presumably part of it, but not necessarily the whole story.
>
> >    Put her on display.  Tell the class she has this problem not getting
> > enough attention and ask them to provide her it; it may be necessary to
> > sacrifice a class to up the intensity to her saturation level.
>
> Whaaaaat?  This seems diametrically contradictory to idea [1].  Public
> humiliation is a particularly unwise form of retaliation and
> punishment.
>
> This seems like a recipe for making enemies.  It would be better to
> find a way to make this student your friend.
>
> >    When she's had enough remind her publicly that there are 28 others who
> > are there to learn;
>
> There is a rule -- I _thought_ it was a widely-understood rule -- that
> one should praise in public and criticize in private.
>
> ======================
>
> To answer Tina's original question:  The usual technique is to speak
> to the student in private.  Offer a word to the wise.  Say that you
> appreciate the occasional joke and the occasional wisecrack, but
> request that she tone it down so as to not disrupt the other
> students.  There's no need to dramatize or overemphasize the point.
> It's not an emergency.
>
> If one word to the wise doesn't suffice, bring it up again (in private
> again), and add the observation that showboating makes her look
> childish in front of her fellow students.
>
> You can escalate gradually if necessary, but I doubt it will be
> necessary.
>
> Asking the dean to deal with something so minor as a smart-aleck
> student is a bad idea; it would just make you look weak.