Pardon me sir!

Found this in the draft pile. iPhone doesn't like to publish I suppose...

How to deal with disrespectful students.

What attitudes do we set up for out students to adhere to during class? A lot about what we assume our students will do based on cultural behavior towards teachers is true. Most are respectful, and treat us with as valuable source of knowledge. From time to time though, we get students that can cause some problems for us in the classroom, and I don't mean a normal kind of trouble maker. I mean the ones we create by trying to be more open and accessible with as both educators and friends.

For the most part, we experience quality relationships in classrooms where students feel more comfortable expressing themselves with an instructor that wants to help them through interaction. On occasion, I feel we can confuse the student by inadvertently eliminating their boundaries of respect toward us. Because they aren't used to a teacher that expects equal interaction from them, they can also avoid accepting us as a superior in the classroom. These situations a rare but also bring a challenge to the teacher in how to respond to a student and how to interpret whether their action is a purposeful dismissal of our authority or a mistake in understanding what they can get away with.

The end of the semester is nearing and I have started having a few issues with students that are a good example of this situation. I have a few that I have contacted initially through Kakao message that have responded with concern, and quickly tried to apologize and change their behavior. These students show a simple misunderstanding of the teacher student relationship, and that their real desire wasn't out of their normal disconcerting attitude. A few others are less apt to respond, so I have had to approach them in class, usually when they turn up 45 minutes late or more. I have been surprised to get a few students react very abrasive my and assume I owe them some courteous reception even after being warned on multiple occasions.

This is the real test for composure on my part, and I feel I have learned a little from both successes and failures. Remaining calm even with a student who is rude is normally the best bet. Being harsh has backfired too many times to make it effective. But there have been two extreme cases where sternness and an abrasive tone have really been beneficial. I think the best is to keep as much personal emotion out of it and realize that even with overtly verbose or reactive students, softly softly catchee monkey is best.