Disruptive and Dedicated Student

[Horton,Laura]

Hi Everyone,

 

I received an email from one of the SI leaders today that a student who regularly attends SI and is very motivated to be there is consistently shouting out and sharing incorrect and almost random concepts and ideas.  When the SI leader tries to redirect her responses and get back on track she interrupts.  Some of the other students are getting frustrated and annoyed with this student.  Any suggestions on how to keep this student involved, but also lessen the confusion for the group?  The SI is for a chemistry course.

 

Thank you,

Laura

 

Laura Horton

Assistant Director

Academic Support Center

Adjunct Instructor

Medaille College

18 Agassiz Circle

Buffalo, NY 14214

 

Phone: 880-2285

Emails: Laura....@medaille.edu

 

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[Mary Mercurio Santos]

Oh my...that's a hard one that we have dealt with before.  I obviously don't know this student or her background, but sometimes students are unaware of how their behavior affects others.  

It may be helpful to create a list of rules for the SI session that are phrased positively ("I will raise my hand and wait to be called on" rather than "don't speak out of turn").  Give it to all students at the beginning of the next session, go over it verbally, but also ask the students to keep in on their table as a reference during the session.

If the student's behavior continues, speak to the student with your SI Leader present and make sure the student understands the behavior you want to see in SI sessions.  

Hope that helps!

 

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[Horton,Laura]

Thank you everyone for all of the thoughtful responses!  I am going to be able to use so many of these and I think the leader will feel well equipped with strategies. 

 

From: Njeri Monik Pringle [mailto:npri...@valdosta.edu]
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2017 3:16 PM
To: SI...@LISTSERV.UMKC.EDU; Horton,Laura
Subject: Re: Disruptive and Dedicated Student

 

Hi Laura, 

 

We have our Level 2 SI develop a training from the 10 Most Unwanted, earlier in the semester someone utilizes the 10 most unwanted as an icebreaker.  We expanded it to be a training exercise. 

 

I have attached the instructions/evaluation for the assignment: 

Level 2 – In Session Dynamics

For this assignment Level 2 SI leaders will develop a training session for Level 1 leaders.  You will have approximately 30 minutes in which to demonstrate how to address the 10 most unwanted(located on second page) (please feel free to add any additional student types into the presentation such as the talker, cell phone user, etc.  Additionally, please research and provide tips and techniques when conducting large sessions (examples: set rules of engagement at the start session (i.e. lessen individual talking and cell phone usage).  Feel free to work together to create your outline, presentations, and any additional materials that will be beneficial in your training session. Your training session will take place on October 20, 2017,  during our first staff meeting.

 

 

 

Hope that it helps, 

Njeri Pringle, M.Ed

Graduate Assistant

Student Success Center

npri...@valdosta.edu

 

---

From: Supplemental Instruction Discussion List <SI...@LISTSERV.UMKC.EDU> on behalf of Horton,Laura <Laura....@MEDAILLE.EDU>
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2017 2:37:29 PM
To: SI...@LISTSERV.UMKC.EDU
Subject: Disruptive and Dedicated Student

 

Hi Everyone,

 

I received an email from one of the SI leaders today that a student who regularly attends SI and is very motivated to be there is consistently shouting out and sharing incorrect and almost random concepts and ideas.  When the SI leader tries to redirect her responses and get back on track she interrupts.  Some of the other students are getting frustrated and annoyed with this student.  Any suggestions on how to keep this student involved, but also lessen the confusion for the group?  The SI is for a chemistry course.

 

Thank you,

Laura

 

Laura Horton

Assistant Director

Academic Support Center

Adjunct Instructor

Medaille College

18 Agassiz Circle

Buffalo, NY 14214

 

Phone: 880-2285

Emails: Laura....@medaille.edu

 

To search past discussions on the SI-Net, visit our archive at http://groups.google.com/group/si-net

 

To add or remove from this mailing list, please go to <http://listserv.umkc.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=SINET&A=1> or send an email message to the address list...@listserv.umkc.edu, with the text SIGNOFF SINET in the body of the message.

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[Emily Janssen]

Hi Laura,

I have a few thoughts about this kind of situation. We've had similar situations in both SI and our group tutoring offerings.

First, it may be a good time to collaborate with your disability/accessibility office on campus. In our programs, we've sometimes discovered that a student who presents this way is on the Autism spectrum. When that has been the case, we've sat down with the student (either the tutor/SIL or a professional staff person meets with him/her) and established rules and boundaries. For students with Autism, a clear black-and-white set of rules often changes behavior drastically and actually helps the student feel more comfortable in the tutoring or SI context. 

There are also some things the SI leader can try regardless of whether a student is on the Autism spectrum. One would be to plan activities with more structure. Anything that relies on every student to speak once may help here. "Let's go around and have every person say one thing." Then, if the student interrupts, it's cut and dry - "It's So-and-So's turn to speak. We'll come around to you in a bit." Another option would be to provide sticky notes or index cards and have students write down any off-topic questions or ideas. Those questions or ideas can be turned into a closing activity or addressed after the session with the individual student - or, better yet, the student can take those questions to a tutor for an individual session. 

Hope this helps!

Emily

Emily Janssen

Director of Tutoring and Supplemental Instruction

(262) 551-6047

Hedberg Library 215

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[Arianna M Thobaben]

Hi there,

We had a similar situation at my institution and I coached the SI leader about some different ways to respond.  Since research about learning states that different people process information in different ways and many folks need time to think before responding, we have integrated more thinking time before speaking.  I would have the SI leader address the whole class at the beginning of the next SI session and state that in their SI meetings they have been talking about wait time and the importance of retrieval in learning.  They state that it is important to give all people time to think of the answers.  Quiet is needed so that people can retrieve what they believe the answer to be.  Now, instead of people saying answers, everyone is going to write down their answer (maybe on mini white board) or sit quietly and think for a time.  Then perhaps people share answers with a partner (Think Pair Share) before giving answers to the whole class.  This will allow folks to check that they are on track with their answer. 

Then, if the student continues to blurt after this discussion, I would suggest the SI leader ask to chat with the student after class and let them know that they really appreciate how they are participating, but request that they give other people the opportunity to answer questions too because SI is designed to help all learners.  Additionally, perhaps the SI leader create activities that are not competitive in nature or only have such games during exam review times.  Last fall we had a very competitive SI Botany SI section that couldn't handle this kind of activity regularly. Instead they really excelled in other learning opportunities such as finding answers in small groups and completing worksheets and then doing mini presentations on what they find.

I hope this helps.

Arianna

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--

Arianna M. Thobaben
Supplemental Instruction Coordinator/ Faculty, School of Education
HSU Learning Center, Lib 17
826-5226, for appointments call 707-826-4266
arianna....@humboldt.edu