Until the Zippo King
.The Zippo King unnerves me. In the last two classes he's chosen a seat in the front row, so close to my own desk that when he speaks he directs his comment just to me, sotto voce, as if we were having our own conversation. Each time I have to ask him to speak up so the class will hear.
The Zippo King asked on the first day if it was okay to leave the room because he had to use the restroom. As I often do, I said, "Of course. You're all adults. If you need to leave, just do it quietly." Last class Zippo left four different times, each time quietly, once coming back with a can of soda
, once being gone for nearly ten minutes.The Zippo King does speak to the whole class sometimes, but usually only at the beginning. Last time, right after I said, "Let's get started," he rose up from his chair and said, "Because of a family emergency, I didn't get to my reading. I'll just listen in today." Then he sat down.
In one class, I was flipping pages in my textbook looking for something I wanted to read to the students. I announced the page number, started to read, and then saw the Zippo King moving out of his chair and toward me. It happened quickly, and I'm glad I didn't flinch, but he came around my desk to look at my book - I guess - to double check the page number.
But nothing the Zippo King does compares to the use of his lighter. He has a large and shiny Zippo lighter that he has in his hand on and off during class. It always catches my eye, because he rotates it in some way in his hand as he sits through class, the shiny sides of it reflecting light. I've watched him at times. He rotates it in his hand, and can even spin it on the flat surface between his index finger and thumb.
But in the last class he began to light it. Briefly. Just a whoosh of flame and then the whole thing disappeared into his shirt pocket. I thought I had imagined it at first, but then 10 minutes later he did it again.
Finally, as I was returning to face the class after writing on the board, I saw the Zippo King using the flame of his lighter to burn the end of a small piece of thread on his shirt. He wasn't actually doing it in a way that drew attention, but I could see another student in the front row staring at him.
"Could you put that away?" I asked him.
"What?" he replied.
"The lighter," I said.
"I don't understand."
"The lighter. It's annoying."
"The lighter is annoying? I really don't see how I'm bothering anyone."
"Well it's bothering me. You lighting it and burning your shirt. Just put it away, okay?"
"I don't understand," he said. "Had I known there was a college rule against it, that would be something. But I had no idea that this would bother anyone." Then he turned to the room and said, "Am I bothering anyone?"
"It's bothering me," I said, and I saw his face go rather stony and still. "Seriously, if you could just put it away, I'd appreciate it."
He said nothing, but stared at me silently for the rest of class, not moving, just still and freakishly quiet.
At the end of class, after about half the people had left, he stood up and walked out.
I walked to my car with an uneasy feeling about it, and I'm dreading Thursday.
Aspergers. I'd bet.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing unreasonable about asking someone to put away an incendiary device. There probably ARE rules about burning things in classrooms. Call the campus police and have them connect you with the fire regulations people. Where I work, they won't let you put so much as a chair in the hall for fire safety reasons, so I'm sure they will be concerned about the lighter. They can pay a little visit to your class to observe and speak with the student afterward.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Aspergers, which I tend to think of as relatively benign because I have perfectly functional friends who have it. But the problem is that when you're dealing with off-kilter behaviour all your reptilian hindbrain can be sure of is that SOMETHING's out of whack, and it could be some benign thing or it could be some less-benign thing (first incendiary devices, next - what?) and all a poor hindbrain can do is wave its arms about shrieking DANGER, WILL ROBINSON! without being more specific.
ReplyDeleteCertainly call campus security and ask them to come in and have a quiet word with the student about incendiary devices. You can also ask him, if he thinks he'll need to leave the class frequently - or even once - to sit at the back so that his comings and goings don't disturb other people. You can make that a general class announcement so he doesn't feel singled out.
I note that Google Ads is now advertising Zippo lighters in the right-hand column.
ReplyDeleteLet's ask the American people what you should do! American people, what do you think?
ReplyDeleteAP: ATTAAAAAACK! LOCK HIM UP! COMMIT HIM! DO IT OR YOU WILL BE PRETTY MUCH PULLING TRIGGER ON A CONGRESSPERSON YOURSELF!
Gee, thanks for that insight, American people.
(I recently had to attend a training about 'problematic behavior in the classroom,' from which I gleaned this knowledge of what the American People Want.)
Contacting campus security about the fire thing seems like a good idea. I might also suggest (if your college has these facilities) making a report to your school's mental health center and/or the student's dean. It could be something like "I saw this behavior and it concerned me" and then they can do with it as they will.
That's not Aspergers. He's pushing your buttons. If he was aspergers, he'd have been similarly stubborn, but he'd have kept running at the same target: You. The rest of the class would not have been consulted and there wouldn't have been feigned ignorance of a hypotehtical college rule.
ReplyDeleteIf the course in "mental health first aid" described here ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/17/AR2011011703281.html ) lives up to its billing, it might be a good alternative to the sort of "training" you describe, BlackDog (or maybe the training went beyond describing the lock-em-up will of the American People?) According to the article, "the courses equip students with a five-step action plan for identifying individuals in crisis and knowing more about when and how to intervene" and emphasize that most people with mental illness are not, in fact, violent.
ReplyDelete@Naveen: yes, something weird is going on here, and I agree with others that it needs to be nipped in the bud. You probably do need to deal with the fire-starting thing, since it's more than annoying; it's dangerous. But, more generally, you need to establish your authority (preferably without showing that you realize he's threatening it, or at least without showing how much he's getting to you). The general announcement about students sitting near the door if they might need to leave and talking to the mental health folks and/or Dean's office sound good to me. It also might help if you could find an excuse to move the desks and/or students around during one or more of the next class periods (probably group work of some sort) so that any emerging patterns of behavior are disrupted. One subtle way to point out that you're in charge of the classroom is to physically change it, and/or what you and the students do in it, often enough that he can't walk in anticipating exactly what will happen during the class period. Of course, if he is somewhere on the autism spectrum, this may disturb him further, but the power-struggle-with-attention-to-audience strikes me as something different from, or at least in addition to, Aspergers (in my experience, students with some degree of autism tend to ignore the fact that there are others in the class).
ReplyDeleteHere'd be my answer to his argument: There's no rule about picking your nose in class. However, if you were to spend the duration of the class spelunking up to your wrist, and then eat the fruits of your labour, I'd certainly be distracted, and I'm going to ask you to stop, and it is a reasonable request, despite the fact that there's no explicitly posted rule against getting closely acquainted with your sinus cavities during class. It is common courtesy to not engage in such activity during class, and it goes without saying that you'll be courteous in your classroom behaviour. The same rationale goes with playing with your Zippo lighter.
ReplyDeletePoopiehead, I think you missed the important bit. He didn't even acknowledge the argument that something could bother the professor. This is in part due to the "movie theatre" misinterpretation of a lecture. But clearly he was trying to goad our hero - he wanted a confrontation.
ReplyDeleteNaveen: here's my suggestion, although I'm sure I wouldn't like doing it... Assuming Zippo comes in a little early, show up early as well, and ask him to move to a different seat.
This will shock him to his core and leave him momentarily confused, just as before. Students don't actually know how much authority the prof has. Of course, we have only as much authority as the students let us have, but he doesn't know that. So just politely repeat the request. Don't engage in arguments. Just assume you have the authority.
It's a gamble though.
Anyway, just a thought.
Shades of Captain Queeg.
ReplyDeleteThe appeal to the class makes me think he is an attention-whoring jerk rather than an Aspie. You're the prof, and if you ask him not to light stuff on fire in the classroom, then that should be enough.
ReplyDeleteI think you need to have a talk with him about his behaviour. Ask him to come see you in your office at a time when you have burly male colleagues about.
I don't think it's Asperger's; that "burning the loose thread" thing is an old Army trick to make frayed field uniforms more presentable. You might have a veteran in your class.....or he is the nut you say he is. CM Moderator, I would talk to him.
ReplyDeleteNervous Naveen writes:
ReplyDeleteThank all of the commenters for the great suggestions. I feel better prepared for tomorrow. I called a sort of mentor of mine at the university and she hooked me up with a counselor who I'm meeting this afternoon just to very casually talk over my own feelings and understanding about the behavior. All of your commenters ideas really made feel that I had to be proactive about this. What a great blog!!!
The course I attended was horrifying. Sadly, I am contingent faculty and thus was too afraid to say "Hey, as a person living with mental illness, I find this discussion really problematic." Thank you for the alternative.
ReplyDelete