Thursday, November 25, 2010

Oh, I'm not listening!

I suppose that I should be grateful that Mr. I-skip-lessons-I-don't-like has decided to attend my lectures. Specifically, Wednesday lectures, although the class meets on Mondays as well.

Or at least, I'm assuming it is him. He sat in the back last week and spoke constantly with his neighbor. I interrupted the lecture to ask for his question, he assured me that he had none and I explained that it was difficult for me to think if he is talking so much in the back.

So this week he's sitting in the back, laptop open, and typing away without looking up. Annoying. I asked him a direct question about the stuff I had just put on the board. He didn't hear me asking. Heads turned to see who was the object of my intense attention. Someone near the back alerted him to the fact that he was being asked something. I repeated the question.

"Oh, I'm doing other work, I'm not listening."

I pointed out that the point of coming to class must surely be to glean something from the lecture, and there were quieter places to sit if you had other things to do. He just went back to typing.

Does anyone have a good idea for something (legal) I can do with him next week? I must admit to being rather flabbergasted, and that does not happen often.

Suzy

19 comments:

  1. If you're really not going to tolerate it, then don't. Dial all but the last number of campus security on your cell phone. Tell him to leave. If he refuses, make the call. After that, continue lecturing. Don't engage in a standoff with him while waiting for security. That wastes class time which would give him some pleasure.

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  2. Students like this are why I have a policy that says participation marks may be negative.

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  3. Solution #1:

    Anybody ever see that French YouTube prank when the prof smashes the observer's laptop during a lecture? I'm not suggesting doing that; I think it would be a good idea to track that film down and run it in class, then ask Mr. Keys what he thinks of it.

    Solution #2:

    Anybody see "Spinal Tap?" Remember how Tony Hendra (the manager) would carry around a cricket bat? I'm not saying, "crush the little git", but I am saying that it was hilarious when Hendra walloped that hotel TV with it.

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  4. What do you actually want to achieve here?

    If you want him to listen, you can't force him to do that. If you want him gone if he's not going to listen, you can get him ejected (as per Ben's suggestion) but make sure you've got a good defensible reason for doing so. "He was typing during my lecture" won't cut much ice with your chair, especially if the snowflake's complaint says that the typing was to take notes...

    The line I draw is not whether they are participating or not, it's whether they are disrupting the learning of other students.

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  5. I am surprised you didn't tell him to leave class right then and there.

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  6. Oh, the chair won't scream, I'm the dean and this is the class I have to teach because people think deans don't have enough to do and need to contribute. That's why anything legal is a nice idea. I can back myself up on doing pretty much everything. I suppose I need to check if this is the provost's son before I get going, though.

    @Ben, nice idea, except that we are at a "satellite" campus (that has 2/3 of the students) and the president's office is at the "main" campus, which is between 11 and 30 minutes away, depending on traffic.

    @MAaM, I was not being direct enough, I just said that there are quieter places on campus to work than in my classroom.

    @Strelnikov, hmmm. Seems it was an April Fool's joke: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spKuQAdf5r8 But a great idea...

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  7. @Suzy from Square State
    Not raining tadpoles on your parade, but I mentioned that the French video was a prank in my original post. I originally heard it was real, then I saw the longer version where the professor admits it was a joke and the class applauds because they seem to like mind games in France.

    Nobody pointed out that the movie is really titled "This is Spinal Tap" - turn your amps up to 11.

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  8. For your interest, please find a link below to MacLean's magazine, Canada regarding Ryerson U. in Toronto.

    http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2010/11/25/dealing-with-classroom-disruption/

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  9. I continue to be astonished by other people's students. I always think I'm the only one who got the nutcases!

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  10. Tell him to get out, as he is being disruptive. Tell him no laptops for taking notes without your permission, and he doesn't have it. Do not let him own the class.

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  11. I agree with Joe's take on the disruptive aspect. If you have a phrase somewhere in your syllabus that states you won't tolerate anything that interferes with teaching and learning, you're golden. This students is using your class like a computer lab or library, which is unacceptable. And thank you, also, for the reminder--I will need to amend my syllabus to include this kind of behavior.

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  12. I don't allow laptops to be used in my classroom for any reason, because while peer reviewing other professors' classes, I sit in the back and observe that they -never- use them to take notes. Every last one of them is web surfing or on e-mail or Facebook. I therefore put a statement disallowing laptops in my syllabus, announce it on the first day of class, and enforce it, whenever I see an open laptop. Anyone who persists gets told to leave.

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  13. Tell the big football player in your class that you'll give him an "A" if he just shows up to every class and intimidates the asshole in the back. The big guy will love you, and you might get to see him beat up the asshole.

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  14. He did this to a Dean!?!?!! Why is his body not already in a bio lab being dissected by freshman bio majors??

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  15. I'm with C. If you want to be vengeful and squish the arrogant little bastard, you probably have the ability to do so. It would definitely feel good, but I'm not sure what good it would do you in the long run.

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  16. Give tips about the exam in class for those who are listening. Also, test a lot on the things you lecture in class that he can't read anywhere else. Then watch him fail. Then put his exam on the floor and do a little dance on it.

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  17. Do what Anastasia said + what Southern Bubba said, but with less violence. I think all the big football player has to do is sit beside him. You might want to get one to sit on the other side, too.

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  18. Normally I just send people like this out of the room and tell them I require that they pay attention in class or go elsewhere. The work they miss, that's all on them.

    I don't know what I really CAN do if they fight it. But nobody has yet.

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  19. I concur with most above...wow. This dude is a jerk. WOW. Eject. EJECT!

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