Challenging Classroom Situations ISW Nov 2015

Time to complete this module

20-25 minutes.

Please post your personal stories by 11:59 pm on Saturday night so we have time to prepare based on your responses!

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module you will be able to:

Identify and discuss certain common, root causes for challenging classroom situations
Develop at least 2 strategies for addressing, resolving or avoiding several challenging classroom situations

Share

Personal Story: Resolved Challenge

Think about the most challenging classroom situation you have been able to successfully resolve, or have seen resolved by a teacher that you know. Please share your answer to the following questions, using the Comments text box below this page.

What was the course in which this challenge happened?
Briefly describe the challenging situation.
Describe how you (or the instructor) succeeded in resolving the challenge.

Personal Story: Unresolved Challenge

What is the most challenging situation (unresolved) that you have encountered in your teaching, or think you might encounter? Please share your answer in a separate comment, using the Comments text box below this page.

Note: In face-to-face session on Sunday, we will discuss your personal challenges and try to come up with possible strategies to deal with them, using a combination of resources, strategies and group discussions. Please make sure you share your personal stories by 8:00 pm Saturday night!

Read

‘Conflict can arise spontaneously in any course, at any time, over issues or situations that cannot be anticipated. Some conflicts derive from misunderstandings about coursework or the teacher’s intentions and manifest themselves in behaviors that teachers find offensive or discourteous … Other conflicts are social or ideological in origin and arise when students believe that the instructor (or the other students in the course) embrace beliefs that are contrary to their own, which may give rise to feelings of alienation, hostility, and anger. If the instructor is unprepared to handle these conflicts when they occur, the crisis can derail the course and poison the atmosphere to such an extent that effective learning is no longer possible.’

The above is an excerpt from an article titled ‘Managing Classroom Conflict’ published by Center for Faculty Excellence in University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. This article discusses the origin of different classroom conflicts and strategies to deal with them, in terms of 3 essential approaches: setting expectations and developing social cohesion (for preventing conflict) and finally effective conflict management (when it arises).

Here is a link to this article: Diversity PDF

Summarize

Please read only one section of the above article (as assigned below), and
Summarize it in 4-5 sentences.
Write down one particular example of your own experience, where you have successfully dealt with a challenge using this method.

Please bring your half-page summary to the session on Sunday. It will be used in activities during our face-to-face session. Be prepared to share your example and explain the assigned section to members of another group.

How to find the section you should read:

Assigned sections are as follows. You are only required to read (and summarize) one section.

Group A: Prevention: Clarifying Expectations (p.1-2)
Group B: Prevention: Developing Social Cohesion (p.2)
Group C: Conflict Management (p.3-4)

Group members are as follows

Group A: Klara, Mike, Louise, Leela
Group B: Rodrigo, Sean, Christina, Nelly
Group C: Tony, Edana, Jingyi, Mark

Go Further

‘Best Practices: Preventing and Managing Challenging Classroom Situations’, by Deb Wingert & Tom Molitor