Documentation:FlISWModuleChallengingClassroomSituationsDebRow
Time to complete this module
10 minutes
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
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, 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 Friday 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
Go Further
‘Best Practices: Preventing and Managing Challenging Classroom Situations’, by Deb Wingert & Tom Molitor