Students Say/Do the Darndest Things: Promoting Civility in the Classroom

1. Students Say/Do the Darndest Things: Promoting Civility in the Classroom Monica D. Holland, Ph.D. Executive Director/Deputy Title IX Coordinator Academic Initiatives and Integrity ARKU 634 honesty.uark.edu 479-575-5229

2. Quotes to ponder…. • “Civility costs nothing and buys everything.” ― Mary Wortley Montagu • “Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those that are present.” ― George Washington • “Don’t discount the power of words. The thought that they might cause unnecessary hurt or discomfort should inform every conversation.” ― P.M. Forni • “It’s too much to expect in an academic setting that we should all agree, but it’s not too much to expect discipline and unvarying civility.” ― John Howard • “I think the student culture of incivility is a larger impediment to their success than anything they might fail to learn about Western Civilization or whatever it is I am teaching.” ― T.H. Benton • “As citizens we have to be more thoughtful and more educated and more informed. I turn on the TV and I see these grown people screaming at each other, and I think, well, if we don't get our civility back, we're in trouble.” ― Emmylou Harris • “Aspire to decency. Practice civility toward one another. Admire and emulate ethical behavior wherever you find it. Apply a rigid standard of morality to your lives; and if, periodically, you fail – as you surely will – ­ adjust your lives, not the standards.” ― Ted Koppel

3. “Hell” in the classroom is…(Bart, 2008) • “….a student in the front row of your class [is] chewing gum much in the manner of a gapped-jaw alligator devouring an opossum.” • “The student who persistently uses your class to stretch out and catch-up on his/her sleep after a late night of partying.” • “The student who scowls at you each day and constantly interrupts your lectures with reminders that he/she knows more about the subject under discussion than you do.” • “The student who uses their cell phones in class, is chronically and rudely late to class, uses bullying tactics to extort a higher grade, increasingly chatters with their classmates as if your class was a social club.”

4. What is your “hell” in the classroom?

5. Students’ Perception of “Hell” (Kirk, 2005) • Attendance (late arrival/early departure) • Participation (too much/little) • Eating • Cell Phones • Disrespectful Interactions • Interruption (instructor or students) • Chatting among students • Reading non-class materials • Sleeping • Degrading comments

6. University of Arkansas Study • 2006 Survey on Classroom Civility • 1219 randomly selected faculty and students participated • Some difference in opinion on what was considered disruptive and to what degree: • Students found lack of personal hygiene and interrupting others as disruptive • Faculty found leaving class early, the use of electronic devices, and reading newspapers disruptive • Both faculty and students found verbal abuse and being disrespectful to be the most disruptive • Faculty participants indicated they had not experienced disruptive behaviors, because they were proactive in their classroom management

7. Uncivil Behavior in the Classroom (Appleby, 1990) • (1) Immature behaviors such as talking during lectures, chewing gum, eating or drinking noisily, being late, and creating disturbances; • (2) Inattentive behaviors such as sleeping during class, cutting class, acting bored or apathetic, not paying attention, being unprepared, packing books and materials before class is over; • (3) Miscellaneous behaviors such as cheating, asking “Will it be on the test?” and expressing more interest in grades than in learning.

8. Categories of Incivility-AKA “Things Really Haven’t Changed” (Feldman, 2001) • Annoyances • Arriving late to class, sleeping, cell phone/computer use • Classroom Terrorism • Monopolizing classroom time, personal agendas, etc. • Intimidation • Poor evaluations, complain to Dean • “I’m going to call my parent who will then call our attorney and you’re going to be fired”. • Threats or Attacks on Person or Psyche • Physically attacks, emotional abuse, threaten physical attacks

9. Why are students this way? (Center for Teaching and Learning at UC Santa Cruz) • Anonymity • Large universities = large class sizes • Students are more likely to view Instructors and their peers not as real people • Millennial Generation • Consumers of education • Pressure to perform = high demands of Instructors • Multitaskers • What’s wrong with reading my e-mail, reading a paper, texting my parents while I’m in class? • “Raised on oversized portions of self-esteem” (Forni, 2008) • “Massive exposure to coarse popular culture” (Forni, 2008) • Think Jersey Shore, Jack Ass, Kanye West vs. Taylor Swift, Tosh.O, etc.

10. Do Instructors Contribute to Incivility? (Forni, 2008) • Unfair • Unhelpful • Disillusioned • Disengaged • Arrogant • Sarcastic • “Sometimes, just as our new breed of students are not prepared for college, we [faculty] are not prepared for them.” (Forni, 2008, p. 16) • “It may not be widely known, but college teachers are bullied, too.” (Forni, 2008, p. 16)

11. Barriers to Addressing Uncivil Behavior (Weimer (1988) and Rutherford (1991)) • Instructors hesitate to address behaviors because they may not view them as egregious and they think it is best to ignore it • Instructors don’t always address behaviors because they feel they are at fault- that it may point to a teaching deficiency • Instructors don’t address behaviors because they are at a loss of what to do • Lack of support

12. The Effects of Incivility • Minor incivility can affect the learning environment or retention (class, major,and overall enrollment; Seidman, 2005) • “…spend less energy thinking critically during the class and be less engaged with course material afterward” (Hirschy & Braxton, 2004, p. 72)

13. Case Study 1 • For the past two weeks “Habitually Late Hannah” arrives, at minimum, 20 minutes late to a 50 minute class and is anything but discreet while trying to make her way to an empty seat in the crowded auditorium. You can tell by the body language of her classmates that they are becoming increasingly irritated with her. In fact, one day her classmate says to her, “You know, they have these really cool things called ‘alarm clocks’ if you are having problems getting up on time. You should really invest in one.” • How would you go about addressing Hannah’s disruption in class?

14. Case Study 2 • You are teaching a class and the topic of war comes up. A student in your class quotes Benjamin Franklin’s “There has never been a good war or a bad peace” and proceeds to share his opinion that those Americans who have fought in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are no better than Hussein, Bin Laden, Hitler, etc. Unbeknownst to you, you have a Veteran in your class who spent 2 years is Afghanistan and takes great offense to this student’s comment. More students contribute to the dialogue and you begin to feel that emotions are getting high and comments are crossing over the line of a spirited dialogue to personal insults. At one point the student who began the discussion makes a comment that is not an overt threat, but is laced with threatening undertones. • What do you do?

15. Case Study 3 • One day after class a student approaches you to discuss their grade on a paper. The student believes that you have unfairly graded the assignment, despite the obvious indications that they did not follow the rubric. It is clear that the student is upset after you have told them you see no valid reason to assign additional points to the paper. While leaving you hear the student say under their breath, “You have messed with the wrong person…you’ll be sorry for screwing with my grade…just wait and see what happens…” You do not think much of the comments at the time, but the following class period the student begins to make remarks during your lecture by questioning your competency and professionalism as an instructor. • What do you do?

16. Promoting Civility (Schroder & Robertson, 2008) • Be Proactive • Guidelines in syllabus (teaching.ucsc.edu/tips/tips-civility.html) • Be Specific • Don’t assume • Define respectful and civil participation • “civilouge” (Weiss, 2010) • Be a Model • Think Bandura and Social Learning Behavior • Ask Why • When appropriate try to understand the context of the behavior

17. Promoting Civility (Schroder & Robertson, 2008) • Have a Plan • Ignore when appropriate • If you have consequences in your syllabus, implement them • Document Incidents • “If it wasn’t documented it didn’t happen” • Don’t try to diagnose the issues, just state the facts • Generally speaking, students who are approached in good spirits and humor will respond well. (Amada, 1992) • If these do not work, formal case may be opened and addressed through the Office of Student Standards and Conduct.

18. When incivility goes beyond classroom management • What to do if a student appears dangerous? • Adjourn the class, if necessary • Contact UAPD immediately • Contact the Office of the Dean of Students • UAPD dispatched • Background check • Locate and detain/arrest student if necessary • Psychological assessment • Outcome- Interim Action/Interim Suspension/ Immediate Withdrawal

19. http://www.american.edu/ocl/civitas/Civility-in-the-Classroom-CIVITAS-Preview-Video.cfmhttp://www.american.edu/ocl/civitas/Civility-in-the-Classroom-CIVITAS-Preview-Video.cfm

20. Questions

21. References: • Appleby, D.C. (1990). Faculty and student perceptions of irritating behaviors in the college classroom. Journal of • Staff, Program and Organizational Development, 8 (2), 41-46 Amada, G. (1992).Coping with the disruptive college student: A practical model. Journal of American College Health. 40(5), p. 203-215. Bart, M. (2010). Tips for Restoring Classroom Civility. Retrieved from www.facultyfocus.com Center for Teaching and Learning University of California Santa Cruz. Teaching.ucsc.edu/tips/tips-civility.html Feldman, L. J. “Classroom Civility is Another of Our Instructor Responsibilities.” College Teaching49 (2001): 137-40. Forni, P. M. (2008).The civil classroom in the age of the net. Thought and Action. 15 Kirk, D. J. (2005). Taking back the classroom. Des Moines, IA: Tiberius Publications Hirschy, A. S., & Braxton, J. M. (2004). Effects of student classroom incivilities on students. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 99, 67-76. • Rutherford, L.H. (1991). Trying time: Preventing and handling irksome classroom behavior .Instructional Development (University • of Minnesota, Duluth Campus). 1-2, 8 Schroeder, J. L. & Robertson, H. (2008). Civility in the college classroom. Association for Psychological Sciences.

22. Seidman, A. (2005). The learning killer: disruptive student behavior in the classroom. Reading Improvement, 42, 40. • Weimer, M.E. (1988). Ideas for managing your classroom better. The Teaching Professor, 2(2), 3-4 • Weiss, J. (2010). Make Our Ugly Discourse Better: Join the Civilogue. Retrieved from http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/28/you-can-make-our-disagreeable-discourse-better-join-the civilogue/