Working Productively with Difficult Students
Workshop
 

Duration

6 hours (full day)

Synopsis

Most students are curious, energetic, and eager to learn. However, faculty will encounter some students who are challenging, frustrating, perplexing, or just annoying—individuals who provoke the classic teacher’s lament, “I spend 90% of my time on 10% of the students.” During this workshop, participants analyze case studies of challenging or “difficult” learners and identify strategies for working productively with students who exhibit one or more of the following characteristics.

 

  • Expect exceptions and special privileges (that doesn’t apply to me, does it?)
  • Whining and complaining
  • Always in a crises
  • Argumentative or confrontational
  • Willing to take ethical short-cuts or breach professional standards of behavior

 

In the second section of this workshop, participants explore the affective (emotional) side of learning by reviewing typical changes in students’ self-perception as they progress through the curriculum and analyze reasons why students may perceive the educational environment to be threatening, thus producing risk reduction behaviors. The third section of the workshop provides strategies and suggestions for assessing potential underlying problems when a student struggles academically but is not a behavior or attitude problem. Basic types of learning disabilities are reviewed and illustrated with case studies; warning signals (red flags) are described.
   
 

Objectives

At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

- Identify types of students who are difficult, challenging, and/or frustrating to teach.

- Describe strategies for establishing an effective working relationship with various
  types of challenging (difficult) students.

- Identify red flags (warning signals) that indicate a student is struggling with
  academic tasks.

- Recognize signals that indicate that underlying medical conditions or lifestyle
  issues may be contributing to unacceptable behavior or substandard performance.

- Describe strategies for conducting an educational intervention meeting with a
  difficult or struggling student.

- Conduct an intervention meeting with a difficult student in a role-play exercise, and
  receive feedback from other workshop participants.

If you would like additional information or would like to schedule this workshop at your institution, please contact the Academy for Academic Leadership.
 

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