One of the other MACSMEs has this one difficult kid she was telling us about. She tries to explain the math and he argues with her saying that he's right. He does it publicly in front of the class which makes her pretty uncomfortable. He's always challenging her. So while I'm reading what she wrote about how difficult this kid is, I found myself imagining what I would do in that situation. I've got an idea of a possible scenario, but I'm not sure if that would be handling it really well or really poorly. It's a very strange response, so I assume it would be one of those two extremes.
If he challenged me repeatedly in front of the class, trying to get attention and publicly show me up, I'd probably elevate it even higher than that. You know, make it really public. Something along the lines of stopping the class and saying "Ladies and gentlemen! We have a challenger! XXX has challenged me, the math teacher. This is an insult upon my honor! XXX, I challenge you to a math duel! The terms are this: together we will choose an impartial judge to write a few math problems that we will both work on. We will be judged on both accuracy and speed, with more emphasis on accuracy. If I win, you behave a little better in class. If you win, you get an automatic A on your next test. The class can observe us during our duel to make sure no cheating occurs. Do you accept the challenge?"
Would that just shame the student? Or would it give him a chance to let out some of that aggression in a more channeled way? If I won (which I assure you I would), he would probably live up to his end of the bargain and behave since he had more of a choice in that than with the classic "behave!" command. If he didn't accept the challenge then he would have backed down during his best opportunity to show he had the skills and thus wouldn't have much credence with the class anymore. If by some freak chance of nature he won, then he'd deserve an A on the next test (I mean, if he can do it better than the teacher, then that seems like A material to me). Though I do worry that defeating him in front of the class would just make him embarrassed and withdrawn for the rest of the year, which isn't what I want either. I would probably end with, "Well I kinda thought I would win. I do this for a living. I mean, this is all I do all day. You couldn't have really expected to do better. Which is why I didn't like it when you kept challenging me and saying I was wrong. I don't hold it against you, but I'd really appreciate if you let me help you instead of challenging me every time I make a suggestion."
Still, I see a lot of problems with my solution. But in some respects, I think it could work. I'd have to see the classroom dynamic for myself to see if it was really merited, but in theory, I think it's a pretty cool idea. Perhaps it would just be smarter to call his parents.
Any comments on whether or not you think it would work?
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2 comments:
That is an interesting idea. I don't know if it would work or not, but I wouldn't do it. I'm risk adverse, and there's a small chance that this could end _very_ badly if his parents really take offense. Maybe you could challenge him to a duel, but not in front of the whole class? But even that sounds like a lot of work, and I'm lazy. I'd probably just do the more conventional thing, and give him detention or something. But you may be less risk adverse and less lazy than I, and want to give it a shot. It certainly seems logical that if you prove to him that you're better at math then he should shut up.
Why is the student acting out? I think I would ask him/her first.
Most likely it is because it is high school and he/she is trying to prove themselves. In other words, its all about ego. I think your challenge engages them on that level, which is bad. You don't want to feed their ego thinking. Maybe instead issue challenges that they could do themselves rather than compete against you (or other students). I think this might also make you look like kind of a jerk with the class.
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