What is the real problem with using criticism?
How might we avoid using it without compromising good classroom management?
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51 comments:
The student confronted by the lecturer left without the lecturer understanding anything about why the student behaved in this way. Where the listening lecturer gained understanding and built rappore with the student. After the meeting the student would have been encouraged that the lecturer cared and was there to help and would have probably tried harder to behave appropriately because of the new relationship of mutual understanding.
Tone of voice and attitude are important when approaching a student.
Following through is aso important: If you ask a question, you have to listen to the answer!
Patience, good anger management and gentle-speaking do help in establishing rapport and kicking off to a good start with the students.
Always listen, digest, think and then react. Never impulse.
In order to establish a good rapport, students should be handled with patience. A positive attitude is very important. A good educator is always a good listener.
In order to establish a good rapport, students should be handled with patience. A positive attitude is very important. A good educator is always a good listener.
Personally I don't believe in criticism. I believe that we need to listen and lead a helping hand when needed. Criticizing without even giving students a chance to explain is not the best foot forward. Be sincere when we are listening to them. Give them the full attention and let them know you are really willing to help
being critical towards the student will not solve the problem. the studentwill feel angry, embarase, confused and hewill not realise his mistake. talking to the student and making him realise the depth of his mistake, is a muchmore effective approach.
Critical vs Listening
To be effective and win-win situation, Listen with empathy and provide positive and negative feedback to students.
nobody likes criticism, however, being too nice is also standing on a thin line. It's good to lend a listening ear but somehow have to draw a line somewhere.... we have more than 1 student. we can't affort to be too "nice" else we might not have enough energy left.
Maybe can let them know there's a rule of conduct they need to follow to be respectful and responsible adult
Having said that, it will depends on the character of the student, different tactic will apply.
The critical lecturer was too harsh with the student. Being patient with students will help build a good teacher and student relationship.
Using criticism simply do not help in any way. In the first scenario, the lecturer did not even give the student a chance to explain, and drove him out of the office. The student will not feel good at all and will ruin the relationship between him and the lecturer. A good listener will encourage the student to work hard and respect the lecturer...
What is the objective of the criticism?It will be more beneficial to feedback in a more constructive manner.Listening and emphatise with the student promotes the mutual understanding between the lecturer and the student.
Before we take any actions (be it persuade, criticise or scold them upside down), we must first listen and try to understand the student's situation and his/her perspective. This can build a better rapport between both and the teacher can tackle the issue more effectively.
Criticizing without first of all getting a full picture will only lead to more misunderstanding. By leanding a good listening ear will help to address the problem. Students will have a chance for them to be heard.
Criticism should be the last and never the first action.
A message of good intention, when delivered using a critical tone, easily falls on deaf ears.
Use a firm but positive tone instead of a critical one.
You must use criticism only if you want to motivate people. Some people need to use that to wake them up but you must use it tactfully. If not the side effect will be damaging.
Criticism must be used in a very careful way. Criticism to the person himself must be avoided because it can hurt students quite deeply, and usually the hurt is irreversible. The person will no longer trust you anymore if not done carefully. On the other hand, if criticism is really needed, then criticise to the work or situation in friendly tone and encourage mutual communication, but never to the person. Listen to students' explanation and try to discuss if there is any way to improve the situation.
On a contrary, I don't see criticism as a problem if the situation calls for it. Criticize the student's behaviour but not the student and it's important that the difference is clearly communicated.
- Criticism – It may not help the lecturer the real cause of the issue. How can we solve a problem without understanding its cause ?
- Other than listening to the student explanation, the lecturer should also clearly explain to the student of the possible consequence of his mis-behaviour might lead to.
Form the first video; the lecturer make himself clear that he is not care what reasons the student might have given. He just wants people to do what has been told. I wonder how many people will like it.
The second video, the lecture make student feel that they are the same team, working together. The student feel like he could be more cooperate next time.
Ground rules are laid and always try to stick to the agreement. As lecturers, we should cut some slack. Students tend to be a little irrational in thinking.
the lecturer in the first video was very accusatory and didn't let the student explain himself at all. it was all about him (the lecturer) and his anger. i doubt the student's behaviour will change after such a meeting. the lecturer in the second video was friendlier and tried to make the student feel at home, and in so doing, ease the boy into speaking - a much more effective method for changing the boy's behaviour.
I think there has to be a balance. A lecturer, as a person, has the right to feel angry at a student who is outright rude or defiant but one needs to take into account why a student behaves in the manner. This means that the lecturer would have to find out or elicit the true reasons on a separate one to one occasion. And for a student to be forthcoming, there has to be a rational discussion which means emotions have to be under controlled. The second video shows how it is done. And if the student continues to be rude and defiant dueing the one to one session, then the lecturer could express his feelings as a reaction to such rude behaviour but of course it is hard to control emotions. The last resort would have to be sending the student to a higher authority.
It's still about keeping emotions under control, isn't it? The first lecturer probably felt angry and affronted because he thought the student wasn't showing him respect. Rather than reacting, he should have kept an open mind and find out why student did what he did.
Second lecturer's method would be more palatable from anyone's viewpoint - treat others with respect if we want others to treat us with respect. No matter how bad the student's behaviour, we still have to respect them as fellow human beings.
Being too critical may lose a student forever. You may be the 'tsunami' that brings about the disaster in his life.
It's tough but as teachers, we always need to strike a balance everytime in whatever we do.
Having been though a LOT of performance apprasals before, I know its hard to take the critisism. (And those are on a 1-1 session).
I remember when I was previously teaching that used to get annoyed at students walking in & out during lectures. I used to call out to them to make comments on where they were going (this was not a good idea).
I still get annoyed with students turning up 1/2 hour or 1 hour late for class, so I often make comments, "Hello fred, so nice of you to join us!" in the tutorial class. This is also not so good.
If you need to sort out a student (or group of students), do it in private, and make sure once you have done so, that you build them up again and make sure they know where to go. Its no good just leveling the student and then leaving it at that.
Pre-judgement is sometime hard to avoid if the student consistently misbehave - "Cry Wolf"
I'll be most happy if students are willing to share their personal problem with me.... not easy though
Criticism will not solve the problem; it will only worsen the situation. It will possibly break the interaction between the student and the lecturer. It looses the effectiveness of the lecturer to the student.
Avoid misunderstanding, talk outside class, listen to what the students has to say. Offer help if possible.
Wow the way Dennis talks to the student, I felt a tear in my eye. So touching. Haha...
In contrast with the two styles, the critical lecturer obviously saves more time but the listening lecturer managed to get to the root of the problem. I foresee that Dennis will see a more motivated student then Mark in this case.
It is a common reaction to become critical when dealing with a recalcitrant student. Apart from letting the student know how upset he was, the lecturer probably also reinforced the student's negative feelings about the lecturer and his lessons, and justified his bad behaviour. Even if the student took the warning by the lecturer seriously, he walked away feeling HURT by his lecturer. The rapport between the two would be hard to repair. In the 2nd situation, the student walked away knowing that his lecturer cared for him as an individual and he walked away feeling HEARD by his lecturer. He is likely to be motivated to do better so that he does not let his lecturer down. A voluntary move vs a forced behaviour.
Question :
What if the student does not think he is doing anything wrong? OR he doesnt even bother to offer an excuse or clams up, where do we go from here if we dont have a consensus to work on? He walks away non-committal on any change in behaviour.
I think if the students know that I will help them to resolve their problems, they will tell me their difficulties.
Critical:
The problem is not solved as the Lect is not willingly to hear' student's explaination...think its funny that he asked for the reason & shut student out without getting the answer! What's the point-obj of the meeting?
Listening:
Warm & calm approach...makes student feel that Lect is sincere in helping by listening.
I think students, even young kids, need some kind of encouragement to boost their self confidence. One example is praising but not the artificial kind. For those with young kids, you will know what i mean.
Students, i think, will look at teachers as some kind of role model and we should try to portray the correct values.
In any profession, we should handle problems professionally and not to take it personal. If we allow our personal emotions to control us, then it will be difficult to achieve a win-win situation. So we should learn to see the problem rather than the person and try to tackle the problem. After understanding the problem, then we should strive to solve it without compromising the ground rules that were laid and agreed by all parties.
Critical:
What's the point of calling the student in when you are not listening. It defeats the purpose that was initially planned.
Listening:
The Lecturer has portray an image of "calm", "positive" and "respect". If I am the student, I believe I will regret my previous wrongdoing of not respecting the Lecturer who is actually nice and given me the respect that I did not expect from this call up.
By lending a listening ear to your student, shows that you care about him/her. You want to understand what has gone wrong and would think of ways to help him/her. Criticism does not lead you to anywhere.
Criticism without actually giving a chance for the student to speak does more harm than good.The lecturer should listen to the side of the student and acoordingly decide how to handle the situation.
If criticism is given, it should be constructive - something to help both the lecturer and the student along. The lecturer in the first video looked like he was just venting. In the second video, the lecturer took a collaborative approach, which worked better. He pointed out the student's error without being obvious about it, and was willing to take some responsibility and make improvements for the student's benefit. But he also suggested solutions and asked for the student's agreement, thereby getting the latter's buy-in! Ultimately, it will be the lecturer's concern for the student that will turn things around.
In the 1st scenario, the lecturer overacted (probably still fuming) from what had happened. Asking the student what his excuse was and then not listening was just rude.
In other scenario, for me, the lesson is really to make the student realise that you already know that the way he behaves is not what is NORMAL for him and there must be some reason for him behaving that way. I suppose sometimes as much as we may FEEL the student is at fault, it doesn't hurt to consider if we played a part in the cause of the reaction. Think the student would appreciate that.
i'm thinking that not all students will open up like the student with the listening lecturer.
i guess it's worth a try, but there will be more than a handful of students who misbehave, it'll be an uphill battle to try and sift through to find the ones who really need a listening ear. no?
In such one on one situations, i feel the lecturer always has the upper hand. In his room, his territory, his comfort zone, and the student is at his "mercy".
The lecturer can either choose to take the strong position or extend the helping hand. I believe (after all we were once students!) that i will respond kindly when someone is trying to help me, and build walls when the lecturer is fault finding or negative.
Put oneself in the same shoe. I will feel much better with a listening lecturer. Afterall, we are learning from one another in one aspect or the other.
Vid on listening lecturer showed sensitivity and concern towards the student - "I care". Good way of breaking the ice by offering coffee and biscuits.
Vid on critical lecturer showed a preconceived idea that he had about the student such that he didn't give student a chance to clarify.
Listen and be a coach. Let the student do the talking. Helps release any tension and encourages self awareness.
interesting...
being nasty would generally not be good. so much effort spent getting the kid down to the office to talk. the least we can do is listen...afterall, u would think we would be sick of hearing our own voices at the end of work day.
i wonder if this case can be easily avoided by building rapport with the kids and making lessons interesting. if i have to pull every unattentive kid out to talk, i would not have time to do any productive work.
Morale of the story is to be a good listener. We must always put ourselves in ones shoe before achieving WIN-WIN results. Always be objective and put a bigger picture into the discussion to derive this agreement. That is the basic of negotiation skills ba.. Our objective is to get student to attend class and pass their exam (Don forget our department’s KPI, hehehe). The objective for student is to clear the examination by attending all my classes and finally being awarded with a Diploma for their future career.
I believe human has feeling. Everyone of us feel unwell when people shout and ask us out of the class, i think this is insulting. A good teacher must be a good listener. Im sure that the student in the second case feels guilty after meeting the teacher and will change his attitude in the coming class or even able to excel in the class because he admire the way the teacher treats him
Seeing the different outcome of the critical and listening lecturers is amazing! It teaches that in the majority of cases communicating nicely with students improves any unpleasant situation.
i didn't like either approach. The first lecturer did not care to listen to the student. He ask a question and then tell he did not want to hear it. The second lecturer was over compensating and too relaxed. I would empower the student to tell me the issue rather than over state the obvious or appear to be disinterested like the second lecturer was at time. Giving him a biscuit...it is cookie...give me a break
1) Criticism will make the students feel disconnected and dislike towards the lecturer if the student is not mature or open enough to take feedback from others.
2) Showing the students concern may help alleviate the problem. It might not resolve the behavioural issue but the intensity is likely to decrease over time.
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