"Remember the Sheet!"

Joanna and Liz wanted to know how things went this week when I addressed a student's complaint about some members of our developmental comp class being "immature" and "disruptive."

Things went pretty well. I think.

I took the typed-up sheet of student comments into class on Monday and asked everyone to read it and write out a brief reaction. Then I started the discussion by addressing some of the non-behavior-related comments (for instance, someone wanted a week off between papers [!]; someone wanted more work on grammar). We talked about those issues for a few minutes.

Then I said, "I'm concerned about the contrast between the comments under the What's Going Well heading about class members liking each other so much and the comments under the What Needs Improvement heading about class members being disrespectful, immature, etc. What do you think's up with that?"

And then we talked. The bad thing--and several students pointed this out--was that the most-boisterous students were absent on Monday. So Monday's discussion was pretty one-sided. But not at all nasty or accusatory. One person, for instance, said, "Well, I wrote both kinds of comments. I mean, I really like everybody in here...but sometimes if we're trying to write or work on some activity, there are people who just get too loud or start goofing off and laughing too much."

Then she said something wonderful: "Actually, I'm at fault here myself."

I talked about my own conflicted feelings on the whole issue: I pointed out that the class is not a lecture class, that my teaching style is not to stand at the front while they dutifully and silently take notes, that I want--and expect--energy and activity and engagement and fun. But, I told them, certain classroom situations call for more subdued behavior.

So one student pointed to the sheet of typed-up comments and said, "Okay, the next time people get out of hand, we'll just say, 'Remember the Sheet!'"

And that was that. At the end of class, the student who'd originally made the private complaint came up and thanked me for handling the situation the way I had.

Then on Tuesday, when all the usually-boisterous ones were back in class again, I re-distributed the sheet and summarized our class discussion from the day before. Those more-boisterous students looked, frankly, stunned. I couldn't tell if they'd been unaware of how their behavior was affecting others, or if they were shocked that some students pointed it out, or if they were mad, or what. But they were just...quiet.

Then we did some in-class writing, and for the first time all quarter, I could hear the teacher in the room next to me talking. The quiet in our room was weird...but nice, in a way.

This morning, the most rambunctious student of all wasn't there. And I missed him.