Difficult students in the college classroom: Some tips
What do we do about difficult students? More to the point, what is a difficult student? Is it one who comes to class but doesn't do their work yet expects special treatment? Is it one who likes to dominate in class discussions? Is it one who says inappropriate (and by that I mean sexist/ racist/etc.) types of things intentionally? Is it one with a learning disability that causes outbursts, interruptions, or lack of social control? Is it the sulker, the nonparticipant? Is the the one who wants to sit in your office and chat way past the time for office hours? Is it the one who emails about every point of the assignment? Is it the one who argues over grades, especially over "subjective" grades on writing or projects? Are there other types of difficult students? A few ideas: 1. rubrics. Best.Invention.Ever. They are time consuming to create and have to be revised, but they save a lot of time in grading. (Also Transparency in Learning, an interesting movement that I