"Warm" vs "Harsh" phrasing in student instructions and interactions.

[Caracal]

"This paper (test) would have been much better had you been paying attention in class instead of regularly playing on your phone."

Should I say this on a paper/ test comment, assuming, of course, it is the truth?   Why or why not?

Sounds to be making too many assumptions to me -- how do you know the student was playing rather than texting about an ill family member? And maybe the student would not have done better even if paying more attention. I think it is up to the student to work out how to do better.

I was just reading this article
https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-teach-a-good-first-day-of-class/

I am ambivalent about the idea that it is my job to win students over. I do want to engage the students, and to create an atmosphere in the classroom where students can learn well. But reading this paragraph makes me wonder: He is saying don't start by handing out the syllabus.

The first day is the best day to spark your students' curiosity.
Instead, consider the first day as your best opportunity to spark students' curiosity and invite them into a fascinating intellectual journey. In his book, What the Best College Teachers Do, Ken Bain argues that instructors should build and present learning experiences around deep questions and problems. Highly effective college instructors recollect what first fascinated them about their discipline, pay attention to what fascinates students today, and make a connection with those issues at the opening of the semester. Such instructors reflect upon why the course should matter, and work to convey the significance of its content to students as well as to their world beyond the classroom.

I have noticed that this is very much a pattern for people who teach in The Great Courses. Maybe I will try it. I can't help thinking it is an overly idealized view of college teaching. But this guy is teaching English comp, which is generally associated with drudgery.

I was going to say the same thing. That's what I mean about confining comments to the paper in front of you. If the student came to talk to you, you could ask them about their note taking and how the class is going and see what they say, and bring it up in that context. I really think a meeting is the place for bigger picture discussions without seeming like you're just yelling at students.

On the other point, I always try to do that in the first class. Of course, its an ideal and the reality of the class won't match it, but that doesn't mean it is impossible to get part of the way there. I think it's especially important for intro or required courses that students expect to be boring.

Think about the way you feel about your teaching. I'm sure you have lots of days where you feel like you're only in class because you have to be and you'd sooner be in bed. However, if you can try to tap into the things you find interesting about the material, gin up some enthusiasm, and convey that to the students, you can find yourself having fun and enjoying the intellectual engagement with the students. Is that always going to happen? Of course not. Some days I just don't really have my A game. Sometimes the students just won't respond no matter what I do. Sometimes it's just a Wednesday in the middle of November and we are all burned out or there's just something boring we have to get through.

That's fine, but if you start the class thinking "ugh, let's make it through this next hour" you won't ever have those good classes with actual engagement. It works the same for the students. You're trying to model for them that this could be fun and worthwhile if they approach it in the right spirit. Some of them won't do that at all, most of them won't do it all the time, but if some of them do it some of the time, that's something.

[downer]

Looking at a job listing, I see one of the duties is to "Motivate students to actively participate in all aspects of the educational process."
https://sacredheart.interviewexchange.com/jobofferdetails.jsp;jsessionid=1EBD3A1E96C3D84A88FE7E318825F71C?JOBID=148333&jobboard=148

"Motivate" is a success verb: you only have done your duty if you have been successful at it.

I can see why employers would want that. How wonderful it would be to accomplish it! But is it a reasonable duty?

There is a place for the idealization of the professorial role. Inspiring students with wonder would be great. But there are limits too.

[apl68]

Looking at a job listing, I see one of the duties is to "Motivate students to actively participate in all aspects of the educational process."
https://sacredheart.interviewexchange.com/jobofferdetails.jsp;jsessionid=1EBD3A1E96C3D84A88FE7E318825F71C?JOBID=148333&jobboard=148

"Motivate" is a success verb: you only have done your duty if you have been successful at it.

I can see why employers would want that. How wonderful it would be to accomplish it! But is it a reasonable duty?

Well, it's a good aspirational goal.  Maybe the job listing is meant to signal that it at least wants candidates who will have those sorts of aspirations.

[mamselle]

I'm reminded of a line in a Dick Francis novel. Something like,

"Our physics teacher caught out attention the first day of a class dedicated to the applied physics of boilers.

'The most important thing about boilers is that they can explode,' he explained calmly...

M.

[apl68]

I'm reminded of a line in a Dick Francis novel. Something like,

"Our physics teacher caught out attention the first day of a class dedicated to the applied physics of boilers.

'The most important thing about boilers is that they can explode,' he explained calmly...

M.

It certainly makes the case of why it would be important to pay attention in class!

When you think about it, there are other fields where you might try making the same argument:

"The most important thing about political science is that politics can explode."

"The most important thing about history is that history can explode."

"The most important thing about economics is that economies can explode (Or implode, as the case may be)."

Etc.

[mamselle]

Yes, for a boy's school of middle-schoolers, one can certainly see the charm...

;--}

My sense is, one must be a careful keeper of one's own projected feelings, and avoid spewing anger or resentment all over ones students as if they had invited such negativity just by their very being.

My experiences with students are largely positive: I think they know, somewhere in there, that I'm willing to love them as people, and respect them as near-adults trying to find a credible way in the world.

I don't cut any slack for those who try to take advantage of my good will, but I find if I am able (most days) to listen to them as I'd like to be listened to, keep a sense of humor alive, and accept them on their own terms, we get along fine.

M.

[Hegemony]

I had a superlative professor in college, and she told me once that on the first day, it's helpful to spell out the advantages and benefits that knowing the material will bring.

And I remember her linguistics class. You might contemplate, right now, how you would explain the advantages of studying linguistics to students. I confess I would probably try to sell the class with some jargon about how they can understand the inner workings of language, and have an informed opinion on linguistic controversies like dialects and Black English, and understand why we have a crazy verb system in English, blah blah blah.

But I also remember what she said. She explained that once you knew how to analyze the different dimensions of people's speech, you could entertain yourself in any situation by paying attention to the way they were speaking. "You need never be bored again!" she said.

And not only did that make such an impression on me that I remember it fully forty years later, but I have put that very skill that she taught us into action, and have happily whiled away many a plodding talk thinking about the speaker's accent, word choice, and many other features. She genuinely did make sure I was never bored again. Now that's a powerful explanation of benefits.

[kaysixteen]

I am going to answer my own question: I am not going to sugarcoat my comments, when direct, unambiguous comments are the best and most helpful thing for me to say.   Undergrads are not full-fledged adults yet, but they are not 5th graders either.   Regular inattention in class is unacceptable, and strongly interferes with my responsibility to actually teach the students the course material (something even more important in a language class, where the instruction is like building up a brick wall, and missed content can be deadly).  If grandma is sick, the phone can be placed onto vibrate and the student, when it does vibrate, calmly and unobtrusively can go out to the hallway to respond.   Updates on grandma's health need not be made a regular feature of every class, however.  And, of course, phone use, which I plan on forbidding (besides the vibrate trick I just mentioned) the next time I get to actually teach a college class, is also deeply disrespectful to the professor and to one's fellow students, and a clear agent of cheating.   But if the phone example won't resonate, use old-school goofing off or otherwise demonstrating inattention.   The prof must call the students out on this, in private venues such as commenting on why that test earned a D, say.   Why is this hard?

[downer]

I will sometimes point out that it probably isn't helpful to be looking over their social media in class, and they definitely should not be distracting other students. I will make efforts to engage them in the material.

But fundamentally, I don't see it as my job to motivate students if they are resistant. I often make attendance optional -- they can do the work without coming to class most of the time. My job is to give them the opportunity to learn. They are not required to be there.

[Caracal]

I am going to answer my own question: I am not going to sugarcoat my comments, when direct, unambiguous comments are the best and most helpful thing for me to say.   Undergrads are not full-fledged adults yet, but they are not 5th graders either.   Regular inattention in class is unacceptable, and strongly interferes with my responsibility to actually teach the students the course material (something even more important in a language class, where the instruction is like building up a brick wall, and missed content can be deadly).  If grandma is sick, the phone can be placed onto vibrate and the student, when it does vibrate, calmly and unobtrusively can go out to the hallway to respond.   Updates on grandma's health need not be made a regular feature of every class, however.  And, of course, phone use, which I plan on forbidding (besides the vibrate trick I just mentioned) the next time I get to actually teach a college class, is also deeply disrespectful to the professor and to one's fellow students, and a clear agent of cheating.   But if the phone example won't resonate, use old-school goofing off or otherwise demonstrating inattention.   The prof must call the students out on this, in private venues such as commenting on why that test earned a D, say.   Why is this hard?

That's all fine, but I just don't think the written comments on an assignment are the place for commenting on the student's behavior in class. If you want to invite the student to come talk to you about why they are struggling and how to improve, that's fine, but if you say "perhaps your grades would have been better if you had spent more time paying attention and less time texting" the student will probably take away the message that you are a jerk, rather than that they need to rethink their approach to the class.

Imagine if you get some tests from your doctor and your cholesterol is high. How would you feel if the doctor sent you a note that said " You need to start exercising and eating better if you want this to improve." Would you appreciate that? I wouldn't-even if the doctor had some knowledge of my habits-and even if I knew they were right. Obviously, the better way to handle this is to have you come in for an appointment and say "so these numbers are concerning. I know it can be hard to fit in, but how much exercise are you getting in a week?" Depending on the severity of the problem, maybe being blunt is necessary-but it needs to be part of a conversation where they can convey that this isn't about their desire to scold you, but about real concern-"I'm worried you're going to have a heart attack in the next few years if we don't deal with this."

The relationship between you and a doctor isn't the same as between you and a student, but a lot of the basic rules about how to deal with unpleasant news and advice that people might not welcome is the same. Even if you know or suspect something someone is doing is causing a bad result, don't just assert it and tell them to knock it off. You'll do better with the student if you ask them how they think they are doing in the course and you can get them to admit they need to work on avoiding distractions in class.

[Hegemony]

Imagine if you get some tests from your doctor and your cholesterol is high. How would you feel if the doctor sent you a note that said " You need to start exercising and eating better if you want this to improve."

I think the equivalent would be "If you want your cholesterol to improve, you need to stop lying around the house and playing computer games and start getting out there and doing proper exercise." Sure, it might be true, but it's overreach.  I think the key is: tell the student or patient what they need to do to improve; don't criticize what they are doing now. It's already implied that if they do more of the useful actions, they will do fewer of the unhelpful actions.

[Caracal]

Imagine if you get some tests from your doctor and your cholesterol is high. How would you feel if the doctor sent you a note that said " You need to start exercising and eating better if you want this to improve."

I think the equivalent would be "If you want your cholesterol to improve, you need to stop lying around the house and playing computer games and start getting out there and doing proper exercise." Sure, it might be true, but it's overreach.  I think the key is: tell the student or patient what they need to do to improve; don't criticize what they are doing now. It's already implied that if they do more of the useful actions, they will do fewer of the unhelpful actions.

I was thinking more in terms of the benefits of having a conversation for avoiding seeming like a jerk, but you're right that it is also about avoiding critiquing the patients general lifestyle or the student's attitude towards class.

[kaysixteen]

The problem is, goofing off in class is a large, perhaps the large, part of the reason the paper or test sucked, so why not tell the kid that on the comments?   My doctor has a responsibilty, when I am in his office, to tell me to lose weight, exercise, etc., if these things apply.  I can ignore his comments, but he would be engaging in dereliction of duty not to make them.   Same thing with me the professor not calling out bad behavior that has led to academic unsuccess.   And, like it or not (and I like it), I want the students to, ahem, actually learn what I am teaching them.  Whether or not the class is required.

[Hegemony]

You may think it's unfair and irrational that such critiques of behavior will produce defensiveness and come across as harsh and off-putting, and make the student sullen and resentful — but the fact is that they will. That's why you shouldn't do them. Because they will not produce the intended result.

My guess is that you will not believe my claims until I go into a persuasive explanation of why criticism of a person's faults (as opposed to a paper's faults or exam's faults) will make the person sullen, defensive, and resentful, and I don't have time to do that now. But maybe you can take on board the fact that it is possible that this is true. And that no amount of explaining why the student should be receptive to such criticism means the student will be receptive.

And ultimately I think the question is whether you ultimately want to direct them to doing better, or to upbraid and chastise them. Sometimes I get the feeling that people who prefer this kind of criticism really get the most satisfaction from upbraiding students and telling them how wrong they are.

[downer]

Much of the issue is on how we achieve effective communication, and if we want to motivate students, how to do it.

I suspect that the deans advocating warm phrasing in student feedback and a more "human" approach believe it is more effective than alternatives. If they have a solid basis of evidence for that, they haven't shared it with me. As I said earlier, it must depend greatly on context and individual student, and there is a lot of variation in both contexts and students.

The comparison with effective communication in medicine is an interesting one. It is often said that patients tend not to listen to doctors' advice about eating better and getting more exercise, but that's not true. Here's info from one discussion:

It is important to identify and address perceived barriers and benefits of treatment to improve patient adherence to medical plans by ensuring that the benefits and importance of treatment are understood.17 Doctors should understand patients' functional meaning of disease, as well as the relationship meaning and symbolic meaning, followed by a summary of this information and telling the patient the problem from the doctor's perspective and, finally, asking the patient to summarize what was said.17 Agreement between doctor and patient is a key variable that influences outcome.17

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3096184/

If we were going to adopt a parallel approach in our interaction with students, we would need much more one-on-one time with students and get to know them individually. We'd have to talk about their ways of studying, and talk about some how they can improve their skills.

I used to do that stuff when I taught First Year Experience classes. They were limited in size and I got to know the students a little. These days my teaching load does not make that approach feasible for me. And the trend all over is for faculty to have higher loads and more students in classes.

My general impression is that university adminstrations see a problem of low retention or complaining students and want to address it by handing out cheap (and ill considered) advice to faculty rather than doing much to structurally address the issues that students face with their study skills and habits.