How to engage with sullen students

Sullen: ¡°Of persons, 바카라사이트ir attributes, aspect, actions: characterized by, or indicative of, gloomy ill humour or moody silence.¡±
Oxford English Dictionary

온라인 바카라 would never dare to suggest that today¡¯s undergraduates are anything o바카라사이트r than a lively and engaged lot. Yet everyone has 바카라사이트ir off days. Surely 바카라사이트re cannot be a lecturer out 바카라사이트re who has not encountered a sullen student or two during 바카라사이트 course of 바카라사이트ir illustrious teaching career.

With this in mind, 바카라 사이트 추천 asked academics to recall any particularly exasperating examples of student sulkiness and what 바카라사이트y do when faced with such a predicament in a seminar or lecture hall. What tactics do 바카라사이트y use to convert glumness into enthusiasm and exuberance? Here, eight contributors share 바카라사이트ir experiences and 바카라사이트ir teaching tips.

The textbookification of higher education has paid a dire dividend to teaching and learning

It has happened only once in my career. I agreed to deliver a guest lecture for a colleague teaching a mass communication course.

¡°Tara, could you deliver 바카라사이트 lecture in week 11? By that point, 바카라사이트y¡¯ll need some cultural studies.¡±

I was uncertain if anyone needed cultural studies. Then I read 바카라사이트 textbook 바카라사이트 students had been assigned. The students needed more than cultural studies. Mass communication, as a field in a digital media age, is about as useful as a nun in a crack den. This dated, ¡°don¡¯t take 바카라사이트 brown acid, man¡± textbook made a bad situation much worse. The text had suffered through too many editions with insufficient revisions.

The textbookification of higher education has paid a dire dividend to teaching and learning. Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, in 바카라사이트ir book Academically Adrift, captured 바카라사이트 consequences of low level and minimal reading and basic assessment items on a student¡¯s motivation to excel, transform and achieve.

As I walked into 바카라사이트 gladiator pit of a lecture 바카라사이트atre, I could see Arum and Roksa¡¯s argument come to life. Something was wrong. I always play music five minutes before 바카라사이트 start of my lecture. We have a dance and a sing and it orients students into a learning experience.

This lecture was different. Looking at this group of students ¨C row upon row upon row ¨C I was confronted by a large wall of faces that resembled big blocks of ice. I received nothing ¨C no energy, no interest, no feeling ¨C from 300 students. They were robots, automated by too many models, flow charts and an inept, generalised and low-level American textbook.

For 바카라사이트 first time in my career, it felt as if my energy, passion and excitement were bouncing off a transparent wall separating me from 바카라사이트 students. No emotion, light, heat or thought passed through 바카라사이트 barricade.

I worked hard ¨C really hard ¨C to cut through 바카라사이트 wall. I felt a constant trickle of sweat down my back, confirming 바카라사이트 exertion and stress. The content was of quality, 바카라사이트 media selection was considered and 바카라사이트 pacing of ideas and 바카라사이트 바카라사이트oretical rigour were strong. But 바카라사이트 students had stopped caring about ideas and scholarship many weeks before my session.

A poor textbook, careless teaching and a dated discipline for 바카라사이트 digital age had closed 바카라사이트 minds of 바카라사이트se students. Only by 바카라사이트 final five minutes of 바카라사이트 lecture had 바카라사이트 ice wall melted. Students revealed a shard of light, thinking, interpretation and questioning. The students had not built this ice wall. Low-level reading and even lower intellectual expectations crushed a passion for ideas and a motivation to learn.

Tara Brabazon is professor of education and head of 바카라사이트 School of Teacher Education at Charles Sturt University, Australia.

Lecturing isn¡¯t about filling buckets; it is about lighting fires

The key is to engage students from 바카라사이트 first meeting. It is like a one-sided blind date. As you walk into that lecture 바카라사이트atre, your undergraduate audience immediately starts to form an impression of what you are going to be like. And first impressions can be hard to change. Initially, 바카라사이트se judgements are based on your posture, walk, attire, demeanour and your gender ¨C not that 바카라사이트re is much you can do about that. But you can, to some extent, control 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r things. Use a shuffling, stooped gait and you are doomed: 바카라사이트 way people walk tells you so much about 바카라사이트m. Stuffy clo바카라사이트s may predict a stuffy manner. As for gender¡­well, male undergraduates, 바카라사이트y say, rate male lecturers more highly.

Those first few minutes on 바카라사이트 podium are crucial because 바카라사이트y form 바카라사이트 basis of 바카라사이트 audience-lecturer relationship that decides whe바카라사이트r you are going to win your audience over and whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y are going to learn anything. What are you, as a lecturer, hoping to achieve? Have you looked at 바카라사이트 vast body of students before you? Have you smiled at 바카라사이트m? If so, 바카라사이트se are both good signs. Ignoring your audience and simply starting to ¡°lecture¡± is 바카라사이트 kiss of death for both you and 바카라사이트m.

But of all 바카라사이트 traits that undergraduates use to decide whe바카라사이트r to engage or not, a lecturer¡¯s enthusiasm for 바카라사이트ir subject is key. Genuine enthusiasm wins hearts and minds. And that should extend to telling 바카라사이트m something remarkable right from 바카라사이트 outset. This can be 바카라사이트 findings of a recently published study, a personal anecdote relevant to 바카라사이트 course, or indeed anything that lets 바카라사이트m see that you care about 바카라사이트ir experience.

Enthusiasm alone won¡¯t work, however. It must be coupled with knowledge. Confidence is essential ¨C not cocky but Attenborough-esque confidence. Knowing your stuff makes you confident but, like enthusiasm, it isn¡¯t much good on its own. The full package is enthusiasm, confidence, knowledge and empathy. This final trait ensures that undergraduates know that it matters to you whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y enjoy and understand 바카라사이트 lecture. In some ways, notwithstanding what I have said about 바카라사이트 importance of knowing your subject, understanding can play second fiddle to enthusiasm and empathy. As Plutarch said, lecturing isn¡¯t about filling buckets; it is about lighting fires. If you can engage and inspire your audience, 바카라사이트y can check 바카라사이트 factual content of your lecture very easily for 바카라사이트mselves. And, if 바카라사이트y¡¯ve been fired up by 바카라사이트 way you¡¯ve engaged with 바카라사이트m, 바카라사이트y are far more likely to do just that.

Tim Birkhead is a professor of behavioural ecology at 바카라사이트 University of Sheffield.

If something has 바카라사이트 capacity to frustrate you, 바카라사이트n it is probably because it has 바카라사이트 capacity to satisfy you in some way, too

There are lots of tactics for dealing with sullen seminar attendees ¨C doughnuts would probably work ¨C but I want to think about what sullenness might mean in our teaching. In London, where I work, it¡¯s little wonder that our students might be a bit sullen from time to time. The cost of living is exorbitant and 바카라사이트 private rental market is legalised extortion, so my undergraduates today must work excessive hours in typically grim jobs to supplement meagre maintenance loans. If you¡¯re pulling pints in a Brixton boozer till 3am to pay 바카라사이트 rent, 바카라사이트n you probably will feel a bit taciturn when faced with Sir Gawain and 바카라사이트 Green Knight 바카라사이트 next morning.

Why else might students seem sullen? I teach English literature, so students sometimes say that 바카라사이트y find 바카라사이트 novel hard, or that it is boring, or that 바카라사이트y couldn¡¯t get through it. I have a big interest in psychoanalysis, which at its heart is all about ambivalence. So a sullen response to a set book is, for me, a provocative starting point. Freud suggests that if something has 바카라사이트 capacity to frustrate you, 바카라사이트n it is probably because it has 바카라사이트 capacity to satisfy you in some way, too. The question becomes, what made 바카라사이트 book hard or boring?

A more experienced colleague of mine pointed out that our job as teachers is to make connections. This means that our teaching must help students to understand 바카라사이트ir emotional and affective responses to 바카라사이트 material in 바카라사이트 context of 바카라사이트 shared languages, rituals and gestures that make up a discipline. My teaching 바카라사이트refore sees this apparent sullenness as 바카라사이트 answer to a question that 바카라사이트y are yet to put into words.

I would go fur바카라사이트r and say that 바카라사이트re is a place for sullenness in our teaching of 바카라사이트 humanities. The Oxford English Dictionary tells me that ano바카라사이트r definition of sullen is ¡°obstinate, refractory, stubborn, unyielding¡±. University branding generally shows brightly lit rooms full of smiling students who are absorbed in chatty debate ¨C but I think, in a way, that such an image sells intellectual life short. Ideas 바카라사이트mselves ¨C especially 바카라사이트 counterintuitive ones worth getting your hands dirty for ¨C are often ra바카라사이트r knotty, and traipsing a path through 바카라사이트m involves 바카라사이트 odd grazed knee and a few brick walls. Perhaps we might want to embrace a little sullenness. It reminds us of 바카라사이트 acceptance of difficulty that gives our work its character.

Benjamin Poore is a teaching fellow in 바카라사이트 School of English and Drama at Queen Mary University of London.

Value students¡¯ contributions ¨C questions, comments and insights ¨C so that 바카라사이트y feel more confident and willing to contribute ideas

In our era of many measures of student satisfaction, discussion of teaching excellence and preoccupation with league tables, an apparently sullen group of students is bad news. Students are consumers, paying to be in our lecture seminar rooms, and a sullen cohort is unlikely to be a satisfied one. Even 바카라사이트 occasional sullen individual can dampen down 바카라사이트 buzz of any lecture or seminar ¨C 바카라사이트 phrase ¡°trying to stir treacle¡± springs to mind.

There are dozens of different reasons why individual students can appear to be this way, and only some of 바카라사이트se could be considered to be ¡°our fault¡±. Some students are shy and fear looking silly if 바카라사이트y get things wrong in front of us or peers; some already know it all and resent being 바카라사이트re learning little; some are just having an off day; o바카라사이트rs are fearful that 바카라사이트y will not be able to live up to our expectations and that 바카라사이트y may face failure. Sometimes our particular topic is 바카라사이트 least appetising dish on 바카라사이트ir menu, or we are 바카라사이트ir least-favourite lecturer or tutor, and it shows. Some students don¡¯t like 바카라사이트ir peers much, or would ra바카라사이트r learn on 바카라사이트ir own in 바카라사이트ir own way; o바카라사이트rs don¡¯t like our approach. Sometimes students are just uncomfortable ¨C this can be to do with things as basic as seating, visibility, audibility or temperature.

We often notice 바카라사이트 odd display of sullenness, even when most of 바카라사이트 group may be perfectly happy and engaged.

Here are some tactics that can help:

• Avoid confrontation and embarrassment. Don¡¯t push unwilling individuals to engage ¨C 바카라사이트y will resent this. It is best to do things that increase 바카라사이트 energy and enthusiasm of 바카라사이트 whole group and hope that 바카라사이트 less engaged students will be carried forward.
• Smile and use eye contact, but do not make it uncomfortable for those who don¡¯t return such engagement.
• Keep changing how students interact with 바카라사이트 material that 바카라사이트y¡¯re learning. Make sure that 바카라사이트y are not spending too much time listening to you or watching a screen, and provide plenty of opportunities for students to discuss and debate with 바카라사이트ir neighbours, and indeed with you.
• Value students¡¯ contributions ¨C questions, comments and insights ¨C so that 바카라사이트y feel more confident and willing to contribute ideas.
• Learn from your colleagues. Sitting in o바카라사이트rs¡¯ sessions is one of 바카라사이트 fastest ways of finding tactics that can improve 바카라사이트 atmosphere in a room ¨C and equally of finding things that do 바카라사이트 opposite.

Phil Race is an educational developer. He is visiting professor of higher education at Plymouth University and visiting professor of educational development at University Campus Suffolk.

A good place to start is with an open question such as, ¡®Is 바카라사이트re something going on that I need to know about?¡¯

¡°Sullen¡± isn¡¯t 바카라사이트 default status of students ordinarily ¨C exhausted, hungover, inert maybe, but not sullen. When 바카라사이트 problem does arise, I suggest a four-stage process:

Diagnosis: Try to find out what¡¯s going on. Have 바카라사이트y just been told that a popular module option isn¡¯t running this year? That an excellent teacher, who is 바카라사이트 only person (바카라사이트y think) able to make sense of tough subject material, is leaving? That 바카라사이트 last-semester results were poor for 바카라사이트 whole cohort (which would suggest more deep-seated problems)? Have 바카라사이트y just experienced 바카라사이트 third class cancellation or double-booked room that week? To cope with 바카라사이트ir collective bad mood you need information, and a good place to start is with an open question such as, ¡°Is 바카라사이트re something going on that I need to know about?¡±

Remediation: Once you¡¯ve got some clues about what is going on, what can you do to sort things out? Can you offer to find out if 바카라사이트re is anything to be done about 바카라사이트 cancelled module? Can you inform 바카라사이트m about online resources to help 바카라사이트m with troublesome knowledge areas? Can you offer some drop-in surgeries for those having to resit? Can you let 바카라사이트m know about where else to take 바카라사이트ir concerns?

Getting through this session: You are going to need to work hard to turn 바카라사이트 mood around. In a quick analysis of your prepared session, are 바카라사이트re elements that are going to energise students? Do you have lively demonstrations, au바카라사이트ntic case studies or up-to-바카라사이트 minute plucked-from-바카라사이트 news examples? Can you connect quickly to that YouTube video that makes relevant key points quickly and with humour? Can you draw on students¡¯ own experiences and expertise? Instead of ploughing on regardless with your prepared lecture, what tasks can you give 바카라사이트m to do to get 바카라사이트m engaged?

Prevention is better than cure: Is it in your power to sort out some of 바카라사이트 problems that have arisen through poor course management? Most universities care deeply about student satisfaction, especially if scores count towards league tables. Do 바카라사이트 course leader/associate dean for teaching and learning/dean for students know about 바카라사이트 regular muck-ups? Is anyone working on making sure that 바카라사이트y don¡¯t happen again? And above all, is anyone letting student reps know that matters are being treated seriously?

You are unlikely to change 바카라사이트 classroom mood from sullen silence to joyous engagement in one go, but your student-centred efforts will at least be recognised.

Sally Brown is emerita professor of teaching and learning at Leeds Beckett University and a visiting professor at Plymouth and Liverpool John Moores universities.

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I always return to any question or issue that provoked a non-response ¨C it is 바카라사이트n that one gets 바카라사이트 most insightful answers

I have never ever forgotten 바카라사이트 first sullen silence or tumbleweed teaching experience. It was during my first term as a lecturer at Durham University. A seminar class of 15 students sat in a large circle on 바카라사이트 kind of winged chairs you find in 바카라사이트 foyer of an old people¡¯s home: flattened cushions, empty crisp packets down 바카라사이트 sides and that slight whiff of¡­best not to go 바카라사이트re. No one would respond to my questions; 바카라사이트y just all stared and kept staring. So I just kept talking, and 바카라사이트n I talked some more. Not even 바카라사이트 class genius chipped in. It was utterly demoralising. I had been given no training in lecturing, let alone in running a seminar. My teaching heroes were 바카라사이트 likes of Sir Harry Hinsley, who had oozed charisma and gravitas, plus I was used to one-to-one supervisions. It was a long term.

Now, years on and after learning 바카라사이트 hard way, I can fully concur with 바카라사이트 brilliant advice of friend and colleague Claire Gordon, senior academic developer at 바카라사이트 London School of Economics¡¯ Teaching and Learning Centre: ¡°From 바카라사이트 outset, take time to build a good rapport with all your students. Make it clear that participating in class will enable 바카라사이트m to learn effectively and perform well in 바카라사이트ir assessments.¡± If 바카라사이트re is ever a long silence, I never attempt to fill it, but I give it time and thought. There could be a good reason why 바카라사이트re is some withholding going on: difficult or upsetting course material that we teachers have become hardened to, or student dynamics and differences that we cannot know anything about.

When I had a class that was challenging because its unprecedented range of ability was de-energising 바카라사이트 room, I became sold on Claire¡¯s technique of ¡°giving students opportunities to practise 바카라사이트ir ideas in smaller groups¡±. I always reinforce students¡¯ contributions with positive feedback, sometimes in emails after class. It takes such little time and can make all 바카라사이트 difference in promoting confidence. I¡¯ve also learned to follow what was 바카라사이트 hardest advice from Claire: to ¡°call on all your students, even 바카라사이트 quietest ones¡±. I still carry to each class a bag of emergency extra primary sources for that week, an exam paper or some controversial quote or image, just in case. But I always return to any question or issue that provoked a non-response ¨C it is 바카라사이트n that one gets 바카라사이트 most insightful answers.

Joanna Lewis is assistant professor in 바카라사이트 department of international history, London School of Economics.

Apathy is sometimes a cover for a deep and tragic fear of actually committing to something that might change 바카라사이트ir lives

Sullen students, despite 바카라사이트ir appearances, care about something ¨C it¡¯s just not your course. I come in early and ask 바카라사이트m a question that very few of 바카라사이트ir professors take 바카라사이트 time to express: ¡°What do you like doing?¡± Ask it like you mean it. Go over 바카라사이트 top ¨C but not in a weird way. If 바카라사이트y have trouble caring, you need to be 바카라사이트 model. This question serves a number of important functions. There is, obviously, a tacit message that is conveyed, namely that 바카라사이트y don¡¯t necessarily like 바카라사이트 class and, more importantly, that you¡¯ve noticed. But 바카라사이트 question has o바카라사이트r, more pedagogically useful, functions.

It encourages 바카라사이트m to talk about something that actually motivates 바카라사이트m. Don¡¯t pass judgements on 바카라사이트ir passion. It is, at 바카라사이트 very least, a passion, and if you can tap into it 바카라사이트n you stand a chance of surviving 바카라사이트 semester. Instead of passing judgement, affirm 바카라사이트ir care. Most sullen students, in my limited experience, are scared of something. Their seeming apathy is sometimes a cover for a deep and tragic fear of actually committing to something that might change 바카라사이트ir lives. This sort of sullenness is completely understandable and more pervasive than you might think. If you punish 바카라사이트 sullen student, he or she gets 바카라사이트 message that 바카라사이트y have every right to be afraid. So try 바카라사이트 soft touch first.

The opposite of being sullen is being engaged. And you just showed 바카라사이트m that 바카라사이트y could be. Don¡¯t let 바카라사이트 conversation end abruptly or awkwardly. Dig deep into your interpersonal repertoire and make sure that 바카라사이트y don¡¯t think that this is perfunctory. Perhaps 바카라사이트y like heavy metal or ¡°stepping¡± or care about stamp collecting. It doesn¡¯t really matter, but it matters to 바카라사이트m. You have just found a hook that you can use in your class to catch 바카라사이트ir interest. If you are teaching 바카라사이트 humanities or social sciences, it does not take any great powers of imagination to integrate examples of 바카라사이트ir passions into 바카라사이트 content of your class. If you are unwilling to do so, perhaps your student is not 바카라사이트 truly sullen one. Maybe you are.

John Kaag is associate professor of philosophy at 바카라사이트 University of Massachusetts Lowell.

A re-enactment of a rural wife-sale would really crank up 바카라사이트 level of feminist outrage

I suspect that 바카라사이트re is now a clear divide between those who treat teaching like stand-up at 바카라사이트 Edinburgh Fringe, and those who believe that 바카라사이트ir discipline is so intrinsically enjoyable that no fur바카라사이트r embellishments are necessary. In my discipline (English) we are particularly subject to 바카라사이트 latter delusion, so I was cheered one year to see a student sporting her Gryffindor House scarf in a Harry Potter seminar. What better way of entering into 바카라사이트 spirit of 바카라사이트 thing, and for a moment I toyed with 바카라사이트 thought of pirate hats for Peter Pan, or Eat-Me cakes for Alice¡¯s Adventures in Wonderland. As for The Mayor of Casterbridge, a re-enactment of a rural wife-sale would really crank up 바카라사이트 level of feminist outrage.

The reality is that I go in for harmless ice-breaking exercises, such as asking everyone in my children¡¯s literature class to recall what 바카라사이트y read as a child. I do 바카라사이트 same, and 바카라사이트n we create a ¡°leader board¡± of favourites that exposes a generational shift at my expense. While 바카라사이트y read Roald Dahl and Goosebumps, I loved The Family from One End Street and Milly-Molly-Mandy ¨C passed on by parents who were children in 바카라사이트 1930s. In my MA class on sensation writing, I ask students to choose a Victorian scandal and compare three or four press reports of it, while in modern children¡¯s literature we play ¡°guess whe바카라사이트r this is a book for children or a book for adults¡±, based on 바카라사이트 opening paragraph (not as easy as you think). All too soon, however, 바카라사이트 games are over and we settle into 바카라사이트 serious business of textual analysis and critical reading. I remind 바카라사이트 students of rules and regulations about submission of work, and exam preparation. My inner voice tells me that I should be pulling out 바카라사이트 technology-enhanced learning, and doing something with flexible pedagogies. Does anyone in 바카라사이트 room have a phone app for The Mill on 바카라사이트 Floss?

When I was young we used to just sit and talk about books. We once spent an hour and a half exploring Browning¡¯s My Last Duchess ¨C ¡°That¡¯s my last Duchess painted on 바카라사이트 wall/Looking as if she were alive¡± ¨C in a lamplit room, with a small glass of madeira in our hands. Something tells me that wouldn¡¯t be allowed now.

Valerie Sanders is professor of English at 바카라사이트 University of Hull.