"The Student from Hell is not born that way but is created by conditions beyond his or her control. Yes, one or two of them may have been sent here directly by Satan to destroy Western civilization as we know and love it. But this particular student-- whose plight represents many other-- forced me into a deeper understanding of the student condition, one that is slowly transforming the way I teach" (Palmer, 2007, p.45).
As everyone may be somewhat aware, I have had a student from hell this semester. As Palmer stated, the student is not born this way, but morphed into the way he or she is because of outside circumstances. This is something I have had to keep in mind while teaching one of my 1010 sections. I am frustrated and sad because the situation is out of my control. This is frustrating on my end because I feel as though my classroom lost the "safe" aspect which then makes me sad.
My student from hell started off normally and was overall an active participant in class. And then because of outside circumstances, that even I am not aware of, affected the students' participation and overall demeanor in class. During this time, I felt scared and overall I did not understand what to do. A specific time that scared me was during an after class talk with the student from hell. During this talk, the student straight forwardly stated "I don't appreciate you calling the dean of students on me". This scared the s*** out of me because in that moment I did not know what to say and I blamed myself for letting the situation escalate to that point.
Reading Palmer was tough for me because of all the feelings (<-- my version of the f-word). However, looking past the fluff, I found that Palmer was helpful when discussing this student from hell. Specifically, I really needed to hear that the student from hell isn't acting that way because of me directly. The student from hell is just acting out and does not fully comprehend how to handle the outside aspects in their life. It is not directly correlated with my class or my teaching style. This was an internal struggle for me but once I communicated the situation to others, I found the help I needed and also received support and help. I appreciate y'all:)
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I'm so glad that you were able to look at the f-word (feelings) and use it to your real life experiences in class. It's so important to not blame yourself in these particular instances because we do not know what our "students from hell" are going through in their lives.
ReplyDeleteYou are 100% capable of not only keeping your class under control, but also not allowing one student to completely change the climate of your classroom. And that's MAGICAL. You've got this. <3
Your situation is a disturbing one, that is certain. I do believe that in all circumstances, we can learn something if we focus on trying to do so. You will come out of this semester stronger than you were going in because of what this student has taught you. Palmer's "Student from Hell" scenario seems to be pertinent to several of us at this stage in our semesters and hopefully it provides comfort and understanding for the circumstances that are involved with dealing with students like yours. You impress me with your composure in this situation. Hopefully it will be resolved soon.
ReplyDeleteWe got your back! You handled this situation really well. --kal
ReplyDeleteI want to take a moment to point out how strong you are as an individual Amanda. Not only have you grown tremendously as a teacher through this situation, but you also carried yourself remarkably through this experience. Last but not least, do not forget that you have us to lean on <3
ReplyDelete(I know the f-word is hard, but yes, that is a heart just for you).