Managing students’ behaviour is personal. Each instructor has a unique presence in the classroom. Each of us has different boundaries and limits; what one instructor will tolerate, another will not. Teaching is not “one size fits all.” Being your authentic self as an instructor and teaching with integrity are important aspects of effective teaching (Palmer, 2007). Before seeking techniques and strategies for managing challenging behaviour, consider how you see yourself as an instructor and how you perceive your role in your course.
Most instructors are motivated to learn more about classroom management for both cathartic and practical reasons. Instructors find relief when sharing their experiences of teaching. One instructor’s question “Are you as frustrated as I am about competing with phones and laptops for students’ attention in class?” prompts groans, laughter, nods, and stories. Instructors also need strategies for when students’ behaviours “push their buttons”.
Managing challenging student behaviour is not a new problem, nor is it a challenge that is likely to go away. This aspect of our work as instructors is tough and leads the majority of us to feel stressed, frustrated, intimidated, angry, and upset at some point in our careers. Having received many questions from University of Alberta Instructors on this topic, I was inspired to share a few ideas in a blog post.
In my work as an Educational Developer, I’ve prompted University of Alberta instructors to consider:
- the kinds of disruptive or uncivil behaviours occurring in their courses and the potential reasons behind these behaviours;
- how exercising their authority can support students’ learning;
- the ways authenticity, power, respect, and relationships play out in classroom management;
- strategies to prevent, dissipate, and manage student disruptions and incivilities quickly and effectively.
In this blog post, I focus on aspects 2 and 3, our inner lives as teachers, the feelings and beliefs about ourselves that arise in us when we teach (Palmer, 2007).
How students treat us, or more precisely, the reasons why we allow students to treat us as they do are both systemic and personal. In terms of systemic reasons, instructors avoid confronting inappropriate student behaviours because they fear that incidents will result in students retaliation through negative or cruel feedback and comments on their course USRI at the end of the semester (Deering, 2011). Students complain that an instructor is strict, or uncompromising compared to other instructors in their department who grant extensions, rewrites, or those few extra marks to get the better final letter grade. In the absence of a policy or agreed upon “party-line” among instructors, it’s just too exhausting or time-consuming to deal with students’ complaints. As scholars, instructors feel unprepared to provide consequences for students’ behaviour. Personal reasons for allowing students to be disruptive or uncivil include the view that students are adults so let them live out their consequences or a desperate desire to be liked by students.
However, hoping the behaviours will go away, fearing students’ reactions, and doing nothing about challenging student behaviour has significant costs because students:
- test you to determine just how little they can get away with doing in your course (and still get a good grade)
- demonstrate varying forms of non-participation in the course
- lose respect for the instructor
Ultimately, both the challenging student and classmates miss out on valuable learning.
Our work as instructors involves boundaries which exist on a continuum. At one end of the continuum, instructors perceive that their role is to limit teaching to what is listed in the syllabus or course outline (Wyrick 2017). Commonly, these instructors have strong boundaries and formal rapport or limited relationships with students (Rockquemore, 2015). For instance, you may know a fellow instructor who rarely (if ever) discloses anything about themselves to students, only meets students during set office hours, directs all student email questions back to the syllabus, and avoids or abruptly ends interactions with students that involve directing them to campus services. In my work, I see instructors who teach a course the same way for several years no matter the learners in the course or what is happening in the discipline or in the world. The reward for this instructor is more time to focus on research and other academic duties, yet the risk is that teaching becomes a joyless, rewardless, somewhat robotic task.
On the other end of this continuum are the instructors who see their role as an instructor well beyond sharing content to include extensive self-disclosure, responding to all student concerns at all hours of the day, night, or weekends, chaotic classrooms, and playing the role of a kind of therapist, parent, or befriending the lost or confused souls (ie: adult learners) in their care (course) (Rockquemore, 2015). These instructors tend to have weak boundaries, and many students are all too happy to have these instructors help them with their assignments and listen to their personal problems.
Nearly 20 years ago as a graduate student, I had an instructor who told my classmates and I intimate details about her family life, allowed us to set deadlines, held meetings in her home while she breastfed and lectured concurrently, and frequently complained about other faculty members in the department. I found the experience as a learner confusing…yet convenient (admittedly, I did laundry in her washing machine and cried about a breakup with my boyfriend during lecture).
The rewards of being an instructor with weak boundaries can include having a significant impact on the development of some students, but the risks for burnout, emotional exhaustion, and feeling like your students are “picking you clean” are high (Caroll, 2003).
My advice is to clarify your responsibilities as an instructor and find your “sweet spot” on this continuum of high to low boundaries. This inner work is an important part of being a satisfied academic and an effective instructor of adults. Contemplative practices such as reflection, writing a teaching philosophy, and sharing your experiences of managing challenging student behaviour with colleagues will help you feel a greater sense of integrity in defending or maintaining your boundaries with students. Positive instructor student relationships are built on mutual respect, and it’s up to you to set and enforce respectful boundaries.
Want to learn more about this topic?
- Contact Cosette or any of the other Educational Developers at the Centre for Teaching and Learning at ctl@ualberta.ca for an individual 30–60 minute consultation
- Ask a peer or a CTL Educational Developer to observe your class and provide you with feedback on your classroom management
References and Suggested Readings
Carroll, J. (2013). Setting boundaries with students. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Deering, C. (2011). Managing disruptive behaviour in the classroom. College Quarterly, 14(3).
Palmer, P.J. (2007). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life (10th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Wiley and Sons.
Rockquemore, K.A. (2015). Setting boundaries when it comes to students’ emotional disclosures. Inside Higher Education. Retrieved from
Wyrick, A. (2017). Professor Goldilocks and the three boundaries. Faculty Focus.
Cosette Lemelin is an Educational Developer for the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at the University of Alberta where her role is to help university instructors learn how to be better teachers. Cosette is available to assist instructors with course planning, teaching strategies, assessment, and blended or online delivery. This native of Winnipeg has 14 years of teaching experience in a 19 year career in adult education.
A version of this post was originally published on the Centre for Teaching and Learning’s Inspiring TeachingInspiring Teaching blog.