disruptive students

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Hello everyone out there in cyberspace.

Have a question for you.

Am in my third week of nursing school, my pharmacology teacher is from Asia, very soft-spoken and seems a little intimidated by the 90 students she has to teach. This is the 3rd week of this class and students are always talking over her and carrying on their own discussions / lectures. Today i got so mad with one girl who sat infront of me and keep explaining some med-math to the girl sitting behind me, which drowned out the teacher's voice. I eventually snapped at her that i cound not hear one word being said after politely waiting on her for some 10 - 15 minutes to be quiet.

How has everyone else dealt with this situation, I don't want to create issues but every week is the same behavior.

thanks all for listening

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Just like you did.

I have also, especially when the group around me was large, just say very loudly, "Mrs. Smith, I am so sorry, but could you repeat what you just said? Alot of people are talking around me and I'm afraid I wasn't able to hear you!"

As an older student, that is one of the benefits...I could CARE LESS what the 18/19-year-old-snots that don't care to learn think.

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Specializes in Trauma/Burn ICU, Neuro ICU.

Go sit in the very front row, right in front of where the teacher stands most of the time.

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Specializes in Peds, PICU, Home health, Dialysis.

I cannot stand disruptive students! They lack a great deal of professionalism and general respect for others. All of my professors thus far have done a very good job at putting disruptive students back into their place. My fundamentals professor would stop talking if anyone else talked while she talked. Even if someone whispered to their classmate, she would stop talking and sit there. It definitely made those who were talking feel like idiots.

Kind of off subject, but I had a medical anthropology class a few semesters ago before I entered the nursing program. My professor was quite young and an amazing instructor, but he did not tolerate disruptive students or cell phones. His policy was that if your phone rang during class, he would answer the phone. He answered a few phone calls and he didn't care who was calling (sometimes it was a spouse, someones child, or even their employer) and he was nice about the situation but basically told the caller "I am sorry but Sally is sitting in my class right now and if you want to call her back after class, I would appreciate it." It was comical.

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Go sit in the very front row, right in front of where the teacher stands most of the time.

Ya know... this sounds like a great idea... but in my friggin class... I'm in the very front row and I believe there are about 80-90 students in my class. And even though I'm in the front, it is next to impossible to hear over the people talking behind me. And don't even get me started on the ones who get up and leave and come back... (or come in late or leave early) AARRRRGGGHHH! The door is a heavy wooden door and it slams super hard every single time it closes! It's so annoying I want to scream.

What in the world are we suppose to do? How can people be so rude??

It drives me nuts!

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I can understand your frustration! I was sitting near a group of guys who "thought" they were whispering, but you know how males make that annoying buzzing noise....:angryfire

Our lecturer always stops and asks if they want to go out,, because the noises just carry right down to the front...but the guest lecturer didn't the other day, so the regular lecturer came up and asked them personally!! Maybe tell the teacher that you are having problems hearing them - that won't hurt.

I usually try the quick glances..if that fails I get up and move!!

Oh I just had a thought.....sit up the back and if anyone is annoying you, scrunch up a piece of paper and peg it at their head!!

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I'm polite the first time. I ask them to please be quiet that I cannot hear. After that I turn into a witch. I've told one student to shut up. She was a repeat offender so I figured being nice wasn't going to cut it. I've also sarcastically said to the teacher "I'm sorry, can you repeat that? For some reason there seems to be alot of background noise in this room" while I look the culprit in the eye.

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sit in some of the front rows near the teacher

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

Definitely, sit in the front row. If she speaks so softly that she's still drowned out by the din, she probably needs to speak up, as well.

I'd go talk to the teacher and explain that you simply cannot hear due to the ambient noise from the chatters. Ask her to reprimand the class but also ask her to speak up.

No matter what, if you miss something she says, irrespective of the reason, ask her to repeat it.

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I wish it was easier to sit in the front row at my school - at least half the classes I've had have more students that seats, so you have to get there at least 15 minutes early to get a chair. I think the people who want to sit in front get there an hour early, and I'm sorry, I'm sleep-deprived enough as it is. We have class at 7:30/8 generally, and I'm not getting up at 5 when it's not clinical day. Thankfully though, this semester the talkers that we had have gotten quieter/weeded out. I did have one guy who kept coughing last week though - so not his fault, but my recording was mostly his really loud coughs and very little of my instructor. At least I took good notes!

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Well, I was once being rude in a chemistry class, talking quite loudly to a friend about nothing to do with the class, and this girl in front of me turned around and said "Could you please be polite and considerate of others? No one around you can hear anything but your conversation." That shut me right up.

AAaaaannnnd, then there was the time that I was the grumpy person in a micro lecture. Our teacher was also a bit timid. There were only about 30 people in the class, and 28 of them apparently didn't feel like listening--so they would sit and chat while the teacher was lecturing. It was awful. The instructor would try to get everyone's attention, and she'd talk louder, and they'd talk louder.

I got sick of it and after a couple of "ssshhhhs" I stood up, turned around, looked people in the eye one by one and said " Jesus f-ing Christ, people. Why are you here if you don't want to listen? Shut the f- up or get the f- out. "

It was pure silence for the rest of the class. It was awesome. The next class period the instructor decided that talking students and crazy swearing old ladies were taking things a bit too far and so she grew a pair and laid down the law about class disruptions. Everything went much more smoothly after that.

I would suggest the "Could you please be polite" approach, it really is more civil and more constructive, and would probably work better in the long haul; buuut the swearing like a sailor and appearing vaguely threatening does have it's place at times.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Hospice.

We have a cougher in my class. It gets so bad that even the teacher is annoyed. I feel so sorry for the ones that have to sit next to and around her. One of my friends has the misfortune of sitting next to her, and one time in annoyance she yelled out "Would you PLEASE shut the hell up? Go take some cough medicine or something." I had to laugh. Unfortunately, she won't take any meds or go to the doctor for this thing.

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