ever have an instructor just melt down in class?

dudette10, MSN, RN · Nov 11, 2011

Yesterday in class we had a teacher go off on us. Basically belittled and yelled at us for fifteen minutes straight. This all came from when one of the students went to the dean of the department and told her what a poor job this new instructor was doing. She is pretty bad, she just reads from the book in lecture. We all walked out in shock. One of the students recorded the rant and everyone is debating whether to send it to the dean or not. Not the dean of the department but the one above her, because we feel betrayed by the dean of the department as a class because the dean broke the confidentiality of the whistle blower.

First off, a teacher having a meltdown hasn't happened to me since high school. But we definitely deserved it. :lol2:

Just want you to think about something. A student went to the dean to complain about a teacher, and you all feel betrayed because the dean broke the confidentiality of the whistle blower? Do you mean the dean gave the name of the student? If so, then that was unprofessional.

However, if you meant that the dean obviously talked to the teacher about the complaint, what did you expect the dean to do? When she gets a complaint, she isn't just going to sit on it; she's going to do something about it! Please don't blame the dean for doing her job. So many students here feel as if their administration doesn't do anything about complaints. Apparently, your dean does. That's a good thing. :)

Without any information about how your class behaves in class or in clinicals, I would say that the blame for the teacher's reaction is on her, not the dean.

classof2013 · Nov 11, 2011

The teacher in her meltdown told the class that the dean told her a student told the dean she was the worst teacher she ever had (which is how most of the class feels). The student that went in claims she never said such a thing and kept her criticism constructive. I guess there were a couple other email complaints as well.

At the end of the melt down she told us that any further complaints have to go through her first before the dean will hear them. With the way this teacher has yelled at students in the past I am sure that would work. LOL

Striving2BG8, BSN, RN · Nov 11, 2011

Well that is usually how complaints are supposed to go. You're supposed to work of the chain of command as a sign of respect. One of you guys disrespected that, and that is why she was angry.

You don't go to the supreme court with a complaint without going through the small courts first.

Just my thoughts...

Despareux · Nov 11, 2011

There should be a student advocate who is the go between. Some instructors do not take constructive criticism as, well, constructive; they will see to it that you don't fare as well as you would under normal circumstances. Going to the Dean should not be the first person you contact unless there is some form of threat involved.

Our school does not have a student advocate, but it is something most of our class feels would be extremely helpful when resolving conflict between students and instructors. As soon to be graduates, many of us have discussed planning and implementing a student advocate program in our school, for future students, as we have instructors who could use some guidance on how to treat adult college students.

CrazierThanYou · Nov 11, 2011

We have an instructor that seems to have a meltdown every single day of clinical, screaming in students faces, cursing, etc. She always apologizes but clearly this woman has some issues.

caliotter3 · Nov 11, 2011

At some point in time the administration is aware that an instructor has issues, so individuals or the class as a united whole, need to decide whether it is worth the effort to complain about behavior that is nothing new. I would concentrate on getting what I need from the course, no matter how I have to obtain the information, and moving on. The school has the responsibility to ride herd on their employees. I will contribute to that effort after I have obtained my ticket punch, not before, or instead of.

ashleyisawesome, BSN, RN · Nov 11, 2011

you are lucky your dean is trying to correct the problem. i had a clinical instructor--TWO semesters in a ROW-- who has fallen asleep numerous times in the middle of post conference, fallen asleep in the lounge in the middle of clinical day, left my clinical group alone on the unit for 2 HOURS to go get "labs drawn" on herself, has made several med errors on the floor, and is not even allowed in the pixis to get meds.

several complaints were made, i was even asked to come in and was questioned about said events, as well as several other students. nothing has been done. she is still a clinical instructor and continues to get complaints made against her. i am not even sure anything was said to her.

on the flip side, put yourself in her shoes. she is a new instructor, still trying to figure out her teaching style and how to stay organized and most effectively present this information, and she is being told that students are calling her the worst teacher ever. i would probably be devastated if i were her. imagine you are a new nursing student, still not completely comfortable in clinical, making a few dumb mistakes here and there, but trying to find your place, and your instructor tells the dean "you are the worst student i have ever had!" and the dean calls you into her office to tell you this. how would you feel? would you rather the instructor come to you and discuss the problems you are having and offering advice on how to better yourself?

ILovetorun · Nov 11, 2011

Hey, actually had something similar happen this past Monday. We had our third exam in Fundamentals and it was way more difficult than our previous tests. Apparently the instructor posted some online modules that she wanted completed by Monday (yes, the same day as the exam!) When she realized no one completed them she sort of went off on us saying things like "You all need to manage your time better, I know this is hard but that is no excuse." She went on like a five minute rant while everyone just stared at her with their mouths open in complete disbelief. Everyone on here knows how anxiety inducing nursing exams are and we hadn't even gone over the test yet so everyone was freaking out. I'm sorry that happened to you guys but just think, the semester is almost over and you won't have to deal with her again hopefully.

classof2013 · Nov 14, 2011

None of us would ever think of going to this teacher with constructive criticism. She is a bully through and through. She incorrectly keyed a question on the last test and got defensive with a student who pointed it out. She ripped the test out of her hands, and told the student to get out of her office. She takes everything as a personal attack when all we want is clarification. We just want to get this semester over about half the class me included is failing.

Skybang6 · Nov 14, 2011

Funny how you feel bad about doing something about YOUR EDUCATION that YOU PAY FOR. Really I don't need to know circumstances your a paying customer period. If I told my clients how the shiznit was going to go down and how and why they would fire me. Don't ever feel bad about standing up for yourself. This chain of command is BS it's for work related BS. So when you get a job and are getting a pay check then yeah you go through the chain. But in school your paying you are the client. These professors are out of control with power. They all need to simmer down because at the end of the day they are getting paid to teach. If the professor was my employee she would have a pink slip period. You don't yell at customers.

DolceVita, ADN, BSN, RN · Nov 14, 2011

At some point in time the administration is aware that an instructor has issues, so individuals or the class as a united whole, need to decide whether it is worth the effort to complain about behavior that is nothing new. I would concentrate on getting what I need from the course, no matter how I have to obtain the information, and moving on. The school has the responsibility to ride herd on their employees. I will contribute to that effort after I have obtained my ticket punch, not before, or instead of.

Amen.

Something like this happened to my class when I was still in NS. The instructor came in straight from the Dean's office and blethered on about feeling betrayed etc. etc. She was completely distraught and furious. It was unreal, uncomfortable and unprofessional (and a surprise to those of us who knew nothing about the original complaint). It then sparked off a witch hunt for the student(s) that sent the complaint (they did it anonymously). Frankly, I think her reaction completely justified whoever made the complaint an anonymous one. .

I had an issue with something an instructor did once. She was considered a bit of a hot head but I risked speaking with her about it. She handled it like a pro and I felt good about behaving like the 40+ year old that I am. However, you will find in your nursing career that people will complain about you without speaking to you about it -- it doesn't feel great.

We had a couple of dreadful teachers and were self taught for some of our competencies. It was stressful. It would have been more stressful to complain and start a whole process. In our case we had to remember that each of our instructors were employed in our community (especially the hospitals). So, it was not in a students best interest to to take a shot.

Learn now how to deal with conflict. It doesn't matter if you are a nurse or a car salesman -- conflict is inevitable. What separates the wheat from the chaff is how we handle it.