Help with Difficult Instructor

Published

i am in my third and final semester of a lpn program. we have 14 students in class. the concern is that only 2 students have passed the tests and quizzes. they barely passed with an 80 which is what is needed to pass the class. if the other 12 students do not come out with an 80 we will all have to wait another year, that is if our gpa's don't take us out first. the questions on the tests and quizzes have two possible answers, and it seems as though the answer is what the teacher says is the right answer. even if the question is found in the book with another answer the teacher will not give credit. half the class is contemplating withdrawing and just giving up. the class starts off with 40 students and only 5 or 6 graduate each year. the students that withdraw all blame the teacher. should the entire class withdraw or try to pull threw and risk our gpa's? this instructor will not return phone calls or answer emails. so many students have complained about this instructor that it is a shame. the rn program has at least 40 or more graduating each program. the lpn program may have 6 graduating a semester. this instructor has taken some courses away from other instructors because the students are passing.

does this mean that we should not be nurses because we cannot pass the teachers tests and quizzes. any help would be nice before we all pull out our hair.

need help badly

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Vascular Surgery.

Have you tried meeting with her during office hours and voicing these concerns? If so, have you voiced these concerns to the school's DON?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I have spoken with her, we have gone to her as a class. Then it seems as though we are constantly picked on because we spoke up. I just hope and pray that I make it out from under her this last semester. She reminds us that she is the instructor and we are the students and she knows best. It seems as though the Dean and all the rest of the faculty all back her. No matter what we say, we are wrong. If I do not make it this semester I will have to start all over at another college. If this teacher was transferred, I think more and more people would be interested in the LPN program at this community college.

We pay all this money for 6 hrs a day for 4 days a week. Yet we only are in class maybe 3 hrs a day, with one day completely missed due to all the other obligations that the teacher has to do in her life. She is by far the worst teacher that I have ever had. The students definitely are not a concern of hers and we are not top priority. As the teacher always states to the class that she has her degrees and we have ours to get. Encouraging words I know.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU.

Your college administration (over the heads of the nursing program) may take issue with the fact that you are not receiving the credit-hours of instruction that you are supposed to be receiving. I would think (but don't know for sure) that this would be a problem for them with respect to state and other goverment agencies that monitor higher education. I know my college canned an instructor in the middle of the semester for this very issue.

Might be worth going to college admin if you aren't going to pass - you wouldn't have anything to lose at that point. Or maybe it would be worth it to you as a group to go to them now.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

You also need to take copies of the quiz questions, her wrong answers and the correct book answers to demonstrate your concerns, to the dean. Courts will not overrule instructors and curricula; but the dean over your director should certainly take notice of incorrect answers.

You also need todocument the hours of classroom time you are actually receiving. Are you expected to make up hours through papers and homework?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in med/surg, ER.
We pay all this money for 6 hrs a day for 4 days a week. Yet we only are in class maybe 3 hrs a day, with one day completely missed due to all the other obligations that the teacher has to do in her life. She is by far the worst teacher that I have ever had. The students definitely are not a concern of hers and we are not top priority. As the teacher always states to the class that she has her degrees and we have ours to get. Encouraging words I know.

Maybe a report the whomever the accrediting body is will make administration sit up and take notice! If nearly an entire class fails, it is the instructor who is failing. Just my :twocents:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in OB, NICU, Nursing Education (academic).

Wow. If what you say is accurate, this person should not be in any kind of teaching position.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Wow. This instructor sounds so much like an instructor I had in nursing school. She literally didn't know her a** from her elbow. EVERYBODY failed her tests. Daylight and evening students alike. An 80% would have been a great grade for one of her tests! About 6 of us got together and spoke to the Dean of Nursing about her but her answer was "Well, she's worked in Psych for about 25 years, I guess the patients have finally gotten to her." WHAT???? We had to repeatedly go to the Dean and still nothing changed. Our entire class got a D of an F on every test, but surprisingly enough, she had us do 'extra credit projects' to bump our grades up so we all ended up passing. I really feel like I got nothing out of that class. Even funnier, a nurse I worked with at the time also had that same instructor - in 1979! - and when she found out that she was still teaching, she almost fell over!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

critical thinking on test questions and as nurses is important. that is why you will find that there may be two possible answers to a test question. lpns must learn critical thinking also. it involves considering a number of factors when answering test questions. please read the information on this sticky thread in the student forums on taking nursing tests:

i would recommend that instead of treating the instructor as an adversary that you embrace her as a colleague and begin to pick her brain, ask for her help and guidance and take a more positive view of your coursework. if you see this school experience as being negative you are more likely to fail. you need to stop talking with other students about all this negativity and failure. it breeds more failure and makes it harder to concentrate on what you need to learn.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

She sounds like a total wackjob. I've had instructors like this before, they have no idea what they're talking about, they try to intimidate, and don't really feel like doing their jobs! You never learn a thing from them. Plus, faculty will ALWAYS back faculty, no matter what. My instructors who were like this were all talk and in the end wound up passing everyone. If you know this isn't the case, then go above their heads to someone else. Definitely mention that you don't spend the whole time in clinical, I think that those hours might be important.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

this instructor sounds so much like one i had in nursing school as well.

although it may seem extremely unfair if you would not pass this semester and have to take the class over again, what are your options?

1. what if you do not pass this semester. do you feel you have a chance for getting back into this same school and successfully completing your last semester?

2. will your classes and credits transfer to another program in your area that would suit your needs and what are your chances of transfering and getting into another school?

in my last semester of nursing school we had a difficult instructor in clinical and classroom. one student went to the director of the nursing school with a complaint about this instructor and a plan was devised to catch the student doing something wrong in clinicals and she was dismissed from the school.

another student that was in my clinical group was a student who was always ready with the correct answer for questions asked by the instructor; but; she did not pass in clinicals because her daily patient assessments and clinical paperwork were to be written and turned in by 9am and several times hers were turned in at 9:05 or 9:10. (it was nearly impossible for the rest of us as well to complete our papers to turn in on time. i think the rest of us were just lucky that our patients did not have another need that took us away from getting the paperwork completed on time) anyway this student opted not to voice any complaints against this difficult instructor and she has reenrolled to retake the class this fall. she felt this was her best option as she now knows exactly what she needs to do to pass this instructor.

you stated that the lpn program may have 6 graduating a semester.

do you know what these students may be doing differently as to why they are passing. maybe you can figure out what it takes to pass under this difficult instructor.

best of luck to you.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

This instructor is also the head of the LPN program. I have gone to her about study options and her only reply is that I may be studying to much. If direct questions are asked she does a 360 not to directly answer a question. We do not have assess to our tests and quizzes. Only under supervision can we view our class materials. I feel as though I am not learning anything under this instructor. This is a shared concern from the other students as well. The instructor comes into class reads from powerpoints and then she is ready to go. No homework, no extra credit nothing. We have labtime that is used for lecturing. We have no one at this community college to help the students and it is very unfair to us. We are not constantly complaining about this instructor but we are losing money and time from our careers as well as families.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion