Michelle Payne

I really enjoyed reading Michelle Payne’s,Rendering Women’s Authority in the Writing Classroom.I found it to be very fascinating, mainly because at one point in every educator’s career, they will have a “Kyle” in one of their classrooms. So, my big question is, what do we do as teachers to effectively handle a disruptive, disrespectful student? In trying to find the answer, I re-read Payne’s essay, and asked a dear friend who teaches at Meacham Middle School in FWISD. So, here are a few suggestions by a teacher who has more than a handful of “problem students” in her classes. Her advice was: Remember that these problems can be more common for instructors with status inconsistency (women, minorities, international, young, TAs…). Also, remember if you can figure out why the student(s) is being disruptive, it can help you decide what to do. This takes good observation skills and conversations with colleagues and students. Just as Payne, she has found that being a woman educator offers more challenges when dealing with mainly male students that challenge her authority. She also gave these tips: Note who the disruptive students are and speak to them after class or ask them to come to your office hours. Explain why/how you find them disruptive, find out why they are acting that way, ask them what they would be comfortable doing. Tell them what you want to do.Discuss the disruptive behavior in private outside of class with some of the concerned and nondisruptive students. Ask for their assistance in maintaining a positive classroom environment.On a given day when this behavior occurs change what you are doing. Break students in to groups for some work. Call on these and other students to come forward and lead discussion.Consider changing the structure of the whole class. Is it all lecture and/or do students need to be more active and involved? Rethink if/how what you do fits the students and the course. Use more diverse techniques to reach the disruptive students. She also believes that a teacher needs to document any and everything, so she will be “covered” when the time comes to bring in higher authority.
Like Payne, she, “created this course to be designed by students so that everyone could find a space to get what they wanted out of it,” (398). Having a student that is difficult would take away time and energy from the class as a whole. I really believe as Payne does, that “the whole premise of this course is that students need to participate in their own learning” (398). Though, just as Payne feels, “the perpesctive of a woman who was socilaized to have what post-strucuralists call a “split subjectivity,” who already commands from most students less authority and power than a man, yet who has embraced pedagogies and post structuralist theories that decenter authority and who also sees the value of “apprenticing” students into the academy, asking students to question my authority was overwhelming at best, debilitating at worst” (402). I believe that this issue will never be resolved, and it can be discussed until the cows come home! I do think that as a woman eduactor gaining respect from mainly male students will always be a challenge, at best a headache!!