In all my years of training (and we’re talking many years), I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had to address extremely bad behavioral issues in the classroom.
There have been a couple of times when I have had to approach a participant individually and have that dreaded conversation addressing a particular problem or issue, however those occurrences have been rare and have never resulted in a participant’s dismissal from class.
As an instructor, I subscribe to the theory of “Prevention and Intervention.” In other words, if you can prevent bad behavior from happening in the first place, try that. However, if bad behavior does occur, sometimes you have to intervene.
Addressing housekeeping or administrative issues at the beginning of a course is the best tactic to prevent poor behavior in the classroom. In my opinion, most adults like to to do what’s expected of them. Typically when you give them a request, most adults will do their best to comply.
However, as I reminisce on one of the more unique disciplinary issues I’ve encountered, I’m not so sure I would have even had the foresight to address it in a preventive way.
In this particular occasion two of my male participants enjoyed chewing tobacco while in class. While the act of chewing the tobacco was not all that distracting, the constant spitting into an empty soda can quickly became disturbing.
At the beginning of the workshop I covered all the usual housekeeping issues: cell phone usage, punctuality, participation, etc. Somehow, I forgot to include anything about chewing tobacco in the classroom!
Since I did not have the foresight to use preventive measures to avoid this situation, I soon realized that I would have to intervene. At first I gave the situation some time to self-correct. I hoped (and prayed) the guys would get their nicotine fix and that would be the end of it. To no avail, they kept plugging and spitting. (Sorry to be so graphic!)
Finally, during a break, I approached both participants and told them (in a very tactful and diplomatic way) they had to refrain from using the chewing tobacco while in class. I started by comparing it to cigarette smoking. Working in a professional environment, I assumed the prohibited use of tobacco products was understood. Our training facility did not allow smoking in the building; therefore we could not allow the chewing of tobacco either.
Thankfully both learners apologized and did away with their chewing tobacco habit. The issue never blew up nor got out of hand.
Moral of the story: When dealing with difficult participants, try prevention tactics first. If that doesn’t work, realize that as an instructor you must sometimes intervene. Just do so with confidence, tact, and diplomacy. Good luck!
Langevin Team
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