Distressed and Distressing Students

A few days ago, nineteen people, including graduate students, TA consultants, and a CAPS (counseling and psychological services) staff psychologist met to discuss Teaching a Distressed or Distressing Student. The event, a TA Consultant Open Office Hours that we co-hosted with CAPS, addressed how TAs can identify and give support to distressed and distressing students. Dr. Thomas Roe led what was an informative talk followed by informal discussion. Dr. Roe, the TA consultants and the other graduate students who attended made a number of useful suggestions. First: that when students' work changes without any explanation (from high grade to very low grades on assignments, for instance, or regular to only sporadic attendance), something may be wrong. Second, it is a good idea to communicate with students to find out what's happening with their work, and if they are having problems that they'd like help dealing with, there are a number of places on campus TAs can refer them to (CAPS, the WRRC, and others). CETL can also speak with TAs about the challenges particular students may be facing, and can offer written materials and advice about when it's a good idea to refer the students to CAPS. One attendee told the story of her student at another university who was experiencing a great number of problems; she had personally walked that student to (that campus' version of) CAPS to help her connect with staff there. We also discussed distressing students, especially those who cheat. One thing that came up in the discussion is, cheating is not just a moral failing - there are reasons why students cheat. Usually, because they procrastinate. One way to address this with a cheating student is to ask them to complete and submit assignments one step at a time rather than all at once. This may discourage them from waiting until the last moment, when they may find that all they can do is cheat - or not complete their work. Lastly, we discussed how TAs themselves encounter a number of different teaching-related stresses; Dr. Thomas emphasized that he and CAPS are available to all graduate students for group and individual meetings. The event was informative, and 14 of 19 who attended stayed for more than an hour. Thanks, CAPS! T.A. Consultants look forward to hosting more office hours around campus. Look out for emails about TA Consultant Open Office Hours happening in your department, graduate group, or area of interest. And if you have an idea for a place or center on campus where we should hold one of these office hours (or a discussion theme for the same), email to let us know!