It’s mid-terms. Students are panicked; they need extra help. If you’re a college instructor, you open up more office hours so you can assuage students’ anxiety. Students sign up but don’t show up. GRRRRRRR!!!

This episode features Robin, an extremely busy professor (like most teachers!) who got really mad when some students blew off the appointments they (voluntarily) signed up for. And didn’t contact her to explain why! How should she deal with this blatant inconsiderateness? What could she do with her insistent anger and disappointment? How did her Teacher Support Group help her turn it around?

In this episode we consider

* how to unpack anger and disappointment

* who has the power to change whom

* how the hell not to take students’ thoughtless behavior personally

* how to distill out the real issue from a swirl of emotions

It can be so difficult not to take bad behavior personally! If you’re feeling terrible about yourself because of stuff your students are doing (or not doing), I’d love to hear about it. I can help you do the seemingly impossible: restore you to self-confidence and help you give the responsibility for bad behavior back to your students. Just click on Share a Story on the TTE home page and send me the details. Totally confidentially. I’d love to hear from you.

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