The Dilemma: How to Handle a Difficult Adult Learner

When it is no longer an option to send a student out of a class, how does a seminar leader handle a student whose behavior can impact on a seminar in a negative way? In the past few weeks, I've watched two different instructors handle challenging students. In the first instance, a female student (who will remain anonymous) kept interrupting the teacher with unrelated and somewhat racist comments. The teacher handled it like a pro...found something in her statement to comment on (since it was a communication class) and then forged ahead with the material. Luckily, the other students in attendance realized that the student was troubled. Because everyone behaved like mature adults, the seminar was not seriously impacted. I was very close to asking the student to leave, but I did not want to undermine the teacher's authority.

In the second instance, we had a gentleman who wanted to make sure that everyone in the class knew that he was also an authority on the topic. He would raise his hand to comment on something the teacher had said, but when the teacher began talking again...he was still talking. I have to admit--this was a first! And, very annoying to both the teacher and the other students. Again, everyone in class behaved admirably. In this instance, it might have helped if one of the other students gently mentioned that his behavior was bothersome. That would have lifted the onus off the instructor so that he/she did not have to be the "bouncer."

Hopefully, this is just a fluke. But, I always try to use these situations as learning experiences and judge how to best handle them in the future.