TABLE 5.
Example instances of Negatively Phrased Instructor Talk
| Subcategory | Example instance | |
|---|---|---|
| Dismantling the Instructor/Student Relationship | Ignoring Student Challenges | “I was hoping that we could work on these questions. We don’t have lab tonight so I’m going to hold you a little later. Is that okay? Anyone have to leave because they have work or something? If you absolutely have to leave, leave.”—Study 1: Whole Course |
| “Some people find that if you haven’t had a basic biology class before coming in here, it’s a little harder. You’ve got to learn some of those basic concepts a little faster than other folks.”—Study 2: Sampling Method | ||
| Assuming Poor Behaviors from Students | “The reason I have one [make-up exam] is because people lie. A lot of them are flus. Or food poisoning. Food poisoning is the number one choice. Oh, food poisoning, you get over it so quickly … But, anyway, I allow one make-up, one. Otherwise, you get a zero.”—Study 1: Whole Course | |
| “The other thing that I want to go back to, because I haven’t exactly shown it in a while and some of you are going to be like, I’m so sick of this, I’m so sick of this, it’s central dogma.”—Original study | ||
| Making Public Judgments about Students | “Is there someone named Glitter here? Yeah, ok. I have no idea who she is. She took the test. I don’t even know who she is. [Laughter] But I see a test from Glitter. I have no idea who she is. I don’t think she’s ever come to lecture. So anyway, if you see her in lab, please let me know. I have no idea who she is. So you know. I don’t even have a card for her. I see a test from Glitter, I thought it was a joke! Like, ‘My name is Glitter.’ So if you see her, tell her to come to lecture, that’s that. I don’t know who she is.”—Study 1: Whole Course | |
| “And so, when you’re plotting something that’s 0.5 and you put it here, I don’t think you know what the hell you’re doing, okay? And so, a lot of people lost points last time because they were plotting things, you know, casually.”—Study 2: Sampling Method | ||
| Disestablishing Classroom Culture | Expecting Students to Know What to Do | “Count 1 through 7, nice and loud. You guys, I don’t care how you do it, I just want it done.”—Study 1: Whole Course |
| “So, I stood here on Wednesday and told you point-blank there would be no questions about plants on your lab quiz. Were there any questions about plants on your lab quiz? There were seven questions about plants on your lab quiz. Not one person complained, okay? So, that makes you all very sweet, but seriously, you should have complained.”—Study 2: Sampling Method | ||
| Discouraging Community among Students | “I guess on one end of the spectrum, it would be ignore it completely. The other end of the spectrum I guess would be to chop somebody’s hand off or head. We won’t do the last one, I guarantee. So, I’d like to know your opinion.”—Study 2: Sampling Method | |
| Criticizing Colleagues | “You know that you can ace the lab very easily, right? [Lab Instructor]’s nothing, ugh. Too easy.”—Study 1: Whole Course | |
| “Wow, notice I’m saying the word with an -es at the end. This is actually something that is—it’s contentious. And a lot of people are confused about this, even journal editors. We recently published a paper, and the editor, which is probably a secretary with a bachelor’s degree or something—she kept on correcting us on the use of the plural. And so, it took several emails, and we’re like, no, actually, the word can be singular or plural referring to more than one. But, if there’s more than one species, it’s with an -es. And that is the correct use of the word.”—Study 2: Sampling Method | ||
| Encouraging Only the Right Answer | “So look at your lecture participation exercises, look at pre and post lab exercises, online quizzes, things of that nature, because I know you’ve seen the right answer. So I can stack the deck in favor of you getting a good grade, and me grading less, if I give you something that I know that you know what the right answer is. Or at least you should know what the right answer is.”—Study 1: Whole Course | |
| “If you do a good job, you could get a really pretty picture. You do a poor job, you’ll just get a really black looking structure that may not be easily able to help you see things.”—Study 2: Sampling Method | ||
| Compromising Pedagogical Choices | Expressing Doubt in Pedagogical Choice | “I’m going to open this up to a class discussion. I don’t know if this seems fun or not, but I’m going to let you guys take turns coming up and saying things.”—Study 2: Sampling Method |
| Using Convenience to Drive Teaching Choices | “And so if you go to my website, I don’t use [class site], so for those of you who are familiar with that system, you’ve been [at CC] for a few quarters, I don’t use [class site], I use just my own website to post information. I can load it really easily at home. I put lots of links on there. So that just works best for me.”—Study 1: Whole Course | |
| Teaching to a Subset of Students | “And it’s not like oh, my God, I can’t do any of this. And I think for when I was walking around, there were a couple of things that people were struggling, but other people seemed like you were guys were doing fine.”—Study 2: Sampling Method | |
| Focusing on the Grade/Short Term | “So make sure you understand this. It’s going to be very very valuable for scoring high points there.”—Study 1: Whole Course | |
| “That’s my job, and I take credit for your grade only 5% or less than that. Your grade, with that A, B, C—whatever it is—95% is yours—your contribution.”—Study 2: Sampling Method | ||
| Sharing Self-Judgment | Sharing Self-Judgment/Self-Pity | “Sorry, I taught all day, so I’m, someone was sick, so I talked to them, so I’ve basically been teaching since 9:30. Straight. And I’m just kinda. My brain is like fried. So, forgive me for today.”—Study 1: Whole Course |
| “Yeah, sorry. If you guys don’t eat these, I will, and I’ll hate myself, so please come eat these.”—Study 2: Sampling Method | ||
| Distancing from Student Experiences | “And I hated those people with photographic memory. They’re lucky, I’ll tell you. I don’t think they were smarter than me, but there were able to memorize a lot quicker than me and they were able to just know things better than me.”—Study 1: Whole Course | |
| “Small because men are weak.”—Study 2: Sampling Method | ||
| Masking Science | Being Implicit about the Nature of Science | “It’s all kind of a crazy process. If you think about the last two chapters, I just kind of accept it and move on. If I ever think, how do these hydrogen ions move? What is the end? I have no freaking idea, and I kind of just accept it and move on with my life.”—Study 1: Whole Course |
| Intimidating Students from Science | “So, we’ll see if this is our new class size, if I’ve managed to scare people away, or if this is just people being tardy.”—Study 2: Sampling Method |