GSI TA Talk Highlight Managing Incivility in the College Classroom

As educators, we want the classroom to be a positive environment in which learning and exploration can take place. As TAs and AIs we would like all of our students to treat each other and us with respect and professionalism. However, sometimes our experience with teaching has not lived up to our expectations. Historically speaking, student incivility has been a part of the college landscape, but often times, incidents have gone unreported to higher authorities for various reasons. Incidents of classroom incivility can lead to TAs and AIs feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, and unmotivated to teach course content. In extreme cases, experience with incivility can prompt a graduate student to rethink his/her chosen profession and perhaps leave the classroom entirely. The following describes what classroom incivility is, why it occurs, how you can try to prevent it, and resources available to you at UT. What is classroom incivility? Incivility has been defined as action or speech that is rude or disrespectful (Tiberius & Flack 1999). Incivility can take on many forms in the college classroom and can include but is not limited to the following: arriving late/leaving early from class