Deadlines You need to have a clearly stated policy for missed deadlines with clear penalties for lateness. You must enforce this policy consistently to be fair to all students – you can’t accept one student story and not expect other students to try for leniency or in the end be upset by your inconsistent behavivour. Typically you need to tell the student “to be fair to the whole class, I need to consistently enforce this….sorry” There are UBC polices directly relating to legitimate excuses for missed assignments or exams (see Chapter 1 of this volume).
Challenges to Authourity From time to time a student or group of students may get upset. Upset students usually want to confront the “offending” instructor. The most important tool you have initially is listening. Listen to their concerns and resist initially the urge to confront and debate. Some of these discussions are best held in the classroom with all students, so all students’ voices are heard. This often dampens the upset minority. If the discussion continues not towards resolution, you should invite the students to discuss this later, perhaps in office hours. Some issue will be resolved through discussion, and others may not. At this point you may need to gently, firmly and fairly remind the students of the requirements of the course they need to fulfill. Hostile or threatening behavivour need to be reported to your department, so adequate measures can be taken.
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