Coping with Seven Disruptive Personality Types in the Classroom

IntroductionThe typical college professor is bound to run into his or her share of difficult students duringthe course of an academic career. Some students create nuisances by engaging in annoyingbehavior, such as interfering with classroom proceedings, making irrelevant comments, andcausing noisy interruptions. They may turn assignments in late, disregard the courseexpectations, and insist on special treatment for themselves. Other students, however, maypose a very real threat to the safety of the professor and fellow students.Relatively few college professors are trained in how to recognize and respond effectively tothese challenging or threatening behaviors. Sometimes, faculty members will have difficultydistinguishing between a student who is a mere nuisance and a student who poses a veryreal hazard to the community. It is comforting to know that many of the most difficult anddisruptive encounters with students tend to fall into predictable, known categories.This white paper will also help you to set enforceable standards, expectations, andboundaries flexibly with students, depending on the exhibited personality style.After reading this white paper, you will know how to better manage passive-aggressivebehaviors such as sleeping in class, lateness, and procrastination. You will learn essentialprinciples regarding the value of collaborating with on-campus resources to resolvedisruptive crises. This white paper also provides guidance to help professors know whetherand when they need to report certain disruptive incidents.Perhaps most important, this report provides the guidance necessary to help instructors andadministrators recognize “red flags” that portend physical risk when dealing with potentiallydangerous students.The seven disruptive personality styles are: explosive, antisocial, passive-aggressive,narcissistic, paranoid, litigious, and compulsive.We will cover each personality style in turn and then look at likely situations in which eachcould manifest troublesome behavior in the classroom and elsewhere on campus. We willthen suggest various ways for instructors to respond effectively to disruptive studentsaccording to the students’ personality style.Before proceeding, a few words of explanation are in order. First, it is important tounderstand that the personality styles described herein are not clinical diagnoses orpsychiatric designations. In other words, there is nothing especially scientific, medical, or5