Classroom Scenarios Sample Responses

This article provides sentence starters for various classroom scenarios, especially for Fall 2024. This post is the final part of the Civil Discourse in Classrooms series and playlist.

The following pages include scenarios with accompanying sentence starters that can help defuse or deflect speech or behavior that distracts or interrupts instruction. As always, these are context-, identity-, and classroom-dependent, and educators should use their discretion when adapting them. These scenarios are provided as a way to pre-reflect before you encounter these or similar scenarios. When the below sentence starters mention resources, you don’t need them immediately, as you can always follow-up with students when you don’t know. As educators, it is acceptable to not know the answer, to ask for time to find the right words, and to follow up after the fact with additional information.

Educator-Student Interactions and Boundaries

Scenario: You (the educator) make a remark that a student strongly reacts to.

Apologizing: “I used language that may have impacted several of you. I want to apologize, and I’ll do better in the future before using that language.”
Acknowledging: “That content of discussion must have been really heavy to deal with. I will follow-up with support resources after class, and if you want to talk more about it, [contact method].”
Acknowledging and Apologizing: “I have observed that I may have made a remark that has made some of you uncomfortable, and I apologize and promise this will be a learning moment for me.”

Scenario: A student directly asks you who you will vote for or your stance on a political issue.

The MSU Faculty Handbook states, “As citizens, the faculty/academic staff members of Michigan State University have the same rights and responsibilities of free speech, thought, and action as all citizens of the United States. Their position, however, imposes special obligations, such as emphasizing that they are not institutional spokespersons, and exercising appropriate restraint.” Some examples of reinforcing boundaries are below.
Reinforcing Boundaries: “Voting is a deeply personal decision for many folks. If you’re wanting to know more about the process to vote, I’m happy to provide those resources for you.”
Reinforcing Boundaries: “Because of my role at MSU, I’m going to keep my political positions to myself.”
Reinforcing Boundaries: “I have many deeply held beliefs that inform my decision to vote, and for whom I vote. In the classroom, I am focused on course content and making sure this is a place where all students can learn.”
Reinforcing Boundaries: “As a teacher, I’m here to teach you how to think, not what to think. As a voter, you should base your voting decision on the candidates’ stance on different issues, not on who others vote for.”
Redirecting to Course: “That political stance has been discussed in our field quite a bit. Would you like some scholarship on those various views in this field?.”
Defusing through Humor (humor is extremely context-dependent and may escalate tensions, so use discretion by choosing that path): “I can't tell you who I'm voting for, but I can tell you that whoever invents automatic sock sorters has my full endorsement!”

Classroom Disruption and Conflict

Scenario: Two students enter into a verbal disagreement that persists and intrudes on the instruction in the class.
- Redirecting: “Let’s remember that our classroom norms mention that we respect class instruction time and our peers within the classroom.”
- Acknowledging and Redirecting: “I notice y’all have some pretty strong emotions right now and that might be difficult. Right now, we need to turn our attention to the course instruction time, and we can chat after class to discuss more.”
- Redirecting: “Is the discussion related to [teaching topic]? If not, I’ll have to ask you two to respect your classmates’ time and discuss this after class.”
Scenario: A student stands up in class and begins to speak loudly with the intent of disrupting or stopping instruction.
- Ideally, refer to an existing norm or policy stated in the syllabus that clearly defines acceptable discourse practices in your classroom.
- Listening and Redirecting: “I hear you, and your opinion matters. Right now is a time to focus on class content. Let’s continue this after class.”
- Listening and Redirecting: “Thank you for your input, but right now, we need to continue with the course content for everyone’s learning.”
- Defusing: If comfortable, you may want to use proximity to get closer to the student and calmly ask, “Please take a seat so I can continue instruction. If that’s not possible today, I’d be happy to catch up with you about course materials in office hours.”
Scenario: A student makes a particularly incendiary remark that clearly affects others in the room.
- Acknowledging and Defusing: “I just want to take a moment here to recognize that those words may have impacted others in the room. As discussed in our community norms, we don’t use disparaging remarks in class. It’s my goal to keep our discourse focused on course content and to uphold our discourse norms so all are comfortable learning here.”
- Acknowledging and Defusing: “Thank you for sharing and it sounds like you’re really feeling strongly about that issue. For now, we want to be cognizant that those words may have negative connotations for others. In order to abide by our classroom norms, we should not use phrases like that. “
- Acknowledging and Defusing: “I think that we’ve heard some pretty heavy things, and I know that it can be helpful to take some time to process before we return to course material. Let’s take a brief moment for us all to channel our thoughts in a free write about this. ”
- Naming Expectations: “These types of remarks can make students in this classroom uncomfortable. I will have to ask you to stop using this language in order to make this a respectful learning environment.”
- Naming Expectations: “You know, that comment was outside the bounds of what’s acceptable in this class. I am going to return to the subject at hand.”
Scenario: A major news event distracts multiple students or otherwise interrupts the normal operations of the class.
- Acknowledging and Defusing: “I wanted to acknowledge [event]. This is a heavy and difficult topic, and I want to take a moment to give us all time to process. We’ll try to move back into course content once we take a collective breath.”
- Acknowledging and Defusing: “I know many of us may not be able to be fully present today because of [event]. I am going to do my best to move on with class, but I will post today’s core content online as well, for you to navigate when you are in a space to learn. You should review this before our next class on [day].”
- Acknowledging and Redirecting: “Today may be hard for us today. We have some stress relief activities on campus for anyone who wants to participate [e.g., direct to therapy dogs on campus, other college/department stress relief or wellness activities happening].”

Political Engagement and Class Participation

Scenario: A student tells you they will miss class to attend a political event or protest.

Acknowledging and Setting Expectations: “Thank you for letting me know ahead of time, and that is your choice. If that is the case, the outcome for that decision in this course is [policy].”
Acknowledging and Setting Expectations: “I appreciate you letting me know and that is your right as a student. In terms of this course, you have [X] excused absences with no questions asked and this can count toward that.”
Acknowledging and Setting Expectations: “Just a reminder that this will overlap with our exam, and the policy on that is [policy].”
Acknowledging: “While I cannot comment on your decision to attend the event, as a teacher, I will ask you to please prioritize your personal safety when attending the event.”

Scenario: A student asks for an extension on an assignment or leniency on a grade due to political or protest activity on campus or more broadly in the world.

Acknowledging: “That sounds like you are trying to balance a lot. Your options in this case are [provide options for your course].”
Acknowledging and Setting Expectations: “You have the absolute right to protest; however, this extension would count toward your one late assignment submission. Is that something you’d like to use in this case?”
Acknowledging and Setting Expectations: “You are definitely free to make that decision, but there are consequences in the class for late assignments, which means [policy].”

Interpersonal Interactions and Political Concerns

Scenario: A student tells you that interactions with their peers on a course project made them uncomfortable or feel unsafe because of its politically-charged tone.

Please note that Mandatory Reporter guidelines apply to all RVSM and Title IX related statements.
Instruct the class on how to work with people who may have different points of view than you, with an emphasis on focusing on completing the group assignment and using respectful language and manners during work time. Also, decide whether allowing students to form their own groups would be a better way to avoid this situation from reoccurring.
Acknowledging and Defusing: “I’m so sorry to hear you did not feel safe in this course, and I appreciate you letting me know. What supports or modifications do you currently need to feel safer in the course?”
Acknowledging and Defusing: “Thank you for telling me. That must have been hard to do. Because this course does overlap with political topics, sometimes this may occur, but in the meantime, what would make you feel safer in these interactions in the future?”
Acknowledging and Defusing: “That sounds really difficult, and I’m so sorry that happened. Let’s discuss how you can still get the most out of this assignment?”

Scenario: A student comments to you about political or social remarks they heard another faculty or staff member make.

Reinforcing Boundaries: “Everyone’s stances are their personal decisions and sometimes we may disagree with others, but they still have the right to that expression.”
Redirecting to the Course: “That sounds like it upset you, and I’m sorry that happened. In this course, we will keep course content focused on the course learning goals.”

Resources

Return to the Civil Discourse in the Classroom playlist.