ANST - Sniping

C. L. Ward gunnora at bga.com
Wed Jun 23 12:46:40 PDT 1999


Mistress Xene asked:
>After attending a wonderful King's College, I was wondering what everyone
>else thought of "sniping", that is, attending someone else's class and
>butting in constantly, or the non-instructor taking over the class from the
>instructor.
>
><snipped>
>
>How would you as an instructor handle a "sniper"? 

It depends.  If the person knows what they are talking about, then they
have added to the class.  

On the other hand, even if they do know what they are talking about, but
are hostile or are monopolizing the whole class, and certainly if they
don't know what they're talking about I usually say something along the
lines of, "Thank you for your input.  I will be glad to discuss this in
more detail with you personally after my class, but for now I have a lot of
material to cover, so please allow me to continue."

I have never had to "shut down" a sniper twice.  If they continued butting
in after the first warning, I'd probably be a bit more to the point:
"Mi'lord/Mi'lady, while I'm certain that you have much to add on this
topic, for this particular class time I'd appreciate it if you'd allow *me*
to present the class and just listen for now rather than adding in.  You
really should volunteer to teach at the next King's College to present your
own class."

One thing to point out is that there are some class situations where people
are EXPECTED to pitch in.  Anything labelled a "roundtable" would be an
example: often we have persona roundtables that really DO need and want
back-and-forth discussion among all participants.

>How would you handle the situation if you were a student?  

I usually ignore it.  Absolutely I ignore it if the instructor is holding
their own and squelching the sniper themselves.

As a peer, if I see that the instructor is being flustered and doesn't know
how to deal with it, especially if the instructor is somewhat new, I will
speak up and tell the heckler: "Excuse me, mi'lord/mi'lady, please allow
our good instructor to continue.  He/she has gone to a lot of work to
prepare this class for us, and I for one want to hear what he/she has to
say."  I don't do this very often, but when I have it worked instantly.

>Is it different if the sniper is a Laurel?  Or a non-laurel, but respected
>in the field?  

Yes.  Sometimes they are making an extremely valuable contribution, and
generally they won't add in unless the information presented is wrong or
has really left something out.

On the other hand, even the subject expert should not monopolize someone
else's class.


Wæs Þu Hæl (Waes Thu Hael)

::GUNNORA::

Gunnora Hallakarva, OL
Baroness to the Court of Ansteorra
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Ek eigi visa þik hversu oðlask Lofstirrlauf-Kruna heldr hversu na Hersis-Aðal
(Ek eigi thik hversu odhlask Lofstirrlauf-Kruna heldr hversu na Hersis-Adhal)

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