Scenario: Overheard Student Remarks

As you are setting up before class, two students talk to one another in the classroom. You overhear one of them make an inappropriate remark.

This is a scenario that happened in the classroom of a member of the Productive Discomfort cohort. The group discussed possible responses, including:

• Since the professor is not part of the conversation in this scenario, there was much discussion about how to break in. Some suggestions were saying: “Excuse me, I couldn’t help overhearing what you said” or “”What was that?”
• If the student immediately apologizes for their speech, what is the professor’s responsibility for following up? Some participants said the intervention should end once the student speaks up. Others suggested more follow-up was needed.