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A Dozen Ways to Minimize Passive-Aggressive Behavior

Passive-aggressive behavior is no stranger in most classrooms. Students can be highly skilled in the practices of avoiding responsibility, deflecting blame, and making empty promises. Deep sighs, rolling eyes, blank looks, and sarcasm provide nonverbal clues to this often frustrating and discouraging behavior. Rather than engaging, accepting responsibility, and following through, these students shift their energy toward finding ways to take little or no action, while trying to assign ownership for their behavior to others.

Fortunately, there are several steps we can take and strategies we can use to counter and limit passive aggressive behaviors, but first we need to understand the reasons and needs driving the behavior. What we are seeing may be a desire to avoid conflict, evidence of low self-confidence, or the presence of hostility, anger, or resentment. We may even be seeing evidence of a lack of skills or courage to speak up.

Our knowledge of our students and our relationship with them can often give us clues to the causes of passive-aggressive behavior. We might reflect on recent events that are creating the emotions reflected in a student’s behavior. Of course, we might have a conversation with the student to fill in the gaps in our understanding. When the behavior represents a pattern, we might check with parents and colleagues to gain their perspective and insights. Regardless, if we hope to change the behavior, we need to understand what is causing it.

With this context in mind, here are a dozen steps and strategies we might consider and employ in response to passive-aggressive behavior we experience with students:

Stay calm. Resist allowing frustration to become part of your message. Don’t provide an opening to have your emotions become the focus.
Avoid a public confrontation, if possible. Having a private conversation can avoid having the student grandstand or play to an audience.
Focus on your direction or request, not the student’s reaction. Passive-aggressive behavior is often a ploy to provoke a response.
Stick to what you observe. Start with something like “I noticed a shift in your (body language, facial expression, or another behavior).” If denial is the response, let it go for the moment. Planting a seed can be a start.
Resist making the student’s motive or interpretation the focus. Respond with something like “You seem to be frustrated. Is there something you want to talk about?”
Avoid accusations. Stick to “I” statements such as “I am confused by your promising to do something and then not following through.”
Practice active listening. Avoid interrupting or talking over the student. Focus on what is not said as intently as what is said.
Seek solutions rather than winning. Trying to exert overt pressure or reverting to formal power can result in escalation of the situation. Focusing on the underlying issue or issues is likely to be more productive.
Reinforce positive, responsible behaviors. Teach students to practice accountability and responsibility. Acknowledge and encourage students when they express their emotions constructively and accept responsibility for their decisions.
Create an environment where open communication is valued and protected. Encourage students to be open about their thoughts, concerns, and needs.
Establish consistent behavior expectations. Limits concerning disrespect and other unacceptable behavior can provide important structure to support open communication.
Reach out if you need more support. Administrators and other support staff can often provide important insights, options, and strategies in response to student needs and behaviors.

Passive-aggressive behavior can be challenging since it often feels disrespectful and leaves us frustrated and angry. However, with practice and the right strategies, we can help students to learn and practice behaviors that are more productive for them and less troublesome for us.

The Annual Spring Challenge: Managing Hurry, Hustle, and Hassle

Student Learning

March 27, 2025

The Annual Spring Challenge: Managing Hurry, Hustle, and Hassle

At this time of the year, it can seem like everything is competing for our time and attention. We need to move our students forward expeditiously, but we also need to be certain that they are learning. We must tend to inevitable distractions and disruptions without losing focus and compromising momentum.

We might think of the challenge as balancing and managing three competing elements: hurry, hustle, and hassle. Each element holds implications for how we prioritize time, manage processes, and move learning forward. Let’s explore these three forces and how we can maintain our focus and protect learning momentum.

The first element, hurry, is the pressure we feel to move quickly and respond to our sense of urgency. Unfortunately, when we hurry, we risk making mistakes, overlooking important tasks and details, and focusing on content coverage and skill introduction rather than learning progress. Hurrying can feel like progress in some cases, but too often, it compromises quality and depth in favor of speed.

The second element, hustle, shares the characteristic of moving quickly and with a sense of urgency, but hustle includes a clear focus on key processes and goals, intensity of effort, and attention to impact. We may move quickly, but we do so with care and commitment to achieving results. Hustle implies that we value quality more than pace alone.

The third element, hassle, captures the distractions that are common at this time of the year, disruptions that can compromise momentum, and difficulties that predictably surface as the end of the year approaches. We need to do all that we can to anticipate potential “hassles” and minimize the time and attention we must allocate to them. Many of the distractions and disruptions that accompany this time of year are predictable, and we can strategize to diminish their impact.

These three forces are easily recognized. The question is how to manage them in ways that allow us and our students to move forward without becoming overwhelmed and risking burnout. Here are eight actions to consider:

Prioritize essential learning tasks and outcomes. There will never be enough time to accomplish everything we would like. Focusing on what is most important can help us to sidestep some distractions and increase our focus on what matters.
Pre-assess what students already know. Collecting information at the beginning of a teaching and learning cycle can avoid unnecessary repetition and identify areas where reteaching can accelerate progress with new learning.
Provide students with tools and coaching to track and share their progress with us. Monitoring progress can provide motivation for students to stay focused. The information students capture and share with us can lighten our load and apprise us of the progress students are making.
Search for potential efficiencies. For example, you could schedule frequent low-stakes quizzes that can be graded electronically and that provide immediate feedback to students. Or, enlist students and volunteers to set up activities and assist in planning for and conducting them.
Utilize technology and artificial intelligence resources. Develop templates and correspondence drafts using artificial intelligence, or consider using AI to develop assessment questions.
Develop and discuss with students end-of-year expectations, routines, and procedures. Clear expectations can reduce off-task behavior. Knowing what lies ahead can lower anxiety for students who value predictability and stability.
Review previous years’ experiences to anticipate disruptions and distractions. Many events and activities are repeated annually. Reviewing past experiences can assist in planning for and managing what inevitably lies ahead.
Set boundaries for work and time. Prioritize what is most important and urgent and let go of what can wait or what does not need to be a priority. Determine time to spend planning and grading to structure and minimize spillover into personal time.

We may not be able to avoid all the stresses and strains that accompany the end of the year. However, by paying attention to when we find ourselves hurrying, prioritizing hustle, and minimizing hassles, we can chart a path that leaves us feeling more in control and less overwhelmed as we approach the end of the year.