Alpha Males

Part of the problem with being an adjunct is that sometimes your students don't see the divide between you and them - they think you have the potential to be their friend. This is made much worse when you have mostly male students. They begin to compete to be the "Alpha Male," the dude who gets the most attention from the lady prof. This is exceedingly annoying, particularly because they intentionally try to distract you from the students who actually need your attention. Eventually, you learn to spot them, and thus are able to head them off at the pass.

This semester's Alpha Male is already rearing his head. I teach in the technology classroom for his section, and it is, of course, locked. I have to enter a code to allow the students and myself to enter. I usually arrive about 3 minutes before class starts, and my students are usually waiting for me in the hallway. AM is waiting with them today. After I let everyone in, he approaches me to ask if he can go to the bathroom, understandable because I count tardies. This means that he was standing outside the class, waiting to come into the class, so that he can tell me he is just going to the bathroom and not late. This reeks of needing attention.

They had a paper due today, and I took the paper up from the rest of the class before AM returned. I was giving an explanation when he returned, sat down, and began waving his paper in the air for me to come and pick up.

Yes, he waved his paper at me to pick it up while I was talking. I walked over, took it from him, and said, "Next time, wait until I'm done talking."

There will be lots of stories about this one. I can tell.