I am a college professor, so I can't face punch them like I would like to. Bu I would like to teach my students how to be non-complainy pants when dealing with a problem. So I'm looking for suggestions.
Today's episode is brought to you by Martin Luther King Day. I teach a lecture for 5 different discussion sections of 28 students (so a total of 140 students). 3 of the 5 sections are on M. It gets better, classes started on a Wednesday, so the monday sections are already behind. Consequently, I designed a computer activity they could do at home. They did the same activity as the W and F sections, though W and F did it in the computer lab.
Student X in M section turns complainy pants. Now there are a number of ways he could have expressed his disgruntledness, but his was particularly whiny. There are ways to say, "I'm having a hard time with this. Could you help me or give me more time?" instead of "this is a stupid assignment and it's not fair that I have to do it." What's my role re: coaching him on living a non-complain-y pants life? this is the second thing he's gone complainy on.