New Class Fall '21: Tardiness and Leaving

[fishbrains]

When I asked her about it she lowered her mask so I could see her whole face and put on a pitiful look. She 'explained' 'I just couldn't focus. I don't know'...[eyelashes flipping].

My daughters call this the Puss-in-Boots technique. https://youtu.be/_YWrLsLgZgs

[mahagonny]

It is a high handed technique, locking the door at the start of class. And it wouldn't fit the culture. But I think it might have cured some ills. It would have gotten me a reputation. And I think their performance would have been higher. They wouldn't like me, but they would have tested higher.
The main thing I need the students to realize is the work is going to be much harder than they think.
However, even if I could stand not being liked, I'd get shelled on the evaluations and lose the course.

Usually I have taught classes with mostly men in this school. different department. When they are late someone tries to get up to let them in (the doors stay locked; I can't unlock them) but ask them to stay seated. It's my classroom and I do the admitting.

[Caracal]

I have colleagues who use a version of the locked door policy.  The door is "shut" at the start of class; students who are late can come in at the 1st break. The door is not locked, so I'm not sure if they ever have students come in anyway, but that is the way the syllabus is written. Other colleagues allow students to join late up to a certain point (e.g., if you are more than 15 minutes late, you can't join). Other colleagues track tardies and have reductions in course grade if students are late too many times.

It just seems very micromanaging to me, and a little like high school. Like Caracal said, there are a variety of understandable reasons why adults will be late occasionally (e.g., traffic, the baby-sitter is late, bad weather). As long as students are not disruptive when they join and don't expect them to re-teach something they missed, then I don't have a problem.

I'd be fine with a policy like that only if it was justified as necessary to prevent disruptions. Theaters don't prevent people from entering at intermission because they want to punish people who come late. They do it because they believe that people stumbling to their seats in the dark is going to cause unacceptable levels of distraction for the actors and the audience.

Most of the time, if one or two people coming in late is that distracting to an instructor, they are going to have bigger problems. If half the class filters in during the first ten minutes, that would make it legitimately hard to conduct class. When I taught in a classroom way on the edge of campus, I would just start a few minute late if it was obvious that the buses were backed up and many students were still en route from their previous class to avoid this.

[Sun_Worshiper]

I feel OP's pain on this, as my classes have these dynamics as well sometimes. After dealing with it for a few years, I've just decided to put up with it. If it is really egregious, I'll take a point off the final participation grade.

[bopper]

I have colleagues who use a version of the locked door policy.  The door is "shut" at the start of class; students who are late can come in at the 1st break.

This is what they do at Broadway Shows and the like...so you won't disturb the other patrons...you can stand at the top of the stairs but can't be seated until between a song or something.

[Caracal]

I have colleagues who use a version of the locked door policy.  The door is "shut" at the start of class; students who are late can come in at the 1st break.

This is what they do at Broadway Shows and the like...so you won't disturb the other patrons...you can stand at the top of the stairs but can't be seated until between a song or something.

Just seems a bit precious. I'm not putting on a production of Le Mis.

[marshwiggle]

I have colleagues who use a version of the locked door policy.  The door is "shut" at the start of class; students who are late can come in at the 1st break.

This is what they do at Broadway Shows and the like...so you won't disturb the other patrons...you can stand at the top of the stairs but can't be seated until between a song or something.

Just seems a bit precious. I'm not putting on a production of Le Mis.

But in both cases the same dynamic applies; a late arrival distracts everyone from what they're supposedly there to pay attention to.

[ciao_yall]

In my syllabus, the policy was that I would call on them the second they walked in the door.

If late, they would be very sneaky to avoid "punishment."

[artalot]

Before COVID when I used to be able to give points for attendance, I would call roll promptly at the beginning of class. If a students wasn't present when I called their name, they didn't get the points for that day.

[mahagonny]

Before COVID when I used to be able to give points for attendance, I would call roll promptly at the beginning of class. If a students wasn't present when I called their name, they didn't get the points for that day.

I always take attendance and they can see that I'm doing it. That way I get to know the faces masks quicker. And it's an easy way for them to add points. But for some it isn't that easy, apparently. I guess I could offer to give them wake up calls one hour before. i had thought that by being available for 8 am I would get the more serious students.

[kiana]

I always take attendance and they can see that I'm doing it. That way I get to know the faces masks quicker. And it's an easy way for them to add points. But for some it isn't that easy, apparently. I guess I could offer to give them wake up calls one hour before. i had thought that by being available for 8 am I would get the more serious students.

Or the ones who registered late when everything else was full.

[marshwiggle]

I always take attendance and they can see that I'm doing it. That way I get to know the faces masks quicker. And it's an easy way for them to add points. But for some it isn't that easy, apparently. I guess I could offer to give them wake up calls one hour before. i had thought that by being available for 8 am I would get the more serious students.

Or the ones who registered late when everything else was full.

I've noticed effects like this with lab sections. If a section gets added when others are full, it gets all of the non-proactive students, and the performance of those sections is notably poorer than others.

[Caracal]

Before COVID when I used to be able to give points for attendance, I would call roll promptly at the beginning of class. If a students wasn't present when I called their name, they didn't get the points for that day.

When I do attendance, I tell students that if they come in after I call the roll, they need to come up after class and let me know they were there. That gets the 80 percent on the attendance. I drop a couple of attendance grades anyway, so if you just are late to one or two classes, it will make little to no difference in the grade. If you are constantly late, it will add up. I don't count the late penalty if a student tells me at the beginning of the semester they have to make their way all the way across campus or if they let me know beforehand that that they might be a few minutes late because of some one time thing.

[CB Vanderlyle]

About 20 years ago I taught at a CC. A colleague (female) I knew well had a policy that the door would be locked one minute after start, but only on exam days. Many students were turned away over the years. The students could contact her after class to make arrangements for a make-up exam. Seemed like a hassle to me, but it was even worse than that: students were not permitted to leave the classroom until ALL had finished the exam! The prof felt strongly that any movement during the exam was not fair to other students. When a student finished (sometimes as much as 30 minutes before the end of the class time), they were to raise their hand and she would gather their exam and give them playdoh or similar "quiet" focus tools to occupy their time until the end of class. I found it somewhat amusing that she didn't think her walking around the classroom collecting exam papers and handing our playdoh was disturbing! I can only imagine that some students complained to the Dean, but as far as I know this was her policy until she retired. Way too much micromanagement for me.

[Caracal]

About 20 years ago I taught at a CC. A colleague (female) I knew well had a policy that the door would be locked one minute after start, but only on exam days. Many students were turned away over the years. The students could contact her after class to make arrangements for a make-up exam. Seemed like a hassle to me, but it was even worse than that: students were not permitted to leave the classroom until ALL had finished the exam! The prof felt strongly that any movement during the exam was not fair to other students. When a student finished (sometimes as much as 30 minutes before the end of the class time), they were to raise their hand and she would gather their exam and give them playdoh or similar "quiet" focus tools to occupy their time until the end of class. I found it somewhat amusing that she didn't think her walking around the classroom collecting exam papers and handing our playdoh was disturbing! I can only imagine that some students complained to the Dean, but as far as I know this was her policy until she retired. Way too much micromanagement for me.

Um. yeah...I have a standard make up exam that takes place at the same time for everyone because dealing with make ups is such a pain.

Students are people. People will often do things that annoy me. Trying to control other people so that they don't do the things that annoy me is usually a bad idea and isn't worth the time and energy. Honestly, its a struggle sometimes to remember this with people close to me. It really isn't as hard with students because I care less.

I'm in charge, I need to have some rules, but the point of those rules is just to make the class function in a reasonable way. I want to spend my time trying to teach students, not micromanaging and controlling everything. If a student is two minutes late to an exam, it might be a problem for them. I have no desire to make it a problem for me.