they feel as though students are paying for the class, they may have to travel a long way across campus from a previous class or come to class straight from a job, and their lateness is their own business. Many students agree with this sentiment. The only way for students to know if they have landed in a class where lateness (or any other behavior) will not be tolerated is for this expectation to be laid out clearly.
It does not hurt to repeat the rules of conduct on the second day of class (since some of the students who most need to hear them may not have shown up on the first day) and periodically throughout the semester, especially if students seem to be forgetting them. It is also helpful to include your expectations in the syllabus, so students will come across them when double-checking the due date for a paper. Jack Osman (Department of Health Science, Towson University) hands out with the syllabus a separate sheet of behavioral expectations, which include his rules about tardiness, attendance, classroom conduct, and cheating. Each student is required to sign a stutement at the bottom of this sheet that he or she has read the list and agrees to abide by the rules. It is not a contract, since Osman does not countersign, and he does not collect them but requires students to keep them in their notebooks. If a problem arises, Osman calls students' attention to the list and their signature and reminds an offending student that he or she has made a commitment to behave otherwise.
Tara Torchia (Department of Health Education, University of Maryland) notes that when laying down the law on that first day of class, it is important not only to tell students how you expect them to act but also to explain why. "It's not just,' Because I told you so and I'm the teacher, '''says Torchia. She lets them know that she wants no side conversations, no one coming in late or leaving early, and no one reading the newspaper "because it's distracting to me and to other students. "Giving them an explanation is part of setting a tone of respect, says Torchia. She also gets students to agree to codes of conduct. On the first day of class she asks them if they think one minute is enough time for them to pack up their notebooks and backpacks before leaving for their next class. "Does anyone think that's not enough time?" she asks. Once students have agreed that they can complete this noisy task in one minute, she promises to let them out one minute early each class, so that the commotion of paacking up will not interfere with her lecture. If she then notices the beginnings of noise before this oneminute cutoff, she looks at her watch and says, "It doesn't look like time to pack up to me. "Students quiet down and wait for her signal. Torchia says that giving students explanations and asking them for their agreement with behavior codes lets them know that they too must take responsibility for creating a positive learning environment in the classroom.