Student Feedback: Enforce Your Classroom Rules!

I recently got this comment on a post I made on grading for professionalism.

"A grade for professional behavior in the classroom? I think this is a timely and terrific idea. There are a few college instructors in some poorly performing community colleges who have vague classroom rules printed in their course summaries. I am taking a class at a local community college where the instructor is not in control of her classroom. Students talk among themselves while the lecture is in progress, students come in late, leave early, and are regularly stepping out into the hall to make phone calls. It is a distracting atmosphere that is not mutually respectful. It burns me up when a student will sit right behind me in class and carry on a personal conversation with the student seated next to them. It's distracting, unprofessional, disrespectful of my student rights, and it's disrespectful to the instructor. My teacher needs to lay down the law instead of being so non-confrontational. It you don't post and enforce classroom rules, the students will assume that there really aren't any rules. Then the class becomes total bedlam. Thank you for sharing your terrific ideas with us on this forum."

As you can see, this student reinforces the fact that we should take control of our classrooms. I know it's tough. I'm struggling with a student right now that believes that he should not have to come to class on time or return from break on time even though the rest of the class does. But it is not fair to the good students to be distracted by someone who doesn't want to be there.

Comments

[collegetchr]

I make a big deal out of tardy students early in the semester. I exaggerate a bit which results in them being on time while it's also become a bit of an inside joke just how important being on time is (it helps that I'm of German ancestry).
I get students to alert me ahead of time if they anticipate being late to class, for example due to a doctor's appointment.