College Professors, how do you handle students who misbehave in your classroom?

Question

What are some effective disciplinary techniques for college students? What if students are talking in your class, coming in late or sleeping? How do you handle these students in a way that proves to be effective?

Answer 1

Huh?  Disciplining college students in effective ways?  These are adults, not children.  Throw them out of class and tell them if it happens again, that you will fail them.  There is no need to baby college students.

Answer 2

Professors at my school usually don't do anything about people that are late or sleeping during class, as they are earning their D or F in the class.  Points are generally taken off for tardiness after a specific amount of time that the professor deems neccissary.  As for talking, they are asked to take it outside, share their conversation with the rest of the class, or basically told to shut up in front of the class.  Some professors get pretty sarcastic in that regard.  If it the talking is excessive, then the student is pulled aside and spoken to about it and told that they should sit somewhere else in the class or drop the class as they are viewed as a disturbance to the rest of the class.  Usually a few healthy doses of sarchasm works very well to get the point across.

Answer 3

With those who come in late or sleep, I take them aside after class and let them know that the next incident will result in an F.  I make a point of not humiliating them in front of their peers, but it gets the point across.  With the talkers, it depends on how disruptive it is.  If it is disruptive, often the class will handle it before I even get a chance to (I had one young woman this semester who was talking on her phone while I was starting class.  The rest of the class glared at her until she realized she was bothering them.  She left, and later came to apologize to me.  If I had been the one to stop her, she would probably have thought I was just meddling!).  If not, I usually ignore it, since I remember that when I was a student I often processed the information by discussing it with my classmates during the lecture, and it helped my understanding.

Answer 4

prepare thoroughly for the lecture and make your teaching interesting

Answer 5

Students at the college level are paying for their education.  If not themselves, parents.  If not parents, a scholarship.  If they don't perform, they fail.  If they fail, they lose money, time, and scholarships.  I don't have to "handle" misbehaving students, it is not a part of my contract.  I only have to mention it once.  They get the message.

Answer 6

I think it partly depends on the size of your class. If it's a smaller class (up to 50 students) just stop lecturing. Generally, all eyes will eventually focus on the cause of the disruption.