Hi Tracy, I also teach a class that starts at 6 pm and have the same problem wih straglers. I've realized that ther will always be straglers o matter what time the class starts, so I begin at exactly 6pm and those that are late will just have to make it up.
Hi Mark,
Good comments. Great example for others to learn from. Thanks for sharing.
Gary
Hi May,
Thank you for those kind words. Keep me posted on how this works out for you.
Gary
I too used to wait to start my class. It began early in the morning and folks were usually 15 minutes late everytime. Partly due to the lack of parking spaces. My main reason for doing this was the few number of students I had in my classes, usually about six students.
I continued this practice till the one semester when I had a very uptight student (who was on medicatiion) who complained. After that I realized it was not fair to those who came on time, so I have since started class on time. I agree with the loss of respect for a teacher that comes from the teacher being to "nice".
Dr.Meers,
I have enjoyed reading your response. I struggle with starting my class on time, everyday!! I will start the incentives program right away.
Macy
We also have a 6:00pm class time at our school. Because we have many students getting off work, we allow a 15 minute grace period.
Hi Denise,
Well said. Communication with students will help to reveal just what is going on with them. This will help you to determine a course of action in trying to resolve the lateness issue.
Gary
Hi Lee,
Tough situation, but one I know many of us have been in. I would suggest talking with the students and try to encourage them to be on time. I imagine you have already done this. Sometimes it works, but often not. I then set up a contract with them that lays out consequences of their actions. If they don't start coming to class on time, I then ask for their removal. It is a tough call but one that has to be made to make sure that I have the respect of the other class members. If I let these students always come late with no action taken I have said to the others that these students now run the class and make decisions about when class will start. This cannot be. Check with your administration to make sure they will back you on any decision that you have to make. You don't want to be out there alone.
Gary
Are the same students continually late? It may be that they have a situation that prevents them from being on time. I would ask the student what is preventing them from being on time. Once identified, a solution may be resolved. Most of my students that are continually late have job, family or transportation problems. Talking to the student about their situation gives the student a chance to express their problem which is the 1st step of finding a resolution.
Great we've all said that moving the time back would be perfect, but what if you can't I have a class that must start at 7:30 every morning. I cannot move it back or my students will be late for the following class. Currently, I just start my class at 7:30 but still, I have three or four students that continually show up at 8:00 everyday. Any ideas how to help them get there on time without moving the class?
Hi Shirley,
Good solution to the time problem. You solution is much better than fighting the students all the time due to them being tardy. Glad you have the freedom to do things like this to meet your students' needs.
Gary
I have some classes that is suppose to start at 5:30 and it hard for some of the students that work 1 hour away to get to class on time, so I moved the time to 6:p.m. instead of 5:30 and then add the 30 minutes on at the end of class to cover the hours that they are suppose to be in class. This seems to work my my class. Shirley Cross
Hi Tracy,
You are struggling with a couple of issues here. The first is start time. Maybe your college should allow you to start the class at 6:15 and run it until 7:15. This way your students could be on time.
By waiting until the stragglers show up you have told those that are on time that their performance is not respected. I would suggest that you start on time and have some warm up activities until everyone has arrived. Also, what are the incentives for showing up on time. The longer you wait for stragglers the later they will come in since there is really no reason for showing up on time.
I teach a class at 4 and then again at 7 and both of them have the same problem with late comers at the beginning of the course phase. I start promptly at 4 with professional points being given for being there on time and participating in the class. It is amazing how the stragglers pick it up when they realize that the other students are getting points for being there on time.
No easy answer. Try different strategies and see what works with the students. I also use sill things like a party at the end of 3 weeks if everyone comes on time. The party takes only few minutes and we have pizza, cookies, whatever. This way I let peer pressure work for me.
Gary
