Class start time?
I teach a 6pm class which is also a long walk from the front door of the school. Many of the students have day jobs and have a hard time arriving on time and then with the long walk to the classroom makes them chronically late. We only have 1 hour so I want to start class on time but how long should I wait to really get started? I don't want the stranglers to miss out on the lesson.
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
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 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
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?
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.
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
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
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.
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
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".
Hi May,
Thank you for those kind words. Keep me posted on how this works out for you.
Gary
Hi Mark,
Good comments. Great example for others to learn from. Thanks for sharing.
Gary
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.
I believe that if we do not start on time we have set a pace for students that will only get worse. If we always start on time most will make every effort to be there
Hi John,
Students model what they see and experience. You point about starting on time is one that all instructors need to follow. By starting late an instructor has lowered the bar and said to the students come whenever you want because I'm not concerned about time. That is a class set up for a difficult time all course phase.
Gary
Remind your students that in the workplace that tardiness is not tolerated. State that you would give them a 10 minute grace period to get prepared for the day, ask questions and so forth. Give rewards that will help the students get used to arriving on time. Incentives help.
Hi LaDonna,
Well said. You are giving clear instructions and consequences if not followed.
Gary
I struggle with this problem also. I have a very dedicated student who relies on public transportation to get to school. I don't want her to miss out on information but at the same time I don't want to cheat other students out of time that they are paying for.
I decided to rearrange the classes so that the start of each day is now usually something that the students can work on independently, such as working in the computer lab. This has worked well and the student that comes late can also stay late if more independent time in the lab is necessary.
For my classes, they start at 0730 and 1300. No grace. If they miss the material, then they miss it. I have found out that if you make an exception to the rule, you find yourself making 50 exceptions to the rule. a 15 minute grace period tells some people class starts at that time 0615 instead of 0600 and then there is a 15 minute grace peiod on top of that etc. etc. and now people are coming in an hour late expecting not to be counted tardy or absent. Set the standard and do not loosen it. For anyone or any reason. They usually get the hint to adjust their lives to be in YOUR class when YOU are ready to teach YOUR class.
