julia, That is a trick that varies with almost every student. ;-] Nevertheless, the more transparent we are with the consequences and rewards of undisciplined and disciplined, respectively, the better the learning of this discipline will be. Setting standards and then having the integrity to follow through is a much better teacher than sheilding students from the consequences of their actions in the name of compassion/understanding. If a teacher maintains strict adherence (with sincere encouragement and care for the person - not punitive harshness) to the small items of the agreement (syllabus, or whatever) from the begining, the students will choose their rewarding behavior and/or consequence imposing behavior with a higher level of confidence of the outcome. Our society often sees this as harsh instead of good pedagogy. However, the research bears it out. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt