Jane, thanks for your feedback. Part of classroom discipline is being fair but also firm and consistent. It is critical that classroom rules, policies and regulations are clearly provided to the students on the first day of class. Some form of affirmation can also go a long way to ensuring students understand the requirements to be successful. One thing I have seen done very successfully is students are told in advance how many hours each week they are expected to spend to earn a specific grade. To earn a minimal passing grade students are expected to spend 7 hours each week outside of classroom time on the materials and various assignments. To earn a higher grade such as something above 80% students would be expected to spend as much as 10 hours per week and to earn a grade above 90% students may be expected to spend as many as 12 hours per week. Setting these expectations really removes any objections the students might have since they were told in advance what it takes to earn the various grade levels. It is also important to explain that for those that focus on the minimal expectations, they have very little variance for mistakes. For those students that focus on achieving the above 90%, if they fall short they still can expect to achieve a passing grade. It is also good practice to monitor and track these metrics so you can share them over time with new groups of students. Over time, you will have a very accurate set of metrics to share with your students let them know the detailed efforts they will need to reach the level of success they set for themselves. There are many such techniques and I only provide this one as an example. Regards, James Jackson