TEACHSOC: late arrivals

[Sarah Murray]

Thanks to all with suggestions about what to do about late arrivals.  This is only the second course I've ever taught; in my first, with 25 students, if 5 came in late (no more than 5 minutes, usually) it didn't matter so much because the lecture was in full swing and the latecomers had to scramble to keep up.   With only 9 students, 5 late ones make a really big difference in the class dynamics, especially since this class does not have the diligent middle-aged students my last course had, and lecturing to only 4 youngsters who are spaced out at opposite corners of the room just feels weird.   Anyway, I had thought it would be "punishment" enough to extend the class period in proportion to the time lapse between the official start of class and the arrival of the latecomers -- especially since the on-timers would be disgruntled that they, too, had to sacrifice part of their Saturday afternoon because of their tardy peers. (You know, like back in grade school days when we all suffered for the misconduct of a couple; this was supposed to "guilt" the transgressors into behaving.)  I'm really glad I asked for feed back from all of you, because I now see that would be unnecessarily penalizing the on-timers, and myself.   I'm going to have brief, graded and intriguing writing assignments for the first 15-20 minutes of class, and the latecomers will not be able to finish and will be graded accordingly.  On other occasions, I'll have students that are on time help me decide on future exam questions.   This past class was only our second meeting, and our  first was atypical, because I had to call them all at home and tell them to meet first at a just-scheduled political rally on campus (John Kerry was campaigning for the Dem. candidate for governor of NJ, and his speech tied in with issues of violence in our state -- the subject matter of the course.)  Anyway, the first class got underway more than an hour after its designated time  -- when the rally let out -- and they didn't have th chance to see that I'm a stickler for punctuality. (They did all show up for the second half of class.)  They could not have mistaken my displeasure this past week, though.   Thanks again, and hope I'll have good results to report next Saturday.   Sarah Murray William Paterson U of NJ