Student Behaviors that Teachers Should Be Ashamed Of

 I’m a firm believer that students are responsible for their own actions. But when teachers—the grown-ups—refuse to hold students responsible, the grown-ups are also to blame. If your school has a problem with tardies, the problem may well be caused by teachers who do not enforce the rules, and therefore give students the idea that being late is no big deal.

Those of you who begin class promptly at the bell know that it is a problem. If we are to give the taxpayers their money’s worth, we need to get the most out of every class period. In addition, we need to teach these kids the taxpayers have trusted us with that punctuality is a quality expected in the "real world". Also, during the time they’re late, they’re unsupervised, and can get away with some pretty serious stuff. We must hold students responsible for arriving in class on time.

In my classroom, I require my students to be in their seats when the bell rings. Otherwise I’d have to start my class by bossing them: "Sit down"! I set my digital watch to the second, and I can let the kids know when time is getting short, and begin the class with a pleasant greeting rather than a command. I allow students four tardies per semester without penalty. But any trip to the restroom, their locker, the water fountain, is considered a tardy. This encourages them to be on time and remember their materials, and it takes me out of the superhuman role of bladder policeman. They arrive promptly so that they can use their four "free" tardies for emergencies. It works great, and I do not have a tardy problem!

 The second student behavior that teachers should be ashamed of is cheating. The height of educational irresponsibility is to be oblivious to cheating that goes on in your class. It is crucial to realize that nice kids, smart kids, boys, girls—any kid is a potential cheater. It is a teacher’s job to create an environment in which students realize that they might as well not even try to cheat, because they won’t get away with it. You can completely eliminate cheating by simply trying. And if all teachers did this, it would be even easier. Here’s what I do during quizzes and tests:

• Require all materials to be zipped into book bags. If they’re not legal in your school, find a way for students to store their materials during tests and quizzes that makes it obvious if someone has moved something for the purpose of looking at it later. You don’t want to catch someone and have him say "oh, I didn’t realize that was there—I wasn’t looking at it!"
• Watch carefully for a few minutes at the beginning of the test, to set the tone.
• If you want to get some work done, just make sure you don’t let down your guard. If you don’t want to walk around the room, at least stand up unexpectedly from time to time and watch for sudden movements by your students.
• If students ask "don’t you trust us?"; let them know that by taking these preventive measures, you don’t ever have to make judgments about who can be trusted and who can not.