Chances are you'll teach a class during graduate school. Some universities offer short "how-to-teach" seminars, but the vast majority turn you loose with no formal instruction on establishing class policies. But whether you stand in an auditorium before 50 Psych 101 undergrads, TA a professor's class or a lead a group of peers, you'll need to establish policies that suit your teaching style—and make sure you have them on your syllabus before the first day of class.
Here's advice from teachers on attendance-taking, rewarding class participation and giving make-up exams.
Attendance-taking tips
Imagine that you're at the head of the class, eager to impart the wonders of psychology--to a mostly empty room. "The last time this happened to me, I felt very demoralized," says St. Cloud State University associate psychology professor Joseph Melcher, PhD. "A few diehards were practically looking around at each other as if to say, 'Are we stupid to come or what?'" says Melcher.
One way to boost your numbers is to take attendance, says Eric Landrum, PhD, a psychology professor at Boise State University. It sends the message to students that you care that they're in class, he notes. And it benefits classmates by boosting the social aspect of learning. Ways to boost attendance include:
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Offer extra credit. Diane M. Ryan, a psychology graduate student at North Carolina State University, offers five extra credit points for perfect attendance. "The results have been pretty remarkable," she says. That incentive reduced absences from about 30 percent to less than 10 percent each class. Ryan's also noticed that students now tend to e-mail her after they miss a class to learn how they can catch up.
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Put technology to work. Melcher uses "clicker" technology, also known as student response systems, to quickly take roll. The instructor clicks the "take attendance" button on the system software screen and it records everybody present in the room who has their clicker unit turned on. That record of attendance goes directly into the course spreadsheet, says Melcher.
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Use sign-in sheets. Other teachers simply pass around a sheet of paper for students to sign. Better still, print a spreadsheet with all the students' names, and ask them to initial the boxes next to their name, says Hoff. Then it takes just a glance to see who's there.
Participation pointers
Once you've gotten more students to attend class, consider whether you should you award credit for their participation. Some teachers find that grading participation leads to a lot of useless commentary.
"I would prefer to have fewer, high-quality remarks than a high quantity of comments," says Laurel End, PhD, a psychology professor at Mount Mary College.
Other teachers, such as Melcher, believe that even "coerced" participation adds to a class's energy level and interest. He keeps a copy of the class roster in front of him during class and when students make a substantive contribution, he checks off their names. While teaching at College of San Mateo in San Mateo, California, Sheri Yasuna, PhD, a mental health specialist with Child and Family Services in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, played a "name game": She admitted to her students that she was bad at remembering names and told them that if they spoke up in class enough for her to learn their names and faces, she would give them extra credit for class participation.
Heartland Community College assistant psychology professor Nick Schmitt, PhD, takes a different tack: He strives to make his material so lively that students actively contribute. "I work really hard to make sure that I don't come across as some type of authority figure who can't tolerate student input," says Schmitt. "My students know that I am casual in class, and they feel comfortable asking questions and giving comments on their own."
Some teachers establish that kind of casual rapport by collecting information on students' hobbies and personal interests during the first class. Other teachers solicit feedback on the activities and assignments.
Handling late work
Every teacher encounters excuses for late work and missed exams. "Teachers quickly become familiar with student lifestyles and illnesses—mono, strep throat, hangovers, the opening of deer and fishing seasons … and family mortality statistics," says Baron Perlman, PhD, a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
Though there will always be special exceptions, having concrete policies on late assignments or missed tests will help you preserve your sanity. A few sample policies include:
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Dropping one exam or quiz score. If a student misses a test in Melcher's class, he automatically drops that zero grade at the semester's end. "It saves me from having to listen to excuses, collect doctors' notes and has the bonus effect of reducing their anxiety about a test on which they fail or score low," he says.
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Assessing late penalties. Other teachers assess a penalty of around 25 percent for each day an assignment is late. The penalty encourages on-time work, yet adds extra calculations to the grading process.
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Making make-ups inconvenient. Tracie L. Burke, EdD, professor and chair of behavioral sciences at Christian Brothers University, found that by allowing students to take make-up exams only during the already-busy finals week, she went from giving 15 to 20 make-ups per semester to one or two.
Regardless of how you set your policies, experts advise that you not be afraid to experiment until you find a teaching style that works for you and your students. For example, you might decide to be stricter with undergrads than graduate students. But once you set a policy, be consistent for that class.
"Instead of waiting for a bad situation to arise, be proactive," he says.