Rules of Classroom (N)etiquette
(shamelessly appropriated from Dr. Snaith)
You are in college to perform well, meet and go beyond the minimum expectations your
professors set, and exhibit the behavior that workplace professionals expect of their
colleagues.
Learning to be a professional adult is a major outcome of any university education.
Therefore, here are basic rules of etiquette and “netiquette” that I expect us all to
observe:
1. Arrive On Time to Class, and Stay There Until the End of the Period
If you are unavoidably late, please enter the classroom as silently as you can;
nevertheless, please know that your late arrival will be distracting. I will administratively
withdraw students who are chronically late.
Do not leave and return mid-class—take care of your physical needs before class, and be
ready to dedicate the 80 minutes of our class solely to our scholarly pursuit.
2. Bring the Materials You Need
You should bring whatever you need to take good notes and to do class work: paper,
journal, notebooks, pens, pencils, etc. Borrowing from the professor or your classmates is
unprofessional and sloppy, and usually distracting.
3. Turn Off Cell Phones
Silence and stow your cell phone before class.
4. Do Not Use Your Laptop in Our Classroom
Computer screens, the keyboard clicking, and the lure of net-surfing are all too distracting
not only for you, but for your classmates, so I allow hand-written note-taking ONLY. I
will ask students violating this rule to leave class and count them absent for the day.
5. Be Attentive and Fully Present in Class
It is completely unacceptable and unprofessional to sleep in class, eat in class, take part in
side conservations, criticize a fellow student in class, gossip, walk out of class, or do
assignments for another class while we’re in session.
We’re here to:
1) luxuriate in the important questions we’ll be exploring this semester, and I
encourage you to feel free to pose as many of your own as you’d like;
2) experience the exhilaration both of finding like-minded classmates and
speakers, and to engage in honest, respectful discourse with those with whom you
disagree; and,
4) grapple with disagreement in an adult, open-minded, actively-listening way.
Participate as much as possible in our spirited, inquiring class discussions.
Concerning E-Mails: How Not to Communicate with Your Professors
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From: student@my.westga.edu
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2010, 11:42 a.m.
To: professor@westga.edu
Subject: hey
hey Mrs. Smith this is John doe, sorry i missed class today . . . i had a little too much fun
last nite had a rough time waking up;) can you tell me what i missed and email me your
teaching notes ASAP? thx.
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Effective e-mails are a valuable educational tool; they allow college students to ask
questions outside of class and let professors provide instant feedback, making instructors
more accessible than ever before. However, students (and professors, too) need to make
sure their ecommunications are professional and appropriate.
Consider the ways that the above e-mail is unsuccessful:
Informal
Your message should be formal. It should open with a salutation ("Dear Professor
Shelnutt"—check the spelling of your recipient’s name!) and close with a proper signature
("Best, Kate" or "Thanks in advance, Jack").
The rules of Academic English grammar, spelling, and capitalization all apply.
Write a clear subject line for your e-mail that should be relevant to its content
(otherwise, your professor may reject your e-mail as spam).
Inappropriate Tone
This e-mail isn’t appropriate for student-professor correspondence. The half-hearted
attempt at an apology and thinly-veiled reference to being hung-over on the day of class
will only foster a negative impression of you. Here, as with any communication, it's
important to analyze your audience—some things you can say to your friends, but never
to your professor or employer.
Before you hit “Send,” review your draft with an eye to context-appropriate content!
Impertinent
Recipients of poor grades often send nasty protests; absent students demand teaching
notes; and any students send multiple e-mails a day, expecting their professors to be
available around the clock. This is partly because the impersonality of e-mail and social
networking sites makes it easier for anyone to act rudely; nevertheless, please don’t make
demands via e-mail that you would never make in face-to-face interactions.
Some guidelines before you e-mail your professor:
• Refer to your course syllabus, assignment sheets, or notes posted on a Web site; you
may find that you already have what you need.
• If you skipped class, don't ask your professor what you missed; ask your classmates!