True or False:

1.) Civility in the classroom is the responsibility of the instructor. ____________

2.) Cultural mores can cause a student to perceive incivility when we make certain gestures.  ______________

3.) On the first day of class an instructor should tell students what behaviors are expected. __________

4.) It's against students' rights to keep cell phones turned off because an emergency might arise and they will need to be contacted. _____________

5.) Ignoring disruptive behavior works, because eventually the uncivil student will stop acting out.  By paying attention to the behavior, it just reinforces it. _______________

6.) Your student might view e-mailing in class a productive use of time. _________________

7.) "Inattentiveness" in class is considered uncivil. _________

8.)  Using test items or grading practices that the students hadn't been prepared for can be considered incivility on the part of the instructor. ___________________

9.) An authoritarian technique can be successful in guaranteeing civility in the classroom. ____________

10.) Issues about a student's hygiene reflect uncivil behavior and must have consequences. _____________

1.) False.  Although the instructor should 'set the rules' concerning appropriate behavior in the classroom, students need to take responsibility for their behaviors and be willing to receive consequences if incivility occurs.  Civility is a shared responsibility.

2.) True.  In some middle-Eastern countries, it is rude to show another person the soles of your feet/shoes.  An instructor or students might sit in such a way that this happens while unaware of the posture being offensive to some students.

3.) True. A written list of behaviors that will be expected and those that will not be tolerated should be given to students (in the syllabus) and the instructor can then state the expectations as students follow the information on the syllabus.  Students need to be given time for questions.  In some classrooms, instructors have students sign and date a statement that says they have received a syllabus, it was read in class, and that they had the opportunity to ask questions.

4. False.  If a student is expecting an important call, or if a child is home sick and might need to contact the parent, an instructor can choose to allow a cell phone to remain on. Some instructors allow all students to turn off cell phones or put them on vibrate.

5. False. If you don't address the uncivil behavior of a student, you could be interfering with other students' learning in the class. 

6.  True. Millennial students really do multi-task, so they probably see reading email during class as an efficient use of time.

7. True: Inattention in class, chronic tardiness, reading the newspaper in class, sleeping, failure to prepare for class, and pressing for extensions, are examples of passive incivility. 

8. True. According to Bob Boice of SUNY at Stony Brook in New York, the survey that he conducted in 1996, students listed the following as examples of teacher incivility: Following the top three complaints (student conversations that prevented both the teacher and students from being heard, students uttering sarcastic comments or groans in response to directions from the teacher, and the actions of "classroom terrorists"--those students who burst out both unpredictably and often with emotional responses), students expressed frustration with teachers who seemed distant and cold, who used test items or grading practices that the students hadn't been prepared for, who arrived more than five minutes late to class or who canceled class without warning, and finally, students were irked by other students who belittled or taunted fellow classmates.

9. False. According to an article: Have College Professors Lost Control of Their Classrooms? A Look at Classroom Civility in the New Millennium. Is Rudeness on the Rise in College Classrooms? by Troy Lepper, gone are the days where the "sage on the stage" rules the lecture hall with an authoritative hand. This old technique for guaranteeing civility in the classroom must now be replaced by a new method where the university professor now becomes "the guide on the side" and allows the students to assume some of the responsibility in establishing a safe and civil classroom environment. This article was written for Chalkboard at the University of Missouri (2001)

10. False.  Sometimes, poor hygiene has possible cultural considerations.  Automatically assuming the hygiene issue as a sign of incivility could be inappropriate.

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