Said It Here

How to handle students falling asleep in class

Exhausted students fall asleep because they desperately need rest, but teachers face the difficult dilemma of whether to let them sleep or enforce rigid participation rules. Compounding this, administrative pressures and de facto no-fail policies often prevent educators from assigning the grades students actually earned.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Waking the student up once to check if they are okay and then letting them sleep
  2. 2
    Making humorous noises to wake them up gently
  3. 3
    Sending the student to the nurse's office or clinic
  4. 4
    Contacting parents or school counselors to investigate underlying causes
  5. 5
    asking the student to raise their head
  6. 6
    telling the student to wash their face
  7. 7
    talking to the student or their parents
  8. 8
    turning the situation over to a school counselor or social worker

In their words

Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.

“And how cool your admin is to come into class with sleeping students. I know mine are not”source ↗

Toihva · r/Teachers · 18 upvotes

“I generally disagree. It's not at all normal at that age to be that tired that early in the day. I usually will let them sleep because they clearly desperately need it.”source ↗

blaise11 · r/Teachers · 9 upvotes

“The issue is when we're not allowed to honestly report the grades the kids have earned. If you sleep in every class session, you shouldn't pass the class. And yet, there is a de facto "no fail" policy in many schools.”source ↗

BdaMann · r/Teachers · 3 upvotes

“I have this kid in my classroom, who is always sleepy, with his head down on the desk during instructional time and he usually lay down on the carpet durind circle time or mini lessons/explanation time.”source ↗

“I need some advices about how to deal with it. I usually stay around, asking to him to raise his head or to wash his face... but it never works out.”source ↗

astrodias · r/Teachers · 1 upvotes

Where this came up

r/Teachersclassroom managementstudent behaviorstudent engagementteachingteaching challenges

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