if I were you, I would expect a quiz on Monday

I know lots of folks who feel badly about failing those who attend class. In general I concur that it is kind of crappy to fail students who are regular attendees, engaged in lecture and clearly putting in effort to prepare for class and exams.* It seems like nearly every semester I have a student or 2 who falls into this category - just doesn't seem to get it - and I spend significant time with them trying to get them to learn how to read, write and take tests. Anyway, these students I get. I am baffled by the students who come to class and do nothing and yet somehow expect that I will pass them despite their poor performance on exams and other assignments.

I hit an all-time low with one of my sections this week. One of my students entered before class and put her head down on her desk to sleep. Once class began her head stayed down so I called on her. She popped up and answered (albeit in a way that demonstrated she hadn't done the reading) my question and then put her head back down. I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt - paying attention with head down - a few minutes later however, there was a slapping noise which was the result of her hand (in her sleep) dropping on to the desktop. Further, there was much less student involvement than usual (e.g. no one responding to questions and comments) and one student, who made no mention to me of an early departure, packed up and left. Meanwhile one of my most annoying students (annoying in that she is outspoken in class at the same time that she doesn't prepare, generally late, AND to top it off added the class at the beginning of the semester to get an A to bring up her GPA (assuming, apparently, that my class - Sociology, after all - was an easy A)) closed her notebook and put her head down on the desk too. I had reached the limit.

"So," I said, "I am sorry. I didn't realize that this was such a horrible lecture. Should we just forget about it and I'll see you next week?"
[Silence]
"I mean," I continued, "I've got 2 people sleeping down here in front, other folks leaving and most of the rest of you sitting comatose. If my lecture is that painful for you all, let's not waste any more of our time, OK?"
[At this point a couple of my tried and true regulars said that they were paying attention and interested. Then the annoying student spoke up.]
"Well, I didn't do the reading so I really don't understand."
"Oh you're not prepared. All the more reason not to pay attention to a lecture in which I am going over the material you should have read before today."
[Silence]
"I will continue the lecture for those of you who are interested. However, I would like the rest of you to pack up. If you have a need to sleep, I highly recommend the sofas in the Union on the 3rd floor. We'll wait a minute so you don't disrupt us further on your way out."
No one moves. After a minute I recommence the lecture and abstain from soliciting any class participation. The sleepers are awake, wide awake. At the end of the period, most students exit through the back. I am still livid and, further, the lecture needs to be completely revamped.

*When this happens, I tend to fault the university for admitting students who are not up to the work and then not following through with services. The university I'm at now does a great job of making itself accessible to those from the community who are interested in being students but I do think that, if you are going to take tuition $$ from folks, you should make a commitment to helping them through successfully.