My HS biology teacher used to sneak up on sleepers and slam the biology textbook on the desk right by their heads.  One time, someone had a very strong reaction, flying back and falling over their chair, nearly bashing their skull on a counter.  He stopped the book slamming after that.

Of course, that started a running contest to see who could shove themselves backwards, sliding in their chair the farthest (furthest?) without falling over.

this headline and tag are pretty wrong.  I would get the hero tag if the kid was going crazy.  But he fell asleep in class,  quite the opposite of rambunctious.

Sleeping in class? That's what study hall was for.

Actually getting kicks out of this since I was strapped to my chair in sixth grade by my teacher's belt. (around my waist)

/deserved it since I had to sharpen my pencil, throw something away, go to my locker, get a drink, pee, ask a question, get a tissue every five minutes

One of my teachers tossed duct tape at a couple students sitting next to a mouthy girl. She was much quieter until the release. He got a slap on the wrist but we all thought it was worth it.

During HS, I found sleeping in class to be a challenge accepted.  First trying to actually stay awake, then when that failed staying asleep.  I was the epic sleeper for several of my teachers.  Chemistry was the funniest, since half the class was a tough course being retaken by half the room.  Teach got frustrated and moved my seat to right in front of him so he could try to keep me awake.  I fell asleep, he would kick the desk and my head was back down within the same minute.  He quit that and tried to fail me by the numbers, only I was passing.  He would chat with me after labs, I could tell he was checking to see if I was cheating.  I really did know the stuff, and that is why I napped.  Unlike the seniors retaking the course, I found the class really easy and boring.  My final grade was a B+, lowered by me never doing homework.

Fighting sleepers is loosing battle.  Some are missing out, but some want you to stop going over the same material again for the 15th time and tell them something they don't know.

In middle school, I had a teacher who would spray students with water if they talked out of turn.

Tag is farked up. Subtard should be beaten and sodomized with a broken pickle jar.

Yugoboy: If students fall asleep in my class I let 'em sleep. No matter how long it is. I've had kids sleep well into next period. Once had a kid in ISS fall asleep until school ended. We left him there. He came in the next day telling me he missed an important appointment. I told him he shouldn't have fallen asleep.

lack of warmth - some kids have crappy home lives where parents are up all hours doing God knows what, or neighborhoods are full of sirens and gunshots. Certainly, most are either keeping themselves awake with Call of Duty or whatever new game came out this week, and others are just saddled with a schedule that does not match their bio-rhythms, but to assume it's the teacher all the time is painting with a broad brush.

Exactly. If the kid's so tired he/she falls asleep, it won't help to wake them, they won't be listening to your class anyway. If your brain is so tired it shuts off while you're sitting upright, it's not going to be accepting new information.

If it's chronic, I start sending them to the nurse to sleep it off there. That way, when their grades start falling, I have it documented that their parents are sending them to school totally wiped out and unable to function.

I've gone so far as to provide a blanket of newspapers or a cardboard box light-shelter to students that fall asleep in my class.  If they're that tired, as someone has said already, they're not going to do much good awake anyway.

I used to prank them:

- placing a plastic skull in front of their face so it's the first thing they see when they wake up...

-allowing the girls to paint their fingernails...

- getting the entire class to leave the room and turning off the lights/closing the blinds before pounding on the door to wake them...

- filling their backpacks with trash...

- taping their supplies to the desk...

-  taking their cell phones and changing the language settings to Russian...

...but a few kids got all butthurt so I stopped.  Someone always has to ruin it for everyone else.  I'd tell 'em, don't ever fall asleep in a class full of creative people.