Two posts in one day?! Crazy, huh. Today I caught two students cheating. They handed two papers in to me that were almost completely identical. And get this, they were the first two papers out of 28 that I read and I read them back-to-back. The attempt to cheat was pathetic. I know which one wrote the paper and which one copied. The assignment was for the students to go see the play at our school and write a critique on it (pretty straight forward, those of you who went to "theatre school." I told the students to include their ticket stubs (which I don't really enforce). One student e-mailed me this morning (they were due today) and told me she misplaced her ticket stub and was that okay. I told her it was fine as long as her paper was specific and I could tell she went to see the show.
Well, I read the first paper. It was mediocre. But, this isn't rocket science. I only care about their writing to a degree. The paper showed the student had seen the play, had thought about the play and therefore, I gave her full credit. I read the second paper and halfway through it, I'm thinking, "wait a minute - this is deja vu!!!" Sure enough, the papers matched almost word for word. The areas that were different were only slightly different (and usually just demonstrated that the girl who had copied the paper had not seen it because she changed the words around so that what happened on stage hadn't really happened, etc.).
So, now I am faced with the decision. Do I fail them for the assignment (and report it which I have to do) or do I fail them for the class? I think for now, I am going to call the dean of the education department (these students are ELEMENTARY EDUCATION majors!!!!! I know they are still human - but it makes it FEEL worse!) and ask her what she would like me to do. I have a bad feeling she is going to tell me it is up to me. In which case, I will probably give them a "D" so they don't have to retake it, but they learn their lesson.
It is horrible. On one hand I am thrilled that I caught them. I have had a couple of students I have suspected in the past of cheating and never been able to prove it. On the other hand, I feel terrible, because who wants to catch their students cheating. And the girl who copied the other one (they are both being equally punished) is a great girl, a good student and I really like her a lot. Which makes it even harder. I suppose this is the first of many times I will encounter this in my academic life . . .
Burning Leaves
5 months ago
3 comments:
Sorry to hear that... I give them specifics about seeing the shows, questions that make writing the paper HAVE to be their own (for example "The plays present several distinct acting challenges. If you were to play these characters, what were some of the challenges and how would you overcome them?" That way I can cut down at least a little on plagiarizing one another.
I would definitely fail them on the assignment... it's up to you for the whole class.
Wow. I don't know! I agree they should definitely fail the assignment. I lean toward failing them for the class too. That way they really get the seriousness of it. I don't know though, I've never taught college before... Let me know what you decide!
This is not really a hard one - definitely fail for the assignment.
For the class, I talked with some coworkers that have taught, and they say start them off at a C now, and then they have to get 100% for the rest of the class to get their grade up. They also suggest writing a note on the paper asking if they want you to call their parents - seems how they are Elementary Teacher students. ;)
If this is their final test, then you have to decide if you give them the D or fail. If not, then don't go there.
I hope this helps dollface. Love ya!
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