Friday, December 7, 2012

Frustration

I try really hard to be a good teacher. I honestly like my students. I change up my lectures to keep them fresh. I search for books that are interesting, not too long, and easy to read so some of my students might actually read the assignments. I also change my paper assignments every semester to reduce the chance of cheating. I also make the paper assignments very specific, on unusual topics, often with local primary sources, to prevent cheating. I learned to do this after I found 16 papers in one semester where students had plagiarized. So when a student does cheat, after all the thought and hard work I put into creating an assignment, I feel a huge sense of betrayal. I just found two papers that were 98% identically. These two students turned in the same paper. The betrayal on this one is bigger, because I worked all semester with the one student, privately tutoring him after he'd been sick and missed a number of classes. I also told him to take all the time he needed to complete the paper. So to copy someone else's paper and hand it in, it hurts. *sigh*

6 comments:

OldLady Of The Hills said...

That really is terrible! And a true knife in the back, so to speak. So very dusappointing. What do you do about this? Do you confront them both? I don't envy your position and I can see how this would be so incredin;y discouraging.'Sigh', indeed! I'm sighing with you.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

"INCREDIBLY"...my finger just went off the radar....(lol)

wstachour said...

Yeah, so sad and demoralizing. My wife has similar tales after years of college teaching. She tries to remember that for many kids--maybe most of them--her efforts hit their target and she's making a real difference. As you are. We can't fix the world, but we can revel in the good we can do in our own sphere. Your students are lucky to have so conscientious a teacher. :-)

nbrsspot.blogspot.com said...

I am sorry that this has happened. When I find something on the internet and I can always write it in my own words I always try to reword what was written where it comes from me. Not he source I found it at and always cite my sources. Esp of late. I just hope you can fix it and they have learned there lesson from cheating. Its not an easy position to be in. Hang in there and you will be fine and you help many students and those that appreciate your skills and hard work as much as you appreciate theirs.

VV said...

Thanks everybody. I know I shouldn't take it personally, but I just invest so much of myself into teaching and I really want the students to succeed.

Larena said...

you give every thing your all. sadly we get let down by people. I would ask the kid you worked with what grade he thought he should get, just to keep him squirming...help them learn a good lesson !

CK, here’s the tattoo

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