I've pretty much stolen this subject from another section's blog. Have you ever read some of the other sections' blog entries? They're pretty interesting. Anyways, getting off topic.
Cheating. So far, the questions/comments I've read seem to touch on, what, as a teacher, would you do if you discovered someone was cheating in your class? I want to take a different spin on this topic.
Why do students cheat/plagiarize? Is it because they don't have time to do the homework? Is it because they just don't understand the material no matter how hard they try? Is it because they don't think their version of completing the assignment will be good enough/won't get them the mark they want? With this context, what can teachers do to prevent cheating. And when it does happen, what can teachers do to help solve the underlying issue of cheating, outside of just punishing the cheater (eg giving them a zero for the assignment)?
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I think students cheat for different reasons. They did not have enough time to prepare an answer, or they cab feel an assignment too large for them to finish. As a teacher you have to ask yourself how fair was the assignment, and whether or not the time constraints were approproate.Some students also undervalue their own work and simply look for something to get them a higher grade.
I had a friend in high school who had a friend entirely plagarize an assignment from her and use it to hand in to his own teacher. That teacher used his assignment in a display from the English department for the open house our school had. Naturally my friend was choked, she had no idea this guy had done this. He did it completely out of laziness to get a better grade.
The teachers in this situation should have caught this because in our school everyone did the same assignments all across the board in each grade (ah the self paced learning system). There are school policies in place in high school just like there are in University, and in the end he was caught. (hello, putting the assignment up where EVERYONE saw it, not the smartest thing to let a teacher do when you plagarize!) When we go out on our practicums we will all need to familiarize ourselves with the schools policies and make sure that you talk to your colleagues when you suspect something. Sorry, this was a really long post!
As has been mentioned, students plagiarize for a variety of reasons. If the reason for it is that an assignment was too difficult or the time given to complete it was too short, then the teacher can make adjustments so this does not happen again. But if a student cheats because they are lazy, then there is little that can be done except to stress that cheating in any form is unacceptable.
Detection of plagiarized materials is most important. Some professors ( including many at UVic ) now use computer programs to screen essays students hand in against internet databases. What I would like to know is if this is also worth doing on a high school level?
Many of your assignments can be done during class time if you are concerned about plagerizing - you have a chance to walk around, see what they are working on and how they are doing.
Also - what kind of assignments are we giving out that 1)make them feel uninterested (lazy) or stressed out to cheat 2) or what kind of assignments are so easy to copy (that we can't make more personal or creative that have to make it their own)?
My friend just finished doing her practicum and while at her school was handed an assignment by a student who had used a translator to answer all the questions on his French homework. All the sentences were quite strange as translators do not always make natural sentences and some of language used was well above his skill level. My friend approached the student and made it clear she knew that he had cheated. But wasn't angry with him, instead she read back the sentences he had made, which made him laugh. She then asked why he had used the translator and he said he didn't think he could do the assignment well enough and thought that the computer had a better chance of being right. They were able to work together and figure out this situation. This friend was really lucky in having a chance to teach a student that cheating doesn't necessarily get you ahead while also having a chance to address her students underlying insecurities about his abilities.
I think there is something to be said about finding lessons that challenge our students and that are interesting to decrease cheating. But if cheating happens I think we need to find a way to address the cause with our students and a way to address this cause that helps our students positively change their behaviour. Maybe that means pointing out the downsides like in the situation above, maybe a punishment, maybe changing our teaching methods, maybe all of the above. Not easy stuff to figure out!
I know that the only times that i really cheated in high school (and yes, i am sure most of us have to different degrees at one point or another) was because i didn't respect the class or the teacher. I felt that because the teacher didn't put any effort into making the learning process happen and really didn't care if it did happen that i might as well cheat instead of wasting my time on something that no one really cares about anyway.
i had some grammar mistakes there....sorry, i am tired...
I think that my experiences teaching at the University have really given me a tough look at cheating and plagarism. I think that students are so consumed at this point in school with grades and doing well that they see this as an easy out. Many students think they are smart and won't get caught....what they don't realize is that it is really easy to tell when someone does this. I generally have taken a hard stance on cheating because I think if students realize that its just not worth the risk you will definitely deter it from happening in your class.
When teaching in Korea last year I had lots of students who cheated to get an edge on other students in the class. Even though I was teaching elementary school the pressure from family and society to perform well at school was very high and the class was very competitive in terms of academics. I often remember grade 4-6 students crying after receiving test scores back even though they had scored in the high 80’s or low 90’s. The problem was that only the top rated academic students were able to go to the best middle and high schools and if you did not attend these schools you had no chance of attending the best universities. Only these students who attend the best universities will have a chance to land good positions in the countries best companies. This was very important to some students during elementary school so you can imagine the pressure they face to perform by the time they get to high school. I’m not sure how much this applies in Victoria but on the mainland where sometimes more than half the students come from Asian families with very high expectations to perform this may be a reason cheating occurs.
I think the only way to stop cheating in this case is to relieve the pressure of performing to please family.
All great reasons for cheating! I have some ideas for how to deal with the situation if/when it arises. First of all, since I believe that cheating comes from a lack of respect towards the teacher and then student that is being cheated of their material, I think that it is appropriate to pull the cheating student aside and talk to them about this. Maybe ask them why they cheated or how the other person might feel. Use this as a wake up call and then give them a punishment later if the behaviour continues. I think that a mark of zero is definitely justfied.
To further my comment (sorry, I realized this after I hit "publish"). In the case I just described (talking to them and then giving them a punishment), I think that that is most appropraite if they are caught blatantly cheating on a test. Alternatively, if they directly steal work from another student then that would definitely deserve zero right away.
I believe there is always a reason behind cheating, meaning students do not do it because it's fun. The motivations for cheating do include not understanding the material. In this case the teacher has to talk to the individual one-on-one to discover this of course. The student may not be able to comprehend or even read, even at the high school level.
The resolution could include alternative ways like making copies of class notes for the child or paraphrasing the assignment in a manner that they understand. Because the student did cheat for the reason of poor comprehension, you could give them another option of completing a different assignment to make up for the zero.
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