Cheating

[tracecares]

There is one teacher in particular that I sub for quite often that always has cheating going on in his classroom. I have reported it to him several times but nothing seems to be done. I know that some of the other teachers are aware and the principal isn't very strict so I do not know what to do. I have tried to put a halt to it but when you don't have the teacher backing you up what are you supposed to do. The students don't try to hide it either. They just do it in front of you. Many are failing and they don't care. What do you do?

 

[DiGood]

No idea..

I'm not sure what to do in that situation. It just makes me sad that the students don't care and cheating can go on like that. As a parent, I would hate to know that kind of thing could go on. There is no pride in their work or sense of accomplishment from cheating grades.

 

[viktoriag]

cheating

I agree, I think you have probably done all that you can and I don't know that I'd know to do any more than tell the teacher each time it happens. It's probably against school privacy guidelines for you to discuss it with anyone else anyway, in specific detail.

I've never been faced with that, as I have not usually been charged with administering an important test. I just do elementary school, and if they have tests, they are *usually* practice types of quizzes.

If I saw cheating I'd try to move the child immediately, but it sounds more like you have it totally widespread in the group.

 

[Gatorman]

TraceCares

What grade was the class you were subbing for? Because cheating in elementary vs high school poses different problems/solutions . . .

 

[tracecares]

The classes that this particular teacher has are 7th through 9th grade. Mostly I have seen it with this 9th grade class. There are several in there who will cheat and many of them are good students.

 

[clarkestep]

I had a Highschool English class once that I caught a 'couple' cheating. I was very young at the time so I remembered all the tricks (though I only cheated on 1 test and felt horrible for it afterwards) and spotted it from across the room. I walked over to the guy and girl and quietly told them, "I need your tests and your book (it was a novel)" and I held out my hand. I tried to be discrete about it and not make a scene but they had the gall to ask why. I said, "I caught you cheating. Please hand me your tests." They denied it but gave me the tests and the book. sure enough she had written the answers in the back cover to about 5 questions. The kid behind them shouted, "busted" and I politely asked him if he done and wanted me to take his test as well. He shut up right away. I left the tests, and a note to the teacher explaining what had happened. They were honor students and both got zeros and a call home to mom and dad. Word got around quick, which was good for me.

Unfortunately since the teacher doesn't seem to care, maybe you could try and just go to the principal yourself with the taken up tests before you leave for the day. I don't know if anything will be done about it, but at least you've tried. You may could say something like, "I didn't know exactly how to handle this since the teacher was not here so I decided to take it to the top and give it to you." This may work if the teacher has never talked to you about what happened when he found out. If anything is brought up negatively you could always say that you weren't for sure if he ever got your note (It IS possible for kids to steal those things so the teacher won't find out.) and that you thought as a teacher he'd want to make sure that someone in charge knew of the situation so it could be handled, and since he wasn't there you thought that that's what he would have wanted you to do. There is truth in this so it's not really a lie. Just because the principal seems slack, he may not tolerate cheating in his school. At least that is what one would think anyway.

But even if you just take up their tests and the teacher does nothing, at least you've still tried and their ignorance won't be on your hands. All you can do is what you know to be right even when others aren't. I think this is very important and that it will be rewarded in the end. Let us know what happens if it happens again.

 

[Mrs. Monica]

I caught someone doing another student's work

In a 3rd grade class, I caught one student just filling in the answers for another. I took the paper, put a big X across all the answers and wrote a note to the teacher about what happened right on the paper. I figured the teacher would have to make the student redo it on their own or give them a zero for it. I also spoke to both of the students about the life-long consequences of this kind of behavior!

 

[tracecares]

Thank you for all the great ideas. I really appreciate it. It is mostly assingments that I have seen them cheating on. I know that the teacher has received my notes about cheating because one time I heard him getting after the students which doesn't seem to matter a lot. It is only this particular ninth grade class I have had that much trouble with. I really warned the other grades in his class about cheating. One day one of the kids(8th grader) was joking about how his sister (9th grader) says how easy it was to get away with cheating in this teachers class and how they did it all the time.

When I was in school I never would have thought about cheating because we would have received zeroes and been uneligible for sports and it would have bothered me. Most of them haven't cheated once or twice they do it all the time and it doesn't seem to bother them at all. Sometimes it is hard to see that go on but you can only do so much.

I know that other teachers are aware of the cheating in his class because students will do work from his class in their class and try to cheat but have been caught. I know that one time he was rather embarrassed because I reported it and so did some other teachers last year but it still seems to go on.

I wil sub for him this week and some next week so I will let you know what goes on.

 

[clarkestep]

I suppose realizing that we can only do so much is the key. All we can do is do our best.

I had a quick idea though about what you could try the next time you see cheating on a regular assignment. Take it and rip it up in front of them and then make them sit on opposite ends of the classroom for the rest of the period. Maybe just start of by saying, "I need to see your papers please." Look them over just to be sure and say, "I just saw you cheating." Rip up the papers and calmly say, "you, sit here and you sit over there. Now go." Keep your cool and show no emotion. Make them start all over again. It would be very inconvenient for them and repetition will help them learn the material. For me, it would make me feel great knowing I busted them at their own game, even if only this once. If anyone giggles or comments, ask if anyone else would like to start over as well. I was told in my first sub trainning class that with older kids that the non emotional very quiet and direct discrete approach works well. I did it a couple of times when subbing in highschool and it worked for me at the time. Though it may not work ALL the time as nothing is 100% fool proof.