My situation was actually last week.
I may have made an assumption about a student incorrectly but acted to what I felt was according to the indications of the situation.
I gave a test and toward the end of the session was walking around again and I came upon a desk with a student finishing a test. I looked on the floor and noticed that his study guide was laying on the floor visible but seemingly hidden. I felt my blood pressure skyrocket. I was furious but I walked away and contemplated what to do. Was he cheating? The indications were certainly there.
I felt as though I had no choice. I made a decision to give him a zero and a referral. I emailed his mom that afternoon explaining the situation. She was seemingly understanding but was insistent that he had just been careless and not put his study guide away well enough and that she had studied with him over the past few days. She ask if there was anything I would/could do and I agreed to give him a separate test the next day.
In my annoyed state I made a harder test. Probably not the best choice. I gave it to him sent him to my neighbors classroom with a pen and his test. He left and returned within 6 minutes. Curious about how he did I graded it-
And of course...He aced it. Missed one question out of 25.
Now I can't prove that he wasn't cheating-but given the short amount of time between tests-the changed difficulty of the test and the amount of time he completed it-He seemed to know the material very well.
Needless to say I felt like kind of a jerk. I told him that if I misread the situation that I apologize but that he put me in a very precarious situation and that he needed to be careful about appearances. He said he understood and has honestly been one of my more pleasant students since. His mother even thanked me and apologized again for the situation.
The outcome came out ok but for days afterward I felt pretty bad about it.
Don't beat yourself up.
ReplyDeleteSometimes we have to make decisions without having all of the information, or all of the correct information, at our disposal. I think that, under the circumstances, you did what any of us would have done. I don't think that makes you a jerk, it makes you human and someone learning how to be an effective teacher.
Students need to understand that sometimes appearances are everything. I stress to my students that life isn't always about succeeding, but about putting yourself in a position to be successful. You won't always get the break or make the cut, but if you can put yourself in a position to succeed, more often than not, you'll come out for the better.
I think the student, who seems to know his stuff, learned a bit of that from this situation. If it appears you are cheating, then that is going to be the label you get. So he, as the student, has to make sure that all appearances of wrongdoing are eliminated. That's a good lesson to learn.
For what it's worth, I think you handled the situation great.
I don't think you overreacted at all with the situation. I would have most likely thought the same thing since the study guide was visible on the floor. I agree, don't beat yourself up about it because I am sure many teachers would have thought the same way. It is good to know that you have a student that actually studies and does what he supposed to do. I also agree with Tuck's other statement about the student learning a lesson. It wasn't an easy one to learn, but I believe it will help him in the future. He will be more careful if he was actually being honest.
ReplyDeleteYou handled it well in my opinion.