Prime example here!

I find it amazing the lengths that students go to to cheat. It they only took that energy to study they would be so much further ahead. America might not be failing………..
I gave a pretty simple quiz in my classroom last week and while walking around I notice two girls nodding at each other. I stood close by and kept a watchful eye on them. After grading their papers “amazingly” both papers were exactly the same, the sad part was they both received a 65 (D). How sad that was. I was so distraughtand sought advice (how to handle the situation) from several sources, other teachers, and my principal. I had written a note on each paper when I graded them to “see me after class”. I decided to re-arrange my room (once again) and for their “warm-up” I wrote “If you were a teacher and suspected a student “might” be dishonest on a quiz, what would you do”. I gave them time to write their answers.  98% said they would fail them and send them to the principals office. So.. with all of that being said, one of the girls came up to be during class and said “you want to see me after class”, I said yes and went about working with the students on their projects. So,, after class finally came. I closed the door, sat the girls and myself down and asked them to look at each others paper and compare them. I asked them what happened,, they gave replies such as we didn’t study, we didn’t answer everything etc.. it was painful to start.. I then simply said would you like to know what i noticed? of course they said… I said well, every single answer is the exact same (right and wrong once alike)… hmm… I wonder how that happened………… they sat their… I said look girls… let’s be honest here.. tell me what happened… one of them sang like a bird.. we cheated she said… I said “really”…. Anyway.. they admitted it and said they were sorry.. they actually said they thought I didn’t notice and thought I would help them by giving them extra credit.. I chuckled.. and replied why would i do that when you cheated? Anyway. I did thank them for their honesty and talked to them about they are the loosers in all of this that cheating cheats them out of information that is important, “even in Art”. They asked if I would consider extra credit and I said I would think about it.. Well..I have and decided I would give them a research paper to write with specific criteria such as citing their sources.. it is going to be a learning experience for them.  I spoke to my principal with the outcome and he is just thrilled and said i have good instincts. More than that, I am just happy the girls were honest with me.. that is rare as I have come up against problems before. I actually had a student steal a book of mine because I commented that he needed to write the paper in his own words.. Instead of working it out, he stole the book. Very dis-heartening.. Anyway.. my advice is just that, get all kinds of advice, search your soul and go with your instincts. Not all students are the same and if these girls would have been snippy with me or gave me an attitude I might not have been so forgiving.