April 30, 2008
I just gave two students a zero on their final paper worth 20% of their grade.
Why? Why else: plagiarsim.
This is my first year of teaching, so I know that ugly little guy will continue to pop up in my life, but I find myself saddened by this. One student plagiarized 95% of his/her paper. The other about 80% (though I think more is plagiarized I just can’t find it). At first, I kept trying to excuse it. They didn’t understand the difference between paraphrase and plagiarize–I mean, we only went over it multiple times. Surely, there’s some excuse.
But, there’s really not. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but this isn’t one paragraph. This is MULTIPLE pages in a ten page paper. Sentences upon sentences. Words I know these students couldn’t even define if they tried. And, it’s really sad. I can’t even be angry, because in the end–they lowered their grade 20%. I’ll likely hear from the counselor and their parents that I’m not being fair. In the end, excuses will be made for these girls and I will be the bad guy.
Of course, this makes me question myself. How many other papers have I missed over the course of the semester? Was this a one time thing–or something they thought they could get away with because they have. If it was one, I think I could write it off. But two–right in a row–it makes me question a lot.
April 30, 2008 at 2:18 pm
That stinks. My upstairs neighbor is a teach too, she gets pretty upset when a student tries to get one past her. Almost personally.
God bless you guys, the teachers
April 30, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Having spent the better part of 18 months going through endless sources and taking thousands of notes onto notecards like we were taught in high school and then writing a 167 page thesis, I do not sympathize with plagiarism. There is never an excuse, no matter what their parents and/or counselors might say. *Especially* after you went over the difference between paraphrasing and plagiarizing in class.
Good for you for giving them a zero! I fully support you.
May 1, 2008 at 10:12 am
Thanks for the support. I need it. I am alternately outraged and guilty. Why am I feeling GUILTY? Such is a teacher’s life.
May 1, 2008 at 7:24 pm
that is a bunch of BS. I hate it when my sixth-graders try to pull that crap, and give them automatic zeros. The problem is not with you–it’s with the students for being lazy and liars, their parents for not instilling better values in them, and their former teachers for not calling them on it.
um, clearly this is one of my big pet peeves.
you are totally doing the right thing.