Cheating...

Last week I caught two students attempting to cheat on a vocabulary test. On Mondays, I will usually distribute a half or a third sheet of paper with all of the definitions and parts of speech for the vocabulary words to the class. Last semester, when my master teacher went over vocabulary words, she would write down the definitions on the board, and students would spend time copying the definitions down. I originally thought typing the list of vocabulary words out for the students to keep would be a good idea. The one thing it did do was free up more class time to focus on the studying texts and also time to actually do activities based on vocabulary words.

I suspected typing out the definitions for students on a smaller sheet of paper could possibly tempt students to cheat. The first month of my teaching, though, I did not catch any students using their list of definitions to help them during their test. During tests, I typically circulate around the classroom to monitor students' progress on the test and also lean against my desk/table in the front of my room. On this particular day, while standing in the front of the class, I caught two students using the list of definitions. The first student, a special ed student, tried to keep his list directly under his test sheet. I caught him lifting up the test and peaking at the definitions underneath it. From the front of the class, it was easy to see that there was another sheet of paper under his test. I walked towards him and tried to lift his test up. He actually tried to hold the test down to keep my from finding the sheet. Luckily, I caught him trying to cheat fairly early into the test. He had only attempted to answer two questions. I simply took his cheat sheet away and crossed out the two questions he'd answered.

It seemed out of character for this student to cheat. He was visibly shaken up by it all. For about the next ten minutes he simply looked at his test without writing anything down. I had to tell him to at least guess on the other questions.

Another student actually tried to keep his list on his lap during the test. As I approached him, he tucked it under his oversized hooded sweatshirt. He tried to deny cheating at first but eventually caved in when I told him that I saw the sheet. This was also very early into the test, so I also crossed out the questions he had attempted. After class I ended up asking these students if they would prefer me to inform their parents of what happened, or if they would write me an apology letter. Both students chose to write the apology letter. For the second student, it happened to be his best writing of the semester. In his letter he apologized and also thanked me for giving him a second chance.

After the test that day, though, I had a little talk with the class as a whole about their behavior during tests. I told them we would "practice" taking tests "the right way" and made my behavioral expectations and the consequences extremely clear. During the next test just this week, the class was dead silent. Students' eyes did not even wander, and students who finished early sat quietly, rather than cracking jokes the way some have done throughout my student teaching and last semester. I always felt I was explicit about my expectations and consequences from the beginning of my teaching, but I suppose I should repeat these strict and explicit expectations before I give any other test. Looking back, it seems that doing this will actually make my job of dealing with cheating easier. Instead of debating over how to handle future cheating, I won't be as reluctant to simply take a student's test away and give him or her a zero. So I'm disappointed with some of my students' behavior, but hopefully this instance will improve future behavior on tests.