Student of mine: Never read the book, never took notes, absent most . .

[AVID]

absent most of the time, disrespectful to most others in class.

Two weeks ago he turned in a STELLAR ESSAY and scored 93% on test.

Over the holidays I found his "paper" on the internet and retested him today, using alternate test (non-scantron) and isolated him from his pals.

He scored a 58%.

Gotta call the parents tomorrow.

This sounds strikingly familiar to me -

Bush - the C students hero

[JI7]

1. did you have reason to suspect him ?

did he have a history of low scores ?

[AVID]

3. the paper was "way off par" for him

[JI7]

10. you should tell the parents about his history of low scores

and encourage them to help him or get help for him some way also.

[trotsky]

2. I know he won't, so I will THANK YOU

for going out of your way to check up on this kid's work. He may thank you many years down the road, but oh boy is he gonna be in trouble in the present. Better to learn these lessons young.

[Yupster]

4. If you caught him plagiarizing,

why the retest?

on edit, I had a ninth grader turn in a paper once that included this in the body of the report.

"Stonewall Jackson (left), confers with Robert E Lee (on white horse)".

Copied? Who's to say?

[AVID]

7. retested the entire class - short answer, not MC

[jayctravis]

13. A retest is fair.

In college I had friends would take a class and never go to it, already knowing everything about the subject but just there for the grade and the credit.

They usually did the work on their own though. That's why a professor usually outlines exactly what the grade is based on. Certain teachers also teach the book, and by college many people are capable of reading on their own. (snark unintentional)

The retest also gives backup evidence if the student somehow disputes the claim of plagiarism -- the teacher can base the poor grade on that work.

[Yupster]

15. I used to teach college history

I caught a kid for plagiarism (massive - copied whole report) and I dropped him from my class. There was no retest.

There really isn't a defense once you've found the book he copied the report from. What's he going to say -- that it was a coincidence they both wrote the same words for two full pages?

[Ardee]

5. This will wind up in the lounge more than likely....

The first person I met upon migrating to San Francisco was a University of Chicago student who never went to class, never cracked a book, flew back for his mid terms and finals and graduated with honors.......go figure.

[TimeToGo]

8. Can't imagine how

Even if you can do that, there is more to college than passing tests and writing papers.

You don't go to class just to prepare for tests.

If he doesn't show up -- F. No question.

[Ardee]

12. Well

from the point of view of a Professor certainly. But this guy aced the tests so he knew the material, and U of C has a more enlightened policy regarding such matters I imagine. My friend is now a zillionare, retired at 40 or so and living the life in Seattle.....Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard and didnt do so badly, but thats another matter......

The real point is that, like this damned No Child Left Behind crap,in which classrooms become cut and dry teach-the-test seminars, it is up to the staff to make college classrooms places that students want to attend, especially the brightest.

Edited for spelling...cant have that now can we?

[DrWeird]

6. Fail him. Report him for cheating.

Those Codes of Conduct exist for a good reason.

[Donna Zen]

9. 2 students

turned in the same internet paper...exactly. One of the students defended her right to a grade because (drum roll) she found it first.

Zero...

[Julien Sorel]

11. LOL

As an undergraduate, I worked as a tutor. The following scenario happened several times:

(a week before mid-terms)

Student: "Mr X, I don't get this economics stuff."

Me: "OK, what parts don't you get?"

Student: "All of it."

Me: "When you sit through the lectures, do you understand it then?"

Student: "Not really."

Me: "Is there any part of it you do understand? With mid-terms so close, we have to focus on something just to get a passing grade."

Student: "I don't get any of it."

Me: "OK, open your book and show me a part you've really struggled with, and we'll go from there."

Student: "Well, I haven't bought the book yet."

[Rockerdem]

14. * has a son? -nm

nm

[Lydia Leftcoast]

16. I had students who had a terrible time understanding the difference

between collaboration and copying. I didn't mind if they studied together, but when three or four clueless students got together and copied one another's answers verbatim, I could ALWAYS tell. Obviously, it went from their eyes to their hand without passing through their brain, because they would copy everything, including misspellings, repeated words, and grammatical errors.

I didn't mind if they did their homework separately and then compared answers, but the outright copying made me crazy. The guilty students (future Republicans, no doubt) always acted indignant when I caught them.