So, today is a particularly hard day at school -- and I've only had one class so far! This morning I caught two of my students cheating. I had known it was happening based on their work, but I needed to actually catch them in action. Dealing with cheaters is hard anyway, but this one particularly broke my heart because one of them did her homework, but then allowed another student to copy her answers. It's hard for me to give her a zero on the assignment when she did the work, but she helped someone else cheat, so those are the consequences. Later today, I will have to call both students' parents and let them know what happened. The students will also have to serve three days of detention with the Headmaster.
I love my job, don't get me wrong. But situations like the one I had this morning make it really hard to keep a positive attitude and to not let my bad mood rub off on the other kids. I want to believe that all of my students are honest and hard-working, but unfortunately this is unrealistic. I wish cheating wasn't a problem I had to deal with, but I can't force my students to be honest. I just hope that they will feel guilty enough to not do it again (I realize this isn't the best motivation for being good, but they've got to start somewhere).
Sorry that I'm ranting.....sometimes teaching is just hard. All I can say is that I'm SUPER glad Fall Break is this week! 5-day weekend, here I come!
4 comments:
You likely won't read this before you leave but, I love you and know that you are doing everything you can to help those kids. No matter what you do, some of them are going to disappoint you. The trick is to love them anyway, and I know you do.
I don't really have to deal with cheaters in first grade, but I totally understand where you are coming from! I'm so glad I'm not the only one going through all this. just remember that trying to teach a kid good character is far more valuable than curriculum!
It must be different dealing with cheaters face to face then it is catching them on the phone. I usually like it when I catch a cheater here, but I'm sure it's a lot harder in person.
Happy Five-Day Weekend! I hope you're enjoying it! See you when we get back!
Post a Comment