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Upper Elementary Teachers Chatboard

cheating

by Allison

Feb 2, 2009

Yesterday when grading some things, I found that two girls in my class who sit next to each other had cheated. The spelling test could have been coincidence, but I also found another quiz that was VERY obvious (answered 4 random and incorrect answers from 3 chapters of a book). I told them what it looked like to me, and they both were very defensiv...See More

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Leah There was just the one part of the quiz that made > me suspicious, so my question is, should I have them just > re-take that part, or the whole quiz

I vole for the whole quiz. You are teaching them an important lesson.

For an article of interest, click below:

Feb 3, 2009

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vet teacher I'm a teacher with a very different viewpoint on cheating. My first concern is why did this happen - are these two girls strong students or weak students? Any student who cheats still cares about school in my opinion - if they really didn't care, they wouldn't even bother to cheat. If they're weak students, well, then I'm not so shocked - consisten...See MoreI'm a teacher with a very different viewpoint on cheating. My first concern is why did this happen - are these two girls strong students or weak students? Any student who cheats still cares about school in my opinion - if they really didn't care, they wouldn't even bother to cheat. If they're weak students, well, then I'm not so shocked - consistently weak kids have issues and rarely can we solve those issues in school even though we kind of want everyone to believe we can. Unless your school is very different from mine, I have very strong students and very weak students all in the same room. How can the weak kids possibly keep up?

But maybe your school is different. It must be because if I suspected two kids of cheating here and I couldn't really prove that - I'd be in big trouble making them take a quiz over again. Here I'd have to speak to the Asst. Principal before I could speak to the girls as you did. And he'd never let me make the girls take the entire quiz over - he'd see that as counter productive. But no one including me can tell you what you did was wrong or right - without knowing what you want to accomplish? What's your goal? That directs what you do. What's most important to you? For most teachers, doling out punishment for cheating becomes immediately the most important thing. Figuring out what went wrong that had the kids not knowing what they should know is rarely a concern. But that's my concern and what I do comes from that. > Yesterday when grading some things, I found that two girls > in my class who sit next to each other had cheated. The > spelling test could have been coincidence, but I also > found another quiz that was VERY obvious (answered 4 > random and incorrect answers from 3 chapters of a book). > I told them what it looked like to me, and they both were > very defensive even before I had told them what I had > found, and told me they did not cheat. I gave them two > choices--one was to take a zero on the quiz, the other was > to retake the quiz during lunch in a couple of days. > After some defiance, both girls decided to re-take the > quiz. There was just the one part of the quiz that made > me suspicious, so my question is, should I have them just > re-take that part, or the whole quiz (about 15 > questions)? Or am I doing things wrong altogether? > > (5th grade)

Feb 4, 2009

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What do you do with your pencils?

by Stella in TX

Feb 3, 2009

lease tell me, what do you do with your pencils?

My class has ran out of pencils. My kids need to keep some pencils in their backpack because they are pulled out of the classroom for different activities during the day. In addiiton, some of them have after school tutoring. On top of all the things I have to do, I don't want to worry about ...See More

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Pam I tried this idea of giving a shoe for a pencil, but it didn't work for me. My students love taking their shoes off so I was having too many students not having pencils. They wanted to take their shoe off and they'd deliberately wouldn't have a pencil so they could borrow one. I quickly gave this up and returned to just giving pencils to students w...See More

Mar 29, 2009

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T2 I teach two sections of fourth grade Language Arts. I do not give out pencils. I learned the hard way. The students are required to have at least two sharpened pencils with them at all times. If they don't have one, they are to borrow or find another solution.

The students sit in groups and there is a basket with crayons, etc in the center...See More

Mar 31, 2009

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FCAT Writes

by Fourth teach

Feb 3, 2009

What do you do right before FCAT writes to pep up your kids for this test? I think my kids will do well but want to help encourage them with some type of review. I have been sending home different writing prompts home for extra practice. Thanks for any suggestions.

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staceyu/FL/4th We enlist the help of our old 4th graders, this years 5th graders, who have already "been there, done that". We're having a short pep rally on Monday afternoon with 4th and 5th grade. The 5th graders are making signs and posters for each 4th grade class. Each 5th grader has also written a letter of support to a 4th grader. We only had 1 4th grader ...See More

Feb 6, 2009

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Why Many of us Like Teaching (and don't like it too!)

by Francie

Feb 3, 2009

Ok, I will start with the 10 reasons why we teach, and then list what we hate about teaching (per The Apple – an online teacher site). The teachers with RealWriting are extremely dedicated, positive and hopeful, so they probably can relate to the Stay List:

10 Reasons to Stay (or Become) a Teacher

1. Because children are worth...See More

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Have you had parents request their child have another teache

by Curious

Feb 4, 2009

I've only taught for 4 years but I've had 3 parents request a different teacher. One actually was switched - the other 2 requested it at the heat of a moment. Granted these were difficult parents with children who had behavior issues and were academically low (I even tutored these kids once a week after school for free). I rarely hear of this issue...See More

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3rd Grade Teacher arents like this most often are hearing just the partial truth at home. I had a parent last year who came to the school up in arms because I "slammed the door on her daughter's arm." Mind you this was supposed to happen 4 days prior and the girl went to PE AND recess with no complaints. In fact, the first I'd heard of it was when the principal came...See More

Feb 5, 2009

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paulaj On 2/05/09, Leah wrote: > To: Anonymous for Obvious Reasons, Thanks for the hardy laugh. >> You never know what type of nuts hide in your box of >> chocolates. (What Forrest SHOULD have said.) > > I agree that it happens and it's usually a parent with issues, > not your fault. We can't be everything to everyone. Please > ...See More

Feb 9, 2009

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FREE Health play for Central Indiana Schools!!

by Rowdie

Feb 5, 2009

The Indianapolis Indians are proud to present the most informative, interactive, educational, health based, school play EVER!!! Rowdie: Homerun for Health is a 25-minute play created by and starring Rowdie, the official mascot of the Indianapolis Indians baseball team! Rowdie: Homerun for Health was created to educate today's youth about the benefi...See More

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needed- cheap source of honor roll awards

by Diane5

Feb 5, 2009

WE usually give pennants, pins, certificates,pencils saying honor roll, or ribbons to our honor roll kids. Prices are outrageous! Does anyone have a cheap source they turn to for these items? thanks,

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Bev Try the dollar tree. You can get about 15 for just a $1. They have several different awards.

Feb 5, 2009

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"To Kill a Mockingbird" for fifth grade??

by Heather

Feb 6, 2009

We are going to see a play next week for Black History Month.Showing the courtroom scene from "To Kill a Mockingbird" was suggested by the college that's putting on the play "Color of Justice." I wanted to show the entire movie...in two parts (it's two hours and ten minutes). A veteran teacher was really surprised and told me she thought that it wa...See More

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I think it should wait until they are older You asked for opinions... I think this is a wonderful book, but not for 10 and ll year old 5th graders. It takes a great deal more maturity and critical thinking skills to give this book the kind of consideration it warrrents. There are plenty of other books whose theme revolves around the similar issues (other than rape) that are better suited to ...See More

Feb 7, 2009

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5th Grade Teacher I have taught 5th grade for 18 of the last 21 years, and I push the envelope a lot with what I read and talk about with my kids, but I wouldn't even think about showing or reading this book. There is a lot of good literature out there that has to do with racism and prejudice that is much more appropriate for the age - anything by Mildred D. Taylor,...See More

Feb 7, 2009

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A higher level of math thinking activity for Valentine's Day

by Kathleen (includes a printable activity sheet)

Feb 7, 2009

The Heart of Mathematical Thinking (by Laura Candler) Take counting valentine heart candy to a higher level of mathematical thinking with this activity. It includes a printable recording sheet.

Valentine's Day math activities are often conducted only at the lowest levels of Bloom's taxonomy and involve nothing more than counting and graphi...See More

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Award template and Despereaux

by Deb

Feb 7, 2009

Just successfully finished the book and movie, and I'd like to find blank awards for students to use to make one for Despereaux and his bravery. Any suggestions? Thanks.

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