Preventing cheating

Here is a neat little article I found on cheating....which also has me reflect on some cheaters I caught once...This one goes out to Mr. Anderson who taught me to be a sneaky teacher. I also added a few of my own tips at the bottom.



Cheating: Tips and Advice for Preventing and Handling
Tip 1When you give a test, arrange students' desks in neat rows and sit in the back of the room. When students can't see you well, they are usually more nervous about trying to cheat. Those who are tempted to cheat usually will try to turn around to see where you are. That makes it easy for you to spot potential cheaters.
Tip 2Cheating is easier when you give a short answer test -- for example, tests with true/false, fill-in-the-blank, or multiple-choice questions. Try instead to give tests that require short essay responses. Yes, short essay tests might be more difficult to grade than the others, but it actually takes more work to design valid and reliable questions that are not guessable.
If you still prefer short-answer tests, create two sets of tests. On one set, type the questions from 1 to 10; on the other set, arrange the questions in the opposite order. Copy one set of questions on white paper, and copy the other set on yellow paper. Pass out the two versions of the test to alternate rows of students; students in the first row get the white version, students in the second row get the yellow test, and so on. Tell the students you have done this so that if they are tempted to cheat, they'll be copying the wrong answer. Another good thing about setting up the test this way, is that you can use one answer key to grade both sets of papers.
Tip 3Don't take away the paper of a suspected cheater, or reprimand him or her in the middle of taking a test. Such an action will cause a disturbance during the test, and the disruption will give other students an opportunity to cheat. Instead, inform students before the test that, "If I suspect anyone is cheating, I won?t say anything during the test? If you get your paper back with points off, you'll know why." A statement such as that may often make potential cheaters too nervous to cheat.
Tip 4Tell students at the start of the test, "During the test, cover up your answers.? You might even let students know that any student who helps another cheat also will face repercussions. By encouraging students to cover up their own papers, you will probably be giving most students permission to do what they really want to do. But now, since you directed the action, they'll be able to do this without risking peer disapproval. Also, the students most likely to follow your "cover up" instruction are usually the ones who studied for the test -- and the ones who will have the most correct answers. Thus, you've cut off from view the major sources of correct "cheatable" answers.
Tip 5Don't wait for the day of the test to tell students how you'll handle cheating. By then, it's too late to motivate students to study, rather than to try to cheat. Instead, give warnings about cheating a day or two before the test. By doing that, you might motivate a potential cheater to study instead.
Tip 6Return test papers at the end of a class period -- not at the start of a class period. Doing that is helpful in two ways:
Students will be more likely to listen to a review of the test answers before they get their papers back.
If you return papers at the beginning of class, cheaters who lost points or got zeroes might vent their anger and disrupt your planned lesson. If they get back their papers at the end of the period, they can talk to you after class. Even better, they may go home to vent, and cool off by the time you see them the next day. They might even be motivated to do better in the future!

Back to middle school

This time I was assigned to a seventh grade Math/science gig. AND THE BONUS--I GOT TO TEACH!! YEAH!! REAL LESSON PLANS!!!!!

Ok...so I arrived about 5 minutes before school started. I got stuck behind a tractor on the highway...BLAH. I walk into the classroom quickly discovering that I had real lesson plans. I was to actually teach the students about Surface area and volume. ARgh! less than 5 minutes to read over the plans and the kids are coming in...

Well I did just fine. I started out by telling the kids if they were not in their assigned seats i would mark them absent! (BTW--did i mention this was the first teacher that had seating charts.) Of course then the kids really disliked me and thought I was mean--but I made a good first impression. They were pretty good. There was one student who I sent to the office. He started cursing at me for mispronouncing his name--but otherwise all was good. The lesson went over well and most kids finished the assignment without a hassle. The select few who didn't were kids that chose not to work the entire time given. (And I made sure to note that for the teacher's return.)

The next class was science and it was fun. The teacher had an interactive lesson on energy. I got to teach and put in some of my own two cents. I really got the class involved in some creative thinking and conversation. It was a very interactive class. The kids were good. I had an SEA even tell me that she was surprised by how good they were. (Music to a sub's ears.)

I then taught another science class (that went just as well) and had lunch. For my prep, I actually subbed in another class where the SEA taught. I was just an extra body. She pretty much had control of things. (In other words, I was present to make the class legal.) At the end of this class all the kids then went into the hall to cha cha. Yes Chacha. This is the second school I have been to that plays music randomly during the day and has the kids dance in the halls.

So while the kids were chachaing I returned back to my class to prepare for the next math lesson. This class the teacher told me the ESL teacher may teach. When she came in (the ESL Teacher) she did want to teach the class, so I left it all to her. Ironically, this was the same class I had had before lunch and all had gone well with them. However, it did not go so well for the ESL teacher. There were three adults in the classroom. The ESL, Me, and an SEA--and I thought the class was pretty bad. They talked while the ESL teacher spoke and did very little. I think two kids completed the worksheet. It was evident that the students did not see the ESL teacher as a teacher. In fact, I spoke with her later and discovered that the regular ed teacher only lets her teach when she is absent. In other words, she is not seen as an equal in the classroom. ---okay-I will vent more on this in a minute....

So the last class of the day was science again. The ESL teacher had the option again to teach it--but I think after the math class, she had just about had it. She asked me to do it. The kids were a bit rowdier (it was the end of the day) but the class went really well. Once again there was a lot of interaction. I just had to take extra time waiting for the kids to get quiet so we could continue on.

All in all I thought it was a successful day. The kids were good. They tried to be bad, but I was strict and learned key names quickly. **Always learn the names of the kids that are most excited that a sub is present--these are usually the key players later on**

After school the ESL teacher lagged behind and we talked a bit. She was in her first year of teaching and was struggling with getting students respect. I spoke with her about my wonderful year teaching with my friend Mr. Dupies. Mr. Dupies was my SEA. He was great! We worked together in the classroom as equals. I supported him 100% in the classroom and he did likewise for me. It was similar to a parent relationship. I did not question anything he did in front of the kids. HOwever, I may ask him later about things after class. Even though I prepared the daily lesson plans, I always had a part for him to teach or go over in the classroom. This way he was an active teacher as well. It also helped the SE students to not be so evident--not all kids knew that Mr. Dupies was an SEA, he was simply a coteacher to them. Anyways back to the ESL teacher---(Oh by the way ESL is an English as a second language teacher--aka helps translate.) So yeah, this ESL teacher never taught and had no respect in the classroom--no wonder she was walked on.

So ESL and SEA teachers are a newer concept over the last 15 years. Many older teachers are not used to having active counterparts in the classroom. I have no idea if this teacher was old, but it was evident that she did not see the ESL teacher as an equal--feeding into the problem...so my thoughts (like you can't tell...)

All adults in a school need to be seen as having equal authority--and that includes janitors and cafeteria workers. A janitor should have the right to tell a kid to pick up his/her trash and have it respected. However, a janitor does not have as much power (no grade control) so they should be strongly supported by administration. This ESL teacher needs to have her position built up and into the classroom. The kids need to see her as valuable as the regular ed teacher (BECAUSE SHE IS!!!) She can bring a different perspective for those that are struggling to grasp concepts. She can give feedback to the regular ed teacher on what she sees (how the students are doing, what is going over well, discipline problems, etc...) She can split the student:teacher ration in HALF!!!! TWICE THE HELP!!! THink of all the benefits!!! Even classroom management should be better. The kids should get caught doing bad stuff TWICE AS OFTEN!!! HELLO!!! Meaning they should be on track 2x better than a classroom with one teacher. THANK YOU ESL's and SEA's for making my life so much easier. From one teacher to another--I am glad you are apart of my classroom!