During one post-evaluation conference (teacher) Martel told (principal) Cahall what he did to frustrate cheating when students are so close together. He created two versions of the same test by putting the pages in different sequences, a method many teachers endorse. He showed Cahall a quiz on which he printed the questions in a smaller font, making them harder to read from the next chair over.The principal tried to defend himself later in the article, but he's still an idiot.
These struck Martel as useful methods in a high school--like nearly all high schools--where many students will cheat if given a chance. He was startled when Cahall expressed a different view.
“You are creating an expectation that students will cheat,” Martel recalls Cahall saying. “By creating that expectation, they will rise to your expectation.”
When I asked Cahall about it, he did not deny that he said it. His intention, he said, was not to prohibit Martel’s methods but to urge him to consider another perspective.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Teacher Encourages Cheating?
That's what his principal says.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I guess I encourage cheating too. I have 5 different versions of the tests with same questions, just mixed up and the multiple choices are out of order as well.
I have caught 2 cheaters this year because it's easy to see them staring for so long trying to see the right answer.
I never worried about cheating, because I was confident that I would catch anyone who tried. And, I told my students this. And, I told them precisely how I would catch them. And, catch them I did . . .something like 30 in 13 years. Making it difficult for them to cheat is not the same as expecting them to cheat. I also told my students that I would assume that they were honest until they proved otherwise, at which point they would almost certainly fail my class. Word got out, eventually, and despite the high total numbers, it declined every year until it got to at most 1 per year.
I encourage cheating on the review in terms of using any means necessary to learn the concepts. On the exam itself, I simply label the top of the page A, B, C, or D. Other than that, the tests are identical. Nobody cheats because they expect me to have different tests, but I don't.
If we want to stop cheating in our schools we should get rid of multiple choice exams and replace them with written exams.
George
Cheating occurs even when multiple choice is not the mode of testing--as in math class.
Post a Comment