A little more than a month ago, my teacher walked over me while I was taking a test and told me specifically to keep my eyes on my own paper. She also told the guy sitting in front of me to move. I wasn’t cheating, but I did look up at the clock to see how much time I had left. Since that incident, no disciplinary action has been taken, but I know that she is very paranoid about cheating (almost like she wants to catch students doing it). Her attitude toward me has also become significantly more suspicious. Realistically, could she still find me guilty of cheating? Or should I stop worrying?
If so, and I am found guilty, how would this affect my chances of getting into top schools? Other than this incident, I am very well qualified.
@phoenixmomof2 But they can’t realistically “catch me cheating” for this incident at this point in time, right? I’m just worried because this teacher is really paranoid and kind of obsessive about that sort of thing. Also, I’ll be sure to bring a watch next time so nothing like this happens again. Thanks so much!
Make sure your eyes do not even leave your paper to look at anything while you are in this teacher’s class lol. It’s been so long, so you have not been punished for that particular incident–just make sure nothing happens in the future and you are fine!
As a parent, I’d have a bit problem with a teacher accusing my kid “cheated” a month ago.
Relax. The teacher wouldn’t wait to accuse you.
Back to work.
So… I had completely forgotten about this incident until I saw that my end of semester grade had dropped several letter grades. Upon looking further into this, I saw that my teacher had retroactively changed my score on the 100-point test (from the first week of March!) to a zero because she thought I had “cheated.” Obviously, this ruined my GPA. My teachers, parents, and other relevant adults are incredibly disappointed in me, which will probably ruin my rec letters as well.
What can I do, if anything? Is my teacher even allowed to do this to me for a test from more than 2 months ago? I’m devastated (crying as I type this). 11th grade was about to end on such a high note until this happened. Please help if possible.
Do you have the graded test with the initial grade? Any “proof” of what the score was before it was changed?
As a parent, and if this happened to my kid spring of junior year, I would email the teacher asking in a polite way to schedule a meeting to discuss the sudden grade drop, and I would copy the guidance counselor on the email or loop them in somehow. Then, in the meeting – with parent leading the conversation, I would ask the teacher to walk through the teaunderstanding of the events. Before any meeting, take a look at the class syllabus to see if it says anything about discretion for grade changes or other penalties for suspected cheating, and be familiar with any school-wide policies in this area.
Essentially, you would like the teacher to come to the view that it is improper to penalize a student after the fact, for something which had not been “investigated” at the time.
If there is more to the story, be prepared that it might not go the way you hope.
She never hands back tests, hasn’t done so all year. What I know (but have no proof of) is that it was in the grade book as an A- until now. I don’t have access to the syllabus, but I used to assume that school officials were real people who would not let this happen. In the meeting you suggested, it would be her word vs mine, and I’m not even sure that my parents are on my side.
Something vaguely similar happened to my son junior year. I asked for a meeting with the assistant principal and the teacher. The teacher couldn’t make the meeting but filled the AP in before I met with him. He let me talk and talk but in the end he completely supported the teacher. My feeling is that it is built into the system, they let you vent but in the end the administration will support the teacher.
@b1ggreenca So sorry that your son went through that. If you don’t mind me asking, how did that affect his college application process/the schools he got into?
Wow, that seems really rough… I’m sorry to hear about your predicament.
A cheating accusation seems pretty serious. Is there any chance for you to appeal? If you were copying, wouldn’t your answers match the person in front of you, even if they were wrong?
The closest thing to an appeal would be the meeting that Midwestmomofboys described earlier in the thread. And since I have no hard evidence that I didn’t cheat, I don’t see how my word would beat my teacher’s. As for convincing her that her logic is flawed, that might be difficult since she just retroactively changed my grade from 2 months ago.
I think that, the long gap between the original grade and the recent change could be a basis for requesting, respectfully, particularly given the impact on 11th grade grades, that the teacher has used improper procedures here in changing the grade retroactively, without notice to the student. For what it’s worth, we had some success meeting politely – but with determination – with a teacher who suddenly enforced a new expectation without any notice to our student. Emphasizing the lack of notice and the opportunity to adjust to the retroactive grade change could be persuasive to the teacher and the guidance office if the OP can get them involved as well.
