I am currently a freshman at a Bay Area high school. I was accused of cheating when I sent my English paper to one of my peers for peer review. He used my paper, poorly paraphrased it, and got us both in trouble. Will this affect my chances of getting into a college/ getting letters of recommendation?
It will depend on how your school handles and reports the incident. Obviously, the teacher of this class would not be a good candidate for your LOR. However, most don’t use freshman teachers as recommenders. Either way, don’t share your work with peers. D once shared a homework assignment. The student made copy and put their name in it. D learned a hard lesson.
Honestly, I think you’ll be fine unless there is a harsh disciplinary action conducted for plagiarism, such as automatic failure of class (highly unlikely). If anything, you’ll receive an F for that assignment and that would affect your grade. Considering that you’re a freshman, you definitely have time to build relationships with the people to whom you want to get a letter of recommendation from down the line. If it bothers you to have the teacher see you in that way, talk with them and apologize for the situation and don’t let it happen again.