Sorry if wrong category but I don’t know where to put this.
Basically today, I took a math test. I felt super prepared for it because I had studied so much. I was cruising through the problems like they were nothing when my phone fell out of my pocket. Without thinking, I habitually picked up the phone and placed it on my desk, and finished the remaining problems without realizing my phone was on the desk the entire time. Right when I was checking my work, my teacher spotted the phone, took my test, and scribbled a big fat 0 on the paper. Now, I’m facing a bad grade, and more importantly, a bad mark on my permanent disciplinary record.
Before I say anything, I can totally understand why the teacher would think I’m cheating, seeing as I had a phone on my desk. I tried to argue with the teacher after school. I tried to tell her that it was all a big mistake. I said that my phone was off when she caught me, so she had no proof that I was actually cheating. Since it was a math test, I also said that I showed all the steps to getting the answer. I even offered to show her my browser history and everything. Unfortunately, she would hear none of this, and even refused to let me retake the test. Since she didn’t actually catch me HOLDING my phone or using it, do I really deserve to fail the class and have a dent on my record?
What should I do now? Should I keep arguing? What should I say? Should I take this to the principal? Taking advice down below!
Ask your parents to contact your guidance counselor ASAP. If your phone was on your desk for the entire class, I could see that being a problem, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Perhaps the teacher was having a stressful day and reacted accordingly. Your offer to retake the test was appropriate, and seems to be a reasonable compromise.
The take away is that if it happens again, nudge your phone to a safe spot under your desk, and retrieve it after the test. Admittedly that isn’t everyone’s first instinct. Better yet, keep it in your backpack instead of your pocket, as the students in DD’s high school are required to do.
Good luck. We all make mistakes, but if what you posted is all there is to the story, I think a rewind is in order.
Phone out on the desk would have been an issue at my dd’s HS too as policy was phones stay in the lockers. Not sure you approached it very diplomatically with your teacher based on what you shared here, but I agree with getting your parents involved.
You can imagine as a teacher you have heard every lie in the book. There is also no reason to have a phone on your desk during a test. You have to think of phones as a privilige not a right during a test.
That said, I agree with others…have your parents contact the GC.