Last week, as students were correcting their homework assignments, I observed one student writing furiously. I made my way, as subtly as I could, to an area behind his desk, and watched him copy answers from the answer key. I made a mental note of this and went on with my lesson. At the end of the period, when I gathered the papers to enter the grades, I found his on top of the stack, hastily written and unscored. I scored it for him--zero, because that's what you get for academic dishonesty in my class--and wrote him a short note to that effect. I then entered his grade along with all the other papers and filed them away.
Today he came up to me at the beginning of class and asked about his grade on the assignment. I directed him to the graded papers file and began today's lesson.I could tell by the look on his face during class that he had found his paper and read my note. He was shocked, and clearly unhappy.
So at the end of class, he came up to me, assignment in hand, and asked bluntly, "What is this?"
"I saw you copying answers last time, so I gave you a zero."
"I wasn't copying answers!"
"I watched you do it."
"I was doing my math homework."
"No, you weren't. You were copying answers."
"No, I wasn't! I was..."
"I know what I saw."
"Do you?!"
"Yes, I do. Enjoy your lunch."
I'm gonna get a nasty e-mail from a parent this evening, I can feel it already.