Dear colleague,
If the past couple of school years are any indication, this one's going to require us to be even better at teaching academic integrity and helping our students to Value putting forth their honest, best work versus the work of a partner or a robot.
That is why I am thankful to share something English teacher Dr. Carolyn Ross of Ramapo High School relayed to me in response to one of my newsletter articles. Here's Carolyn explaining what she was noticing in student work and what she did about it:
Over the past few weeks I noticed my students starting to cut corners in different ways: articles of the week reflections were identical to classmates'; when asked to write a chapter summary as a sort of reading check, they tried to sneak a peek at a phone or computer… that kind of thing. I addressed it with individual students, but when I reflected on it I thought there was something universal happening here related to a mid-year slump. So I set out to re-center our purpose and also clarify my expectations.
I first reminded students of the goals they had set for themselves at the beginning of the year–that they wanted to become better readers, writers and thinkers (slide 2).
And then I explained that it's natural to lose sight of those intrinsic goals as time goes on and shift to “just getting by” — trying to pass the quiz, get the homework done, etc. But working like that won't actually improve our skills. I told them I brainstormed a list of reasons why we cheat or cut corners (slide 3) and asked them if I missed anything.
They seemed a little wide-eyed to see it spelled out so directly, and someone said, “No, that covers it” and we laughed. Then when I talked about the choice they had when they found themselves unprepared (slide 4) — to either try to cheat or to accept what had happened and learn from it, they were visibly moved by my suggestion that above all else they give themselves some grace.
One of my students (who had gotten a zero on an assignment recently because she had sneaked her phone) leaned back in her seat and said, “Dr. Ross, this is like, inspiring.” 😂
All in all, I felt really good about the effect it had. I think it built trust that I named the behaviors directly, and set us up for less strife in the future now that my expectations are super clear. They know what happens if they cheat, but they also know I won't think they are a bad person. And I could see a number of them really benefited from being reminded that they do value improving their skills, and they want to leave this class stronger readers, writers, and thinkers.
Here's my take:
- Carolyn did a lot of masterful things here:
- She noticed a problem.
- She rightly identified that the problem was bigger than a few students.
- She reminded students of what they Valued and what their goals were (this is a riff on Valued Within and the Define Success: Wisely, Early, Often strategies I describe in The Will to Learn).
- She got very clear and specific about why students resort to academic dishonesty, what it looks like (e.g., peaking at a phone), and what to do instead. (This is Woodenization, basically).
- And Carolyn's results were encouraging:
- The students laughed.
- They felt seen (likely because she humanized the motivations for academic dishonesty).
- At least one student felt, like, inspired! 😉
Anyways, I wanted to share it (with Carolyn's permission) in case it helps here. Here are her slides.
Teaching right beside you,
DSJR
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