Teacher in Training

Plagiarism (again!)

I was grading my Government class’ finals when I noticed something odd about a student’s paper. I was reading the paper when I realized that it sounded very familiar. So, I googled portions of the paper to find that the student copied the entire thing from oyez.org.

And this time, I am so disappointed in this student. I have previously mentioned this student on this tumblr and I have worked so hard to help this kid through school. I became emotionally invested in seeing this kid pass Government and get his high school diploma. However, when I realized he plagiarized the final paper, I became so disappointed with him and angry with myself. I want to believe that I did something wrong in the process of the semester so I can pass this student…

I met with my Government host teacher today and he told me I did everything I can do as a teacher. I have told my classes not to plagiarize. We have talked about plagiarism. I have explained plagiarism and why it’s wrong. I reminded them not to plagiarize on this assignment. And yet, this student still did a copy a paste job.

This student’s grades were not great throughout the semester. He had a C until two weeks ago when he missed a week of school and never turned in any of the make-up work (there was a lot of assignments that week). Now, he is 4% shy of a D, but even if I gave him a D on the paper, he would still have an F in the class.

I don’t want to fail this student, but at this stage in the semester (today was the last day of the semester/break starts tomorrow), what other choice do I have?

P.S. Today was my last day of student teaching. I am officially done with college. Erm…well…now what do I do?