Starr Sackstein, MJE, NBCT

Students in the AP class know the down side to Plagiarism, but we too often take for granted that they understand; we must teach, practice, repeat until we know they know.

No teacher enjoys second guessing a studetnt’s integrity. That child who has failed to submit work often or doesn’t work in front of us. The one who submits a paper that seems just a little too good. The pit in our stomachs when we place any given quote into Google only to find several documents that been mercilessly stolen from and passed off as original.

I’ve had to staple printed internet sources to projects and/or papers, whole sections highlighted and confront students about their work. Aside from feeling disappointed, hurt or betrayed that the student has not sought my help or angry because he/she believed they’d get away with it, I have to ask myself what I did to prevent it or encourage it.

Cutting and pasting is just too easy with the availability of excellent resources online. It was harder when we were kids; we had to copy directly from a book, whole pieces of information that may have been harder to detect. The temptation, however, to avoid thinking for ourselves has never changed; plagiarism palpably seduces students: control c + control v makes a challenging assignment appear simple.

Teachers have quite a task helping students understand what plagiarism is, why it shouldn’t be done and how to avoid it.

Too often we mention it, but never really explain what it is and more importantly how to NOT do it. Read more »

Seniors work on their written drafts before typing in order to make sure they are on the right track.

My inbox slowly populated this morning with the first drafts of research papers, the third step in our research project. Students have already carefully developed topics and fleshed out research outlines and now they have tackled the first piece of putting it all together.

So now, the real work and research begins.

Today in class, students will be tasked in working with a partner to read their first drafts. They will be asked to ignore annoying small grammatical problems in place of noticing strengths and areas in need of strengthening and development. Read more »

Students work in class to outline for their research papers, setting up a plan to adequately prepare for writing

Back in the classroom, the students sit with piles of research, a list of electronic resources and a giant question mark as to what comes next; it’s time to teach students about outlining to help organize the journey forward.

Organization is a key part to a successful outcome in research.  Teaching students how to plan their research and then how to place the research into their paper is a skill that can easily be taught and practiced. Giving students this skill will provide them a replicable process once they are in college to alleviate last minute work and procrastination. Read more »

Students worked in groups exploring book sources, something I fear they aren’t very familiar with.

The dining hall is near empty and my students probably haven’t even left their houses yet. Me, however, I’m at Queens College bright and early settling into to day 2 of our research process. My mind is laser focused on how to serve them as they embark on what can be an excruciatingly frustrating process unforgiving to our patience.

Topics have ascended upon my inbox and I realize that most of my students’ papers will not resemble these preliminary ideas. The few lucky ones may have a genetic connection through the literature, but the likelihood of exact topics this early on are slim.

Students today don’t deal with complete freedom as well as you would think. They are comfortable and reliant on our choice of questions or proscribed expectation. College won’t offer them the detail. Read more »