What can you do when a teacher accuses a student of handing in a paper that is not the student’s?

May 20th, 2010 | by admin |

My nephew handed in a paper. The teacher emailed my sister and said that he believes that the paper was not written by her son. My sister is furious with the teacher. Luckily, my sister found the rough draft. My sister even kept the second and third drafts with the teacher comments on it. She had a meeting with the teacher and the teacher still insists that he believes that my nephew didn’t write it. What can my sister do now?

Prove the teacher wrong or suck it up….that is the two avenue’s I see you taking.

  1. 7 Responses to “What can you do when a teacher accuses a student of handing in a paper that is not the student’s?”

  2. By Becky on May 20, 2010 | Reply

    She could go to the principal or dean of the school to ask what to do or file a grievance against the teacher.

    Good luck!
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  3. By Stinky McGee on May 20, 2010 | Reply

    Well, I guess have a meeting with the teacher and the teacher’s boss (prin. or dept. head). Although, as a teacher, I have to say I suspect there is something more to this story. Unless the teacher is just plain nuts. I can tell you I get a lot of plagiarized papers, in whole or in part, mostly off the internet. Are you sure you have the whole story?
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  4. By minimeeeee on May 20, 2010 | Reply

    if your nephew really did write it , first tell the teacher of everything you know about the process of the paper. if the teacher does not believe it take it to the principle, if not i say take it to the district and if not the court. the child might just be smart and I know a child that was forced to go back to kindergarten after getting to 3rd grade just because he was 5 but soon after they found the child was just blessed with a IQ that was very high
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  5. By eri on May 20, 2010 | Reply

    Unless the teacher has solid proof – well about the level of any of his other work, or evidence of plagiarism – I don’t think the teacher can do anything about it.
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  6. By RandJ on May 20, 2010 | Reply

    As a former English teacher, I can tell you that plagarism is rampant across grade, gender, and school. Students are becoming very adept at finding their "research" online and cutting and pasting. One of my favorite examples was when a student cut and pasted from multiple sites… his paper was turned in with at least six different fonts and color schemes. He didn’t understand how I knew he cheated.

    To your scenario:

    Rather than going and filing a grievance, why not actually communicate with the teacher further? Teachers don’t make claims of plagarism without support and your sister may have missed something in the meeting. Also, teachers become very adept at recognizing a particular student’s writing style and can tell when something is off with their writing. Also, you might do a Google search on some of the questionable passages. That was how I nailed the vast majority of my students who cheated.

    Simply enter the questionable sentence in quotation marks, i.e. "Mark Twain was a raving lunatic who believed in the existence of the conundrum of the soul" and see if a result comes up. That can lead to proof of plagarism rather than an assumption.

    Cut your teacher some slack; he has some reason for his course of action. It isn’t to make his life worse, or your nephew’s.
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  7. By neniaf on May 20, 2010 | Reply

    Has the teacher explained WHY she believes that your nephew didn’t write the paper? It seems odd that if the teacher wrote comments on multiple drafts, she would think that your nephew didn’t write the paper. Did things improve so much that she thinks your sister or the boy’s father were too involved in writing the paper? I will tell you that as a college professor, I’ve been told that a student wrote multiple drafts himself, only to find out later on that someone else wrote the whole thing. I’m not saying that your nephew did this, but it IS possible for this to happen. The teacher may have been tipped off by another student or parent whose identity she can’t disclose.

    Your sister needs to fully understand the teacher’s arguments, and then take the situation to the principal if she is certain of his innoncence. If the teacher doesn’t have more than her general belief that the paper was written by someone else, she won’t get far. Be prepared, though, to discover that there may be more to this.
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  8. By Victoria K on May 20, 2010 | Reply

    Prove the teacher wrong or suck it up….that is the two avenue’s I see you taking.
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