5 Simple Tricks to Reduce Cheating in the Middle School ELA Classroom
Kids today are overwhelmed. They’re tired. They’re burned out. They don’t always have the greatest role models. And with the ridiculous amount of pressure they face, cheating often seems like the easy way out. As teachers, though, we have a responsibility to give our students the opportunity to learn for themselves and to grow into people who can face the future. How can we lessen their temptation to cheat? Here are five quick tiups:
Focus assignments on students’ independent reading, rather than whole-class books.
When I used to give my students assignments based on our read-alouds, I noticed that my students felt pressure to give answers that were similar to everyone else’s. They felt like there was a “right” answer, and if their answers were different from their classmates’, they weren’t getting it right. This led to an over-abundance of sharing answers and copying. Since then, I have changed how I teach and how I give assignments. I use our read-alouds to model reading strategies and skills, but my students’ assignments are based on the books they are reading independently. This means that each student’s answers will be different, and the motivation to cheat is reduced significantly. (I write more about how to make independent reading work in this post.)
Give students more opinion questions than fact questions.
When my students are asked questions with one “right” answer, they tend to look up the answers online. I don’t think they even realize it’s cheating; they just think of it as the easiest and quickest way to find their answer. Because of this, I try to give my students as many opinion questions as possible. This makes them really stop and think, and if I make them provide evidence from the text, they’re still recalling plenty of facts in their answers. (You can find a fun textual evidence activity here.)
Complete work in class.
My students are expected to read outside of class, but that’s it. I don’t give homework. In my opinion, middle school is not too early to start practicing healthy work-life boundaries. When my kids go home, I want them to eat, rest, and play. Because my students complete their work in class, I am always available to help them, and they have fewer reasons to cheat. If they do start taking shortcuts, I am right there to help nudge them back in the right direction.
If your students use iPads, use an app to monitor their screens.
When my school started using the Apple Classroom app, it was a game-changer for me. I can monitor each student’s iPad at one time, and the students see a little blue bar on their screen that reminds them I am watching. Accountability is so helpful for students at this age!
Avoid post-reading checks for independent reading.
I know some people argue that requiring a book report or quiz after each book will increase academic honesty, but I have found the opposite to be true. When I had my students respond to each book they read, many would skim through to find the information they needed for their report, and focus more on the assignment than on the book they were reading. When I took away their post-reading assignments, my students started to just read their books instead.
Yes, some people will always find a way to be dishonest, but many of our students can succeed with a little extra accountability and fewer reasons to cheat. Pick one tip to try this week, and see how it goes!
