Cheaters

So, I caught three students plagiarizing this week - two on their final research paper and one on an essay that he rewrote that I just got around to grading. I have encountered cheating in my class before, but this particular set of cheaters really got me riled up and just downright angry. Most of my past cheaters have owned up to it, rewritten their assignment for half credit, and either gotten a lot better at it or given it up altogether. I respect these students. I mean, yes, they cheated, but at least when confronted, they admitted their wrongdoing and suffered the consequences like mature adults. One of my cheaters from first semester even signed up for my class again, earned an A this time, and then wrote me a really nice e-mail about how he appreciated me putting up with him and not holding that incident against him. The group of cheaters I just apprehended are not acting like this. They are not only cheaters, but liars as well. Here are their stories:

A - A basically slept through my class this semester. He constantly turned in assignments late and before the cheating incident had a very low C. The plagiarism detection website we use discovered that he had copied passages from two different "Free Online Research Papers" websites for his 2nd essay of the semester. When I asked him to explain it, he replied, "I didn't use those websites and I cited all my sources too." Strangely, so did the online essays! I asked him to explain how the wording and structure of his paper were identical to the online ones and he wrote me a long e-mail about how "it was a very broad topic and people can come up with the same ideas." Apparently in the exact same words and with the exact same typos. He ended up with a 59.8 in my class, and normally I round up, but I didn't for this one.

B - Five paragraphs from his research paper were copied directly from an online article on his topic. He did not cite the article, and in fact he cited another source instead which had nothing to do with the information he provided. When I asked him about it, he freaked out and was like, "I don't know how this happened! I never saw or read this article! What do I do?" I told him he needed to explain to me how, if he had never seen the article, five paragraphs of it appeared verbatim and uncited in his paper. He said, "I don't know! But this doesn't mean I fail your class, right? I can't afford to fail any classes!" Yes, it does. And I guess you couldn't afford to cheat on your final research paper, then. I told him I had to fail him, but if he could come up with some exonerating evidence, he could request a grade change. Then, he had the audacity to say, "I don't know how to prove it! What evidence is there? Can you help me?" Um, no. I really can't.

C - Four pages of his final research paper were poorly formatted block quotes from news articles. Seriously. Like, he had a two-page quote in there. He might as well have just printed out the articles for me and turned them in instead of his paper. To his credit, though, he did cite them properly. :) When I told him about it, he responded, "Oh, wow. I'm really sorry. I didn't know. I've never written a research paper before and I thought I could do it. What should I do?" I told him he should retake the class, and he very politely said, "Ok. Thank you." The end.

I've come to just expect to discover a few students cheating here and there. It's sad and disturbing, but that's just how it is. If they'll admit it, I will give them a break and not hold it against them later on. But these guys (with the exception of C, who almost made me laugh with his serene acceptance of the situation) are driving me crazy. What do they think they are gaining by continuing to lie? But, then my husband says, "What will they gain by telling the truth?" Nothing. Except my respect for them, I suppose, and they obviously don't care about that.

Cheesy Lifetime Movie

I had a silly movie on today while I was writing my paper, and it turned out to be more of a distraction than I was hoping. It was a made-for-TV movie that originally aired in 2004 called "I Want to Marry Ryan Banks." Why are you watching such drivel, Laura? I'll tell you. It starred Bradley Cooper (Will from Alias who I love, love, love), Emma Caulfield (Anya from Buffy who is my absolute favorite), and Jason Priestly. How can I NOT watch it?

I wasn't expecting much. In fact, I was kind of expecting Bradley Cooper and Emma Caulfield to go considerably down in my standings. I was wrong. The movie was adorable. Here's the plot:

Bradley Cooper and Jason Priestly are best friends. Jason is an actor and Bradley is his manager. Jason's career starts to go down the tubes, so Bradley invents a reality TV show for him a la "The Bachelor." Emma Caulfield plays one of the contestants whose sister entered her into the competition. Both guys like her, but since Jason Priestly is the star of the show, he's the one who gets the real shot at her. Because he's a self-involved actor, he bumbles around and doesn't know how to talk to her because she's a nice, normal girl, so Bradley Cooper starts feeding him lines over his earpiece a la "Cyrano de Bergerac." BUT, Emma Caulfield is not completely stupid like Roxane, and she figures it out!!!! I loved that part. And she likes the guy she supposed to like - the one with the beautiful soul - instead of the dopey pretty boy. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Bradley Cooper is totally hot and doesn't have a super-huge nose. I would like him better, too.

Anyway, I really liked the movie. I liked it that the woman 1) figured out what was going on before the movie was even half over and 2) didn't cause a bunch of manufactured drama over Bradley Cooper feeding Jason Priestly his lines since that was, after all, his job. If you're ever completely bored and want to watch a romantic-type movie with good kissing, watch this. I was really surprised at how not bad it was.

Restroom Gossip

I got an e-mail from my friend Lara today, and it said, "I saw this in a public restroom, and I thought you should know what people are saying about you."


I laughed so hard!

Baby Dream

I dreamed last night we had a baby boy. But we forgot to tell our mothers until, like, two days after the birth. Plus, we had forgotten to have a baby shower, and we hadn't bought any stuff ourselves. So we didn't have a car seat, so we couldn't take him anywhere, we had no diapers, no formula, nothing. And we didn't want to name him. I was like, "I don't like any of the names Jonathan likes. Let's just call him Baby for right now. He doesn't know the difference." Then I left my two-day-old infant home alone while I went to the store to buy all the crap he needed.

Bathroom Floor

Jon retiled the bathroom floor himself last weekend. I think he did a fantastic job! No more hole in the guest bathroom floor! This place is really coming together.

Morocco!

We bought our tickets today! We are officially going! We leave July 23 and return on Aug 2. Jonathan has taken Aug 3 off, too, as a recovery day since we have learned in our old age that is a good thing to do when recovering from jet lag. The way the trip worked out is that we land in Casablanca, and we will be staying with my friend in Fez until July 30. Then we'll take the train toTangiers, then take the ferry to Spain, rent a car, and drive to Malaga. That gives us time to take a day trip to Granada to see the Alhambra (Jonathan has been before, but I haven't, and I actually wrote a paper on some of the ceiling paintings in it, so I'm soooooo excited to see them in person!) and kind of relax one day before we head back on Aug 2. We leave from Malaga to go back to Dallas, which I thought would be SUPER expensive, but instead the multi-city ticket is almost half the price of a regular round trip ticket. Plus, now we have no excuse not to go to the Alhambra! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I am so excited!

Electricians Done!

Ceiling fan installed in the office!

Microwave installed in the kitchen! Now we can take the other one out of our bedroom!

Beautiful new pineapple light fixture in the kitchen! I really like the pattern it makes on the ceiling.

The electricity is done! Now all we have to do is the tile backsplash, wood trim, and finish up the guest bathroom, but those are all aesthetic things. Our house is now fully functional!!!!!!