Voicemail

I've been accused of cheating by my teacher...?

I take Spanish I online with Florida Virtual School, which allows me to get the same credit and grade for the class without actually spending a year in this class. Now I don't really need this class since I already took the required 2 years of foreign language, but I took it anyways to boost up my GPA. But anyways, I was really behind the class and I submitted like 5 assignments last night, that actually took a lot of time, since I had to research things on different websites to find my answers. So today I went to check to see if my teacher had graded any of the assignments and I see that my teacher has given me a 0 on three of the 5 assignments I have submitted because I "cheated". Mind you, I don't know anyone else who is taking the class for me to copy off their work, the answers that you had to give were pretty basic answers that anyone could of had, and the girl she accused me of cheating off of I never even heard of in my life. My mother left a voicemail to make a complaint to her and I also wrote her an e-mail to state my case, but do you think she was kind of out of out of line to give me a 0 without letting me explain my story???

Public Comments

1. Definately out of line. Don't let this go. See the principal etc. until you get it resolved. Teacher
2. Well, if she is accusing you, you should ask for prove, otherwise, she cannot just give you a zero because she "felt" like you've cheated. Talk to her and ask her, sometimes it could be because she made a mistake with the online course, but if she is still insisting on accussing u of cheating, you should ask for a prove, or talk to the principal or someone who is responsible for her. Good Luck!
3. in order to tell your story you will have to appeal. go to the dean's office and ask for student handbook and explanation of policies (i.e. how to file appeal). during the appeal process your teacher will have to explain why she thought you were cheating. Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4. When you obtained this information online, did you use the verbiage exactly word for word from the sites you used? Is she accusing you of plagiarism? Could that be her rationale for accusing you? Did you use the same verbiage as the other girl you are accused of cheating off of? She should allow you to explain before jumping to conclusions. A fair and unbiased teacher researches all sides of a story. If you put this assignment in your own words and exerted much time and effort in completion of these assignments, start to climb the hierarchical chain to resolve this. Teacher should not infer, or blatantly accuse you of cheating (or any other student) unless she has cold hard proof. The burden is on her to prove you cheated. Talk with the head of the school if necessary, and file a written grievance. Persist and be polite yet firm in your mannerisms. Climb as far as you need to go. Do not back down. It is good that your mother can help in acting as an advocate on your behalf. If what you state is true, she is very out of line and chances are she has done this to other students as well. Good Luck!
5. No, she was right to do that, and it wasn't unfair of her. This is what I would guess happened. You used online sources for your answers on the assignments and copied things pretty directly, rather than rewording them and changing them around. She did the same thing. Since you both used the same search engine, the same sites came up for both of you, and you both gave identical answers, probably including incorrect answers (a lot of websites are pretty shoddy and can't be counted on to be correct). Any teacher would fail you if she got identical answers from you and someone else, especially if not all of those answers were correct. You need to show her where you got your answers. The other girl will have to do the same. And then she can adjust your grade to reflect what you really got.