Spelling Test

I was subbing for a seventh grade English class somewhere.  I was to give a pretest for spelling after the kids had finished their worksheet.  I asked the kids to put their words away, to take the pretest.

As I was giving out the words along with sentences to go along with the word - I noticed one girl copying directly from her worksheet.

Now - it's always best to presume innocence - right?

"Dear - I think you need to put your worksheet in your folder."

"She's cheating."  Another student was horrified.

"Just put it away." I said.

The young dear looked at me and announced... "We can look at these for our pretests - how else are we going to know how to spell them?"

I was not prepared for her to defend herself in THAT manner.

"Well..."

"THE pretest is just so you get an idea on what words you have a problem with."  Another student suggested irritatedly.

"I'm not putting it away."  She was stubborn.

"Ok."  I said.

"YOU'RE going to let her cheat!"  They were surprised.

"No."   I was calm.  I looked at the girl and said.  "I'm going to write a letter to the teacher explaining what happened. I"m quite sure I don't want to argue about this"

Boy - did that sheet get put in her notebook quickly.

The rest of the class sighed in relief.

I went on to the next word.