You'll have days like this...

9th grade English teacher here. Mid-May. Seniors have already graduated. We're closed due to Covid. And I still manage to have a day like this.<br><br>Js is a commonly used term around here, if you didn't know. It's when a student submits a plagiarized assignment, identical to at least 15 other students. Honestly, I'm ok with it to an extent: it's probably a shit assignment, and I'll get to read the same (usually) poorly written paragraph 15 times in a row.<br><br>Anyway, it's the pandemic and I'm getting lazy with the assignments after a while. We have a unit on persuasive writing. The students are supposed to write a letter to their local government representative on a topic of their choice.<br><br>I have 12 classes of these kids in one day. That's 250 kids, give or take. So I've got a pretty good system (or so I thought) of organizing them in this virtual classroom. <br><br>3 sets of 4 kids are assigned to each letter of the alphabet. I have 12 students with last names in the As, 4 sets of 3 kids in the Bs, 4 kids in the Cs, and so on. <br><br>It's going fine for the first hour or so. I get a few students here and there who have questions or issues with submitting or whatever. <br><br>Mid morning, I start seeing the Js. Same paragraph about the importance of music education. Then again. And again, and again, and again. <br><br>I finally look at the assignment list alphabetically and start noticing a theme. **I have 63 students with "C" last names.** 12 of them have submitted this exact same letter about music education, complete with an identical reference to a study. <br><br>Rest assured, I have sent those 12 students a very kind, understanding message about resubmitting the assignment and doing it before next week so they can still get credit. About 40 other kids with "C" last names are going to get the same instructions later today. <br><br>I've watched several of them submit their assignments, students who already know they plagiarized and have been found out. <br><br>How do you plagiarize a letter like this? Your standardized letter is addressed to my city council, which you do not live in. The topic is something I didn't assign, and doesn't seem interesting to this age group. <br><br>Perhaps I will write them a scathing letter on the importance of proper citations.