Hola, como esta?

In order to foster Marisa's learning and understanding of the Spanish language, I've encouraged Marisa to continue with taking Spanish. I wanted Marisa to have a positive and enjoyable experience in this class and firmly believed that she would appreciate a more in-depth look of the language and culture by taking Spanish IV.

Well, my intentions were good but my execution was bad. I forced my daughter to take this class even though she insisted on not continuing with learning Spanish. Marisa only needed to take three years of a foreign language but I wanted her to "look" good on paper when she apply for colleges. I thought that by continuing with Spanish, this would substantiate that Marisa was committed to continuing her education. I wanted Marisa to prove that she could stick to something longer than the requirements. I've been told that the road to hell is paved with good intentions and in this case, hell is where Marisa is with her Spanish teacher and class!

Marisa returned from school yesterday and told me that she had received a zero on her assignment. I was floored, of course. She said that her teacher accused her of plagiarism, which I totally disagreed. Under the rules that the teacher had provided, "You may NOT consult other outside sources such as peers, native speakers or online translators. These will be deemed as plagiarism, unethical, and a violation of Freedom’s honor code, that will result in a grade of zero “0” for the assignment in which they were used." I remember this assignment, Marisa had asked for me to look at her work but I don't know Spanish well so I recommended for Marisa to look online.

I feel responsible that Marisa was penalized for something that I’ve encouraged for her to do. I understand that it is imperative for students in a foreign language at this level to abide by the rules and complete their own work. I believe that Marisa tried her best to complete the assignment on her own. It never dawn on me that when I told Marisa to look up words from the online Spanish to English dictionary that I was asking her to plagiarize. The choice that Marisa made was due to my recommendation and I sincerely believe that Marisa did not believe that what she did was wrong. I, myself, did not think that it was wrong to advise Marisa to take initiative and do further research on her assignment. I guess that this is a hard lesson that both Marisa and I must learn. The biggest lesson that I’m teaching Marisa is that she must continue to try her best. I also told Marisa that in life, there are always opportunities for someone to do better than before. I just don't want Marisa to be discouraged because her teacher was not willing to reconsider her situation. I know that sometimes it's not just black or white but at times there's other colors in between. I told Marisa that as long as I know that she is putting in every effort to try her best, I'm happy with that. I also told Marisa that her dad and I have every confidence that she is capable of attaining anything as long as she try...never give my baby girl.