Correcting teachers spelling mistakes

[Kendodd]

Now I have far from perfect spelling or grammar, but them I'm not a school teacher.

WIBU to point out the spelling mistakes in the teacher comments? If so then how? I don't want to come across as rude but if I were a teacher I would want them pointed out to me so that I can stop doing it.

*Please feel free to attack my spelling and grammar, as I said it's far from perfect.

[blackeyedsusan]

nicely.

i would not mind if someone did it politely... do they do green pen work at school? perhaps you could ask them to write them out seveal times?

[Notquite]

(Apostrophe missing in title). No, I would only correct an error in a spelling word. Errors may creep in when a teacher is marking loads of books quickly; I don't think it's necessarily a sign of a literacy problem. I'd give the teacher a break, tbh.

[RinderThrillerNight]

Ooh, can I attack your spelling and grammar please?

Before you do correct any spelling mistakes, I would make sure you know how to use apostrophes correctly.

Thank you. I feel better now

In answer to your question, I think it would really depend. Are you thinking of one teacher specifically (not clear from your OP due to lack of apostrophe ). Is it a regular thing? Can you give examples for us to judge?

[Kendodd]

Teachers'

Yes, you're right.

(Praying that was the missing apostrophe you were talking about).

[Katisha]

I don't find spelling mistakes in school communications acceptable at all.

[Themumsnot]

"Last week year 3 were looking at Moses' ark"

That will be the ark of the covenant. www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1777-ark-of-the-covenant

The school wasn't wrong, you were.

[Themumsnot]

Kendodd - IMO it all depends. What kind of errors and where?

[heggiehog]

I am very good at spelling, but when you have hundreds of pages of planning, assessments and comments to write each week, and work up to 12 hours a day in school, you can make mistakes. That's simply the way it is.

Please don't assume that all spelling errors are because the teacher doesn't know how to spell; it may be tiredness creeping in.

[WofflingOn]

I think spelling mistakes in communications home are avoidable and everything should be proofread. However, I am less hardline about comments in books. I try very hard not to make mistakes, my spelling is very good as is my grammar.
However, I am sometimes marking my third set of books at an ungodly hour of the early morning, and make mistakes. I have no objection to people pointing them out and will correct them, but it's usually something glaringly obvious, like ending a word with the initial letter of the next one,

[Hulababy]

I think unless it is regularly happening at stuff aimed at the children to learn from then I'd leave it. Typos and the odd errors can happen to anyone, especially if tired or have loads to do.

But often these things come down to how it is done. Polite pointing out in person - can work very well. Red pen on a letter returned - just comes across as rude and passive aggressive. I can't imagine the teacher will be overly impressed with the latter. I would assume most would roll their eyes and label the parent as a pain in the neck tbh. Ohm and unlikely to take it as anything more than an annoying response.

[DeputyChiefJohnson]

Years of school reports, parents evenings and letters home have convinced me that some basic literacy tests for new teachers can't come soon enough.
It isn't just accidental typing errors, it's the kind of grammatical clanger that signals a fundamental lack of competence in English.

I've never corrected though. It would annoy the teacher and wouldn't improve their literacy.

[messtins]

I am very pleased that the granny of a child in my son's class always points out the frequent glaring errors in the reminders on the board outside their classroom, thus saving me from being the bad guy. Requiring a B in English can't come soon enough. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, but these are not isolated incidents.
I assess written work for students as part of my job, and we have been told we are no longer allowed to pull them up on incorrect spelling or grammar. In 2012 anee peace of sloppy-ly ritten nonsense iz ok.

[Ephiny]

I got told off as a child for pointing out teachers' spelling mistakes. Maybe it's different if it comes from a parent though :)

I also don't see what's wrong with "Last week year 3 were looking at Moses' ark". As far as I know it's valid to use the apostrophe like that and omit an extra 's'. Or do you mean it should be Year 3 (upper case Y), or Ark (as it's a particular ark)? Fairly minor issues surely?

[stargirl1701]

Written or typed?

If written, yes.

If typed, no. May not be the teacher - e.g. Admin staff type the newsletter.

[Cathycomehome]

I've said it before on here, but I'll say it again. Not all teachers, primary or otherwise, are in teaching because it was the best they could manage with their 'C' at GCSE English and lower second degree in media studies from the University of Lower Piddle.

I have a first class degree from a University I now know, (from reading Mumsnet ), is a Russell Group one, and I choose to be a primary school teacher. I think a lot of these threads seem to assume that the majority of teachers, particularly primary, are a bit fick. And most of us isn't

[BupcakesAndHaunting]

DS's teacher keeps spelling his name wrong! He is Joseph and she spells it "Joesph" WTF?!

YANBU.

[stargirl1701]

Cathy

[cherrypez]

Lol, Ephiny, the ark belonged to Noah not Moses, that was the mistake! Another teacher here, agree with all who cited tiredness as the probable cause.

[EvilTwins]

I don't know- would you correct the spelling and/or grammatical errors made by other professionals? I took my kids to a soft play the other day and cringed at the sign reading "Girl's Toilets". Also in a shop last week, a sign saying "Stationary 99p" next to a display of envelopes. My kids are 6. They see signs and are just as likely to be influenced to spell badly by reading things when they're out and about. In the hairdresser today, there was a notice full of errors (along the lines of "we appreciate that you have chosen our salon to spend your precious time in it and we really appreciate it"- not handwritten- professionally printed) If you would point out these errors, then YANBU, but if you make specific exceptions for teachers, then YABU.

[whathasthecatdonenow]

I've bought one of those red pens that you can rub out so that when I've written a comment to the wrong child I can spare my blushes.

We have just started highlighting work in Perfect Pink and Growing Green highlighter which is doing my nut in for several reasons, the main one being that I keep forgetting which colour I have in my hand and making a right pig's ear of my marking.

Teachers are only human, and even those of us with generally good SPAG can make mistakes. Kindly pointing it out if it is a repeated error will be fine, correcting it in red pen will probably just get you muttered about in the staffroom.

[Cathycomehome]

It's very satisfying, though, when a parent corrects your newsletter smugly in such a way that it is wrong, and you can re - correct it in a different colour and send it back again obviously I would never be so childish

[noisytoys]

Last year a teacher wrote bearly instead of barely in my DD's reading record so I corrected it and drew her a little teddy bear