When the teachers get it wrong...

[AudTheDeepAndCrispAndEven]

What do you do? I'm not talking the odd typo but getting facts wrong. This week my kids have been told that a rhombus has no lines of symmetry, had arithmetic tests with incorrect answers (a weekly occurence) and this morning that there are three types of formal conjunction 'and, but and CASUAL' (this last should be causal). The teacher pronounces it 'casual' through the lesson too, so it's not just a typo. I private messaged her to let her know in a friendly way and have had rather a snotty reply. I know they are overworked and under appreciated blah blah but surely they should be checking what they are doing? I wouldn't get away with constant errors in my profession.

@Iggly our school asks that an adult be in the room during live lessons for safeguarding.

I've made mistakes in zoom lessons.

It si much more embarrasing than in an actual lesson, as I knwo parents are listening in.

I also sometimes get asked a question and I say - I don't know.
Sometimes I look it up straight away. Sometimes my students do. I think it is important to model curiosity and that we don;t knwo everything.

I teach 1:2:1 on zoom, so my safeguarding is that a parent must always be within earshot.

@ILoveShula

Teaching something incorrect is worse than not teaching it at all.

Shouldn't that be "incorrectly"? I feel for a member of staff teaching in school as well as doing pre-recorded lessons. Not sure that should be happening actually. OP it was reasonable to point it out but I suspect your comment was the straw that broke the camel's back in terms of how the teacher was feeling.

Yes, it should. I edited the post and forgot to add the ly.

Causal is easy to mix up with casual in that the eye wants to read it as casual, and a spellchecker won't pick it up, but the teacher should not have got i mixed up.

IME, teachers have thick skin and are never wrong.

I would have been glad to be corrected (albeit mortified for getting it wrong). I’ve worked with teachers that don’t fact check or spellcheck and it’s hard to teach children to edit their work when their teachers clearly aren’t. Anyone can make an error (I do it daily, couldn’t remember how to spell Egypt last week so had to ask the TA) but when it’s happening a lot I think it needs calling out.

I am a teacher and think you handled it correctly. Sometimes tones can be misinterpreted over messages but I don't think it would warrant a phone call.

I sometimes get brain fog and say the wrong thing but as we cover the same things several times it has never been an issue - that is the worst thing about being a teacher though when you are tired or feeling poorly you still have to be 'on' all of the time. But I would like to know if I have made a mistake because I didn't know it.

In the teacher's defense, I know of two teachers who have had to take time off due to their eyesight deteriorating because of how much screen time they are doing which makes reading difficult for them and this week I genuinely couldn't remember how old I was when one asked me - I think my brain is frazzled!

Teachers are human but it is not acceptable to not know basic information and be teaching it incorrectly. I would be very unhappy if my child had a teacher that didn't know how to pronounce or spell causal!! A snotty reply is also inappropriate.

We had this last lockdown. The teacher consistently used your and you're incorrectly in written correspondence with the children. It wasn't a one off, it was almost every day. Whatever the reason for it, it's not acceptable to make that mistake almost daily to children who are learning exactly that!

@ItsIgginningtolooklikelockdown Teaching something incorrect and teaching something incorrectly are two different things. 1st is teaching something, say a fact or spelling that is incorrect, and the latter is the act of teaching itself that is incorrect. Showing someone the wrong way to do something for example, or in an unsafe manner.

A minor detail, but as you brought it up 🤷

Once when my DC was given a spelling list with an incorrect spelling on it, I emailed the teacher to let her know. She replied saying how grateful she was that I'd spotted it and taken the time to let her know so she could correct it. That's what I'd expect!
If I spot errors in someone's work at work, I'd email them to let them know - it's not (or shouldn't be) a big deal. Everyone makes mistakes and we are always trying to encourage our children to not be afraid of making mistakes.

Yanbu op. Of course teachers make mistakes, we are only human (I would argue that basic spelling, grammar and arithmetic ought to be a given however). But we ought also to be able to accept when we are wrong.

Unless you were actually a tad passive aggressive, or condescending in your email the teacher is in the wrong to respond negatively.

Fwiw, as a parent we had a letter come home from school requesting that children wear a plain white t shit.

On mentioning it the head (I didn't go to the head, we were speaking in the school office) she was mortified as they had used the letter for years and no-one had mentioned it 😂

Yep-people make mistakes-not just teachers, obviously. My GP made quite a big mistake with my prescription last week! I mentioned it, she apologised, we laughed.

If you’d pointed that out to me, as a teacher, I would have thanked you and apologised.

My DCs go to a well-respected London prep school and this happens a LOT more often than it should. Things like mixing up its/it’s, fewer/less, and also blatant errors. The sheets some of the teachers give in lockdown are sometimes blurry hard to read. I’ve never said anything but it comes off as really unprofessional. In my work you have to make sure your work is correct and well-presented. There may be the rare typo but never grammar errors and never recurring.

I think you handled it well.
I also called it ‘casual’ conjunction for a while, glad I’m the only one...

It's totally fine for teachers to make mistakes, teaches the kids that EVEN teachers make mistakes so it's great for teachers to own up to it and correct their own mistakes.

And how will they do this unless it's pointed out? The delivery of pointing it out is relevant though, use tact and kindness and make sure you say you realise they are under huge pressure but you also thought they might want to know and it isn't a criticism... They might feel mortified but they should have replied graciously... However, if a teacher was making tons of mistakes then the deputy or the Head should be told incase they need to get some extra training

@CokeAndPepsi I've let a lot of stuff go (think gray instead of grey, of instead of have, practice instead of practise etc), but there have been so many this week it is ridiculous. I'm thinking of offering to pre-read stuff for free, but that will probably be classed as pass agg and cause offence. I also worry about the frequency of mistakes being taught in school when I would be none the wiser.

As a teacher, I can tell you that yes, mistakes happen, but no, it's not OK to make a mistake to this level without correcting it with students!

A typo, of course, will always happen and is usually picked up quickly and dealt with, but stating something repeatedly in a video that is incorrect, as is the case here with pronouncing causal (I take it?) as casual, could actually negatively impact on the learning of her students.

She needs to address this asap. If this had happened in n observed lesson she would have failed it.

If she doesn't address this and put it right with students I'd be speaking to the Head.

@Anonanon I promise I did it nicely! And whilst the teachers are under pressure, the parents aren't exactly having a rip-roaring time either.

DSs teacher was driving me potty the other day during as live lesson in which he kept pronouncing axis as "axeeze", as though it were plural. As the mic was off we just kept shouting "axis!" when he fudbut.

Then a couple of days ago, on recorded lesson, he 'cancelled down' a fraction to 15/40. DS pointed it out in the class feedback chat!

I'm thinking of offering to pre-read stuff for free, but that will probably be classed as pass agg and cause offence.

Ok I initially thought YANBU, but now you do seem to be turning a bit unkind and patronising... you need to rein it back in. I’m now wondering if the snotty email you got back is actually is down to you usually having a patronising attitude rather than the teacher being tetchy about making a mistake.

*when he did it, not "fudbut"!

I've let a lot of stuff go (think gray instead of grey, of instead of have, practice instead of practise etc)

The spellings make me think she is either using an American version of word that can automatically change the spelling or she was taught to spell in a different country.

All teachers in England have to do a literacy and numeracy test before they do their teacher training.

@Pinkblueberry not quite sure how you got to that conclusion. It was a genuine thought and consequent reconsideration of how it might be interpreted. I'm a proofreader and thought this could be a helpful offer, but worry it could be considered otherwise. I do sometimes have a spectacular patronising attitude when warranted, but can rein it in and be a nice human being when required, honestly.

I don’t think it’s patronizing to expect the fundamentals to be correct and to point out when they’re not. It’s so BASIC. Why would casual even fit as opposed to causal? It doesn’t even make sense! I think you did the right thing, OP.