to be fed up with correcting teacher's spelling mistakes

[dealer]

No doubt I will now write a post riddled with spelling mistakes, but I'm not teaching small children in my defence.

I accept, no-one can spell everything, and I would not be surprised if a teacher had to look up stationary/stationery for instance. But I'm really fed up with ones that I would expect children to be able to spell turning up in homework/letters/displays. And I feel compelled to correct them.

Recently we've had Antartica, in huge coloured letters on a display. Got me a very grumpy response since he then felt he had to change it. We've had a work sheet home with Autum on. My son asked for barbecue/barbeque in his spelling book (not sure how to spell it myself) but I think the teacher writing bar-b-q is a bit out of order. And the latest one is the teacher correcting squirl to skwirel on homework. I wrote on it in red 'teacher please correct correctly', possibly a bit snotty of me but I'm getting fed up of it.

Do other people get this? And do they get annoyed? Or AIBU?

Believe me, I agonised over that wastage of paper! But the need for it to be correct over-rode that concern. We did use the paper for drafting work subsequently, however.
I have a feeling, however (and please, someone correct me if I'm wrong on this), that dyslexia is considered a disability and therefore admissions tutors at training institutions wouldn't be able to refuse entry to someone diagnosed with it.

She's an RE teacher. She's dyslexic, which (imo) is slightly different from being shit at it. I have to say, it's not a situation I would be happy with at primary level, but as I say, it's a high school. It's also a gcse course, so by that point, the kids concerned should be able to state that there is a problem, and know when there is.

Should dyslexia excuse all spelling/grammar issues, I wonder?

My DH's cousin (tenuous, I know!) is doing her doctorate on a course which is hard to get on to and requires a first degree and usually an Msc to get on to. She was working alongside a chap who had dyslexia and whose essays were of an extremely poor standard and whose written reports to parents (it was a job in education) were virtually illegible.

The university tried, after providing a lot of support, to say to the student that the course wasn't really suitable for him and he needed to leave. He appealed stating he was dyslexic and they were discriminating against him.

I'm not sure what happened in the end though as I haven't had an update! We were all rather interested though as we were debating how having dyslexia should affect someone reaching this level of academia. Should you be articulate, literate and be able to write comprehensive essays/reports to get a doctorate-you are the 'creme de la creme?' Or should this be overlooked if you are dyslexic?

I am just interested in what other people think; I'm not trying to be controversial!

I'm amazed that there are so many examples of teachers with poor spelling. If they know they can't spell (and how do you qualify as a teacher if you can't??) then homework sheets etc should be checked by someone who can before giving them out.

It's like teaching maths if you can't count. What's the point? No matter how lovely and enthusastic a person is about teaching they need to be able to do the basics.

clam, the waste of paper isn't your fault, it's your colleague's. Dyslexia is a disability but people with it can do all sorts of jobs, perhaps depending how badly affected they are, if they learn strategies to deal with it. (Also, all disability does not have to be accommodated by all jobs, only to the extent that this is possible while enabling the job to be done properly).

It sounds as though your colleague doesn't recognise the extent of her problem, or she wouldn't be printing out worksheets with errors. Or does she think it doesn't matter? Either way she needs a gentle nudge.

My daughter is dyslexic. Her written work is good, literate, interesting and well articulated. Her spelling is 'off'.

It sounds to me as though the person concerned is not capable of producing the work and the dyslexia is being used as an excuse. Dyslexia does not generally affect grammar etc.
With regard to the particular teacher at school, her work too, is well presented and articulate. I have never seen anything produced with a spelling mistake on it as she has someone else in the department proof read before she lets it leave the premises.

A few years ago I was teaching Year 4 and we were doing the Rainforest, and I wrote 'pirhana' on the board. A parent who had come in after school very sheepishly told me that I had spelt it wrong and I was sooooo embarrassed! I told my class the next day and they were laughing and made fun of me about it for the rest of the year (in a nice way - they were a such a lovely class!).

I would never call a child 'smartypants' for correcting something - they dont have to do it very often but they just cannot WAIT to point out that I have missed the dot on an i or forgotten to cross a t if I write something on the board! In fact (provided they didnt do it in an arrogant way) it would reassure me that they were really paying attention!

We had a graduate trainee with Dyslexia and Dyscalculia and she had to be given every support to complete her year because of it. I have mixed feelings about it though, because she was teaching Primary where Literacy and Numeracy are such a huge part of the curriculum.
Her grammar was pretty poor too.

Having had a bit of a think, what makes me more cross than the bad spelling from people who should know better is the appalling attitude towards children who know that something is spelled incorrectly.

IMO, the biggest issue facing schools is the anti-intellectual streak running through society. Teachers berating children who can spell better than they can makes me wonder about the ethos the school is trying to project.

If I ever encounter this situation with my children when they start school, I'll be taking this to the Head and the Board of Governors.

I think it sets a bad example to be honest. Being able to spell is a basic, I don't think you can encourage children to learn to do something properly while blythly getting it wrong yourself. If you know you have issues with spelling, whether they be dyslexia related or otherwise, you use spell check, a dictionary or get someone else to proofread.

But that's the thing, Ninky. I've come across that intention, but it rarely pans out that way in practice.

It leaves you in a very difficult position with the DCs because they spot the mistakes. I remember sitting in assembly while a teacher held up a sign saying 'docter' and all the DCs nearest me trying to catch my eye and then the boy nearest was whispering 'that's not how you spell it'. I chickened out by saying 'I expect she wrote it in a hurry', and since I was only there on supply I didn't feel that I could mention it.

I don't understand why literacy is regarded as a chore or a special skill.
My grandmother left school (in 1930) at the age of 14 and her spelling and grammar were immaculate. She was from a poor family in a rough part of London - a future in academia was never on the cards. But it didn't prevent her teachers from drumming literacy and numeracy into her. Or a lifelong love of poetry and literature.
It depresses me how something is only valued these days if it relates to "employability".

then again, I have also worked in comprehensive schools, with English teachers who are supposedly subject experts. I was dismayed at their lack of technical knowledge...myself and my cronies in the top English group in the third year would have run rings round them

God, thing must be in a terrible state in UK for LeQ to be able to identify this.

Rock on, Gove. Sexy likkle Basil Brush man :)

LeQueen - yup the previous generations had remarkable skills. My grandmother's ability to do mental arithmetic was breathtaking.
I recently had to deal with a young graduate who, in order to tot up 11 items at 10p, wrote down eleven tens in a column and added them up.
How do people function on a daily basis with such low levels of ability?

yanbu

Crack "discreet" and come back, LeQueen

And "presence." While you're at it.