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?

Something is not working? See my post above. Again, why don't you approve of the monkey comment?

Because I'm a teacher, and the majority of my colleagues (although not all certainly) are well qualified and eloquent in both written and spoken English.

My friend is having to get her 10 yo a computer as her teacher is complaining about her homework being handwritten! She is and I agree with her. Personally I wouldn't let children do homework on computers until they reach secondary, then there might be some chance of them learning to write properly. My own dd's handwriting is appalling, I'm always nagging her to try and improve it, buying her special pens etc, but her teachers never see anything wrong with it. I'm sorry, but I do think it's important that children learn to write neatly and spell correctly, however old-fashioned the teachers think I am!

Hmm. So when exactly was the teaching of spelling so wonderful? And when was the teaching of grammar so complete? Sounds a bit too 'Golden Age' to me.

I doubt if it would be too hard to produce counter examples from any decade.

Mmm. I am a qualified teacher too. My experience varies from yours. May I ask when you qualified?

I agree that there is a problem with professionals being able to spell and punctuate correctly.

I don't think it's all down to teaching though. Or rather, it is, but not from poor teaching of spelling. That's the wrong emphasis.

You don't learn to spell by learning spellings. You learn to spell by gradually increasing your exposure to the language through breadth of reading. If you don't read - if you aren't reading words in context, and if you don't understand why they are spelled and used in the way they are, then you will not be able to use them appropriately. (And children all learn in different ways, the phonics obsession would have done me no good whatsoever - I was reading before starting school, and learned to read using sight words, never phonics at all. Equally pointless for my very visual ASD son.)

I get antsy when things are wrong, because to me whatever I am reading makes less sense. To my younger sister, text speak is just as comprehensible as normal written English. Different experiences.

IME, vocabularies have also decreased.

It's a worry. Innit.

(I'm a qualified teacher, by the way, but only a music teacher, so not really proper. )

www.tda.gov.uk/skillstestsonline/literacy/assessment_engine.html

Try this if you're interested in the literacy skills required to teach. Bear in mind that many candidates will be coached in order to get them to a standard to pass this.

1997. I think!

I didn't have to pass any tests. I mentor trainees though. None have failed at first attempt.

I did get at a thread on here once though when someone had failed her numeracy test a few times, and I did think I wouldn't really want her teaching my DC Maths...

(Opinion was divided IIRC)

Less recent than me then. I've also mentored trainees. None failed, despite the fact I had to explain things like apostrophes and semicolons to them.

Agree with you re. the numeracy test. I also coached for this and had to explain things like converting fractions to percentages and vice versa. Again, none failed.

I just wonder how long lasting the things learnt in this last minute coaching are. Is it a case of cram it in, remember for the test and then forget? Are the scores required to pass anywhere near high enough? Evidently not, given the tales on this thread.

You've coached your trainees to pass the tests? I've never done that. Am I supposed to? Are you primary or secondary?

No, I coached as a mentor for fellow students while training for the PGCE myself. The top 10% or so were asked to coach those at risk of failing the skills tests.

Oh sorry, primary.

Madonna - why aren't you thrilled with my monkies post?

IMO correct grammar and spelling are essential. And my dd isn't being taught as thoroughly as I'd like. I go through her work with her at home to reinforce what she's learned at school.

Sorry CQ, I don't follow?

It was Jade's post about teachers being monkeys paid peanuts, I think, not yours, Cocktail.

Ah I see, thanks LeBOF. Yes CQ I think that my post about ''pay peanuts get monkeys'' was what Madonna was disputing.

When looking round potential primary schools for my DD1 I noticed a display board in the Y6 classroom of one highly-regarded school, entitled, in large bright lettering, 'Literecy'. I spent the rest of the tour agonising about whether to say anything. (I didn't (say anything).)

I hate spelling and grammar mistakes too. In my last school I had to walk through the library to get to pretty much any other part of the building and go past a sign which read womens' rights - used to drive me mad.

More recently I got an invitation to a family party from my niece, who is a languages teacher, as am I, with the heading: Your invited to a party. That, along with could of and should of, makes my blood boil.

It's not much to ask for teachers to check their spelling - particularly on displays and school reports. YANBU

Particularly embarrassing when the spelling mistakes are in the lists that get sent home for dcs to learn. I really don't like correcting teachers, but what does one do?

Euphemia the particular incident I was thinking of was when the CT was being released to do something in school and was therefore coming in and out of the classroom. If she'd been out all day I probably would have corrected it.

cory I once corrected a spelling in my DDs spelling book and the CT wrote back "OK smartypants". I didn't do it again.

What's a CT? "OK smartypants"??? I'd be furious and would take that further.

Slightly OT but when I was a mature 3rd year student teacher a school leaver classmate did not know the order of the seasons.

We had been set a group task and it became apparent that she didn't realise Easter took place in Spring which followed winter. I felt really quite sorry for her as some of her friends were being unpleasant about it.