to think English teachers should be able to spell?

[teenyweenytadpole]

DD is yr 7 so just started new school, just as background she is excellent at English, put forward for level 6 SATs (got a high 5 in the end which she was delighted with). Anyway I was looking through her school books and noticed her English teacher had commented "I liked how each sentence had some good descripsion" and then added "check to see theres no missing words". So poor spelling, poor grammar and poor punctuation! I am not very impressed but feel if I comment to the school it seems kind of petty. I just think it's a shame, English is DD's best subject and I would hope that she would be taught by teachers with a more impressive command of the language than this.

Thewidewideworld - as a teacher myself I was about to offer an explanation of the value of peer assessment but you beat me to it and explained it brilliantly. I guess some people prefer to continue thinking that it's a case of teachers being lazy

Brycie - peer assessment is in addition to teacher assessment. It doesn't replace it. Two trained professionals have assured you that it is a valuable practice now.

You shouldn't get upset really, peer assessment will always be with us, what I think (or many other parents) makes no difference at all. So what if homework doesn't get marked? So what if classwork is never looked at by a teacher? Nothing will change, all we can do is whinge, powerlessly, so really you should be pleased. It doesn't matter if I'm wrong, or if you are wrong - it won't change. Bad spellers will be marking the work of other bad spellers next year and the year after that.

If the teacher always looks at the work and corrects it, that's as it should be but it's still a bit of a waste of valuable teaching time. Much needed, if the spelling in the above peer assessment is anything to go by.

Sorry, I should say - it's my experience that it isn't always looked at by a teacher. (nor homework marked, come to that).

OK Brycie. Disagree all you like, that's your privilege. When are you doing your teacher training?

Never I should say, I absolutely don't think it's laziness at all that leads to peer assessment, I would not go along with that accusation. I accept that teachers really believe it is valuableand really cannot see the cost.

I think Brycie that it is not that we don't see the cost but that you don't see the whole picture. Peer assessment is just one tool among many that teachers use. We know it works. If we only focused on peer assessment as a tool for improving the English skills of our pupils of course we would be failing them badly, but that is not the case. All good English teachers are constantly teaching a wide range of different skills, including spelling, punctuation and grammar, and we do this using a variety of methods. Some of this may look different to the way things were done when you were at school, but it is, if you don't mind me saying so, very arrogant of you to assume that because trained professionals now do things differently to the way you believe they should be done that you are right and they are wrong. Would you tell a doctor that you don't think their proposed treatment is correct because your illness was treated differently in the past? Or would you accept that as a trained professional she knew what she was doing? The reason teachers tend to get a bit frustrated in discussions like this is because there is a considerable body of professional knowledge and understanding underlying what we do and very few posters seem to take account of this.

Wideworld thank yhou for the nice reply. I don't mean to be arrogant but I have my opinion. It was assumed I didn't understand what it's for - the thing is, I DO understand and I still don't agree that is valuable in the way you say. In this case, understanding does nt =tolerance! I think teachers are right about plenty of things and wrong about plenty of things, they are not omniscient and sometimes, sometimes, teachers don't see the wood for the trees.

Well I hope you were not that cross. Best wishes.

To be fair, Brycie, I would probably have been equally dismissive before I started teaching.

14 years of teaching have made me better informed as to the value of peer assessment - done properly, which saves me no time whatsoever, but is of considerable benefit to my students.

Honestly, you might think you 'understand what it's for ', but you clearly don't understand how it works!

Still, no reason why you should.

I wasn't cross with you personally, Brycie, apologies if I seemed rude. I just get frustrated with this attitude you get on MN quite a lot that everyone who has ever been to school knows as much about teaching as qualified teachers. Sorry if you copped the flak for it.

No need to apologise at all, I should be really