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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that a teacher should know the difference between lose and loose?

87 replies

Lovecat · 06/03/2013 08:12

I am sure someone will tell me IABU, but I need to rant about this!

Before Christmas, DD managed to lose her reading book somewhere between school and home (ie it never made it home in her bag but the teacher swears blind it isn't in the classroom). There was a bit of a stand off between the teacher and myself (I knew it hadn't come home, she basically refused to believe that) with the result that DD didn't have a reading book or was heard reading for the first half of the term. I was rather annoyed by this but we read other books at home.

At the parent's evening she repeated that DD had lost the book and we must look harder for it at home. I reiterated that DD had never brought it home and it was somewhere in school (the teacher couldn't even tell me what the book was at this point so for all I knew it could have been found and put back on the shelf!). I also said I was unimpressed that she had not been read with, but could we start again with a clean slate. She made me promise that we would once again search for the book at home Hmm and after half term she would get another book.

All of the above is to explain why, in her reading diary, the teacher wrote 'happy reading - try not to LOOSE this one!'

This teacher is not dyslexic, before that one gets mentioned. I know that lose/loose is a common misspelling and people assume loose is right because of the 'oo' sound in lose (darn phonics!) but this is a teacher! Teaching 7-8 year olds to spell!

I'm so tempted to circle it in red pen.... but I won't. I'm not that much of a loon. I shall merely grind my teeth and count the days til DD is out of her class...

OP posts:
Smartiepants79 · 06/03/2013 08:22

Circle it! Send it back!
I'm a teacher and I would be mortified if I made this kind of mistake in a communication with a parent.
But then I also wouldn't leave a child without a reading book for half term just because a book had gone missing.Hmm

tak1ngchances · 06/03/2013 08:24

Darn phonics is right. I cannot express how anti-phonics I am. But I think this teacher learned to read before the introduction of phonics and has no excuse - she's just bad at spelling.
My teacher once wrote 'your repeating yourself' in my copybook and I immediately corrected it in red pen...but then I am a cheeky mare.

CocacolaMum · 06/03/2013 08:24

YANBU, its not flipping hard is it really. I have a 7 yr old who has been known to correct her teacher on spelling and grammar (and me when she is feeling brave) but tbh I think that Loose/lose or there/their/they're are the least you could expect from someone in charge of your childs education!

ISeeSmallPeople · 06/03/2013 08:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MomaP · 06/03/2013 08:29

YANBU, She sounds like a bitch something else!!

MrsMushroom · 06/03/2013 08:30

Send a note to the HT. That's so shit it's depressing.

Dawndonna · 06/03/2013 08:31

Red pen it. I do.
I was in the school foyer last year and had corrected a library poster.
As I waited for dds, the headteacher walked by, looked at the poster and said: "Ah, I see Dawndonna has been in"! Grin

IDismyname · 06/03/2013 08:39

I can remember my Mum getting really angry at a teacher who had changed my spelling from 'alter' to 'altar'.

In fact, 'alter' was correct!

I detest bad spelling with a vengeance! (Mind you, my punctuation needs a bit of a seeing to occasionally)

ISeeSmallPeople · 06/03/2013 08:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JambalayaCodfishPie · 06/03/2013 08:44

YANBU.

I'm a TA - and the spelling of some of our best teachers is shocking. I don't get it.

MrsMushroom · 06/03/2013 08:46

ISee go in and have a word! What an idiot!

Saski · 06/03/2013 08:47

Ugh. That's really bad.

My son's teacher wrote iceberg "ice burg" on one of his revision sheets.

Snazzynewyear · 06/03/2013 08:48

YANBU. Red pen it. And I would complain about the missing book meaning not being heard reading scenario. If it had happened more than once, I can see why the teacher might get cross but these things do happen accidentally.

phoenixrose314 · 06/03/2013 08:49

YANBU!!!! I am a teacher and would be thoroughly mortified if I ever did that!!

My hubby is a postman and told me a story about delivering award postcards from a local secondary school, and on it the teacher had written "your doing so well" - I told him he should have phoned the school to complain! Especially as it was an English award!

Unless the teacher has dyslexia there is absolutely no excuse for poor spelling or grammar. EVER.

Boomtastic · 06/03/2013 08:50

Anyone can make a mistake. I would only complain if spelling mistakes happened all the time.

On the other hand, I would be absolutely fuming about my child not having a reading book for half a term.

Greydog · 06/03/2013 08:50

Red pen it. These people are getting paid to do a job correctly.

HumphreyCobbler · 06/03/2013 08:51

This is terrible spelling (although nothing to do with phonics, what is all that about? Getting spellings wrong is more to do with a lack of phonics than the reverse) and would annoy me too.

But the REALLY shocking thing is that your dd was not read with or given another book Shock. For half a term! Appalling. I would be livid. Where I teach we factor in some lost books as it will always happen. It would NEVER mean a child was not read with, although for children whose parents never return books would keep their reading books in school.

LadyPessaryPam · 06/03/2013 08:54

YANBU but I am not surprised, some of the teachers I have had to deal with over the years. Some were fab however.

Weissdorn · 06/03/2013 08:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Bertrude · 06/03/2013 09:06

Red pen it. If I make a spelling mistake on any of my work, I get pulled up on it. Why should a teacher be any different, especially when she's there to impart knowledge to children? and I often blag that I'm the only native English speaker in the department so therefore I'm correct

SanityClause · 06/03/2013 09:21

DD2 is dyslexic, and her English teacher, in particular, cuts her no slack for being unable to spell correctly.

But IMVHO, spelling is unimportant, provided the meaning is clear, which it usually is, from the context. So, if I write "Your doing well", it is incorrect, but my meaning is clear.

Shakespeare wasn't fussed about spelling - he didn't even always spell his own name the same way!

Having said that, leaving your DD with no reading book, and not even knowing what the book was (so it may never even have been given in the first place) is bloody outrageous, and I would be far more concerned about that, than the spelling mistake. (Although, I can see why the spelling mistake has annoyed you, disproportionately, given the circumstances.)

Also, if a teacher "corrects" spelling, they should make sure that their version is actually correct!

nagynolonger · 06/03/2013 09:29

YANBU. I am a poor speller myself but I do acknowledge it!

Loose and lose, 'ible' and 'able' endings, etc. endings are tricky for some people. It doesn't mean these people are less intelligent or are not good teachers in other ways. Someone who is very good at spelling and grammar just doesn't 'get' why others struggle so much. They were the teachers that made my school life hell and failed to get help for my dyslexic sons.....I did that on my own.

In secondary school it is important that an english teacher spells well but I really don't care if a maths or science teacher can't spell.

But it is dfferent for primary years and I have seen some really shocking spelling by teachers. The worst part is them not acknowledging it. If they are unsure they should check words at the planning stage or use a dictionary even in front of the DC. Or like me keep a list of words they use often and struggle with close by.
Getting your and you're mixed up isn't bad spelling it's just that they don't understand basic grammar. As a TA I worked with a teacher who would not believe me when I pointed out that the DC should not be writing letters to parents and local businesses for donations to the school summer FATE. I had to get the school secretary to correct her.

Abra1d · 06/03/2013 09:30

'Shakespeare wasn't fussed about spelling - he didn't even always spell his own name the same way!'

Shakespeare lived in a time when spelling hadn't been standardised. We don't.

It does matter. Meanings aren't always clear when people mislay apostrophes and commas and use wrong spellings. I once lost a lucrative new piece of writing work because, to my lasting shame, I had muddled 'principal' and 'principle' in my proposal. They may have been looking for other reasons not to spend the budget, but this was the reason they highlighted.

HaggisMcNeeps · 06/03/2013 09:33

I would write a note underneath hers.
I didn't LOSE the first one!

TroublesomeEx · 06/03/2013 09:37

I think everyone should know the difference.

But the teacher has only been through the same education system as everyone else in the country.