To think that teachers should have a sound grasp of spelling and grammar?

[2kidsintow]

I know this is a forum, and that punctuation is used to a greater or lesser extent by various posters because of the more informal nature of the media and that auto-corect can be responsible for a lot of errors if you don't proof read. However, I'm surprised at posts I've read that have garmmatical errors in. The one that sticks in my head at the moment is the 'you and I' rule. A few teacher posters had put 'me and my colleague' or 'me and my boss' on a thread I've just been reading. Is it dialect in some areas to use this phrasing, or just incorrect?

I would be concerned about a teacher who did not when and where to use an apostrophe.

I suppose I shot myself in the foot there by leaving out the know after the not but I am not a teacher!

And that is muphry's law right there.

What is the you and I rule as you understand it, OP? So much depends on usage.

Maybe they get so sick of being grammatically correct all the time at work, they throw caution to the wind and deliberately write incorrectly.

I did have to smile at the irony of missing punctuation and incorrectly spelled words in an OP complaining about spelling and grammar

Sometimes I make mistakes when responding to mumsnet posts from my phone while cooking dinner that I wouldn't when sitting down at work with my professional head on. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I also prefer the maths teacher to be good at teaching maths, and the music teacher to be good at teaching music, so I will ignore their errors and let them get on with their subject area.

I've got a typo in there too. :) Serves me right for quick typing.

I was thinking of sentences like 'Me and my boss enjoy opening up the post' type of sentence, where it should be 'My boss and I enjoy opening up the post'.

Where would you put the apostrophe, Andrewofgg?

Ooh, I know the 'You and I' rule.

If you would normally say 'me' in the sentence when just referring to yourself, then say 'you and me'. If you would say 'I', then say 'you and I'.

e.g. 'Please could you get me a sandwich' would become 'Please could you get Fred and me a sandwich'. And 'I need to talk with him' would be 'You and I need to talk with him'.

To think that teachers should have a sound grasp of spelling and grammar?

However, I'm surprised at posts I've read that have garmmatical errors in.

Hmm...me too love.

If I was writing formally at work or speaking to a pupil I would use "Fred and I. However, being northern and on a forum or in the pub I would say me and Fred. I am not at work now.

I am not perfect, but some errors do annoy me.

Of course teachers should, in an ideal world, have everything grammatically correct before it goes up on the wall. They don't always though, as they are no more perfect than any of the rest of us.

What does annoy me in schools though is when I have seen glaring spelling mistakes displayed on school walls. For example, in an English classroom a couple of years ago I saw horse (the animal) spelled "hoarse" as in sore throat. I also saw the word coronation spelled corAnation several times in my youngest daughter's English book when she was at primary school, and never once corrected. Me being me (poor grammar there I suppose), and an awkward old goat, I corrected it.

I would also complete the sentence with speech marks....,,,

Absolutely.

Up with this I shall not put.... :)

Spelling errors on a forum can be a slip of the finger when typing, or a lack of proof reading if you've quickly typed the letters the wrong way (as in my case). Grammatical structure is a bit different and harder to get accidentally wrong, I imagine. Unless you have to think carefully to get it right when speaking in class, I would have thought you'd be typing it as you think it rather than changing it to fit the media you are using.

I didn't mean that there should have been an apostrophe in the opening post!

I was thinking of a teacher of DS who wrote its meaning it is and it's meaning of it. My father was a teacher of languages, and when I say that I am a pedantic teacher's son you may apply the adjective to whichever noun you prefer! He said that every teacher of anything was a teacher of the vernacular and he was right.

But someone can write 'me and my boss were doing X' in a forum, while knowing to write 'my boss and I' in a formal context. 'Me and my boss...' is what a lot of people say, so through usage I'd say it's fine in informal conversation and writing.

So what? Im lazy on a forum due to just wanting to say things, its rather "freeing". If in a formal setting then Im correct.

Also,

• medium not media (in context)
• auto-correct not auto-corect
• proofread not proof read
• grammatical not garmatical

... harder than it looks this pedantry biz.

Higher priorities to me in a teacher would be things like : enthusiasm for the job, liking children, sound subject knowledge, caring and generally not being a pratt

I struggle with spelling and grammar myself - I spent years terrified that people would judge me for it - now I think fuck it - if you can't see past my spelling and see me you aren't worth worrying about

I am not a teacher but I do work with them as part of my job - I am bloody good at my job - I have a masters degree - pah - spelling is not the be all and end all

Spelling may not be the be all and end all but I do think it is important for teachers to set some standards in both English and Maths as children learn to respect them and follow their examples

I also agree that it is important that teachers (of all subjects) use correct spelling and grammar at work. I just don't think you can tell whether or not someone does that from their forum posts.

When teachers are teaching, yes having good grammar is important (not the most important thing though imo).

On a forum, it means fuck all: I'm not working, I'm not talking to kids (presumably), I am off the clock.

So theiy're.

TopsyT What a teacher corrects very much depends on the age and stage of the child.

If, for example, you corrected absolutely everything 'wrong' in a piece of writing from a six year old, you would completely dishearten them and they would be unable to focus on what they had to do to improve. This is why teachers make their broad expectations clear but set individual targets that will be achievable and meaningful.

I get my pupils to correct the commonly occurring words and the phonically regular words they should be able spell. Otherwise, I let them 'have a go' in the interest of encouraging writing fluency and the development of ideas.
It takes all of primary and often beyond to build up spelling competency.

I've given up on the whole "me" vs "I" thing. Something I have noticed is the strange use of the word "which". A recent post on mn went something like this: "My friend did something bad to which I told her off". I've also seen that on an Irish message board I frequent. To my Canadian ears it sounds atrocious. Is it correct in that general part of the world?

Is this a pre-term teacher bashing thread? I know that some schools are back. But, as I would give it 1 out of 10 you need the practice.