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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Teacher correcting me to my daughter....

94 replies

TwoLittleBlooms · 07/02/2016 16:08

I may be being unreasonable and possibly a little hyper sensitive. Firstly I do struggle sometimes with my grammar - I hold my hand up to that. (I have mild dyslexia but not sure if that is any excuse for my poor grammar and occasional issue with spellings - and when rushing I make mistakes).

I hand wrote a letter to my daughter's teacher to excuse her from P.E. as she had nail surgery just before Christmas and she is still suffering with pain in her toes from it. She is a high school student (year 8 in an academically selective school - not sure if this has any bearing on anything).

I wrote to instead of too in the letter - so wrote "avoid anything to physical" instead of "avoid anything too physical", today my daughter came down stairs saying you made a mistake in the letter and Miss So-and-So pointed it out to me.

AIBU to be a little put out that the teacher is pointing my spelling/grammar mistakes out to my daughter in this letter?

Sorry for the long post.

OP posts:
Floggingmolly · 07/02/2016 16:37

What a tedious cow. The teacher, that is.
Bespoke, the child isn't dyslexic - her mother is? And the mum has left school by now; tedious teach has no jurisdiction over her or her supposedly sub standard grammar.

MistressMerryWeather · 07/02/2016 16:37

She's a dick.

ilovesooty · 07/02/2016 16:37

Have a word with her if you're annoyed. I can't believe that anyone is seriously suggesting a complaint to the Head.

cosytoaster · 07/02/2016 16:39

I think it's rude...you are not her pupil.

FreshHorizons · 07/02/2016 16:40

Just rude.

NeedsAsockamnesty · 07/02/2016 16:42

Bespoke the teacher is the childs teacher, it was not the childs mistake.

Cleebope · 07/02/2016 16:45

Can't believe you are all so easily offended, fg sake. It was prob an off-the-cuff remark. If anyone complained about this you would be the laughing stock of the staff room. Do you want your kids to pass GCSEs English or not?

SpotOn · 07/02/2016 16:47

Very rude of the teacher.

I bet your DD already knows the difference between to/too anyway. No need point it out to your DD. If she really wanted to help you she would have brought it up with your personally.

vjg13 · 07/02/2016 16:49

I think it is more a teacher being on correcting auto pilot than any sort of sinister grammar shaming.

TeaPleaseLouise · 07/02/2016 16:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
TwoLittleBlooms · 07/02/2016 17:11

Ickythumpsmum I did see that thread about the poor teacher, and really felt for her - I know how hard teaching is as a profession as I have relatives who teach and often see the immense stress they experience. I hadn't really thought from the perspective that she was in some way stressed and it came across in this way, with it as her outlet.

BespokeSterophonicVinyl I have no issues with being corrected, in fact I appreciate it - when it is appropriate to do so. I felt the way this was handled was the issue. The letter was wrote/addressed to the teacher, not my daughter (albeit about my daughter). I felt that she should not have pointed out my errors to my daughter - if she wishes to correct me and by all means do so - but to me, not my daughter. Oh and my daughter does not suffer with issues with her literacy, just her poor mother!

OP posts:
Italiangreyhound · 07/02/2016 17:12

YANBU. It's really rude and unnecessary.

I used to teach English language I mentally correct grammar in my head but I am also dyslexic and my spelling is appalling.

There is no need at all to correct things like this unless they:
chance the meaning of what is being said
or lead to confusion

or the person is asking you to correct them.... as in you are their teacher! She is not your teacher and if I saw her I would explain how it is unhelpful to do this!

Italiangreyhound · 07/02/2016 17:14

If anyone complained about this you would be the laughing stock of the staff room. Not sure that would be terribly professional.

Do you want your kids to pass GCSEs English or not that is not relevant to the discussion, the mother is not taking her GCSEs.

shazzarooney99 · 07/02/2016 17:19

I work in a school and i once had the parent of a child say to the child i had made a mistake. the child therefore came into school and took the piss several times.

JugglingFromHereToThere · 07/02/2016 17:21

I do generally agree with what everyone is saying but teachers are only human too. The teacher may have some quirks herself, for example I think I have some attention deficit thing going on (and I've been a teacher too) and I can't always help blurting out what passes through my mind Smile

IoraRua · 07/02/2016 17:23

Oh that's rude of her.

rebellove · 07/02/2016 17:23

I would just laugh it off and go 'oopsie my mistake!' Life's too short..Smile

Pebbles16 · 07/02/2016 17:25

YANBU. I am a pedant. It's part of my job to check grammar and spelling and no way would I call out someone in public. With the exception of an apostrophe but that's because the joke is on me as apostrophe queen.

Cleebope · 07/02/2016 17:28

Italian I can assure you even top professionals do laugh sometimes, but in this case it would be more a major grumble. The teacher prob just said "Remember too should have two 'o's" or something and the daughter's response made it sound worse. So much teacher bashing here, no wonder there's a recruitment problem. In a few years you'll all be complaining that teachers don't know the difference between to/too. Getting it wrong in GCSE English loses marks, Italuan. It is relevant for the child.

tiggytape · 07/02/2016 17:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CoteDAzur · 07/02/2016 17:28

I don't see the problem. Why do you think it is rude for a teacher to correct mistakes? It was probably a knee-jerk reaction and not a premeditated affront to you as a person, OP.

I would have no problem if that happened to me. Everyone makes mistakes and it is the teacher's responsibility to point them out to her students when encountered. And I have previously corrected teachers' errors in science and grammar.

The most important thing is for DC to see these errors corrected, and not only when it is children who make them. The feelings (of hurt? why?) of the teachers or me as their parent are completely irrelevant.

CoteDAzur · 07/02/2016 17:30

"If the teacher shows the child her mother's letter for the sole purpose of highlighting an error "

Was this note posted to the teacher's home address? I got the impression that OP's DD gave it to the teacher, and so she saw it before the teacher did.

WMittens · 07/02/2016 17:32

Cleebope

Oh dear, I am an English teacher and automatically correct everything I see... Shoot me now!!! Sorry it's so annoying.

Oh dear, I am an English teacher and automatically correct everything I see; shoot me now! Sorry, it's so annoying.

You're welcome.

WMittens · 07/02/2016 17:33

miwelaisjacydo

Your not being unreasonable at all.

ISWYDT.

tiggytape · 07/02/2016 17:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.