to be annoyed at school teachers?

[smd5018]

I'll try to keep a long story short...my daughter(13) has come home on a few occasions over the past couple of weeks telling me that her new English supply teacher hates her. The teacher has mis-spelled a word on the whiteboard and my daughter corrected her (which I can understand would be miffing and embarrassing.) A couple of times when another child has asked for help with spelling the teacher has said something like "Oh why don't you ask her, since she's a walking dictionary" and called her to the front to write on the whiteboard. She now comes home and tells me all the words the techer has misspelled but doesn't mention it to the teacher, she is, however convinced that the teacher hates her. On Thursday the class was asked by the form teacher to write about how she feels about some of her lessons/subjects and was encouraged to include her thoughts on English. She said she wasn't enjoying it because the teacher didn't like her because she's corrected her on her spelling. Today she has been pulled to one side by the form teacher and called arrogant and told to worry about her own education, not the teacher's spelling. She's now saying she wants to miss school and doesn't want to go to her English classes, which she used to enjoy. The supply teacher is covering for maternity leave so will be around for a while. I'm not happy with either teacher, aibu, and is my child an arrogant little shit? Or is it fair enough to question a teacher?

Noted, thank you.

Falling You can't become a teacher with just A Levels. He would still have had to study physics to degree level before qualifying for a bursary to train as a physics teacher.

I'm an experienced English teacher and have also been a Head of Year for eight years. I agree that there may be more to your daughter's behaviour than meets the eye here but I think you need to get involved. The supply teacher is the adult in this situation and, if this is all happening as your dd says it is, has got it very wrong.

As you've had no help from the form tutor, you need to escalate this. Do not go to the Head as pps are advising, it's not how secondary schools work and you will just piss people off by going over their heads

My advice would be to contact her Head of Year. The best thing would be to email and ask him/her to phone you at a convenient time. This means that you are more likely to be able to have a productive, uninterrupted chat. I would ask your dd to write everything down for you, including dates and times and the names of any witnesses. Telling her that this is what you are going to do will make her feel supported but might also encourage her to correct any little bits of misinformation before you hear them from somebody else. The Head of Year should say that he/she will discuss it with the Head of English. If he/she doesn't suggest this, request it. Remain calm and factual at all times. Tell your dd to keep her head down whilst this gets sorted out.

I hope that helps. Let us know how you get on.

PS - have just read the hit about raising it with the tutor at an event. Don't do this. It will it be the right time or place AND he sounds like a knob!

Perhaps your daughter has been arrogant perhaps not in just one situation perhaps in lots, we dont know till you have asked the teachers, will be interesting to see the response though. As we all know sometimes it can be a different story.

If (obviously a big IF, as I wasn't there!) your DD had rudely pointed out the spelling mistake, then her rudeness should have been dealt with immediately. Something has gone awry if your DD doesn't want to go to that lesson and she is an enthusiastic learner. Secondary pupils who are often rude/naughty are not usually intimidated by a teacher, especially not a supply teacher.

I'm a secondary TA and cringe when I see spelling mistakes on the board in English lessons. I've worked as a Cover Supervisor and if I had a mind block about a spelling I would check a dictionary. If I made a mistake on the board and a student pointed it out, I would just say "just testing!" and move on. There's no need for the teacher to make a song and dance about it.

You talk as if there has been a multitude of misspelled words. That would certainly be unusual, in the one lesson a day (at most) your dd will be in English.
Perhaps the teacher is dyslexic? I think you need an appointment to get to the bottom of it all.
First post and am aibu about teachers! You are living life on the edge OP

I'm a teacher and have never minded my spelling bring corrected in a polite way "oops, just checking" or "it's been a long morning" are my normal responses! However, I have had the odd student who would do it in an attempt to undermine me, usually in a tricky class, pointing it out with glee when I'm in the middle of something in a tone of voice that implies I'm an idiot, and my response would normally be a far more short and snappy as it's not acceptable and they need to know that

If the form tutor is getting involved, it sounds like the class may be giving the supply teacher a rough time - I've read members of my tutor group the riot act when they have done this before - and your daughter (whether deliberately or not) might have contributed to that.

I'd definitely get in touch with the school as I think if he's still carrying on about it and she's genuinely not wanting to go to school then that's obviously a problem. But I'd approach them with more of a 'concerned' email than an 'all guns blazing' email as you may find there are two sides to this one. As others have said, head of year is a good person to contact in this position, I wouldn't approach the tutor at the event.

She's 13?
Ha.
I would probably err on the side of caution with this one. She's old enough to understand tact and diplomacy, and having been in numerous classrooms and watched how a bunch of normally delightful teenagers rips apart anyone who shows a sign of weakness, I think I would be hmming a little, and assuming that butter may melt in her mouth after all. It doesn't mean the teacher can spell, and it doesn't mean that your dd is necessarily wrong to point out she can't, but sometimes it just isn't necessary to point out other people's flaws. And sometimes, if you can't stop yourself from doing so (either verbally or in written form) you do indeed often end up looking like an arrogant arse.

A learning opportunity for your dd, I think.

I used to be the child correcting the English teacher's spelling.

After several occasions, he got me to spell the word precocious and read out the meaning to the rest of the class.

I stopped correcting his spelling which remained shit unless he asked which, to his credit, he sometimes did.

I think there are some (not all!) teachers with low ability creeping into the system now because the talented people don't see it as a rewarding profession anymore.

This ^^ - perhaps a different post in itself but my niece is sitting her A levels, 3rd year (repeated a year), still trying to pass GCSE math & has an offer for a teaching degree at university this September.

I don't know if teaching seen as a "soft touch" option now because there is a shortage of teachers?

I think you need to find out a little more before going in all guns blazing. If she's making a point of correcting mistakes constantly for one upmanship or to entertain the class then she should be pulled up on it. If she's being arrogant then the form teacher telling her so isn't necessarily inappropriate.

The same goes for a little "jibe" from a teacher. If she's doing her best to make them feel uncomfortable then a "why don't you ask Miss dictionary" isn't out of order and certainly not bullying. As she matures she'll learn that she'll be treated the way she treats others and this seems like a gentle introduction.

Of course, pointing out a mistake is fair enough but there are ways of doing it and I wonder if a 13 year old would always do so appropriately.

"She now comes home and tells me all the words the teacher has misspelled but doesn't mention it to the teacher"

Sounds like the teachers' methods have worked then.

FWIW, teachers rarely (maybe never) hate children. The children who think so are greatly over-estimating the effect that they have on their teacher. Rude, arrogant and annoying children are much more likely to attract ambivalence.

I worked well at school and did well. Head prefect, school colours etc and enjoyed it. For some reason though, was an absolute shit to the RE teacher. Never enough to get into trouble for it but I walked a fine line. It was like I saw that 90 minutes a week as a chance to rebel against the system before going away again to work hard in every other class.

Why do I feel that there's a bit of this going on here and that "every single teacher I saw at the last parent's evening gave glowing reports and said she was a joy to teach" is nearly always mentioned by parents when their offspring have a real issue with one teacher / aspect of the school.

My niece is sitting her A levels, 3rd year (repeated a year), still trying to pass GCSE math & has an offer for a teaching degree at university this September.
I don't know if teaching seen as a "soft touch" option now because there is a shortage of teachers?

Teachers still need a degree and post grad at the same standard as a Masters (or is your niece doing a BEd?). It's one of the few professions where everyone you work with has a postgrad qualification. I wouldn't say it's a soft touch.

I'm not a teacher.

'Perhaps the teacher is dyslexic? '

Then they use whichever of the many strategies that they have developed to ensure that their disability doesn't affect their practice in school.
A dx is an explanation, not an excuse.

I think she's going for a BEd - but my point regarding soft touch is that the entry requirements into that particular teaching course seems so low.

I wanted to raise another possibility - that your daughter may not, actually realise that the tone she takes when she makes these corrections may sound arrogant.

I have met some children who I think might be somewhere very high functioning on the autistic spectrum who would not realise how a very straightforward pointing out of a mistake could be construed as rude.

If this is the case, no wonder she's upset.

I would check out the events from the teacher's POV, but I also agree with what WonkoTheSane said. Some teachers are defensive and don't deal well with this.

If it were me (I work in a school) I would take the child aside afterwards to talk to them about the corrections.

Yup, but we are hemorrhaging teachers at an unsustainable rate, so perhaps the entry requirements will have to be dropped.
If all schools become academies, then they will be able to employ anyone they choose to.

I also agree with Valancy - some children do this to undermine a teacher.

Yes, so don't give them free shovels to do it with.

TheSolitary

Oh yes, I totally agree. There are ways of dealing with it.

TheSolitary

Did you see my first post?

I have said that I've seen teachers be overly defensive about mistakes

"I think she's going for a BEd - but my point regarding soft touch is that the entry requirements into that particular teaching course seems so low"

You haven't said what the requirements are re. A levels. She'll need a C at GCSE maths, English and science before she gets QTS. Do you really need more though, assuming she's going to be a primary teacher?

I think the fact she'll have spent 4 years at uni (same as a BSs / BA + Masters) overrides her struggle with GCSE maths; the maths being many times harder than anything she'll teach even in year 6.

Then they use whichever of the many strategies that they have developed to ensure that their disability doesn't affect their practice in school.
A dx is an explanation, not an excuse.

I'd rather my children were taught by a good teacher with poor spelling than a poor teacher with perfect spelling. I know you'll imagine that it matters more in English, but does it really? If you're talking about English Language then points of speech, points of grammar etc are far more important than the number of 'c's or 's's in necessary. If you're talking about Lit. then themes, ideas, how a piece of writing works in relation to society, history and other works is more important than spelling. If he really is dyslexic, spending extra time checking the spelling of each word seems like a waste of time in class, as long as the meaning is still clear.

Still completely irrelevant here.

TheSolitary

I see I misunderstood - you meant giving them ammunition in the form of spelling mistakes

Some of those will be typos. Some children get a bit smart-arsey about correcting typos

I think if I were dyslexic I might be quite up-front about that to the children

Some posters are honing in on your DD thinking about how she comes across, and being polite and protecting the feeling and dignity of the teacher. All good skills to learn, but I don't think the child who has the least power in this situation should be made completely responsible for the reactions of adults who lack skill. (Skill in spelling, teacher, and pastoral.)

Completely aside, and completely speculative: if your DD was a DS would the reaction be different I wonder? I often think that goody-goody girls who are clever and too-try-hard can annoy some teachers and be cast as "little madams."

Serin

Yes he did have to study physics at degree level based on those incredibly poor A Level results. Scraping through and given incentives to study a subject someone has not natural aptitude for in order to "tick a box" so the government can say: "We have successfully recruited X number of new science teachers this year!" is part of what's now wrong with teaching.

Granted, it's a small part. However it's all tied in to teachers reporting working longer hours, the job becoming more bureaucratic and less enjoyable and therefore fewer truly talented people see it as a viable profession these days. It's now the "fall back" option. Yes people do their teacher training, but the academic level of what you need to teach a subject is worryingly low.