Should I correct a teacher?

[Sadgirlonatrain]

In my son's recent geography homework, one of the questions on the sheet referred to the decline of coal mining in the North East.

"How would this of effected the area?"

No wonder the use of 'would of' is so widespread now, never mind the incorrect use of 'effected.'

Would you say anything to the school?

"Depends if it is primary or secondary.

A primary teacher is a generalist. They may be brilliant at maths, science, PE, art, music, etc. just very weak at English. I would leave it, and consider getting an English Language tutor for the year"

I disagree with this. Primary is where the foundations are laid. It's much harder to dismantle engrained bad habits and then start trying to teach the correct form than it is to just teach it from the start. In my primary school errors were corrected as we went along, calmly and quietly. There was no !! SHAMING!!!, just "Not can I go to the toilet, it's may I go to the toilet. Yes you may ". "Not "I done my sums" say "I have done my sums.". Your answers are all correct. Excellent work". The basics were baked into us. In the last couple of years of primary school, we also had a short lesson each week that was timetabled "Grammar".

I remember in English class in the first term of secondary school (a grammar school- you had to pass the 11+ to get in) we had some exercises in English class. We had to fill in the blanks - choose from they're/their/there and suchlike. Everyone in the class who had been to my primary school was rolling their eyes with boredom. There were a surprising number of pupils from other schools who made mistakes. These were from decent primary schools and quite often smart children who were good at other subjects. What a waste of time having to start teaching basic grammar at the age of 11.

wil doe

I would definitely raise it. This is a very basic error which nobody in the teaching profession should be making.

The nasty posting with incorrect know/spellings is quite childish. Mocking people who perhaps do have a specific learning difficulty for your own amusement isn’t nice, if that was your child how would you feel? being called lazy, illiterate, intelligent so you couldn’t possibly be dyslexic, just a few things I’ve read on here.

I am dyslexic, as is my youngest son, sister and nephew. My dad is too, he is in his 60’s so diagnosed in the olden days but as misunderstood then as it is now by sounds of it. I’m not saying that this teacher shouldn’t be more careful about what they are sending home or that they don’t have an issue but I don’t like the mocking of people for fun. I was bullied for years, told I was lazy and would never get a decent job (nurse so I did what I wanted to do), teachers giving me basic work because they couldn’t be bothered to actually help me, keeping me in at break times as a 5 & 6 year old because I couldn’t do my work, it goes on. It’s not moved on much I don’t think my sister had to move her kids school due to the refusal of the school to accept a private diagnosis and is now at an amazing school and has flourished.

We can all harp on about the teacher being stupid or lazy etc but if no one speaks up then how will things ever change? And how will our children learn? But we can do it in a constructive and kind way. It could be dyslexia, it could be lack of checking or something else but I might have not noticed this was incorrect and copied it, you just assume teachers are correct as a kid. No one needs to get all superior re their own SPAG because we all have our strengths and weaknesses, build up don’t tear down.

But we can do it in a constructive and kind way. It could be dyslexia, it could be lack of checking or something else but I might have not noticed this was incorrect and copied it, you just assume teachers are correct as a kid. No one needs to get all superior re their own SPAG because we all have our strengths and weaknesses, build up don’t tear down.
Which is precisely why several of us have suggested speaking to the teacher rather going straight to the head - which is frankly ridiculous.

Yep, its tone death, ingnorant and infantile.

That's all well and good, but I imagine that despite proof reading and checking your dyslexic colleagues might occasionally miss an error which then sees light of day. There are posters on this thread ( a couple of them teachers) who believe that this makes your colleagues "unfit to teach"

Those posters are idiots, though. My head would (and has) support them in the event of any complaint.

"lazy mare/muppet" is a bit harsh for a couple of grammar/spelling mistakes.

Emphatically agree that they are idiots!

(It's also rather depressing)

Are some saying that the teacher could be mixing up "would have " and "would of" due to dyslexia? It doesn't seem a typical mistake that a dyslexic would make.

I posted in a hurry today and a lot more people have and had posted before and since; the consensus seems to be that you should flag it. Maybe that's correct. Definitely if it seems to be part of a pattern. But definitely flag it to the tecaher and no one else. After all, it is they who will be correcting any errors in the future.

I'd like to make it clear that I think the error is appalling and we really should expect better of our teachers. I was just going off a session I was in at work yesterday where I was told I should have "difficult conversations" and point out people's errors (in my case, poor grammar and spelling as that is my role) - but no way am I going to do that unasked.

I have a colleague who does this and it makes her look like a twat tbh. If someone asks me to look at something they have written, whether a work thing or a private letter, for sure. But walk about the office telling people how to spell? Not really me.

So OP I think if you do correct this you need to try to avoid looking like a twat, if possible.

Overall, I agree - this is a sad reflection of the status of and respect offered to teachers; not much of either so many of the ones who can use English correctly have buggered off. That said, I recall a student correcting an error (geography not English!) in class once and I was very grateful. He was a lovely lad - not sure if that made it easier for me to take?

There are mistakes and mistakes. It's easy (especially with autocorrect) for a quickly typed there, to become their. That's just either a typo or a brain fart. Effect instead of affect isn't great, but someone with dyslexia might muddle these and forget to do a check.

But 'would of' isn't a random error, brain fact or typo. That's someone who is completely ignorant of a standard and fundamental part of a sentence. As others have said, this is something that if you know, you will always get right. If you get it wrong, you clearly don't know the correct structure. And you're actively teaching children something that is fundamentally wrong.

I would overlook or forgive (and have) a typo or tricky spelling spelling error. But would of? No. No teacher should be ignorant of the correct, and easy to spell, 'would have'.

Dyslexia literally means word blindness. It isn't just about spelling.

If someone's dyslexia is so fundamental that they consistently use would of instead of would have, I'd suggest that they're not cut out for teaching a subject that is essay based, or to teach in a primary school where the fundamentals of literacy are taught.

The post by an earlier pp outlining the damage that it did to her confidence (and presumably did to the children whose literacy education depended on her) demonstrates that sometimes it's better to opt for a career that plays to your strengths, not one that highlights your weaknesses.

Just to make it clear, I wouldn't dream of going in all guns blazing, demanding the teacher be sacked!! Dyslexia or not, I just want this cleared up so that the kids aren't learning something which is fundamentally incorrect. If I was going to see the teacher personally I would be so apologetic and embarrassed and sorry to bring it up, and would assure her that I am not one to say anything normally, that would be the thing making me look like an idiot! The last thing I want is to upset either the teacher or those of you who have referred to your own dyslexia, so please be assured this is not the point of the post.

I haven't read the whole thread so I may not be the first to point out it is "affected" rather than "effected".

Perhaps have your child answer starting with “This would have affected. . .” Teacher will see the correction without confrontation.

May?

Given that it's half the point of the OP and this is a very long thread, yes, it's been mentioned!

Yes definitely flag it up.

This!! As a science teacher of 20+ years, but also dyslexic I encourage my students to correct me..and use it as a learning point.

This with bloody bells on.

The snobbery and teacher bashing on this thread is off the scale.

The snobbery and teacher bashing on this thread is off the scale

This isn't a teacher bashing thread at all, @TheUsualChaos . This is a single incident thread. Many of us who are very unimpressed by those errors are teachers ourselves. The teacher in question does the reputation of our profession no favours at all.
And as a parent, I'd have been horrified too. Thank goodness my own kids' teachers were literate

If you make your students aware that your spelling may not be correct that is fine as they won’t automatically reproduce your mistakes. And as you’re not an English teacher or (presumably) a primary school teacher it’s not your responsibility to teach them spelling or grammar.
Not so some of the teachers mentioned on this thread.

I had teachers who encouraged us to correct their mistakes. It was a good learning tool because it encouraged us to pay attention.