To correct the teacher's spelling?

[Dany0909]

I'm a year 4 TA in a primary school. This year I have a new class and a new teacher.
She's an ok teacher in general, I've definitely worked with better.

Yesterday, she handed out the spelling list and had spelt one of the words wrong. I pointed it out to her privately as I didn't want parents to notice and she got in a huff. She didn't believe me and checked the spelling online before changing it.

Just today, she misspelt three subject-specific words that I'm sure she has been teaching for years so I was surprised she didn't know them. The kids copied them off the board incorrectly but I felt too uncomfortable to say anything.
I'm not going to specify the words so this post doesn't give me away just in case.

Anyway, I'm not really sure what to do. It's annoying because obviously the kids are learning incorrect spellings from her, but at the same time I don't really want to annoy the teacher. I'm not sure if she's dyslexic but surely if you knew you were then you would double check the information you're asking children to copy down. She's not overly nice or welcoming towards me so not sure how to approach it. Should I just leave it???

Where have I mentioned I want them to leave the profession, ffs?
Why are you so willing to accept shoddy standards?

Good advice except talking to the previous TA- impossible to do without it veering into or having the potential to be framed as gossiping.
“What would you like me to do when I mention a spelling mistake, suggest you two can come up with a strategy together, ‘Oo Mrs F that looks like a j and giraffe is spelled with a g!’”
If she gives you the brush off, then go to hoy or head.

They should make teachers do tests every 3 years to keep their qualified status

When children are learning to write you really don’t want to be covering their paper with corrections. That sort of thing stops children experimenting or attempting to stretch themselves. They’re more likely to freeze up and not even try.

That’s where learning spellings comes in, though it’s still surprisingly common for someone to be able to spell a word correctly in a test but not in the middle of a story.

It all works out in the end. There’s lots of research and stuff on how children learn. I’m afraid you were one of those mothers.

I also suggested strategies for OP
Read my posts properly

I am old and way back in the dark ages we had grammar, parsing sentences and understanding the parts of speech drummed into us.
So some years ago when I was an editor I was taken aback when a journalist submitted copy with "I seen it" "I have went", " I done it". She was in her 20s and had a degree.
As I politely corrected the terms she said "How do you know all this?" She had never been taught any grammar in school, and one day asked me to explain what nouns, verbs, adjectives etc. She wasn't a stupid young woman, just untaught.

You should report this to your line manager and ask for it to be dealt with.

I've worked as a reader/scribe for GCSE students in exams. WJEC board. The spelling and grammar mistakes were painful. I discussed this with the head of English who said that it was the same every year. How the heck does no-one notice this before the papers go out.

I wonder whether she thinks, every time she sees "should have" in a book, newspaper or magazine, that the writer has got it wrong?

I am an art teacher and I am so grateful if someone points out my mistakes to me.
I am dyslexic and I do acknowledge that and set the example that it doesn’t need to hold you back, but to know what needs attention and be open to feedback.

I think it's a fairly easy mistake for people to make when they've not been taught abbreviations correctly. When i was at school some teachers banned abbreviations and forced everybody to write the full words! Beyond capital letters and full stops I don't remember being taught any grammar at school. I think the zeitgeist at that time was that kids would just organically learn the rules by reading.

The 've in could've sounds very similar to of, so unless you're taught differently you could easily assume it to be correct.

I once heard somebody critiquing a book on Radio 4 and they kept talking about how it was the 'eppy-tome' of this and that. It took me a fair while to realise they meant 'epitome'.

My child had a newly qualified teacher who was lovely; the children loved her and was so accomadating and easy to communicate with about any issues. When talking about the prospect of my child being dyslexic, she revealed she had been diagnosed late (while at university) as being dyslexic. She acknowledged it could sometimes be tricky but she checks her plans, keeps her spell-checked notes in front of her but occasionally the TA (or children!) will question her spelling...she acknowledges the issue, thanks the person for highlighting and actually, it communicates not even teacher's are perfect. It made my child less anxious in making mistakes knowing that their favorite teacher understood. I can't say whether 'my' teacher makes more mistakes than yours, but I'd say it's in the delivery and what precautions are taken. We're also comparing a newly qualified teacher against one who's been in the game several years 🤔 either way, if the teacher is hard to work with and dismissive of your input, the spelling issue would be the tipping point to go higher.

This would infuriate me! My Mum was a writer, so I was always kept right with spelling and grammar. I'm amazed at how bad some people are with it though - even in professional settings. Facebook posts are the worst!

@Growlybear83 That would have (not, OF) driven me crazy! So annoyed on your behalf!

This thread takes me back to my first Teaching Practice, I was observing for a couple of days and the class teacher wrote The Golden Hampster on the board! I was in my first term at College, can't remember what I did, back in 1967!
Years later, a new first year class of 11 year olds, the first lesson one boy asked me how many degrees are in a circle and I told him 360. He and a few others said their Primary school teacher had said it's 180 and wouldn't be told she was wrong.

The head has maybe got 600+ children & 80+ staff under their care. A few misspelt topic words isn't high on their priority list.

Then it should be - or at least supporting a teacher who is not doing their job properly should be, because it affects 30 or more of those 600 pupils every year. Pupils will be marked down in SATs for bad spelling, so letting this go will affect the school's performance; also word gets around amongst parents if children are being taught to be illiterate. It's the head's job to point the teacher towards the right support, not the TA's. It's also the head's job to suggest to her that she needs to work in a team with her TA and not be huffy if this sort of error is pointed out. They can in the first instance delegate it to someone like a HoY, but if it persists it becomes a capability issue which is definitely one for the head to deal with.

I think I would email the Head, give the examples and say as nicely as I could that whilst I recognise we all have our strengths and weakness and I don’t want the teacher to feel bad, they need to put some sort of check in place before she sends out spelling lists.

yes, teacher spellings in primary schools in the uk is very poor standard, I’ve seen some hideous bloopers and not just the odd typo here and there, which is ironic given the importance spelling is given in SATS.

TA friend of mine was gritting her teeth at the teacher who told the class that 10% of 100 was 1. At first she thought it was a one-off, but when the teacher repeated the error she knew she had to do something. She did it very diffidently, pretending she hadn't been sure either so had double-checked, so the teacher took it fairly well.

The HT can tell the teacher that they must check all subject-specific words they are going to write up for children to see, and all words given as spellings. And then check children's work to see that this is done. It could be given as an Appraisal target.

Not spelling but when I was 7 a teacher told me I was wrong when I said 9x5 = 45. I'm 61 now and still mad!

Teacher here. Personally, if I were in your position I think I'd just gird my loins and point it out. It's a shame she wasn't receptive to you correcting the previous mistake - she's obviously embarrassed, but as others have said, if this is a weakness of hers then she ought to a) be more on top of checking her spellings, and b) be grateful when someone helps her out.

Three subject-specific misspellings in a short space of time is a real issue, I would say. If you mention it to her and it continues, I think I'd go on to have a quiet word with the head, and ask them to 'notice' the misspellings themselves during a learning walk.

Someone told me the other day of a qualified teacher who thought you needed a capital letter after a comma, Like this.

That’s appalling advice. I really hope that you don’t work in a school?

The teacher is employed to teach primary school children to spell properly and I’d argue that it’s one of the key tasks in her role as an educator.

If an employee is unable to complete key tasks effectively, the manager needs to be aware so that they can investigate and take appropriate action.

The fact that the OP has already tried the gentle approach and got huffed at for her troubles suggests to me that the teacher is probably quite arrogant and possibly in the wrong job.

Maybe the Head having a quiet word and making it clear that she must check all the words on her spelling lists before handing them out will be enough to resolve the issue?

Agee. Other professions have to do this