to put a note in dds homework pointing out the teachers errors

[brook1]

My dd did some comprehension homework last week and brought it home on Friday after it had been marked by the teacher (or possibly ta).

One of the answers my daughter put to her question was "they would have been fed to the sharcks".

The teacher has crossed out fed and replaced it with feed and has crossed out the "c" from "sharcks" and replaced it with an "e" so it now reads "they would have been feed to the shareks".

We are not allowed to speak to the teachers in the mornings about any issues unless they are urgent so we have to make an appointment. I didnt think it was worthy of wasting an appointment but I do feel like it needs pointing out.

DH thinks I will look stroppy if I put a note in.

AIBU.

It does seem a bit odd. I would keep an eye on it in the sort term and if the errors continue then I'd mention it.

I don't think it's petty to bring it up if the standard of marking isn't adequate. You have a right to expect a certain level of teaching and decent spelling/grammar is fundamental.

I'm sorry but anyone correcting spelling should themselves be able to spell. This infuriates me. I once tackled my son's teacher about this when he was in year 4, as none of his spellings were corrected. She said unless its an "literacy based" homework then they don't correct spellings FFS!!!!!

Surely thats like trying to build a fecking house without laying the foundations first?!

What also pisses me off is the same sons's name constantly being misspelt...his name is in the bible and is not difficult to spell!!!!!

Two missing apostrophes, I believe justabout

Teachers don't usually make decisions about what (not) to correct autonomously though; they are often following the National Curriculum guidelines or school policy.

Its unlikely to be an actual spelling mistake-your dd's error was ok for a child bur 'shareks'is just silly.Point it out if you like-at least it shows you care enough to check the homework but as a query,'what does the 'e' stand for where you have indicated dd's misspelling of sharks?'

(as usual)

It's also one of the reasons Britain and the British seem to revel in mediocrity. It's OK to be a bit crap, even if you're a teacher, but if someone dares to point out that that's a warped way of looking at things, they are jumped on.

As for the suggestion that maybe teachers are tired at the end of a 7 week half term.....well, I'd maybe excuse the odd rogue letter in a junior doctor's report, but come on....

"Attitudes (albeit well meaning) like these are precisely why millions of Britons are barely literate."

Oh so in the good old days there were high levels of literacy for all were there? Basic skills courses for adults are there for fun are they? I wonder if you'd feel the same about correcting every single spelling if your child have literacy difficulties and lacked confidence in themselves. If the content of their work was inspired yet covered in red pen pointing out their mistakes?

"moondog hear, hear - can't agree more. Arrant nonsense from teachers whose own grasp of spelling/grammar/punctuation isn't all that great. It's perfectly possible for a child to write creatively, from the heart AND use correct spelling and punctuation. I know this because I did it all the way through school, as did all my school mates."

What is arrant nonsense? Please demonstrate where my grasp of spelling/grammar/punctuation isn't all that great. Of course it is possible for some children to write with correct spelling punctuation, bit not all. To focus solely on their spelling when they are struggling with it is unfair. They need support an encouragement.

I have researched dyslexia for a long time. I have interviewed several dyslexic children and adults about their experiences. The majority of them have been seriously emotionally damaged by negative experienced at school where they've been made to feel they've got it wrong all the time. Marking spellings as wrong for every single piece of work DOES NOT help children learn to spell. Other pro-active systematic strategies using phonology, rhyme and mnemonics are used alongside the curriculum to support children who need extra support.

Or maybe we should go back to victorian times and recite verbs and put the confused child in the corner with the dunces cap. That'll learn im.

Please excuse typos before some smartarse tries to get points by highlighting them for me.

I think I might be the smartarse you're referring to, corriefan

If it helps, I'm a teacher

FWIW, you make an excellent point about the need for adult literacy classes.

I haven't read the whole thread but just the first and last page...

As a primary school teacher, I could not agree with Corriefan more - as teachers, we should mark according to purposeful criteria. So if it is a spelling test, you are marking for spelling. If it is a comprehension, you are marking for correct and full answers in response to a text (and in Y3&4, from my experience, capital letters and full stops!!). If it is a story, you are marking for imagination and composition. Of course, ones expectations of each child will be different so you mark according to individual targets/criteria (normally discussed with the children before the task has begun). Pointing out every grammatical or spelling error in a piece of work serves to undermine what the child has been asked to do and lower self confidence (whether a child is dyslexic or not, the principles of dyslexic teaching are extremely transferrable and good practice).

I don't think the dyslexia issue is a red herring at all - corriefan was simply demonstrating that she has some background.

Any child, dyslexic or otherwise, who makes an effort to produce a lovely piece of work, be it about Tudors or plate tectonics, is going to feel demoralised by their work being defaced with red pen by some pedant. Of course children need to learn grammar and spelling and of course some corrections are a Good Thing (if anything they suggest that the teacher has actually read the work). But teachers (and parents) need to pick their battles.

I am not a teacher btw.

I am a bit concerned by some posts which seem to be saying that it is fine and understandable for teachers to mark spelling incorrectly, and that the ultimate responsibility for correct spelling lies with the parents. Comments saying if it is so important to the OP then she should learn to spell properly herself, presumably in order to set a good example and check over homework herself.

This approach seems back to front to me. Surely the children with parents who can't spell/punctuate correctly/maybe even read and write and likely to need more help with their reading writing and spelling than others. Children with illiterate parents will presumably have fewer books at home to read - I have always thought that reading a lot is a great way to internalise correct spelling etc.

To say that it is up to the parents and not the teachers, that it is fine for teachers to get it wrong but that parents should not, is all arse about face surely.

No tethers, I was referring to all the mistakes pickers who use it to put others down!

Justabout- I also want to say dyslexic or not, if you have literacy difficulties of any kind, including generalised low ability, it is unhelpful to have your spelling mistakes highilighted throughout every piece of work. A huge proportion of adults and youths have been disaffected, alienated and driven to crime by stuggling with literacy and feeling like they are stupid and worthless. They need support and encouragement.

feel very sad that some posters on here would want every single mistake corrected in a child's work even if it wasn't the learning intention. So many posts sound like Daily Mail/Telegraph editorials.

When you are getting children to write you want them to be creative not bogged down and scared to use a word that is not absolutely correctly spelled. Imagine a 6 year old who is not keen on writing but has managed to write a whole side of paper with phonologically plausible spelling. Would you think it would be a good thing to correct every word? Would that really help him?

Spellings and common letter patterns can be taught and tested at other times.

Wow - you lot like a good rant dont you. I am completely aware that I havent always used correct grammar and other thing in my posts. I am not doing my homework here, I am just posting on MN, and its a few quick messages posted when I can snatch a few minutes.

I think its a sad state of affairs when people think it would be rude to point out errors to a teacher. For goodness sake, she has incorrectly corrected my daughters work. So many people seem to be focusing on the spelling of shark, when there was also an incorrect alteration of fed to feed.

I dont have absolutely no problem at all with how many times my daughter is corrected. I am in no way disappointed with how many corrections she has, it would not matter to me if every word was wrong so long as she had tried her best. And, finally, I had absolutely no problems at school! You lot are a bunch of wannabe physcologists. Oh, and I know there are grammar & spelling errors so come on, how many are there? First one to get the right answer gets a prize.

I would say that if you have literacy difficulties of any kind then you shouldn't be teaching reading writing or spelling, despite what others have said further up. If I couldn't add up I wouldn't try to teach maths.

I also don't see how children will learn to spell if national newspapers and websites like the BBC News site frequently contain errors, and teachers don't correct their spelling either. Travel on the tube and signage contains errors, adverts contain errors, it is appalling. i have often wondered how anyone can be expected to learn how to do it correctly if they are surrounded by differing "interpretations" of spelling everywhere they look.

physcologists psychologists

I'm interested in the nature of your research Corrie, as I am a researcher (amongst other things) in this field myself.

What do you have? An MSc? A PhD? Please let us know.

Noone is suggested that poor spellers should be harangued and humiliated.Poor spellers are as they are because they have been taught poorly.

Why this is the case is beyond me as teaching reading is simple.There are mountains of evidence to show us how to do this.

The 'dyslexia' label is by and large a myth and instead of protecting poor speelers it blames them. The powers that be have a vested interest in promoting myth that some people have 'word blindness'. It stops the proletariat from turning their attention to the real issue, namely why teaching is execrable, most teachers having received next ot no relevant training.

Arguably, we all start off 'dyslexix' as we aren't born learning to read.It is an acquired skill and happened fairly recently in the timeline of human experience.