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Teacher ticks word 'brang' - I give up

82 replies

wheelsonthebus · 20/01/2011 11:45

My Y1 dc keeps using the word brang instead of brought. I keep correcting it. But when I saw one of dc's exercise books, the teacher had ticked the word "brang". (holds head in hands emoticon). Should I bring this sort of thing up with the school or just gloss over it? It's not the first time this has happened...(ie, it's happened with other words)

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Feenie · 20/01/2011 22:34

Well, when it happens, Chocciechoc - and believe me, it will, regardless of the relationship you have with parents - I recommend not getting 'very annoyed', or you may see that great relationship go down the pan,fairly swiftly. Teachers are not God, and it's fine to have those kinds of discussions.

Chocciechoc · 20/01/2011 22:38

It's not the nitty gritty details that are important, it is the undercurrent that it is acceptable to criticize a teacher for petty mistakes and be micro-analyzed by parents who think they know better than the teacher. As I said before, I have a very good relationshp with my parents; it is a two-way process which certainly does not involve parents correcting my marking.

Feenie · 20/01/2011 22:41

But in this case, they would know better than the teacher, wouldn't they?

cleanairplease · 20/01/2011 22:43

I'm also a teacher and agree with goingmadinthecountry. If teachers can't spell what hope for the children? I've seen some dreadful spelling by teachers and find it quite disturbing.

cleanairplease · 20/01/2011 22:45

I'd also say that if she's ticked 'brang' it's because she wasn't taking much care with her marking, poss watching EE and mumsnetting at the same time!

Feenie · 20/01/2011 22:50

'If it's just a grammar mistake, why make a big deal about it?'

Am Shock by this statement - I didn't realise before that this was posted by a teacher!

Chocciechoc · 20/01/2011 22:51

Thanks, Feenie, but believe me it hasn't happened yet in 20 years Grin

Catnao · 21/01/2011 00:17

I REALLY can't imagine how teachers can HONESTLY think that errors such as this are O.K., or not even know they are errors - teaching is a degree level entry occupation. I AM a teacher, and if this kind of thing happened with my (Y6) child's work, I would DEFINITELY complain as it's dreadful.(And his teachers through primary have been my colleagues/friends, and I STILL would!)

BUT, I have never worked with teachers, ever, who do this kind of thing, which makes me think she/he must have ticked it,(as others have said), for a different reason - what's the marking policy?

Maisiethemorningsidecat · 21/01/2011 08:10

Choccie - I am genuinely Shock at your attitude. If you were in any other type of employment you would find that your clients would correct your work if it wasn't up to standard, eg if I wrote a report with 'brang' in it, I would fully expect it to be 'branged' to my attention. Teachers are responsible for teaching children - if they are unable to do so correctly, then it's completely appropriate for their parents (who in this case do know more than the teacher) to highlight the error. Surely your own professional pride wouldn't allow for anything else? Teachers are educated to degree level, thefore they should have a pretty good grip of grammar and spelling - especially as they are responsible for the literacy levels of the next generation.

PlanetEarth · 21/01/2011 09:10

"Why go to the trouble of smugly correcting a mistake and discussing it with the teacher rather than simply telling the child the correct spelling yourself?"

I spent 15 years writing dictionaries, but my kids went through a few years when they would not believe me over the teacher when it came to spelling (and yes, we have a house full of dictionaries too).

Bucharest · 21/01/2011 09:18

Hells bells.

Should I stop correcting my foreign students incorrect past tenses then as well? Because it's "just a grammar mistake".

A teacher, teaching the grammar and lexis of their own native tongue to others, and getting it wrong, is so much more than a petty mistake.

Last summer I spent days rewriting the reports of a NQT who had worked for us over the summer. On all of our French students' reports she'd written "could of" and "should of". Had those reports gone out, the French students' parents (and probably the kids themselves) would have made a laughing stock of both the teacher and of our organisation.

And quite rightly.

And then we moan that Brits are rubbish at language learning. Well, QED, they're going to be aren't they, when they aren't even being encouraged to use their own properly!

Bucharest · 21/01/2011 09:20

(and ps, I'm not a teacher basher, having been one for the past 17 yrs and am also on the site thread up top, bemoaning the bashy-teacher-parents out there)

claig · 21/01/2011 09:28

'On all of our French students' reports she'd written "could of" and "should of".'

In her defence, she had probably spent too much time on Mumsnet over the summer period.

Feenie · 21/01/2011 09:29

Actually, the people objecting here are mostly teachers, Bucharest.

claig · 21/01/2011 09:34

Apparently, she had been a straight 'A' student, until someone introduced her to Mumsnet.

Bucharest · 21/01/2011 09:44

Feenie, yes, I know, I was just getting it in before Choccie came back to shout at me. Grin

IndigoBell · 21/01/2011 09:56

Chocciechoc - Respectful parents would surely not feel the need to question it - that is a sign of disrespect.

Questioning is a sign of disrespect? Really? In the UK? (Definitely it is in some other countries....)

Are your students allowed to ask you questions or is that also a sign of disrespect?

I genuinely don't understand your attitude. It sounds like it comes from a totally different culture / year.

But maybe it explains why DDs TA is upset with me.... So I've learnt something from this thread :)

PlanetEarth · 21/01/2011 11:34

Questioning a sign of disrespect?

Hmm, I really do not want to undermine teachers, and if a teacher makes one or two mistakes I will let it go. But if a teacher is regularly teaching my kids the wrong thing I will not overlook it - it's their job to teach the right thing.

Chocciechoc · 22/01/2011 17:10

Having read this thread again I just want to explain exactly what I meant. Sorry I came across as though I was condoning bad grammar in teachers, actually it makes me cringe and personally I'm very careful to check grammar and spelling. But occasionally I may look at what I've written on the white board, in the heat of a lesson, and realise to my horror I've made a small mistake, as anyone would.

I only have time to read Mumsnet occasionally as I'm a full-time teacher and have two young primary-aged children myself, and I do so as a Mum because I often find it interesting and useful. But when I picked up on the vibe about marking a teacher's work it touched a raw nerve. I work in an outstanding school and pride myself as a really good, hardworking teacher. I strive to bring out the best in my pupils, as do all the teachers in the school.

The new Creative Curriculum is all about child-led learning, specifically to bring out children's excitement about learning and work because they want to (eg ask to write a story/poem about the topic), rather than being told to. Children tend to write and write without many boundaries or frequent interjections by the teacher, so many mistakes are not corrected in the spirit of allowing their creative juices to flow. It works amazingly well and the standard of their work, including their spelling, is vastly superior to the type of work carried out 20 years ago, when I first started teaching because they write so much more now, and phonics is a separate lesson in itself when you would take time to correct errors. I find that children demand to find out correct spellings themselves to add to the importance they themselves put on their work.

However, it all comes at a cost and that is usually in the form of stressed, over-worked teachers. Unfortunately I have witnessed several excellent, inspiring teachers buckle under the pressure. Sad

What I meant about petty complaints really meant please don't add to the pressure by complaining, when really and truly you could explain to the child the correct word yourself.

Just one other point. Some of you are shockingly patronizing and when I discussed what was said in this chat yesterday in the staffroom, the whole staff was appalled that there were even teachers giving a voive to complain agaist teachers. Shock

You added a comment yesterday morning Feenie, so you must be at home. Maybe when you return to teaching you'll realise that most of the dead-wood in teaching, which I have witnessed enough of, has mostly gone. And as for TAs, well they are vitually doing the jobs of teachers themselves with shockingly little pay.
I'm really upset at the strong resistance to my suggesting you don't complain. I'm afraid it is rather naive to assume that a parent complaining is not a topic of staffroom discussion and annoyance.

Chocciechoc · 22/01/2011 17:17

I know I've made a few mistakes in my last post but please resist the urge to get out your red pens!

Bucharest · 22/01/2011 17:22

Choccie, thanks for coming back and explaining, that was a very reasonable post.Smile

But surely, (for I know if it were me this would be the case) if I'd been so, erm, non-adept in the use of my own language to think a word that does not exist was the irregular past tense of the verb bring....then I would be hanging my head in shame rather than shouting off in the staffroom at the nasty parent who pointed it out.

Btw, my could-of should-of teacher...I never did tell her that I'd changed all her reports

gabid · 22/01/2011 17:25

I can understand that teachers of young children (Y1/2 etc.) want to encourage them expressing themselves in writing and not mark every little error, but shouldn't it be made clear what is being marked, e.g. writing a good story or spelling correctly rather than covering the paper with random ticks.

TheMonster · 22/01/2011 17:30

Is there a markig policy that dictates that the teacher should only mark a certain amount of words wrong per page? Maybe she had reached the maximum?

Chocciechoc · 22/01/2011 17:32

gabid- you're right. We are encouraged not to tick literacy work because ticks have the underlying meaning of the work being perfect, and year1/2 writing rarely is!!

Chocciechoc · 22/01/2011 17:37

Bucharest - to be honest I agree and I wouldn't really mind being corrected. It's just so demoralising when you've worked hard and a parent complains about something. Parents rarely take the time to say thank you. My own children have come home with mistakes written in their diaries from the teacher and personally I would never, ever say anything because I realise they'll leave the school having had a fantastic education overall.