Spellings uncorrected in Y2 workbooks marked by teacher. Is this normal?

[wheelsonthebus]

My dc brought home their literacy workbooks at the end of term. The work is all marked, with ticks and teacher comments, but an awful lot of spellings are not corrected - 'diffrent' for different, 'there' when they're is meant, sought when 'sort' is meant, someones without the apostrophe.... When I asked my dc why the spellings were not corrected, they said the teacher said she 'didn't have time to correct all the misspellings'. Is this really normal? And isn't it a bit worrying?

How many spelling errors are identified/corrected in a single piece of writing may also depend upon the school policy. In my school we are meant to identify the first three errors and the child is either required to look up the correct spelling in a dictionary, correct it in their book and add it to their spelling log or, the teacher will write the correction in the margin for the child to practise below. I teach KS2 and have had a class whose spelling covers a full range; from barely phonetic, to brilliantly accurate and ambitious. I don't actually stick to the policy as some of the children can cope with correcting more of their own errors, others' spelling is sloppy and I may identify every one of their errors but there are some children for whom almost every word is incorrect. What will they gain from me scrawling across their hard work? I select a few words (linked to the sounds they are working on in phonics) for them to practise using rainbow writing but I would far rather they had a go than stick to the few words they know how to spell.

Parents' frustrations about marking/corrections etc. seem to be used by some schools as a good reason to throw away children's exercise books instead of sending them home. If you are concerned about your child's spelling, speak to the teacher during the course of the year about how errors are identified, what the expectations are re: corrections etc. etc. I'm sure s/he would be happy to help.

Unfortunately my DS 7 had a teacher who liked to do things "properly" which basically meant that every piece of writing he did would be corrected eg spellings, full stops etc etc.

My DS then became very defensive about his mistakes and said when he had to write it was "too hard" even though he can do it, eventually causing him to sit and stare instead of completing his work which then resulted in him losing his breaktimes/lunchtimes, which then caused more anxiety!

The cherry on the cake was the day I wrote a note for my son to hand to his teacher and he asked me if I had checked my spellings because if I hadn't Mr would write all over it and make me do it all again

I am all for a child reaching their full potential but when a child between the age of 6-7 (just remind me how many years they are at school for??...surly there would be plenty of time to concentrate on the nitty gritty once the passion for learning has been established??) is unable to concentrate due to fear of getting something wrong then that's just ridiculous IMHO I think these teachers are more interested in making themselves and the school look good at whatever cost including a child's happiness.

Oh and My Ds's books were covered in corrections I counted 25 on 1 page which had 20 lines of writing and to me the content was really good but the focus was wasted on the things that can be improved on over time, infact I would go as far as to say the teacher seemed to get a kick out of keeping him instead of concentrating on the work he had produced.

Am I concerned?? nope....Would I rather see him smiling and enjoying school while developing at his own pace?? Hell yes!

^folkgirl I take your point, really I do BUT there is a huge difference in spelling 'unfortunately' incorrectly and the incorrect use of there/they're and lack of apostrophe.

I wouldn't expect v tricky spellings to be corrected if the child isn't going to retain it at that level...but a Year 2 child not to be corrected about something as basic as the use of they're...? Really? My dd has just finished reception and she is starting to understand which there/they're/their should be used.^

I think your DD is very advanced to have mastered the correct use of the apostrophe at the end of reception. I remember being taught this in what's now Y5. Of course there is an argument for teaching this a little earlier for able children, but possibly not Y2. And I would have thought you either understand the difference between there and their or you don't. But it really is something that needs to be explained to most children. Random corrections in an exercise book are not likely to help children understand.

dancergirl she spelt a few more words than 'unfortunately' wrong tbf

I suppose it depends what age of child we are talking about.

The problem is that our language is very difficult to learn/use because of so many rules and so many exceptions to those rules.

I was only using my daughter's story to illustrate a point. I don't think she would have attempted to use some of the words she did if she'd been concerned about getting it 'wrong'.

It is quite possible that if the teacher realises the children have got their theres, theirs and they'res mixed up, then she would take an opportunity at another time to address these as a whole class.

Perhaps in the first half hour of the day during the register and children arriving or before the end of the day, or when things are cleared away and there are a few minutes before lunch. Those are all the times I used to play phonics games, or give spellings work etc to reinforce the learning little and often. And it would be quite easy to devise 'games' involving (for example) there, their and they're and then encourage the children who find them difficult (quite a few I would imagine) to participate.

That's more productive than just crossing outs etc in books because that is not going to make the child remember the correct use of punctuation/the correct homophone because it's ineffective - the child will glance at it, not commit it to memory and it has moved on. In fact, all it does do is reassure the parents that the teacher has spotted it.

The reasons that a lot of the approaches used when we were younger are not used anymore is because they don't work. It's hard to move away from those ideas because we almost see them as the right or the only way to do things properly.

Just to clarify, I said she started the sentence with 'unfortunately' I just spelt it as she had done so as not to suggest she'd written it correctly.

The point being, that she attempted to start a sentence in that way. The fact she spelt it incorrectly is irrelevant. If she'd been worried about "I don't know how to spell unfortunately", then she probably wouldn't have bothered.

One more comment on the 'old way' of constant spelling correction: I thrived on it, am a visual speller and did very well. My sister (who did far better in Secondary and at Uni, overall) never spelled well, still can't, and gave up on her excellent story writing because 'I'm no good at writing'.

Yet we were both taught the same way: all corrected, lots of spelling tests.

Dancergirl,you rightly comment on "a fantastic piece of work and well punctuated. But it would still be a fantastic piece of work even if spellings were corrected."

It would, but if that fantastic piece of work comes back with crossings out, underlining of corrections, it won't feel so fantastic. And she won't be so happy about it, or so motivated to do it again.

Teachers don't not correct because "[they're] scared of how a child will react" but because they want motivated, inspired children who will later learn the mechanics of writing so that they can better communicate their ideas. You don't inspire children by teaching the mechanics first.

Also, I would not be in the least concerned by a teacher who doesn't know how to spell 'serene'. I often share with my class that I don't know the French world for something, or that I don't know a particular fact about astronomy; we find out together and thus practice the use of dictionaries, online encyclopaedias, etc.

Exactly, LaBelle!

Yes of course we all want motivated children who write creatively. But children have to learn what their mistakes are, even if they're 'not so happy' about it. Otherwise you are lulling them into a false sense of security and making them think their work is perfect when in fact there are things to be improved on. That's doing them no favours at all. And as someone said above, if a word isn't corrected the child will assume it's spelt correctly.

When, in your opinion, do you then introduce proper spelling and punctuation? Year 3? Year 4? Would you then correct spellings? Suppose children then become unmotivated after receiving a piece of work with too many corrections? What's the difference between a 9 year old and a 7 year old child?

I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one. I know I'm old school and my opinions are in the minority.

And come on labelle, you KNOW there is a big difference between not knowing an astronomy fact or a FRench word and a fairly basic English word.

I totally agree with LaBelle. I teach English to non-native speakers. If I corrected every mistake, I'd end up with 25 posters that said "this is a dinosaur, he is sad, he has a friend, he likes Pepsi."

Instead, because my kids know they can take risks and that they will be praised for their creativity, I had a load of posters today that said "the T Rex ate the stegosaurus, it was delicious but then he vomited it back up again and died."

Dancergirl they can learn from their mistakes without their work being covered in red pen

But it's not one or the other is it? There are many aspects to a well- written piece of work; creativity is one aspect and correct spelling/ grammar is another. And there are others. If you're saying the creativity aspect is more important than the spelling then I'm afraid I disagree with you. It's about the overall piece of work; one aspect shouldn't be regarded as more important than another, they are all important and the marking should reflect that.

I'm not saying spelling is less important than creativity. A good teacher will normally judge how much to correct. So a piece that is otherwise perfect, but has 10 spelling mistakes, I might pick 5 for an average student, 7 for one who gets consistently good marks and is confident and 2 or 3 for someone who isn't very confident.

It all really depends: on the age of the student, the point of the exercise, the level of the student, what they've already learnt, what other mistakes there are...I doubt there are many teachers who just shrug, mark a couple of mistakes and ignore the rest. They will, if they are good, think about each piece of writing as a whole. That is what teachers do and also what I do in my work as an examiner.

There is also little point in correcting "slips" which are not really errors, but just a momentary lapse. You know the student can spell the word, but on this occasion they forgot. Correcting it won't make any difference to the child's education.

I do wonder why some parents have so little faith. Fair enough if you have an actual complaint - go and talk to the teacher. But by and large, we do know what we're doing and we have been trained and we're not just making random decisions based on a whim.

Dancergirl the teacher can still teach the child the correct spellings (for every error if necessary) without marking every error in the child's work.

I am also an ex-primary teacher.

Unfortunately, :) I have seen some Y1 and Y2 children fail to achieve in writing because they are so hung up on the perceived perfection of their work. Their other literacy skills are strong, yet they crouch over their page, miserably writing, rubbing-out and re-writing the first few words or worrying about their handwriting. The child sitting next to them has meanwhile written several sentences, albeit without perfect spelling, but gaining valuable experience of applying their phonic knowledge, capital letters, full stops etc, let alone the skill of using and applying written words for a purpose.

Exactly, Branching. I have seen exactly the same. Which is why I would look at the work of the class and sort out a list of common mistakes to teach and then reward children who had got them right in subsequent work. And I might go to a child and give them a (short) list of correct spellings to check in their work themselves. Tell children something, they forget; let them find it out for themselves, they are much more likely to remember.

Lots of red corrections on a good piece of writing is lazy not very creative teaching.

With older children (Y2 upwards) I might bracket off a section of their writing and say there are two missing punctuation marks and three spelling errors can you correct them? That way the child learns to edit their own work rather than learning to rely on a teacher to correct every error for them.

Yes, my DDs work is covered in corrections - which were done by her. (After she wrote the piece)

As long as she finds lots of her own errors, the teacher doesn't tell her every other word which was wrong.