Working as a volunteer in school - challenging the teacher

[Jules2]

Here's a pithy subject for other parents and teachers - I really would like to hear from teachers. I've been volunteering in a Yr 6 class at my daughter's school and every week the teacher has made some kind of mistake - be it a grammatical error, spelling mistake or a mistake in Maths. One example was where she asked pupils to put 4 fractions in ascending order and she gave them the wrong answer. I'm not so quick at Maths myself but thought it was incorrect and worked it out after I left. English is my strong suit - I was a book editor and English graduate - so I do know my stuff. But what should I do? I don't want to embarrass a teacher (and she's not the only one) and this particular teacher can be quite defensive. Should I let these errors go? Or raise them discreetly after class - but when it may be too late? Teachers/parents - have you experienced this situation and what would you advise?

There is a challenge for some teachers in maintaining a sense of authority in the classroom, and acknowledging that teaching/learning is a mutual process.

I don't believe that either area are learned about extensively during post graduate teacher training.

Which means there are teachers who are not confident enough about either aspect of teaching to make full use of the experience and knowledge if the volunteers who are in their class.

Merlot... How did the teacher take the corrections?

I have to say that I'm surprised at some of the attitudes to teachers being corrected. Obviously the volunteer should be as tactful as possible and not undermine the teacher's authority, but surely one of the most important purposes of a school is education. Being taught things that are incorrect is actually damaging. As a child a teacher corrected my spelling of a word. I was correct, she was incorrect, but it took me 10 years to realise as I assumed that a teacher could never make a mistake.

As a parent I would expect all teachers to have a basic grasp of their subject or subjects. If their knowledge does not exceed that of what would normally be expected of the children they are teaching then I would question their suitability to teach.

I have enormous respect for teachers. They do a valuable, difficult and demanding job, but in every job it is possible to make mistakes and it is important to be able to acknowledge this, wherever and whoever points it out. After all, what kind of message does it give children when a whole classful of children learning the wrong thing is deemed less important that the teacher having to admit to a mistake?

I'm a teacher, I thank anyone who picks up on my mistakes. I don't mind if it's in front of the class or someone in the class. I make some on purpose, some I dont, some I can't unravel for the life of me and send a boffin kid in to sort out the mess! It's all about confidence, I know I'm in charge and I'm a great teacher. I'm just not perfect!

Like anything in life, there are two ways to go about things. A parent volunteer who was constantly interrupting while I am teaching would annoy the hell out of me, not because I have a problem with being corrected, but because I hate being interrupted. I'm not infallible, I can make mistakes like everyone else, but rudeness is rudeness, whether it is from a parent volunteer or a student. Do it politely and I have no problem with it.

If every teacher was as confident as Hypotenuse it would be fine.

But because not everyone is (especially not in every subject), until then, we can all learn a lot from strategies like Bilberry's.

I do think that mutually blaming the resources is a good strategy though.

Why, as stated by Trouble, are volunteers to be regarded as the lowest of the low, rather than valued as individuals with skills to offer?

I cannot understand why the teacher Stinkle mentioned didn't double check the spelling on the sheet prior to sending it out. By failing to do so she didn't just lose face in front of one parent but all those who spotted the error, who probably told their kids that their teacher was wrong too! Many parent volunteers are highly qualified in their own fields and Stinkles posts show why it is short sighted to ignore them.

Sometimes you have one purpose in mind when you review written material and that purpose is not proof-reading.

By contrast, when you have a document and no other task but to photocopy it, any errors leap out at you.

That's why, for instance, a good solicitor will hand a contract to a trainee solicitor to be read for rogue apostrophes and their/there blunders.

The trick is to understand that this sort of thing is inevitable and find a way to handle it gracefully.

As others have said, it's quite a different matter to teach a concept incorrectly. I was taught the word "epistemology" as meaning something it doesn't mean when I was 14. To this day, the incorrect meaning is the one I cannot shake from my mind.

"I cannot understand why the teacher Stinkle mentioned didn't double check the spelling on the sheet prior to sending it out."

that's a dearth of imagination on your part I think. We could write a book of reasons why something might not get checked given how busy teachers are....

Other professionals are busy people too. I don't think that could excuse her attitude.

I have just remembered why I stopped volunteering at school
If teachers don't like being corrected they should not make so many mistakes.
I think its pretty poor if they think they are beyond being corrected, especially if it is something the children have to learn like grammar or spellings.

This doesn't mean that they aren't 'valued' but of course they are the bottom of the school hierarchy!

Really need to rethink your viewpoint there Trouble. How utterly patronising - and thankfully, not typical of the more professional amongst teachers.

Volunteers should be treated with the same respect and consideration as paid workers. There is a volunteer's charter.

www.volunteering.org.uk/policy-and-campaigns/current-issues/policy-issues-benefits/230-a-charter-for-strengthening-relations-between-paid-staff-and-volunteers

A good teacher doesn't mind mistakes being pointed out to them.
the day my dd started in reception I noticed the label on one of the boxes, a great big sheet of a4 with the words "Roll Play" In huge letters.
The teacher was mortified and said it had been on there for years, and she was ashamed she hadn't spotted it before.
I can see how you would become accustomed to seeing this and it not seem wrong and completely understood.
She thanked me for pointing it out and we moved on.
When I collected dd that day it had been replaced.

Unfortunately, dd left the school for H.ed after y3. We had been considering it anyway but the decision was made after a teacher told dd she was wrong about something she had far more knowledge about than the teacher. She really humiliated dd in front of the class and wouldn't let it lie when dd corrected her.

Did you read the link TheTrouble? It is not a volunteer's role to replace paid staff...Although you never know your volunteer might well be very able. They might have even taught in the past but not told you...

That is true. I was possibly letting pride cloud my judgement. I am in another line of work but do help out occasionally at the school my DCs attend. If a teacher didn't have spelling words written correctly on a spelling sheet I would try to raise it quietly with a teacher, if only to spare his or her blushes before 29 other parents corrected the mistake in the homework jotters. I wouldn't challenge the teacher's competency, simply suggest that a typo had occurred. If the teacher didn't take me seriously and check the error I'd feel a bit insulted but that is probably my problem. It still seems strange to me though that some people would think that as a volunteer I shouldn't do this and even stranger that some teachers would not welcome the opportunity to correct a mistake.

I should add that I have never come across this scenario in the school that my DCs attend. All spelling sheets are correct.

'Teachers think their farts smell like roses.'

Does that include your DH Bitlost??

I would prefer to say volunteer's are equally worthy of respect and consideration as paid workers TheTrouble. They have a different role to play but are equal.

We were invited to look at dd work and I noticed teacher had corrected her spelling wrongly. I spoke to my dd about it but not the teacher who I do think is great at her job in many ways. I thought it more likely an error from tiredness rather than not knowing and let it pass.

^excuse the rogue apostrophe! Typo. (And from an English graduate too..)

Correcting somebody is not the same as challenging them! Crikey they haven't slapped them around the chops with their gloves!