Should I talk to ds's teacher?

[PrettyCandles]

Ds is in Y4. As part of his maths homework last week he was given a list of fractions written out in words, which he had to write out in decimals. His teacher marked two of them as wrong:

Twenty two hundredths - ds had written 0.22 - his teacher rewrote as 0.022
Fifteen hundredths - ds had written 0.15 - his teacher rewrote as 0.015

This was not a slip - ds said that others had their homework marked in the same way, whereas those who had written 0.022 etc got a tick.

Ds has asked us to talk to her about this. We suggested that ds speak to her about it himself, but he feels very uncomfortable about doing that. He wants us to talk to her - should we? And how without embarrasing Or antagonising her?

Oh dear - after seeing that I'd have very little faith in teacher's maths ability. Luckily your dc seems well equipped to cope but for other kids in the class, it's quite worrying.

I'd ask her to clarify as your dc was confused - she needs to know that she's wrong.

Just be chatty and non confrontational. "I just happened to notice that" etc.

I would be grateful if someone pointed out errors to me (although mortified as hell).

I wouldn't push your ds to do it if it makes him uncomfortable.

I'm a teacher and if I'd made a mistake such as this I'd be pleased if one of my class had pointed it out - it would show they'd understood how to convert fractions to decimals apart from anything else! If there are a group of them who've had their work marked incorrectly they could be encouraged to club together and explain to the teacher that they think she's made a mistake.

If they really feel unable to do that then I think it makes sense for you to have a word with her along the lines of, "X thinks his maths homework has a couple of mistakes in it but he thought you'd think he was being cheeky/rude if he asked you to have a look so I've been drafted in.....". The last thing she will want is for the children to think she has no idea about the relationship between fractions and decimals!

Exactly! She'd probably be pleased if a child pointed it out, but mortified if adult did so.

I don't really like this teacher. I think she I'd more interested in making ds fit in with her notions than in acknowledging his individuality and meeting his academic needs. But even so I have no desire to embarras her. And I am very worried that if I do she might take it out on him.

I have just got ds to demonstrate the solution on grid paper, and promised that I will go with him while he shows it to his teacher on Tuesday.

The fact that he is so uncomfortable about expressing his ideas to his teacher makes me uncomfortable. This is not how it should be.

She was probably tired and messed up, I've done it. If it's a one off I'd probably send a pleasant note in then check with ds if it is clarified in class. If not go and have a word.

I would get him to point it out. As a teacher I often make silly mistakes -I am generally multi tasking- and expect pupils to mention it! Luckily they always do.

I always tell my pupils that I make mistakes and to have confidence in themselves and their answers. I'd be worried if they couldn't point a mistake out to me, although the cocky beggers don't seem to have an issue with it. Tell the teacher as diplomatically as possible and she should be fine. I once had a child point out a really embarrassing mistake that she'd discussed with her mother (even though I knew when itwas pointed out that the word didn't mean what I'd said it had at all) and I was happy to address it with the whole class and put them straight.

Funnily enough, I do the same thing caen and always tell my class that everyone makes mistakes, even me and that they should be confident enough to point mine out too. I also tell them that mistakes can be a good thing as they helps us to learn when we can figure out where we went wrong.

PC - it would be really upset if one of my class was so worried they couldn't tell me if they spotted a mistake. I would speak to the teacher but make it quite light hearted and chatty. You could always try: 'DS got some marked wrong in his homework and we were going over it with him so he would know where he went wrong but it's so long since DH or I did this that we're not very sure. Could you have another look at it with me/him?'

Depends on the teacher. Dd would not have felt able to point a mistake out at junior school, because criticising a teacher/implying that a teacher was wrong was seen as rude. In retrospect, I wish I had been a bit more pushy tbh; it just left dd with a feeling that you can't sort even the most minor things out by talking to teachers. It's taken nearly two years at secondary to rid her of that idea.

I would definitely go with the gentle approaches suggested by other posters and mention it to the teacher.

just pop in and point it out nicely a la madlenny. we sometimes get spelling mistakes on the 'words to learn for the spelling test' list...

i always go in and mention it asap so that new sheets can be issued and the kids don't memorise the incorrect stuff...