Y7 Eng: Teacher's remark in book...

[ampere]

'Great discription. Try not to say to much at the beggining'

This is at the 'top performing comp in the county'. Not that that should really make any difference, I grant you, except the school's 'reputation' should allow them to be fairly selective regarding the standard of their teaching staff!

Frankly, I am aghast. AM I a billion years behind the time assuming that a secondary school ENGLISH teacher should be able to spell such basic words?

That's shocking then.

My dh is a science teacher and it seems that the only place spelling is allowed to be picked up on is English, so what hope do we have? Children don't NEED to be able to spell to get GCSEs so they aren't corrected. They are the future teachers.
This teacher, if under 30 would probably have missed out on hard core spelling being taught and corrected in all areas.
I am always anxious when posting as even though I did an English degree, I have no real understanding of grammar. It just wasn't taught at my secondary school.
I support teachers, but could easily knee cap consultants, decision makers and education politicians.
This poor spelling teacher is a victim. Have sympathy, don't poke it with a stick.

I'm a Science teacher and I correct spelling. Literacy is a big push in many schools now, and not before bloody time IMO.

The Fallen Madonna - I am pleased to hear this. I know key vocab is often corrected but it's all the other words that bug me. I have an urge to get out my red pen if he brings work home.
I might suggest he starts, to get ahead of the game.

I tend to correct it but not base my marks on it IYSWIM (I'm a MFL teacher so spelling in the language is always marked).

Ampere - you are right to be aghast. It's shite, dob them in. Really.

Sorry, that sounds sarcastic, but it's not OK at all. Do something, preferably to the teacher. If they do it again, the HOD. If that doesn't work, the HT.

I'm a HOD and it would piss me off royally if someone in my department did this.

As I have already said - and I appreciate this thread now runs to 3 pages!- I had never heard of the concept of peer review (DS is in week 2 of secondary) BUT a) he 'isn't sure who wrote that' (!) and b) it very much looks like the comment and spelling of a fellow 11 year old, doesn't it?

SO am going to 'do nothing' but keep an eye on it. If I were 100% sure the teacher had written this, I'd've been having words, but that really doesn't seem to have been the case, upon reflection. Now armed with the knowledge of 'peer reviewing'- which, incidentally, I think sounds like a good idea to improve the ability to evaluate written work, I believe this is what happened here, even though DS didn't review the other DS's work BUT he did state they 'ran out of time'.

Ahhhhh. Phew!

ampere, my ds is at your ds's school I believe.

I honestly would have thought that it was the written comment of a "peer". They are always reviewing each other's work. Every so often they have to submit a long piece of work which is marked by the teacher. They call it an "assessment" rather than an essay, or homework, and they get a mark, such as 7 high, or 7 low or some such, rather than A- or B+ .

I must say I am often shaking my head or growling about standards today, vis my "Should I complain about the syllabus" thread, after I discovered that ds's Gothic Literature lesson consisted of watching Scooby Doo.

If those really were the comments of a teacher , then that teacher should be shown the door.

gramercy, yes I think he is (Th?)! what year is your DS in?

I will tell my DS that peer reviewing is big there so he can perhaps give some thought as to how he can make his review of another DC's work useful for both of them!

I am rather surprised at the Scooby Doo, as well! what's wrong with Frankenstein??

Never entirely sure about peer review.

In science, it's done by those qualified to evaluate it: other scientists.

The remark by the other student doesn't tell the OP's child enough about what was good or in need of improvement.

The idea behind it is that by teaching children to read and think critically about peers' work, it will develop and extend their critical facilities and he quality of their own work. Obviously in the remark mentioned by the op, the writer still has some way to go!...but (if it turns out to be a child in the end) s/he is only 11.

"I'm a Science teacher and I correct spelling"

I was told while I was doing an OU humanities course that the humanities department doesn't mark down for spelling and finer points of grammar, so long as meaning is not obscured, while the science department does.

You can correct spelling without it affecting the mark. We don't give marks for classwork and homework in fact, just a comment.

In exams you often give marks for spelling, puntuation and grammar. On the old Specification papers, in my subject it was 4 marks at the end. That meant it was very hard to get an A* if you could not write fluently and spell correctly. The new specification requires you to place students within a certain band according to their spelling. So the papers are marked to be within 5 bands according to the quality of an answer. So the lowest band being very poor the higest being outstanding. When placing a student within a band you consider their spelling, punctuation and grammar. This could again make the difference between a GCSE grade.

I have a feeling that was as clear as mud.

Awful, but not surprising sadly.
Ds1s teacher or TAs couldnt spell and their grammar was atrocious.
sigh.

It wasn't the teacher, becaroo, the thread has moved on

But it is much more fun to assume the teacher is pig shit thick

Thing is, Vespasian, I have a friend who is a Y6 teacher whom I have known for many years. Because we are Jurassic in age, she used to write rather than email me. Your hair would curl if you saw the standard of her written English! You absolutely, 100% could credit that an 11 year old had written it.

You can draw your own conclusions!

You could easily ask the teacher who wrote it.

Well that is it then, you know a teacher who has awful written English, it is correct to assume the rest must be the same.

Infact I bet it is part of the recruitment process.

1. Do you have an aversion to working before 9am and after 3.30pm?
2. Do you hate working more than 6 weeks in a row?
3. Do you have awful standards of literacy and numeracy?

Yes to all the above come teach.

Also, at the risk of offending my colleagues in the primary sector,your friend is quite possibly not an English specialist. Her area of expertise could be maths, or PE or MFL or any number of subjects. A secondary English teacher ought to be a graduate in a literary subject and damn good at spelling/punctuating etc.

I still think this is peer-marked.

Hang on a minute....children mark the other childrens work? is that right?

bloody hell

Is this standard practice???

Is it??????

For English, small pieces of work and classwork are often peer-marked. It's more beneficial for the child marking than the child who's work is being marked, but they all get experience of both and through that knowledge and understanding of what to do to get certain Levels.

It is NOT used for assessments,and teachers generally use it sensitively, taking into account the atmosphere of the class and the relationships within it.

It is considered good practice and I agree (although it is v fashionable atm and I wouldn't use it for everything).

It is nothing to get on your high horse about!

Peer review can be a very useful tool beceroo - My DCs school gave parents a presentation on it a few years ago. Before marking the work it should be explained exactly what they are looking for ie what the marking criteria is and if a child understands fully what is being looked for then they can apply it to their own work. The teacher will look at the work as well at some point and add their own comments.In my DCs school its quite common in English and subjects like RE and History.