Friendly names to call kids who make a stupid mistake

[noblegiraffe]

You know, the ones you have a good relationship with, not talking about berating some sensitive y7.

What, in mock exasperation, would you call a pupil who had e.g got a fiendishly difficult differential equation question wrong and you'd just spotted it was because they'd written 1x1=2?

If you get your joy from calling kids names when they make mistakes then I suggest it's time to find a new profession.

please don't.
As a teenager who had spelling difficulties being called a joking name would have really upset me. In fact it did. I can still feel the hot flush of embarrassment of having silly mistakes pointed out in that way.

Only if your prepared to be called a numpty or an eejit back from the children you teach. Any kind of name calling doesn't sit well with me - your legitimising it. Next time one of the kids starts calling someone an eejit or numpty (which let's face it, is just another word for idiot) they would be right in saying "Well Mr (or Ms) called Freddie it yesterday".

Surely it's better to point out what they did was daft rather than call them a name?

This. Why does joshing have to be a name?

My old maths teacher used to say "silly mistakes" for slip ups.

As in, it was a bit of a catchphrase for her; "Silly mistakes or does anyone want more help?"

I'm going to point out "good relationship" again. To have a good relationship with someone you have to know them well, know their strengths and weaknesses, their likes and dislikes. I (as an English teacher) would never tease my students who I know struggle with spelling or punctuation etc. but if my top student forgets to use a capital I as a pronoun (the literacy equivalent of 1X1=2) I may well say something like "hey, rhubarb, forgetting something?" They laugh, I laugh, they remember the "amusing" (I'm not claiming it's the joke of the century) exchange and are less likely to be sloppy again.

In my house, the affectionate term for a numpty is 'pilchard'.

Because of the cat from Bob the Builder

Dime bar

(am not a teacher though)

I understand the "good relationship" thing but unless it is just you and one pupil in the room your name calling influences the whole class. If you call someone a name then it's ok for them to call each other names. It's really not that far a stretch from "silly" to "daft" to "stupid". I'm sure you are an intelligent person. I'm sure you can convey humour and correct mistakes without name calling.

Rookie or noob error, perhaps? Jokey but not namecalling, and pointing out that you know they are capable really.

You can always call them on the mistake without calling the child, e.g. that was a numpty thing to do.

When DD was v. young (and repeating every word she heard) I became super careful about using appropriate language for her. So super careful that in front of a challenging group of Yr 10s I said 'Oopsy-doopsy'. They fell about laughing and it became the thing I said if they'd done something stupid.

A good teacher knows their learners inside out. They know when to use gentle joshing, they know when not to. They know when to call someone a superstar, they know when to call someone a doofus.

I'm head of a behavioural unit, small classes trying to reintegrate young people back into education after some awful experiences, often from school. Some learners have been called stupid, thick, useless and far worse in main stream school so I see both sides of this. There is a huge difference between a 'name' being used aggressively by a strung out, overworked teacher and one being used as a tactical tool to engage learners.

The joy comment was a joke. If you've had a sense of humour bypass then I suggest it's time to find a new profession.

Prune.

Called a upper 6th former this the other day when he tried to sign a legal document in pencil. "X, you utter prune..." They all loved it.

I use 'spanner' - not for inaccurate answers, but for moments when a kid does something avoidably daft - not reading the instructions properly and thus doing something bonkers. Kids like it. A number of them now use it to describe their own 'd'oh' moments.

No, I agree with other posters here and I am a teacher.

I get that when you've got a good relationship with a child a bit of teasing is fine but not name calling, no matter how 'mild' the name.

A lot of these (muppet and numpty) are actually potentially quite offensive.

Just because you're a primary teacher doesn't mean you need to behave like you're in the playground.

Are they doing differential equations in primary now? I knew the new curriculum was more challenging but still...

I very selectively call students silly sausages. It's always the really able ones who've done daft things rather than not understood what to do, and they're most definitely allowed to do the same to me if I've missed a minus sign or copied a power incorrectly. When I teach chemistry they're allowed to kick me in the shins if I've accidentally drawn a carbon atom making more or less than four bonds.

You balloon. It makes them laugh as it's silly.

Mine are Melons/Lemons/Plums

Makes them laugh.

The little ones are wally wombats or silly sausages

I'm laughing at all the po faced types on this thread. Silly sausages!

I've have seen complaints on here saying, 'my son's teacher called him a wally' and they really weren't impressed, so I don't do it.

Surely it's a case of know your audience? I was really lacking in confidence at school despite being very academic. A teacher calling me a daft eejit for making a silly mistake made me smile and feel the teacher was with me, not against me, whereas a po faced 'that was wrong' had me really agonising that I was stupid and the teacher hated me.

I realise that others are saying they would find it upsetting but it's not one size fits and a good teacher will surely know their students?

My ten year old, who is painfully nervous, to the point of being under the care of CAHMS giggled for days after the principal called her an eejit for doing something silly, she thought it was great.

Knobhead?

That's the point - you don't know your audience really. I was called a name by a teacher in about Y5. She was a lovely lady and I had a good relationship with her and I misunderstood an instruction and she called me 'dizzy dora' and I remember the whole class laughing and it was pretty humiliating, although I had to feign laughter as well.

I would be peeved if a teacher called my child a muppet; I would be angry if they called them a numpty.

Each teacher knows the vibe in their classroom and which kids need encouraging in what way.

Some kids like a bit of a joke, some don't.

So you read the situation and act appropriately.

What you don't have to do is treat every child like a precious piece of crystal who you must pussyfoot around in case their mother comes in and complains that you called them a noodle. That is not in any way going to help you build a rapport with your class.

Our childminder used "Pickle" to cover anything from a little mishap to DC having been a handful all day". She was fab!

Dd's teacher says "oh ms/mr [surname]" in a jokey tone, which the DC seem to think is fun.