stopped in the street and embaressed

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Forum -> Working Women -> Teachers' Room

Stopped in the street and embaressed

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sruth1

Sun, Dec 23 2007, 8:37 am

I know how you feel. When I taught sixth grade history I had a parent call me to tell me that I made a mistake when grading her daughters test. I had asked the girls to define Longitude and Latitude and the girl had mixed them up. The parent said I was wrong and asked me to correct it> I then read the mother the definition from the dictionary, which was what I had said in the first place. The mother said oh and then apologized. I then got a call from the principal very upset that I had corrected this girls paper incorrectly and told me that I need to call the mother and apologize for the mistake. I read to her the definition and showed her that is was she the student and the mother that was incorrect not myself. She apologized for her mistake and hung up. I later found out the Principal is friends with this mother. I wonder if that is why she did not stick up for me.

peach

Sun, Dec 23 2007, 9:45 am

la456 wrote:

ok just to clarify and to save my rep.
I am an excellent teacher who is well sought after.....
I make mistakes (do u ever, or is it just me?)
and I didn't TEACH it to them wrong,
on her daughter's test I gave it to her right, when it was wrong.

Well then, in that case, I think the mother should have told her daughter "Oh look, you got lucky on this one as the teacher missed it, but the right way to spell it is....".

She should have said it like you missed the mistake, not like you dont know how to spell it. And she definitely should not have approached you on the street and put you on the spot by asking you how to spell it. Highly inappropriate, in my opinion.

↑ mumoo

Sun, Dec 23 2007, 9:51 am

While I was a teacher's aide, the class was given a test where the teacher would say a word, and the student would have to write whether it was a noun or verb. Well, two of the words were dance and ground. After the test was graded, a few students came and showed me where they had written noun for one of those two words and it was marked wrong. Of course, the word could be either (there was no sentence context) so I approached the teacher. She refused to consider that they might be right. I guessed I thought I was talking to a reasonable person and probably pressed the point. I was "let go" the next day. Two few students to justify having an aide....... Exploding anger

downsyndrome ↓

Sun, Dec 23 2007, 10:27 am

I would break this situation up into two parts:
The first part is that this mother acted very disrespectfully to you and really tried rubbing it in. That wasn't nice. Period.
On the other hand, you seem to acknowledge your weakness of being a poor speller. It baffles me why you have taken on a teaching job of young children, where it is so important and essential to their secular studies to be taught spelling properly and correctly.

↑ lamplighter ↓

Sun, Dec 23 2007, 12:38 pm

why do I teach them bc I can around my spelling weakness, I look everything up etc and I hate to ahve to say it but ur accusation calls for defense. I am a darn good teacher, one of the best in the school, and something tells me that having a weakness in spelling does not discount my being a good teacher or my students learning (academic, social, and behavioral studies)

↑ BrachaVHatzlocha ↓

Sun, Dec 23 2007, 8:21 pm

la456 wrote:

having a weakness in spelling does not discount my being a good teacher or my students learning (academic, social, and behavioral studies)

I agree!

morningstar ↓

Sun, Dec 23 2007, 9:41 pm

LA456, I can hear that you are careful with your teaching . . . and indeed, everyone can misgrade a question on a test . . .yet you came on by telling us you struggle with spelling, and have probably misspelled the name of this thread.So clearly, your difficulty with spelling is something that makes you feel uncomfortable and defensive. The parent was inappropriate, but from what you have written, she obviously hit you in a sensitive spot.
If you acknowledge your weakness and spelling but are otherwise an excellent teacher, perhaps the best strategy is to defuse the situation up front.
Surely of the children in your class, there are others who are bright students but struggle with spelling as well.
I would have used the opportunity to point out that one can be smart and knowledgeable even if some subjects are hard . . . and that what we do when things are hard is not make excuses but to find ways to compensate for our weaknesses.
I would point out to the kids what you do when you bump up against a hard word whose spelling you are unsure of . . . how you use a spell-checker, or the dictionary, or even run it by a good friend.
So long as you model taking responsibility for your weakness with spelling, I doubt that anyone will make an issue of this . . . and you can probably provide a lot of academic confidence to other kids who struggle in one area or another.
(it also makes it hard for a parent to rip you down in front of a kid because you missed the spelling of a word. When the parent points out the mistake on the tes,t the kid is likely to respond-- yes, la456 told us in school that spelling can be hard for some people, so when she is writing an important paper, she always double-checks . . .)

↑ downsyndrome ↓

Sun, Dec 23 2007, 9:43 pm

I am sorry la456 if you feel the need to defend yourself. The last thing I wanted to do was to put you down or hurt you. That being said, I still maintain my opinion. Spelling should be a number one priority in teaching young children academics. Of course social skills and manners and other teachings are also very important, but you cannot discount the importance of correct spelling. Just review some of the posts on imamother. If it wouldn't be so laughable, it would be cry-able! I am very big on spelling and I cringe when I encounter spelling errors, especially so in newspapers, public printed advertisements, and certainly, teachers making spelling mistakes. This is not an assault on you in any personal way ch'v. It is just in defense of correct spelling Wink

↑ morningstar ↓

Sun, Dec 23 2007, 10:58 pm

I agree fully, Down Syndrome.
This does not mean that someone who finds spelling challenging can't teach, but that person is going to have to work harder to model the importance of good spelling to the children than someone for whom correct spelling comes naturally.

↑ Tefila ↓

Sun, Dec 23 2007, 11:14 pm

There is also a difference I believe when one is in preschool teaching shapes, colors, and Alef beis (as in my case , my spelling too has lots to be desired embarrassed

) or in elementary, teaching spelling as one of the subjects Wink

pinktichel

Mon, Dec 24 2007, 7:54 am

la456 never said she misspelled things on hand-outs, on the board, etc. She simply made an error while marking a spelling test. I honestly do not believe that that has anything to do with a difficulty with spelling.

If any of you have ever sat and graded spelling tests (I have graded over 100 in one sitting, many a time!), you would see how easy it is to miss a mistake. Your eyes quickly scan the words and it is easy to overlook something misspelled.

I am sure that there are plenty of History, Science, etc teachers on this forum that have made simple errors as such when grading tests. Does that mean that they really need to improve on their subject?

It was 100% wrong for the parent to embarrass la456 like that. What kind of chinuch is that for her child? Your experience shows why there is such a lack of respect nowadays for teachers!

↑ downsyndrome

Mon, Dec 24 2007, 9:24 am

Pinktichel, you are right in what you write, but you are missing the concept of this thread. OP did not brush off her spelling error as a mistake that her eyes missed cuz she was tired from 'over-marking' test papers. She clearly wrote that she has spelling challenges herself. That being said/admitted, puts this 'conversation' into an entirely different perspective. In addition, we are all condemning the parent who berated the OP on the street. That behavior was totally out of line, inappropriate, lacking in derech eretz, and morally deficient. However, that is a totally separate issue from the spelling issue at hand.

↑ lamplighter ↓

Mon, Dec 24 2007, 11:53 am

ok so firstly, the mistake on the test was an honest mistake not bc I didnt know how to spell it but bc I missed it. because it is a sensitive issue to me I was caught off guard on the street and was afraid to spell it wrong. She was disrespectful, that I think anyone would agree with.
another point is that my students do know that I have difficulty with spelling bc I tell them, and yes that does make them more comfortable with their own weaknesses.
I alsp think a lot of spelling mistakes on thisi forum are typos my own included. and no I dont agree that a good speller is going to make or break a teacher even in elementary age students. especially if she is careful with handout, the board etc. yes - spell chek is a g-dsent!

↑ Tefila

Mon, Dec 24 2007, 12:06 pm

Quote:

yes - spell chek is a g-dsent!

Yea but who has the time to use it LOL

↑ lamplighter

Mon, Dec 24 2007, 5:27 pm

on a forum... not me.
but its really painful 4 u guys I can try;)

↑ BrachaVHatzlocha

Mon, Dec 24 2007, 9:08 pm

btw, I remember correcting a teacher in 6th grade when she made errors on the board (grammar, I think).

Ima'la

Tue, Dec 25 2007, 5:22 am

Didn't read the whole thread...but the way that was said sounded really rude. Even if she felt she had to say something, it could have been said differently.

But now, thanks to RedRuby, we know what to say to her...

"Maybe you can still get your money back from charm school!"

↑ morningstar

Tue, Dec 25 2007, 6:24 am

LA456, if in fact you are careful with correct spelling in class, why so embarrassed about the parent coming over? She says you made a boo-boo grading the spelling test, and you respond, "Guess it''s possible. When you mark 150 papers a week, sometimes there's an oversight!Why not ask Grunie to come over to me in class today and I'll check it again!"

I can't see the average teacher being very embarrassed by this-- although she may be annoyed at being accosted in the street with a school issue.

If this was really just an atypical oversight, why is your native spelling ability relevant to the story at all?

technic

Tue, Dec 25 2007, 6:42 am

imala

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