Ouch Report

[NKUSigEp]

Originally Posted by smeet

This is so unacceptable... I am speechless that some of you think it's ok. If she can't spell properly, what other erroneous information might she be imparting to your child? I don't care if English is her 20th language, if you want to teach you need to understand what you are teaching, including the language in which you are teaching. I expect that of any teacher, in any country, at any level or subject.

Kids remember and internalize things like this. The rules for conjugation and spelling in English are complex, and thisis the age when your child is learning those rules. It's not going to scar her, but yes, it's a bad thing that should be dealt with.

Irregardless of what you be saying, I think you mite need too cut some slack hear. A little girl triped and scrapped up her knee and got her snickers scufed all up. Its not unpossible that the teacher were a little destracted when she were righting the note!

[hbarcat]

Originally Posted by FretlessMainly

In what universe is this acceptable?

"She was walking on she triped over her show and fell."

You're actually paying for this?

At first I thought it said "she triped over her show and tell".




But, you're right. That's not acceptable to have such incompetence from a teacher of the basics.

[michael_atw]

Originally Posted by two fingers

That is ridiculous and unacceptable to be teaching kids and not have a firm grip on the spelling of basic words.

That's what I like to say about many parents Especially circa 19th century. Just think, your dad probably learned pretty well from someone who likely couldn't spell his or her own name.

[michael_atw]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

That was my thought as well. The situation reminds me of my High School Geometry teacher who would write equations on the board, and then get stuck when trying to solve them in front of the class. I had to point out to the teacher where his math was wrong, more than a few times.

I have a Government and Economics teacher as a senior in high school who couldn't spell or do math. She was about 50 years old - very much a WASP native.

[jmattbassplaya]

By that age I was already spelling the names of some of my favorite dinosaurs perfectly, and those aren't by any means easy words. I definitely would have issue with this. If kids can't even learn the simplest words properly how likely will they be able to do the more difficult ones later on?

[smeet]

Originally Posted by NKUSigEp

Irregardless of what you be saying, I think you mite need too cut some slack hear. A little girl triped and scrapped up her knee and got her snickers scufed all up. Its not unpossible that the teacher were a little destracted when she were righting the note!

Yeah.

Seriously, maybe my standards are too high to be realistic in this country. Things were MUCH better when I was in school, but still, I came to the US in 1971 and entered 5th grade. I was previously in a British-run Catholic school in India, where I was considered a mediocre student. While I liked my American teachers, I remember being shocked at how badly educated all the kids in my class were. I was at least 2 or three years ahead of all of them. By the time I exited high school, those differences were gone, as I regressed closer to the mean.

I think there are clear reasons that we as Americans are falling behind the rest of the industrialized world. One of them is demonstrated by how many people feel that requiring good spelling from a preschool teacher is being too nit picky. This was always a proud blue-collar country, but something has changed and our forward momentum seems to have stopped and reversed.

[oniman7]

I was 4 years and 6 months or so when I read my first sentence.

Kids are constantly picking up on things. I would assume your child is picking up on these things and constantly learning. How much this will affect things in the long run is not something I can even guess at.

[Tony Flow MMMM]

Please address this. I had a teacher similar to this one who taught me to write half my letters in very inefficient ways (ie backwards) I'm still adressing this as it has become a habit.

[6jase5]

On threads like this, I divert to my wife, a special education K-5 teacher.

She face palmed instantly. Kids learn to read/spell nearly twice as fast by using both pictures and words. Not just "point to the shoe" (show), but pointing to the shoe/sneaker AND the word at the same time. Parents that read to their kids but also emphasize and point out the key words are greatly improving early development.

Schools have budgets. They probably printed the paper and possibly even knew of the mistake but may have just wanted to use up the pre-made copies. Unacceptable for any reason, but done quite frequently.

[bassteban]

Originally Posted by Tony Flow MMMM

Please address this. I had a teacher similar to this one who taught me to write half my letters in very inefficient ways (ie backwards) I'm still adressing this as it has become a habit.

THANK YOU- my wife gives me grief when I try to get my youngest to write in such a way that the next stroke is very natural, rather than going al over the place. *Let her do it how she wants to* she'll say... Maybe she should make up her own spelling/language/rules for society?!? Rant over for now...

[bolophonic]

Originally Posted by mjac28

I would get together with other parents and see if they are having similar problems the more parents involved the quicker the problem gets solved if they give you a hard time let them know the local news stations would love to run a story on the great education your child is getting because school levies are always hot buttons in most communities.

While we are on the subject, could you get together with some other parents in your area and have something done about your punctuation, because these posts are borderline unreadable.

[skychief]

Id be a little miffed too, but I mean its L.A., man.

We seem to set the bar a bit lower here. Thats just the way it is.

[Unprofessional]

Originally Posted by smeet

... I think there are clear reasons that we as Americans are falling behind the rest of the industrialized world. One of them is demonstrated by how many people feel that requiring good spelling from a preschool teacher is being too nit picky. ...

A crystal clear example of the "everyone gets a trophy" mentality all of the way through a doctorate. This is but one solid reason why everyone should not get a trophy.

[EricF]

I defintitely agree with the people who think these mistakes are not acceptable for a teacher of that age group, and it should be brought to the attention of the school administation. If the teacher is mispelling words regularly - especially on learning material - she should have someone check her before printing it.

In other news, seeing an ouch report remided me of a particular summer when my daughter came home with an ouch report every day for 2 weeks straight. The kid plays hard. Thankfully, her coordination has finally caught up with her enthusiasm.

[aborgman]

Originally Posted by tastybasslines

She speaks perfect English.

So do lots of folks who can't write English well.

[Pilgrim]

The situation is not acceptable as is. I would raise it with the school authorities.

Granted, your daughter is not at an age where she is formally being taught spelling - but a teacher is by definition someone who models academically positive behavior and performance for students. The misspellings you see are not acceptable in that context.

The teacher is responsible for correct language use in both written and spoken communication. No exceptions.

[fourstringdrums]

Originally Posted by aborgman

So do lots of folks who can't write English good.

Fixed

[Doodaddy]

Sweet heaven. I get upset when I see typos on here or Facebook, but so help me if a "teacher" of my child is that dumb.

[tastybasslines]

I've discussed it with various trusted people and my wife, and we are not going to bring it up at this time.

If I do, I have to be prepared to pull my child out of school there, and have another school ready, most likely at an increased cost. This is likely if she is not ingratiated by me, and we are not ready to take that risk now. I am basically calling out the teacher, and even if the owner is receptive, the other staff will know and most likely, an uncomfortable situation will occur. As secondary reasoning, we both like the teacher, and despite her spelling errors, we don't want her to be potentially fired. With her skills, it may be hard for her to get a job in other places. What can I say, we are compassionate people.

As parents, we both also spend a lot of time reading with my daughter, who loves it, and I think it's something we can catch, and be aware of if it came up, at which point we would say something. For kids that don't have the advantage that mine has (lots of books at home, parents who read with her), it may leave them in worse shape that our daughter. Ultimately, we think that she won't be affected THAT much, and right now, school is more about daycare/fun with a little learning thrown in, rather than an all out educational experience.

If anything, we would show the administrator the "snicker", example, and ask about that to bring up the general topic gently, but not the teacher directly.

I know the principle is important, but we are picking and choosing our battles on this one.

[line6man]

Originally Posted by 6jase5

Schools have budgets. They probably printed the paper and possibly even knew of the mistake but may have just wanted to use up the pre-made copies. Unacceptable for any reason, but done quite frequently.

Bottle of whiteout and a pen...