stopped in the street and embaressed

lamplighter

Fri, Feb 02 2007, 11:04 am

I teach grade school and im a terrible speller. when I mark their spelling tests I ususally use my boook. yesterday I wanted ot give them back before the end of the day, so I did it quickly.

this morning I was walking down the street and a mother of one of my students stopped me and say. "you made a boo boo on your spelling test, how do u spell jewelry?" I shurugged my shoulders bc it was 840 AM and I wasnt going to embaress myself on the street. shr continued to tell em that she saw that it wasnt a true hundred told her daughter and I shouldnt worry her daughter will come show me my mistake in school on Sunday....

I thought this was a bit much.

do u agree?

I have no children so maybe someone else can help me, what would eb the point of this?

lamplighter

Fri, Feb 02 2007, 11:08 am

3 more things:

1. yes I am an english teacher
2. yes the title may or may not be spelled right
3. and yes the woman did tell me how to spell jewelry ("as far as Ialwasy learned the way spell jewelry is......)

amother

Fri, Feb 02 2007, 11:17 am

Boy, times sure have changed! My mother would NEVER have sent me to tell a teacher that she was wrong! I see why student have less respect for teachers these days, its because parents don't encourage it like they used to.

As for what I would do in this situation. I think I would ignore it if I saw it once. However if I kept seeing mistakes on the way my daughters tests were marked, I would call the teacher and point it out. (as apposed to approaching her on the street) But I definately would not have my children tell their teacher that she is wrong. I find that to be chutzpa.

amother

Sat, Feb 03 2007, 1:44 pm

I can empathize with you and understand why you felt embarassed. (And furthermore why you felt it was inappropriate for the mother to stop you in the middle of the street to tell you about the mistake.) But still, you are an English teacher and you need to know the material you teach. Once and a while mistakes happen, as it did in this case because you were trying to hurry and get the tests back by the end of the day. That's understandable. But I think it's also understandable and appropraiet that a parent point out your mistake. Think about it a different way. What if your child took a Chumash spelling test at school and the teacher mispelled "Bereishit." I don't think a parent would be thrilled if her child insisted Berishit was spelled with the letter "tet" at the end. We should always be growing and learning, and this is especially true with teachers who must make sure that the knowledge and information they pass on to their students in accurate. I think you should graciously accept the correction, (even if the mother could have found a more appropraiet form to give it).

bandcm

Sat, Feb 03 2007, 2:17 pm

I agree with the last amother.
It was rude of the mother to approach you on the street, or to send her daughter to point out your mistake, but the content of what she said is correct.
And really, the daughter does have to be told that you made a mistake. She needs to know the correct way to spell things! But maybe you should be the one to tell the class that you made a mistake, rather than the parents telling them.

ChavieK

Sat, Feb 03 2007, 4:24 pm

Telling you on the street is wrong only because I don't think parents should be taking a teachers time unless the teacher is willing to initiate it. As far as the mistake itself, I agreee with those who said the child needs to know because she needs to learn to spell things corectly. That is the purpose of the spelling test in the first place! What a great chinuch lesson for the child. The mother, if done properly, has an opportunity to teach her daughter that everyone can make a mistake. She can then come to you, with derech eretz, & show you where the points need to be taken off. Again ,if handled properly there can be many good lessons.

BrachaVHatzlocha

Sat, Feb 03 2007, 6:07 pm

Teachers can make mistakes, too! I think I remember seeing/correcting? errors my young 6th grade teacher wrote on the board!!!
But anyway, it's okay not to be perfect. The only point I can see in this mother telling her daughter about the error, is to teach her honesty, that she didn't deserve the 100%, so she should tell you about the mistake. That's all, in my opinion.

momof6

Sat, Feb 03 2007, 6:14 pm

The mother should not have told her daughter!
If the mother wants her daughter to learn how to spell jewelry she should work it into a game!
One of the most important things our children need to learn is to respect authority!

ChavieK

Sat, Feb 03 2007, 6:22 pm

It is not inconsistent to respect authority & still know they can make a mistake. If the mom "works" it into a game then the child may say "mom my teacher said it's spelled a diff way" then what back to the same prob only worse now.

TzenaRena

Sat, Feb 03 2007, 8:56 pm

Why is it not a true hundred? If that's what the child learned, and what she wrote on her test is what she learned in class, it's fairly marked.

The mother feels that she's a tzadekes for being so "honest" - because even though it meant that now her child is also wrong, she still "had mesiras nefesh" and told her that her teacher made a mistake!

But it's the mother who made the real boo-boo for embarrassing the teacher in the street, if it's that important to her, she could have called you at home!

Mother has issues with her middos BIG TIME!

shanie5

Sat, Feb 03 2007, 9:05 pm

my dd has a prespelling test every week. the words she spells wrong must be written three times each for hw. occassionally, I notice that the teacher missed out on a correction and I point it out to my dd with "look, you got lucky, the teacher missed that mistake -so you fix this one". this way, she realizes that :
a-teachers arent perfect
b-we can still fix our mistakes
but I dont say the teacher misspelled the word-just that she missed my dd's mispelling.
the mother was wrong in the way she went about "correcting" you.

Quote:

Why is it not a true hundred? If that's what the child learned, and what she wrote on her test is what she learned in class, it's fairly marked.

she said she missed that the child misspelled the word, not that she taught the child the wrong spelling.

mumoo

Sat, Feb 03 2007, 9:18 pm

There is no excuse for embarrassing you in public or private. The mother was wrong if what she said embarrassed you.

I do think, though, and I am going to try very hard not to embarrass you now... if you are the teacher of the material, you should know the material. Saying you are a terrible speller doesn't absolve you of having to master spelling. If the students (and they must be at least 10 years younger than you, right?) have to study and memorize them, why should you get to use the book to grade the tests? How can you teach others something you haven't mastered?

As a mother of students, I want them to be taught material correctly and completely. I would never wish to embarrass a teacher, but I would definitely voice a complaint to the principal if a teacher wasn't capable. Maybe you can switch some subjects with another teacher so you are comfortable in the subject matter you teach?

Mrs. XYZ

Sat, Feb 03 2007, 9:29 pm

If one of the words on the spelling test was 'jewelry' and you spelled it wrong, then I would think that you're probably going to be getting more feedback on that, no? Dont you think any of the other kids/parents are gonna realize the mistake? Would you want them all to ignore it?
But I dont think that the mother did it the right way, she shouldn't have pointed it out to the daughter, she should have just written you a little note on the test about the error and then it would be your job to admit the error and teach it to them the correct way.

I'm just wondering about something. If a student gets back a test and realizes that the teacher made a mistake, is it really chutzpah for her to go to the teacher and show her, in order to get back her points?

TzenaRena

Sat, Feb 03 2007, 9:30 pm

Quote:

I would never wish to embarrass a teacher, but I would definitely voice a complaint to the principal if a teacher wasn't capable. Maybe you can switch some subjects with another teacher so you are comfortable in the subject matter you teach?

Most elementary school teachers up till 7th grade or so, teach all subjects, and everyone is better at some subjects than others. Spelling is only one subject.

There are some people that have a slight deficiency in spelling, but they are great teachers in every other respect ! (I know someone like that Wink

) They are even master teachers: extremely effective at teaching and working with children, and have superior depth and breadth of knowledge and application.

BrachaVHatzlocha

Sun, Feb 04 2007, 6:21 am

I agree! Some women can be great teachers, though have a weak point in spelling. That's fine, as long as they use spell check, etc...
I used to teach in a school and my assistant had a bad spelling. I would correct her tests. She got one of those little organizers that do spell check...it's great!
And it's normal that even if the OP wasn't a bad speller, sometimes we may miss errors on a test. it's okay! as I wrote above, I'm hoping the mother just meant for her daughter to be honest that she didn't deserve the 100...

lamplighter

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 8:40 am

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.

greenfire

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 8:53 am

Mistakes always happen. And I am torn between feeling for you cause the mother definately spoke to you in a belittling fashion. Yet I am all for the teacher knowing how to spell.
My son recently had an incident in yeshiva where someone was talking specifically about the importance and pronouncing nekudos and words correctly all along while he was saying something incorrect. My son lost total respect for his entire speech. I told him he should let him know - but obviously in a respectful manner. He said he didn't know how and it just made him mad.