A note from a 3rd grade teacher

[Deb in IA]

"Johnny is eager to learn but motifications need to be made due to his academic delays for his to be successfull."
"He benifits for addtional adult assistance to complete task and stay on task."

 

[Laura66]

Oh my! For real?

 

["Cinder" Ella's Mom]

Forward that right to the superintendent! Shameful!

 

[Deb in IA]

Oh my! For real?

Sadly, yes.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

You should reply with "Well, if all else fails, at least he can be a third grade teacher."

 

[aristocatz]

You should reply with "Well, if all else fails, at least he can be a third grade teacher."

 

[Coonhound]

The supply of teachers I've seen in my kids and grandkids lives lead me to be very thankful we are able to be part of a strong homeschooling co-op.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

As a 3rd grade teacher, I can say that is an embarrassment to our profession.

 

[minnie mum]

"Johnny is eager to learn but motifications need to be made due to his academic delays for his to be successfull."
"He benifits for addtional adult assistance to complete task and stay on task."

That has to be one of the most pitiful things I've ever read. I'd definitely forward this to the school's principal along with a note inquiring about the literacy requirements for teachers at that school. Shameful.

 

[Muushka]

Seriously, doesn't this teacher have spell check on? Sheesh. I have it on for my posts on the dis!

 

[RebeccaUC]

You should reply with "Well, if all else fails, at least he can be a third grade teacher."

As an elementary school teacher myself, I find this pretty insulting. I'm sure your intentions were to be funny...I hope.
That said, I am obsessive about what I send out to parents and check/recheck everything. This teacher, I would hope, is the exception and not the rule.

 

[Jennasis]

My nephew's elementary school teacher (I forget which grade...3rd or 4th) marked the kid wrong on a geography test. She claimed he incorrectly identified North Carolina on the test. SHE said that the state that he had labeled NC was Tennessee. Because...her actual reasoning during the irate parent conference where his Dad had a throw down with her, was that "NC doesn't touch Georgia so that state above SC couldn't be NC".

Love all those Tennessee beaches. They made her grab a map...and then apologize.

 

[mamacatnv]

Yikes, that is embarrassing - maybe it was sent from a cell phone? I often don't catch the atrocities of grammar and spelling when I am on my phone trying to use my email (Google, Yahoo and Outlook) I just seem to have issues with cell phone and email. Otherwise,

 

[topolino]

I agree with others who say to forward it to the principal and/or the superintendent.

From what I've seen regarding hiring practices within some public school systems in this country, my guess is that she is probably the wife/daughter/daughter-in-law of someone with clout.

Sad, but not all that surprising.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

As an elementary school teacher myself, I find this pretty insulting. I'm sure your intentions were to be funny...I hope.
That said, I am obsessive about what I send out to parents and check/recheck everything. This teacher, I would hope, is the exception and not the rule.

I'm sure this teacher is the exception, not the rule. But as in all lines of work, there are some people who don't perform as well as their peers, leaving others to wonder who deemed them qualified for the position. The problem with this note isn't an overlooked typo or two. The problem is that it sounds like it was written by someone with only a loose understanding of the English language. Surely the bar for teachers is set higher than that, so how did this teacher get the job in the first place?

But the short answer is yes, it was a joke.

 

[kmb584]

From what I've seen regarding hiring practices within some public school systems in this country, my guess is that she is probably the wife/daughter/daughter-in-law of someone with clout.

There was an article in my local newspaper a couple of months ago in regard to the nepotism in our school district. I live in a tiny borough and if there's teaching degrees to accompany certain last names (3 big ones here) a position is a guarantee. It's really pathetic.

Back to the OP, if I ever received a note like that I'd be heading straight to the principal and superintendent. I'd also be demanding she be moved to another classroom and questioning the validity of her academic delays (you can't learn if the person teaching the material doesn't have a clue).

 

[bianca]

Unfortunately, I think it's more common than folks are willing to believe. We received a few notes home like the OP did from different teachers over several years. Ultimately, we decided to forward our collection of them to the Superintendent, whereupon we notified him of our desire to home-school our girls. We never looked back, have no regrets and they both just graduated from nursing school.

 

[alicat8]

That's horrifying. Public school? I just find it so hard to believe...we're required to have master's degrees....how could that person have gotten through college?

 

[Disneychick75]

"Johnny is eager to learn but motifications need to be made due to his academic delays for his to be successfull."
"He benifits for addtional adult assistance to complete task and stay on task."

The correct thing to do is to send it to the principal and superintendent.
If I received the note, my first response would be thinking about sending a corrected copy to the teacher asking her to get back to me when she learned how to spell.

 

[dbramer]

As a high school teacher, I would be horribly ashamed if something I sent was that badly written. But, I will say, from some of the internal emails I have received from other "educated" colleagues, that this does not surprise me. I take pride in my written work, because many times that is the only interaction I have with a parent or guardian. Even a simple email inquiring as to Johnny's health goes through three or four edits before I get the right tone.

Shameful that some school systems are so desperate for teachers that they will hire just about anyone. Usually, they are the cash-strapped urban or rural schools that have very little tax base to work with.

In Baltimore City, they are laying off firefighters and police due to budgetary issues. Many of the better teachers have already left the system to move to the suburban school districts for better pay and working conditions, leaving behind the marginal teachers.

Such is the state of our affairs these days.