Do I correct the teacher?

[tmarquez]

DD is in 3rd grade and in addition to her normal spelling words each kid had a few extra words this week. The words were whatever they spelled wrong on their district writing test. DD's words are "trudged", "dining", and "believe".

She missed 3 words and got a B. According to her teacher, "dining" should be spelled "dinning", and "trudged" should be spelled "trugged".
She spelled "believe" wrong.

I told her I was going to attach a note and send the est back because she should have only missed one. She is freaking out. She deson't want him to be mad. She is always like this with her teachers...I don't know why.

It's not going to make a difference in her grade if she gets one B instead of the A that she earned. But to me it's the principle of the thing. I consider myself a pretty crappy speller...but those are easy words and he is a teacher!

What would you do?

 

[tlbwriter]

Yes, I'd say something, but I'd email the teacher if possible rather than asking your daughter to return the marked-up test.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

If it were my dd's they would have called him to the carpet on their own right away.

Is your dd comfortable with going up to the teacher and discussing it with him? I know you say she is "freaking out" however she does have to learn how to talk to the teacher. I would use this as a teaching moment.

Heck, maybe he was not even the one that graded the paper....just saying. You never know.

 

[amykay9377]

Of course I would correct her! Frankly, I would also attach a copy of each entry from the dictionary to prove the correct spelling (so she can't wave it off as 'oh, she thinks that's how it's spelled'). If we have dumb teachers teaching our kids, we will raise dumb kids.
It's sad to think of it that way, but really, it is.
If she doesn't change the grade, I would bring it up to her boss.

 

[princessmom29]

Of course I would correct her! Frankly, I would also attach a copy of each entry from the dictionary to prove the correct spelling (so she can't wave it off as 'oh, she thinks that's how it's spelled'). If we have dumb teachers teaching our kids, we will raise dumb kids.
It's sad to think of it that way, but really, it is.
If she doesn't change the grade, I would bring it up to her boss.

that is more than a little harsh and "nah, nah I'm right and you are wrong." I think it is the WRONG way to address it and will cause MORE animosity, not less. It is NOT necessary to rub the teacher's face in the mistake. It wouldn't be acceptable to do it to anyone else, so why is ok to do it to a teacher? Perhaps asking the teacher to check the test becuase you think a mistake was made, or better yet asking your child to do so might be a better course of action. If THAT doesn't resolve the issue, then mabye citing the correct spelling would be the next step but I certianly wouldn't be that obnoxious the first tiem around. It puts the teacher on the defensive and is just not necessary.

 

[mickeysgal]

Teachers are humans and humans make mistakes. Maybe the teacher couldn't read the handwriting. Maybe there is other criteria being judged that you didn't know about ... staying within the lines, capitalization, etc. Who knows.

As another poster pointed out, this would be a great time for a child to learn to speak up and ask the teacher a question. My kids used to be scared of questioning a teacher too but they found out that they weren't going to get their head snapped off by just asking a question. The best thing for a child to learn is to not be afraid to ask questions of a teacher. Try encouraging your child to ask for themselves, but if that doesn't fly, then I would certainly write a friendly note asking for clarification as to why they were marked incorrect.

 

[Coconut36]

Of course I would correct her! Frankly, I would also attach a copy of each entry from the dictionary to prove the correct spelling (so she can't wave it off as 'oh, she thinks that's how it's spelled'). If we have dumb teachers teaching our kids, we will raise dumb kids.
It's sad to think of it that way, but really, it is.
If she doesn't change the grade, I would bring it up to her boss.

Honestly there are far better ways to discuss it with the teacher. Your approach comes off as very petty.

By all means bring it up to the teacher as it is important the kids in the class are not being taught incorrect spellings. I would probably send an email personally and let the teacher you know that while reviewing your DD test you noted that she missed words that were spelled correctly and go from there. Outline what words, her spelling and what was indicated as the correct spelling and see how they respond. Is it at all possible someone helped out and graded the test?

 

[FlightlessDuck]

dinning - present participle of din (Verb)

• (of a fact) Be instilled in (someone) by constant repetition.
• Make a loud, unpleasant, and prolonged noise.

So, technically, "dinning" is a word. But I assuming your daughter meant "to dine".

Trugging, of course, is wrong. Trug is a noun, though.

 

[NikitaZee]

Yes I would, and it has happened to my son as well. I wrote a polite note saying something to the effect that I double-checked his spelling and I believe he had the correct answer. His teacher was very nice about it - and thanked me for pointing it out to her. There is no need to be harsh - but no need to ignore it, either.

 

[jetskigrl]

The way that I would do it is to send a note asking for clarification because it appears (to you) that your daughter did spell the words correctly. As others have pointed out, it may have been a teacher's assistant doing the grading and they were the one the one that made the mistake (and the teacher will appreciate that you pointed it out to him).

If the teacher is wrong, it gives him the opportunity to look up the words himself and correct the test.

If there is something else here (such as the printing being difficult to read, etc), the teacher will be able to explain that as the reason for marking it wrong.

 

[JLiz]

Yes, let the teacher know about the mistake.

I'm a teacher, in high school so I don't teach spelling words, but I have made mistakes before when grading students' papers. Maybe their handwriting was weird, I was going too fast, or got distracted. A common mistake is to not hit the zero key hard enough the second time; so, I have entered into the electronic gradebook a 10 when the student really earned a 100. That is a HUGE difference in grade and I have absolutely NO problem with a student that comes to me to politely point out the mistake. I apologize and immediately correct the typo.

However, if a parent were to cause a big fuss over a careless mistake from the get-go, I would be very annoyed. It always amazes me how quick (some) people are to jump all over teachers like we are supposed to be infallible.

 

[daemom]

A few years ago my DS missed the word "breathe". I had helped quiz him on his words so I knew what his words were. I sent her a note asking if the word was "breath" or breathe". She responded that it was "breathe" and she marked it wrong because she "couldn't see daylight through the e". Meaning that the last letter wasn't completely formed............

 

[leight]

OP- a politely worded note or email to let the teacher know that you felt your dd spelled the words correctly should be fine.

Last marking period my dd got a 60 on a pop quiz. I asked the teacher to send it home so we can review over the weekend. When reviewing it- it was identifying proper and common nouns- I thought one question was marked wrong but should have been right. I emailed the teacher and questionned why it was marked wrong when I thought it should be right. Apparently he didn't save his corrections on word before printing and printed the incorrect sentence on the quiz. It happens. He was pleased that I caught it before the quiz was shown at parent teacher conferences that week and he had many parents questioning him.

Funny thing- I never saw the grade corrected on the online system(it was keeping her grade a B instead of an A so was important to us). So a month later I emailed him about it and he realized that he changed all of the grades for the class except for my dd! We had a good laugh about it.

We're all human and make simple mistakes. Its all in the way you word it. Just be polite and he should appreciate you taking the time to review with your child and letting him know before he makes the mistake again.

 

[punkin]

Yes I would, and it has happened to my son as well. I wrote a polite note saying something to the effect that I double-checked his spelling and I believe he had the correct answer. His teacher was very nice about it - and thanked me for pointing it out to her. There is no need to be harsh - but no need to ignore it, either.

This. There's no reason to be confrontational and there is no reason to slink away in shame. People make mistakes and appreciate polite interaction.

DD13 just got a D recorded on her online grading system for a test on which she got a B. She spoke to her teacher and the teacher corrected it within a few days. Easy!

 

[tmarquez]

Thank you guys.

I'm going to write an email to the teacher as suggested. DD isn't afraid to talk or speak up to any other adult...just her teachers for some reason. I don't want to force her at this stage.

It's funny because she brings home a list of spelling words that she studies, and the teacher wrote the 3 extra words on there...trugged...dinning...believe. DH helped DD with her words this past week so I never saw it. He just told DD to spell them right and not worry about how the teacher wrote the words. So I know he didn't know how to spell them and it's not any other issue.

 

[Andtototoo]

Yes, let the teacher know about the mistake.

I'm a teacher, in high school so I don't teach spelling words, but I have made mistakes before when grading students' papers. Maybe their handwriting was weird, I was going too fast, or got distracted. A common mistake is to not hit the zero key hard enough the second time; so, I have entered into the electronic gradebook a 10 when the student really earned a 100. That is a HUGE difference in grade and I have absolutely NO problem with a student that comes to me to politely point out the mistake. I apologize and immediately correct the typo.

However, if a parent were to cause a big fuss over a careless mistake from the get-go, I would be very annoyed. It always amazes me how quick (some) people are to jump all over teachers like we are supposed to be infallible.

I'm going to quote my 11th grade honors history teacher: "I don't want to hear excuses. I want to hear the right answer."

I guess today's teachers are lucky they're not being graded on their mistakes.

Sorry, but I have little to no sympathy on this matter after 12 years in the school system. My dd came home from first grade with mis-marked papers on a regular basis. Her first grade teacher laughingly told me she herself could not spell pecan and thought it was hilarious. Yeah, not so much. In high school, dd had to spend a lot of time checking up on and correcting her grades. At one point she calculated that if she had not caught all those errors the impact would have been grave -- instead of graduating in the top 5% of her class, she would have been in the top 50%. That's a lot of careless mistakes from professionals who are themselves marking students down for their mistakes; that amount of carelessness leads inevitably to disrespect.

 

[Ember]

Glad you're going to bring it up. As a teacher I would have no issues fixing the grade, though I might be embarrassed that I made such a silly mistake.

I have found that when you teach the little kids (like K and grade one), it's actually easier to make silly spelling mistakes. We are so used to spelling words automatically, than when you have to slow down and either form the letters very carefully or spell the word out as you go, all of a sudden things look wrong! Even marking grade one spelling tests gets odd, because all of a sudden "the" looks like a very strange way to spell a word!

 

[Ceila]

I'm going to quote my 11th grade honors history teacher: "I don't want to hear excuses. I want to hear the right answer."

I guess today's teachers are lucky they're not being graded on their mistakes.

Sorry, but I have little to no sympathy on this matter after 12 years in the school system. My dd came home from first grade with mis-marked papers on a regular basis. Her first grade teacher laughingly told me she herself could not spell pecan and thought it was hilarious. Yeah, not so much. In high school, dd had to spend a lot of time checking up on and correcting her grades. At one point she calculated that if she had not caught all those errors the impact would have been grave -- instead of graduating in the top 5% of her class, she would have been in the top 50%. That's a lot of careless mistakes from professionals who are themselves marking students down for their mistakes; that amount of carelessness leads inevitably to disrespect.

Congratulations. You are the first person I've ever met who has never made a mistake in his or her life.

 

[declansdad]

I'm going to quote my 11th grade honors history teacher: "I don't want to hear excuses. I want to hear the right answer."

I guess today's teachers are lucky they're not being graded on their mistakes.

Sorry, but I have little to no sympathy on this matter after 12 years in the school system. My dd came home from first grade with mis-marked papers on a regular basis. Her first grade teacher laughingly told me she herself could not spell pecan and thought it was hilarious. Yeah, not so much. In high school, dd had to spend a lot of time checking up on and correcting her grades. At one point she calculated that if she had not caught all those errors the impact would have been grave -- instead of graduating in the top 5% of her class, she would have been in the top 50%. That's a lot of careless mistakes from professionals who are themselves marking students down for their mistakes; that amount of carelessness leads inevitably to disrespect.

Top 5 to Top 50 , yah right.

 

[CurlyGirl]

At one point she calculated that if she had not caught all those errors the impact would have been grave -- instead of graduating in the top 5% of her class, she would have been in the top 50%. That's a lot of careless mistakes from professionals who are themselves marking students down for their mistakes; that amount of carelessness leads inevitably to disrespect.

And, after this discovery, you continued to send her to this school?