So angry I could bust!! (Vent)

[NMAmy]

I agree with the "old hag" and all the other posters. Of course, spelling and grammar should count. The teacher should not have to decipher your dd's answers and guess as to what the heck she's trying to say.

I'm shocked that you're a teacher yourself and yet you feel that spelling and grammar aren't important and that you also went to a colleague and gave her a hard time about this.

 

[cornflake]

I'm shocked that you're a teacher yourself and yet you feel that spelling and grammar aren't important and that you also went to a colleague and gave her a hard time about this.

Seriously. A teacher whose kid gets docked 20 points for grammar, spelling and capitalization issues and the problem is with the teacher who docked her, not the high schooler who can't produce coherent English or the parent of said student who is a teacher his or herself?

 

[Ember]

I had expectations of spelling and grammar when I taught grade one. If it was a spelling word, it had to be correct, regardless of whether it was journal writing or science. If a spelling word was wrong I circled it and the child had to look at the word wall or in their spelling dictionary to find it and correct it. They also knew sentences had capitals and periods. While there were no grades, as such, in grade one, the expectation of high quality work should be present at every level of the education system.

 

[Poohforyou]

My DD had the same thing happen in her 1st year of middle school last year. She's a very good student but not a good speller. I told her I was glad she knew the answers but needed to put more effort into knowing how to spell them. It never occurred to me to approach her teacher about it. IMO you're not doing anything to help your child with an academic issue she obviously has. Spelling, grammer and punctuation are important skills required throughout life.

 

[aprilgail2]

Can any parent in your school district hand pick their teachers? IF not why should you be allowed to?

.

I have always picked my daughters teachers from grade school - 6th grade...and yes I am sure if any parent wanted to do it they could, I know others who have--most just don't want to be bothered. There is one really bad teacher in the 3rd grade that fools around the whole time and the kids don't learn much so if you look at his class its all kids who's parents are not involved much if any so they just let the kids get whatever teacher they get--and they get him.

I think it's a bad idea to have children in the same school as you teach.

I do too- I sure wouldn't have wanted my mom teaching where I was going to school!

When my daughter went to the Jr. High last year she had an older teacher for one subject that I really liked because she was a great teacher--but one big problem was that she was taking points off because the kids didn't write the things in script--well they never learned script in school so they didn't know HOW to write. She was older and didn't believe that the kids that they didn't know hoow to write like that until some parents confirmed that they indeed don't teach that anymore so then printing was fine after that and no points taken off!

 

[crashbb]

I'm sitting here in disbelief that a High school student's Mommy went and talked to the teacher over a very minor thing!!!! HIGH SCHOOL!

High school students should be handling their own correspondence with the teachers. Especially over a homework grade.

Wow.

Actually, it is worse than that (in my opinion). It wasn't even a minor thing - the teacher (the real one, not the mummy) was the one in the right!

 

[lovesmurfs]

I hated my teachers in high school because of the same thing. However, their expectations were clear at the beginning of classes, and I understood them.

Fast forward to college. I would often achieve the best grades on papers and tests because I knew how to write and use proper grammar.

Right now, it's tough on your daughter (and likely the others in the class). Once they're used to it, though, you'll be pleased with how much she learns this year.

I strongly recommend that your daughter begin to fight her own battles, even if it's against one of your co-workers, rather than you going to bat for her.

 

[cornflake]

When my daughter went to the Jr. High last year she had an older teacher for one subject that I really liked because she was a great teacher--but one big problem was that she was taking points off because the kids didn't write the things in script--well they never learned script in school so they didn't know HOW to write. She was older and didn't believe that the kids that they didn't know hoow to write like that until some parents confirmed that they indeed don't teach that anymore so then printing was fine after that and no points taken off!

Not to derail the thread but you just reminded me of when I had to go to summer school for Latin (along with two other kids from my school) and the summer school Latin teacher would not believe that we hadn't learned to translate classical text.

We were using a wacky British text that had a like, soap opera cartoon deal in Latin - he wanted us to translate formal poetry. It was three days of being screamed at and being accused of being lazy liars before he called the principal and confirmed that we were telling the truth and knew the Latin for 'I want six beautiful dancing girls and a roast pig' but not whatever's in the Ilead or the proper declensions he thought we should. He got so mad, thinking we were just obsteperous. No, we just had a wacky Latin teacher!

 

[DebIreland]

I'm in shock. I really am.

Your 14 year old lost 20% because of spelling errors and you're mad at the teacher? At 14 her spelling should be excellent. I'd be very concerned if I were you. I just can't even imagine my 14 year old son handing up an assignment with a load of spelling errors. If he did I'd be looking in to getting him some extra help with the basics.

There's no way any teacher here would let a spelling error go without marking the student down for it. No way. I thought it was the same the world over. My 7yo daughter's teacher corrects the kids' spelling each time they to write a story or whatever. It's why they go to school i.e. to learn.

 

[bgirldeb]

Good for the teacher! I'm shocked that a teacher would have this view.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Did I just get sucked into a joke thread?

 

[cornflake]

I'm in shock. I really am.

Your 14 year old lost 20% because of spelling errors and you're mad at the teacher? At 14 her spelling should be excellent. I'd be very concerned if I were you. I just can't even imagine my 14 year old son handing up an assignment with a load of spelling errors. If he did I'd be looking in to getting him some extra help with the basics.

There's no way any teacher here would let a spelling error go without marking the student down for it. No way. I thought it was the same the world over. My 7yo daughter's teacher corrects the kids' spelling each time they to write a story or whatever. It's why they go to school i.e. to learn.

I have no idea if this was the case or has anything to do with the OP.

However, there was a bit ago a pedagogical theory that called for children to spell however they thought something might be spelled and the teacher to allow it without correction. The idea was that expression was important and that mastry of spelling and whatnot would follow more naturally. It's fallen somewhat out of favour, afaik, having been a fairly short-lived trend, but it is still employed, again afaik, some places.

 

[laughinplace199]

Shouldn't a high school freshman kind of have a hang for punctuation, capitalization and grammar by now? Or am I so 5 minutes ago?

I agree. At my kids' school, the teachers take points off for spelling, punctuation, etc. starting in 4th grade.

 

[deegack]

DH has fired engineers who can do the engineering right but not write a letter correctly. Its useless to him that they can get the right answer if they can't communicate it to others.

 

[PrincesCJM]

DD is dual enrolled in a humanities class and world religion class at our local community college. Both professors have made it clear that while content is extremely important, if the paper isn't in MLA format or it is full of grammatical errors, grades will drop significantly.

This last line really struck me. I wonder if the biology teacher had indicated to the students that she/he would be grading more than just the content. If they did, I think the grade is fair. If the teacher did not, I think that the first homework/paper should be graded differently than the rest. Kids will respect that. To a high school freshman, you should not assume that this is the normal.

Personally, I'm a high school math teacher. It drives me up the wall when the spell a word wrong that was spelled correctly in the word problem. I do not require complete sentences, etc.

I'm impressed that a freshman is taking biology. Any school I have worked in, sophomores take biology. And it's difficult for them.

 

[Andtototoo]

I have no idea if this was the case or has anything to do with the OP.

However, there was a bit ago a pedagogical theory that called for children to spell however they thought something might be spelled and the teacher to allow it without correction. The idea was that expression was important and that mastry of spelling and whatnot would follow more naturally. It's fallen somewhat out of favour, afaik, having been a fairly short-lived trend, but it is still employed, again afaik, some places.

Yes, my dd suffered through that stupid idea. I was totally opposed to it because a similar idea was used when I was in first grade. As an experiment half of the first graders in our district were taught the regular way and half were taught the "ITA" way (I have no idea what ITA meant). Fast forward to tenth grade and I clearly remember our English teacher who was new to the district having fits because half of our class could not spell the simplest words correctly. When she learned why the kids had so much trouble spelling correctly, she made a comment along the lines of, "What you learn first is what you remember forever."

Having seen that truth in action, I was appalled when my dd's school district decided to use "natural writing" which was IMO just a fancy way of saying, "We're too lazy to teach proper writing and too stupid to know that we can't let kids spell incorrectly now and think they'll learn it properly later." Hence why in my prior post, I referred to the fact that I was the one who insisted upon correct spelling and grammar, not her teachers.

 

[RitaE]

Congrats on your achievement of Helicopter in Chief .

 

[DebIreland]

I have no idea if this was the case or has anything to do with the OP.

However, there was a bit ago a pedagogical theory that called for children to spell however they thought something might be spelled and the teacher to allow it without correction. The idea was that expression was important and that mastry of spelling and whatnot would follow more naturally. It's fallen somewhat out of favour, afaik, having been a fairly short-lived trend, but it is still employed, again afaik, some places.

Thank you for telling me about that. Wow! That was a pretty radical experiment I think! The problem I see there is that habits are so hard to break. It's much easier, for example, to change a 6 year old's spelling errors than a teenager's errors. We tend to get stuck in our ways as we age so I hate the sound of that trend!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

DD14 attends the high school where I am also a teacher. I didn't hand pick her teachers just let her get whomever she was assigned. Big mistake!!! She has a Biology teacher who must have been a college English teacher in another life. My daughter works hard to get the correct answers on a homework assignment, should have gotten a 90 for the content/correct answers. But no, she gets a 70 for punctuation, grammar and capitalization errors. I am livid, so I go talk to my co-work/DD's teacher. She was rude!!!! I told her I thought that get the correct answer in the core subject was the important thing, not grammar etc. She then made the comment, I guess she won't make the same mistake next time. I mean really?? She teaches high school freshman, it is just barely the second week of school. I think she needs to retire!!! Old hag!! Thanks for letting me vent!! I feel better now! Heck, I feel a lot better!!

Have you met my 14yodd's Honors Biology teacher? My dd got an F for her first grade.

My dd did not bring in her homework on due date and she got an F. No excuses period for late work other than you have to be out sick for the day.

I guess your dd will learn how to spell, use grammar and punctuation or fail.

Same with my dd. Do the homework on time or get an F.

 

[snapppyd]

I still can't get over the part about "handpicking" her teachers. When I went to school, back in the dark ages, you were given a schedule and you followed it. You get to pick your teachers these days????