WWYD? Teacher using "themself" on the homework page.

[Tam1067]

"themself" is not a typo. It's not a simple spelling error. It's creating a word that does not exist in Standard English. No one in a professional capacity should use it, and certainly, an English teacher should not be sending home errors.

 

[SageFemme]

I had a science teacher in the 6th grade. He was a great teacher. That was probably the one year I actually enjoyed science and learned something from the class. (science is NOT my strong point) We did all kinds of hands on projects and experiments that year, it was really great. He could not spell to save his soul. He would send home lists of words for us to define each week. I always took my list to my dad first so that he could correct the spelling and I could find the words! Did not change the fact that I learned so much in science that year nor did it take away from his ability to teach the subject.

It is especially important to spell science words correctly because just 1 or 2 letters different can be an entirely different word.

 

[luvsJack]

It is especially important to spell science words correctly because just 1 or 2 letters different can be an entirely different word.

That's why my dad always had to have a look at the list first. BTW, "spell check" didn't exist back then. The teacher just wrote the words on the board for us to copy and define for homework. Come to think of it, this was the only thing he ever wrote on the board; so he probably was well aware of his weaknesses.

The point being that the man was a great teacher. Before 6th grade I HATED science. But this teacher made me really understand what was happening and enjoy learning the subject. It was like he made that little light go off in my head! Even though he made a lot of mistakes in spelling, he was still a wonderful teacher.

 

[princessmom29]

Of course someone in a wheelchair can teach, and someone with a disability that doesn't affect the quality of the job being done deserves to have that job. Would you want someone with Parkinson's Disease to perform brain surgery on you, though? Everyone has limitations, and not everyone is suited to do every job. I would make a horrible bus driver, I'm a lousy cook, I can't sing on key, and I know I wouldn't last one day working in our local middle school.

You are right, no one is perfect, but a teacher should be competent enough so that the children in the class don't have to constantly correct the teacher's spelling.

So does one spelling error a month make me incopetent?? Does that constitute constant correction? Mabye someone should tell my boss that b/c my evaluations are always great even the one where the kids happened to correct my spelling. She complemented me on the way i handled it, and said that it was a good learning experience for the students that no one is perfect and we all have our particular challenges. I routinely teach the children of other teachers in our building, and believe me they will tell you if they are not happy. Everyone talks about how much their children enjoy my class and how much they are learning. I guess they are wrong as well, and someone who doesn't know me and has never been in my classroom is a better judge of my competency based of the reported incidence of spelling errors when writing on the board.

 

[duffy]

At least she didn't type "themselve's".

Making a word plural by adding an apostrophe and an "s" makes God kill a kitten. Let's all fix the misuse of apostrophes, please, and save the kittens!! It's "villas", not "villa's", for example.

 

[Cinderella94]

Of course I wouldn't say anything. Yeesh!

 

[luvsJack]

Of course someone in a wheelchair can teach, and someone with a disability that doesn't affect the quality of the job being done deserves to have that job. Would you want someone with Parkinson's Disease to perform brain surgery on you, though? Everyone has limitations, and not everyone is suited to do every job. I would make a horrible bus driver, I'm a lousy cook, I can't sing on key, and I know I wouldn't last one day working in our local middle school.

You are right, no one is perfect, but a teacher should be competent enough so that the children in the class don't have to constantly correct the teacher's spelling.

You do realize that there are learning disabilities that can prevent someone from always writing/spelling everything perfectly? You don't think her explaining to her students about her disability is a teaching opportunity for them? What if one of her students has a learning disability? Maybe that student will say, "Look what I can do!" from watching his/her teacher be successful in spite of a disability. She may be the best teacher there is in her subject area, but it sounds like you would never be able to get past a misspelled word.

It has nothing to do with competency. It has to do with not expecting everyone to be perfect at everything, and having the ability to recognize differences, strengths and weaknesses and accepting them in others.

 

[Scurvy]

Of course someone in a wheelchair can teach, and someone with a disability that doesn't affect the quality of the job being done deserves to have that job. Would you want someone with Parkinson's Disease to perform brain surgery on you, though? Everyone has limitations, and not everyone is suited to do every job. I would make a horrible bus driver, I'm a lousy cook, I can't sing on key, and I know I wouldn't last one day working in our local middle school.

You are right, no one is perfect, but a teacher should be competent enough so that the children in the class don't have to constantly correct the teacher's spelling.

You do realize that there are learning disabilities that can prevent someone from always writing/spelling everything perfectly? You don't think her explaining to her students about her disability is a teaching opportunity for them? What if one of her students has a learning disability? Maybe that student will say, "Look what I can do!" from watching his/her teacher be successful in spite of a disability. She may be the best teacher there is in her subject area, but it sounds like you would never be able to get past a misspelled word.

It has nothing to do with competency. It has to do with not expecting everyone to be perfect at everything, and having the ability to recognize differences, strengths and weaknesses and accepting them in others.

Everyone doesn't have to be perfect at everything, but if you are teaching children then you need to be sure that you are teaching them the correct things. If you have some sort of a disability that makes you have difficulty spelling correctly then you need to learn to compensate for it. If that means that you never write on the board and always type everything instead then that's fine. On the other hand, if your disablility means that you are consistently misspelling words in front of the class then you really shouldn't be teaching - or at least you shouldn't be teaching a subject like English or Science where spelling actually matters.

I have been watching this thread with interest because my son has a new teacher this year who appears to be unable to spell. Of course she also doesn't seem to be able to pronounce the words, which is a bit of a problem since she teaches English. (In case you are wondering, it appears that English is her native language and she does not have an accent.) A couple of gems from last week's spelling test were "Gregarious" (which she spelled correctly but pronounced as "Gregacious") and "Titanic" (which she spelled and pronounced as "Titantic"). There were more mispronounciations and misspellings as well. She also assigned homework a couple of times and then changed the assignment the next day and had the children do it again because they had not gotten their information from the website she prefers. I'm sure it's going to be an interesting year. I have never gone to the principal about a teacher before, and my son is in middle school. I may have to make an exception for this teacher, though, because she really does not seem qualified to be teaching English - and frankly I have doubts that she should be teaching at all. If you can't spell and you can't pronounce the words then I think English is not the subject for you!

 

[princessmom29]

Everyone doesn't have to be perfect at everything, but if you are teaching children then you need to be sure that you are teaching them the correct things. If you have some sort of a disability that makes you have difficulty spelling correctly then you need to learn to compensate for it. If that means that you never write on the board and always type everything instead then that's fine. On the other hand, if your disablility means that you are consistently misspelling words in front of the class then you really shouldn't be teaching - or at least you shouldn't be teaching a subject like English or Science where spelling actually matters.

I have been watching this thread with interest because my son has a new teacher this year who appears to be unable to spell. Of course she also doesn't seem to be able to pronounce the words, which is a bit of a problem since she teaches English. (In case you are wondering, it appears that English is her native language and she does not have an accent.) A couple of gems from last week's spelling test were "Gregarious" (which she spelled correctly but pronounced as "Gregacious") and "Titanic" (which she spelled and pronounced as "Titantic"). There were more mispronounciations and misspellings as well. She also assigned homework a couple of times and then changed the assignment the next day and had the children do it again because they had not gotten their information from the website she prefers. I'm sure it's going to be an interesting year. I have never gone to the principal about a teacher before, and my son is in middle school. I may have to make an exception for this teacher, though, because she really does not seem qualified to be teaching English - and frankly I have doubts that she should be teaching at all. If you can't spell and you can't pronounce the words then I think English is not the subject for you!

You cannot teach anything witout ever writing on the board. Students will always have questions that I cannot have a typed response perpared for. ANd my misspellings are in no way teacihng them "wrong" they are simple transpositions of letters easily corrected. If it is a science term i typically ahve memoriaed the correct spelling and write it enough that i will not make a error. I do not think I am permanetly damaging an honors tenth grader's education by writing thier instead of their on the board. they know what the correct spelling is, and so do I. My brain simply gets ahead of my hand sometimes, and due to my dyslexia it results in a transposition I don't notice. I just don't get why that should keep me from teaching science?

 

[Scurvy]

You cannot teach anything witout ever writing on the board. Students will always have questions that I cannot have a typed response perpared for. ANd my misspellings are in no way teacihng them "wrong" they are simple transpositions of letters easily corrected. If it is a science term i typically ahve memoriaed the correct spelling and write it enough that i will not make a error. I do not think I am permanetly damaging an honors tenth grader's education by writing thier instead of their on the board. they know what the correct spelling is, and so do I. My brain simply gets ahead of my hand sometimes, and due to my dyslexia it results in a transposition I don't notice. I just don't get why that should keep me from teaching science?

I am confused about why you directed the bolded at me. If you notice, I didn't quote your posts or respond to them. That's because I don't know if you can adequately teach your classes and I didn't want to assume anything about your situation. I was addressing the situations in general as well as the specific situation with my son's class. However, I stand by what I said. If a teacher is unable to correctly teach her class then she doesn't need to be in the classroom. I'm sure there are ways to compensate for some disablities and perhaps you can compensate enough for yours so that you can be a good teacher. I do think that it would be much easier in a high school class than it would be in an elementary class, since presumably the students would already know the correct spelling of the words that you would be likely to misspell. I don't think that writing "thier" rather than "Their" would be a huge problem for tenth graders. I do think it would be a problem for children young enough not to already know the spelling of that word.

In your specific case, I have no idea if you are teaching them "wrong" or not. If you repeatedly misspell scientific terms when teaching them, then I'd say you are teaching them "wrong", but if you misspell "their" occasionally then I don't think that would cause lasting problems. That's why I didn't address your situation in my post - I know nothing about you or your situation except what you have chosen to share on this board. If you truly only misspell words very rarely, and never misspell the scientific terms, then I wouldn't be terribly concerned if you were teaching my son. If you sent home a note or often wrote on the board and had many errors, I would be extremely concerned.

In my experience it is possible to teach a class without writing on the board, but apparently that doesn't work for everyone.

Not everyone can do every job. My son is color blind and there are many jobs that he could never get because of that. If you can't spell, there are some jobs you shouldn't have. I think "English teacher" would rank pretty far up the list of those jobs. I don't think my son's English teacher has any business in the classroom - she can't spell and she can't pronouce many English words. I have no idea if you belong in the classroom or not. If I observed you in the classroom maybe I would think you were a great teacher. I don't think you belong in an English class, but maybe you are great at teaching science.

 

[princessmom29]

I am confused about why you directed the bolded at me. If you notice, I didn't quote your posts or respond to them. That's because I don't know if you can adequately teach your classes and I didn't want to assume anything about your situation. I was addressing the situations in general as well as the specific situation with my son's class. However, I stand by what I said. If a teacher is unable to correctly teach her class then she doesn't need to be in the classroom. I'm sure there are ways to compensate for some disablities and perhaps you can compensate enough for yours so that you can be a good teacher. I do think that it would be much easier in a high school class than it would be in an elementary class, since presumably the students would already know the correct spelling of the words that you would be likely to misspell. I don't think that writing "thier" rather than "Their" would be a huge problem for tenth graders. I do think it would be a problem for children young enough not to already know the spelling of that word.

In your specific case, I have no idea if you are teaching them "wrong" or not. If you repeatedly misspell scientific terms when teaching them, then I'd say you are teaching them "wrong", but if you misspell "their" occasionally then I don't think that would cause lasting problems. That's why I didn't address your situation in my post - I know nothing about you or your situation except what you have chosen to share on this board. If you truly only misspell words very rarely, and never misspell the scientific terms, then I wouldn't be terribly concerned if you were teaching my son. If you sent home a note or often wrote on the board and had many errors, I would be extremely concerned.

In my experience it is possible to teach a class without writing on the board, but apparently that doesn't work for everyone.

Not everyone can do every job. My son is color blind and there are many jobs that he could never get because of that. If you can't spell, there are some jobs you shouldn't have. I think "English teacher" would rank pretty far up the list of those jobs. I don't think my son's English teacher has any business in the classroom - she can't spell and she can't pronouce many English words. I have no idea if you belong in the classroom or not. If I observed you in the classroom maybe I would think you were a great teacher. I don't think you belong in an English class, but maybe you are great at teaching science.

I directed it at you b/c of the part about never writing on te board. I read that to meand that you(a greneral you) should find a way, like never writing on the board, to never misspell anything. I just feel that I can still be a really good teacher and occasionally make a spelling error. I don't think it effects the quality of my student's education to make a simple spelling error that is corrected on an occasional basis. I proof and reproof everything that goes out in writing to parents and students b/c I know my limitations, but errors do occasionally happen. They are always corrected, and pointed out to the students as incorrect. I make every effort to never teach anything incorrectly. I really don't think that I could teach a math based class like chemistry and never write on the board. It might work for English or history.

 

[luvsJack]

Everyone doesn't have to be perfect at everything, but if you are teaching children then you need to be sure that you are teaching them the correct things. If you have some sort of a disability that makes you have difficulty spelling correctly then you need to learn to compensate for it. If that means that you never write on the board and always type everything instead then that's fine. On the other hand, if your disablility means that you are consistently misspelling words in front of the class then you really shouldn't be teaching - or at least you shouldn't be teaching a subject like English or Science where spelling actually matters.

If the administration had felt like this (bolded part) when I was in 6th grade, I would have missed out on having one of the most talented teachers I ever had. And there is a good chance I would have never learned anything from a science class. How sad.

 

[tara32]

What's wrong with Dallas's folder? It looks right to me.


I am kind of anal about this kind of thing but I would not correct the teacher. If the teacher taught English though, I would be horrified. If they taught math or sciences, I would just find it mildly amusing/disturbing. Hey- spelling is not their forte. I would have a problem with an English teacher who invented words and misspelled things. And, un-needed apostrophes drive me nut's! (LOL) Had to..thank goodness I hate cats

 

[duffy]

What's wrong with Dallas's folder? It looks right to me.


I am kind of anal about this kind of thing but I would not correct the teacher. If the teacher taught English though, I would be horrified. If they taught math or sciences, I would just find it mildly amusing/disturbing. Hey- spelling is not their forte. I would have a problem with an English teacher who invented words and misspelled things. And, un-needed apostrophes drive me nut's! (LOL) Had to..thank goodness I hate cats

If the folder belongs to Dallas, then it is Dallas's folder!

And UNNEEDED apostrophes drive me NUTS too.

 

[tatooed goofy]

Last year my daughters second grade teacher would misspell word's on her website just to see how many people actually read it. Maybe she did it on purpose to see if one of the students would catch it.

I would do the same. I would take over 2 hours every Thurs. night at home to write my newsletter and put Friday packets together. So, I would put a clever joke, question, or riddle (how many licks to the center of a tootsie roll) just to see who would read and reply on the slip to be turned in on Monday. It had to be signed on Monday so it was interesting to see how many actually read or just signed. I would reward kids who had answers and stress the importance of reading the letters. I write them for a reason! I would get phone calls on the same thing that was just in the newsletter 2 days earlier. I would want to scream! It was really frustrating. I agree..say something in passing but don't dwell on it. We ALL have tons of better things to do! MHO

 

[duffy]

Last year my daughters second grade teacher would misspell word's on her website just to see how many people actually read it. Maybe she did it on purpose to see if one of the students would catch it.

I caught BOTH grammar mistakes!!

 

[DawnM]

I just attended an "oreantation" by a K teacher! Yup, in huge letters on the overhead.

ACK!

 

[dayzemair]

To the OP, one mistake does not make her an incompetent teacher and you should definitely reserve judgment. While I do believe that teachers should do their absolute best to avoid mistakes in parent communication, (I am a teacher and this was hammered into us in college) if she doesn't think that there is anything wrong with themself then it's not a proofreading error, she wasn't being careless - she just doesn't know that it is incorrect. It's something that can easily be corrected and really did not affect comprehension.

Writers make up words or use them in different ways all the time, it's one of the main ways that language evolves over time. If English (the school subject) was only about spelling and grammar then no one would ever dare write - our language is too fraught with inconsistent rules - I think an English teacher that can inspire kids to enjoy writing, take chances with it, and be fearless in their endeavors with it, is worth her/his weight in gold and I would much rather my child have that teacher than the one that cares only about "proper" usage and perfection in spelling.

And YES, I do think that grammar and spelling are important - they help to create shared meaning - but they are not EVERYTHING!

Interesting discussion - it's always good to be reminded that parents are watching and analyzing everything we do - as they should, we are put in charge of their most valuable possessions. OP you are a good parent to be concerned, I just don't think you should be too quick to judge the teacher.

Oh, and I am sure that this post also has errors and if you point them out, I too think you are "douche-y"

 

[Kallista]

I would also expect professors in college to be able to figure out how to proofread their own papers, considering I'm spending $50,000 a year to send my oldest daughter to their elite establishment.

No, that's what the secretary is for.

 

[McQueenofHrts]

This is slightly off topic, but because it was mentioned several times, I feel the need to respond.

I am wondering if the individuals that think/feel/elude that PrincessMom29 is less of a teacher because she has dyslexia has ever met a person that struggles with this disability? I would guess not, because if they did they would see how much harder people with dyslexia have to work to get good grades, etc. To put it simply, her work ethic and the lesson that can be learned about overcoming diversity far outweighs any spelling error.