I am in a new school this year. I just read a letter from the principal mailed to parents yesterday. Oh. My. Choppy sentences. Severely run-on sentences. Random capitalization. Comma errors. I am shocked. I realize this post itself is rather choppy, but I am in shock.
My old P was like that. He has a learning disability. He was a genuis in math though. He knew he had a learning disabiliy and always had someone proof his writing. Wonder what the parents are thinking?
Eww....like most teachers, I notice all that right away. Even in letters that get sent home from my kid's school, I notice. Hopefully someone else tells your P.
Perhaps you can put an anonymous tip in his mailbox suggesting (in a kind way) that he proofread such things.
Our P is not the best speller. She has a signature that says I do not make mistakes, I provide editing opportunities for others. ( something along those lines, but funnier!) I thought it was good that she at least acknowledged it. Sometimes, that stuff drives me nuts!
My supe has had to pull back on communications to be sent home ( after running 600 copies) due to errors...Peter principle at work... On one back to school night for one of my sons a teacher launched into how 'spelling counts' and would affect student grades...I circled ALL the errors in the papers she gave to parents and left them in her mail box that same night.
Yikes. Typos from educators really bother me too. I triple check my newsletters, etc. I've been making the copies, found an error, and reprinted/recopied them.
One of my college professors coined the word "chalkos" for spelling errors he made on the blackboard. If I didn't have a whiteboard, I would borrow the word.
Finger fumbling or sensitive touchpad (I'm on an iPad!) aside...there are just some frequent misspellings that make one wonder..the most abused on the forums seems to be 'loose' for 'lose'..do people REALLY not know the difference?
Our instructional coordinator (a former reading coach) doesn't know that Johnson comes before Jones.... She also doesn't know how to read the computerized roster or spell our (the teachers') names. I just wish someone would proof this stuff before people make fools of themselves. Aren't we supposed to be educated professionals? Shouldn't we be setting the example?
My P doesn't use punctuation~ she separates thoughts with the tilde symbol~ and she also doesn't believe in paragraphs~ I wish I had an email from earlier in the year to share with you~ I had to read it 5 times with a highlighter and I still missed things~ Maybe I will remember to show you the next time I get a doozy (Seriously, that is what her emails look like )
I had a VP who frequently came to me to proof what she wrote. I'm not perfect, and typos do get out once in a blue moon. I've hand written changes on papers of which I've already made copies. Not fun. I do know that when I have/am recovering from a migraine or if my blood sugar is running low, my speaking and spelling go out the window!
Don't most administrators have secretaries who can proofread their stuff before it goes out? (I've never had or been a secretary, but I would imagine it would be part of the job description, right???)
My old P was the same way with her e-mails! It drove me nuts! She even had the nerve to tell the AP one day that his "long paragraphs were too hard to understand" because he was writing correctly while she wrote like a 3rd grader. We also had some pretty crazy things on letters sent home. It wasn't always even slight grammar mistakes, it would be really obvious things like a line written twice or several words in a sentence missing.
The stuff she sends home is OK (COULD be better, but not awful). The email I referenced was a 4 PAGE paragraph It is awful!! ~ and : ) are her only forms of punctuation for staff emails
How are our children supposed to learn to write effectively if the people teaching (and supervising) them can't???
The thing is, we all make silly mistakes and typos every now and then. I honestly wouldn't bat an eye had the principal made a single typo...perhaps missed a space or left one letter out of word. I know others would still be frustrated, but I'm pretty laid back about such things in life. But this was so much more than that. "We have two options for students arriving early the gym and the cafeteria students must choose one and remain there." Are you serious?! Note, I did change some words for privacy. And that is just one of several major errors or examples of poor writing. "Test scores will be mailed home at a later date with test scores." "We are excited about what a great School Year this will be!" I'll stop now because the more I read it... I don't intend to disrespect the principal, but I admit it will be a little difficult accepting "constructive feedback" after our first evaluations.
I can't help think that there are those in the educational field who have learning disabilities (as exemplified earlier in this thread when somebody mentioned a principal with a learning disability). They certainly can't be discriminated against. What would a district do if it was discovered that an elementary school teacher had dyslexia, for example? Of course, the teacher would be aware of his/her challenge (hopefully) and would seek proofreading; but, from whom? A parent in their class? That would go over like a cat trapped in a dog kennel. From colleagues? Some may feel it's not their job to proofread EVERY handout; that, or the person with the challenge may be embarrassed to seek help. I can only imagine the burden this would be to the individual, be it a teacher or principal. Or, is it your opinion (I'm speaking to anybody who would like to answer) that a person who has a learning disability (e.g., dyslexia) should not be teaching our youth. For example, it may not be considered discrimination if a man who has no arms is told he can't be a firefighter. A requirement/duty of firefighters is to carry (things, people). A teacher's duty is to sometimes (quite often) teach/edit grammar, spelling, etc. So would it be considered discrimination if an individual can't do those things... due to a learning disability? Food for thought.
Ted, I think you have a valid question. I don't have a singing disability, but I don't have singing ability...so even though I would love to be the next Adele, I had to give up that dream. I think others have to realize their limitations as well. There is a line (somewhere...that's the difficult part) that when crossed means your employer is working too hard to make your placement work. I understand learning disabilities are different than not being able to sing, dance, create art, perform athletically, and so on, and for that reason I don't want to be and I don't intend to be insensitive to that. But again, to what extent should your employer accomodate you? If you have a reading disability, will it be in the best interest of the students to be their reading teacher? No doubt you will offer a unique perspective and valuable insight, but. for the majority of students might you do more harm than good? Unless somene else is required to support you with your disability...
I hate to think how some people here judge their students who can't spell! (Two can play at this game!)
I would think there's a world of difference between a student who is struggling to learn a subject and an adult professional who is unable to do his or her job in a competent fashion. Let's all agree that we're not discussing the occasional typo. If part of a job description includes written communication, then the person holding that job should be capable of proper written communication. If he or she is incapable of fulfilling the job requirements, then the job should go to someone else.... particularly in today's very competitive job market. If the person is simply too lazy to bother to do his or her job correctly, then I think that perhaps someone else would be better suited to hold the job as well.
OK, I must admit to being confused. We were discussing adults who can't or won't use the rules of spelling and grammar. You brought it down to the level of students. I responded that our expectations for adult professionals should be different than for students. Spelling and grammar are skills that kids learn in school. We expect our kids to struggle with academics somewhere along the way. We do not expect the same of the adult professionals teaching them. So, while I'm glad you agree, I'm not sure I follow your reasoning.
Maybe the principals should have the secretary go over their letters before they are sent. Hopefully she would catch the errors!
Frankly, I don't think it should be the responsibility of the school secretary to correct mistakes made by the principal. Our principals type their own materials (is dictation even used anymore except by lawyers?), and the secretaries just make copies. For the record, our new principal also makes frequent grammatical errors in speaking.
On the other thread (the gym teachers one), czaca commented that she wonders how some posters judge their overweight students. Obviously there is a different standard for someone who should be a professional and a model of physical fitness than a student. My comment here was not meant to be taken seriously, but to highlight that the comment on the other thread was pretty outrageous.
Charles Schwab should read this post. His Dyslexia never stopped him. Mr. Schwab flunked English twice in college. Without his former website my dyslexic dd would not be attending college to become a profound severe teacher. Having a learning disability shouldn't automatically prevent one from teaching students. At our convocation our Superintendent used a PowerPoint that had our districts initials in a reverse order. He apologized and went on. Is this thread going to turn into Something ugly?
Principals aren't the only ones who can't write or speak correctly. I have checked my children's teacher's websites in the past and was so disappointed. The last thing a parent wants to to see is her kid's teacher using bad grammar and run-on sentences. Properly spoken and written English is one of the most important examples a teacher can set for students. Last year my CT would say "There's 3 more days..." There is 3? Really? I've been in classrooms where teachers use "ain't" lregularly like it's a real word. Yes, I was born and raised in the South, but my momma hated the word "ain't." :lol: I don't believe teachers need to be perfect, but if you are in the field of education, grammar needs to be taken seriously. Unfortunately, it's on the backburner with spelling in most classrooms. It's no wonder our kids don't know the difference in "your" and "you're" or use "Me" before another person's name in a sentence. Last year I taught a bunch of grammar lessons to my 4th graders. I was shocked at how much they had not learned by 4th grade! Some of them didn't know what an adjective was or a pronoun. They had no idea how to use "she" and "her." Sorry, had to vent. This is a touchy subject with me. :lol: Obviously!
On scripted shows and on the news, I have heard people use "between you and I" and "for him and I" and that drives me crazy. Last year I taught fourth grade writing. My main battles were capitalizing the word I, capitalizing the first word of a sentence, and run-on sentences. I can understand the difficulty with run-ons at that age, but not the other two. As for this thread, I once had a superintendent who would send out scathing letters (back before email) detailing how horrible he thought the faculty was, how we lacked a good work ethic, and incompetent we all were. He made over one hundred mistakes in just one letter. He was an idiot.
No, I don't think it has or will turn into something ugly. I think the only thing that has been said is that before a person with a disability is hired to teach or perform any other job, it must be considered how much of the job he or she won't be able to perform. Will they essentially have to hire a part-time employee to aid the person? That just doesn't make sense, although it's a sad and unfortunate truth for the person with the learning disability. If a person can't perform the job duties outlined and usually available prior to even interviewing, I don't think they should apply for the job. If we're speaking of a physically disability that would, for example, require an old school or business to add a wheelchair ramp so they could get in the business and then perform the job as well as anyone else, apply away! But if the person cannot perform the job once inside, then...
I actually get frustrated with myself when I sometimes end a sentence with a preposition. (e.g., "Who did you speak to?") I then correct myself... ("Sorry, I meant, 'To whom did you speak?'") which usually gets my friends and family looking at me with puzzled expressions.
I can handle 'ain't'. The southernism that I H-A-T-E is 'might could'. Teachers use it all.the.time! "Well we might could do that..."
