People who cannot spell should not be allowed to teach - including those with 'learning disabilities'

how narrow minded- if people have dyslexia- should they not be allowed to spell?- they could be very good teachers. I find alot of this deeply offensive- what kind of message do you give out to students? 'oh you cant spell- so you can never be a....' its not about being PC or anything, its just not be as judgemental as the first letter

 

yes- I meant should people with dyslexia not be allowed to teach? I find this topic very offensive and probably my anger a the first letter made me make a very stupid mistake

 

How can they mark? How can they assess? How can they correct? If they don`t know the right answer themselves, then they can`t do it. Lots of us have had to face the fact that even though we really love sport, music, dancing etc etc, we just weren`t able enough, and teaching is the same. Some of us wanted to be policemen or air-hostesses etc and weren`t all enough. That`s just the way things are. How can we ever raise standards when we accept people who are not up to the job?

 

.........weren`t tall enough..........

 

Oh my god- not up to the job- it gets worse. as i said before just because you cant spell doesnt mean to say you are a bad teacher, likewise just because you can spell doesnt mean to say you are a great teacher- I am talking about people with dyslexia- are you saying they should not be teachers??? because if you are that would rule out a quite large proportion of excellent teachers.

 

Sorry, but if you can`t mark and correct written work and that is a major part of your job, then you can not do your job effectively.

 

If you look at my postings or my actual written work you would never guess...

 

There's also different degrees of SpLD, a mild case coupled with high intelligence is usually not obvious as coping strategies have been developed by the afflicted person.

 

thank you hissy fit - an excellent point.
If you have managed despite dyslexia to complete a degree, and/ or PGDE, then you will have to have compensated and developed sound strategies for coping. I find it very interesting that some people regard those who have, and
successfully managed their learning difficulties unfit to teach. What better role model for a pupil, with or without a learning difficulty themselves?
As a dyslexic teacher I have come across the "your not fit to teach" attitude, and this was from a teacher wrote off any children in their class with difficulties.
To my understanding, to actually be diagnosed with dyslexia there must be a significant discrepancy between the general IQ and level of reading/writing difficulties encountered. If your going to write off a teacher, or anyone else because of dyslexia, bear in mind they could be significantly more intelligent than you. Besides which, with the support of fellow teachers, family, specialist software ect it can have little to no impact on your class.
Sheer lazyness in spelling and grammar however is a completely different thing, and should be addressed.

 

But I return to my main point. How can you correct and assess work in a subject that is primarily written, when you cannot see the mistakes? This is a major part of our job.

 

I work with a teacher who is dyslexic and he is probably one of the best science teachers i have seen in action. The kids think he is great, enjoy his lessons and learn more than they do with the teachers who aren't dyslexic. Surely that's what counts??

 

It seems to me there is an important difference between teachers who know they have a problem with spelling/grammar and are able to share this with their pupils and use it as an opportunity to teach them how to use dictionaries etc, and teachers (not that I'm saying there are any such...) who are oblivious to their bad spelling, put up laminated displays or write on the board with wrong spellings and deny fiercely that they can possibly have made a mistake....

 

Post 90 - You use the same proof-reading techniques you use for yourself when marking the pupils' work.

I have a discrepancy between my verbal IQ and performance IQ. One is between 150-160, the other is between 110-120. My auditory processing and memory is in the bottom 10% of the population. My visual processing and memory is within the average range.

However, I love reading which means I've visually absorbed spelling and grammar rules. I couldn't explain them, but I know exactly what to do.

I was a B/C grade student but apparently would have been a straight A student had I been able to process everything offered to me in terms of knowledge. There's only so much you can absorb when you're average or less at absorbing. My brain is capable of absorbing it all, but there's a blockage which only lets so much in at a time and before you know it you've missed out on something vital. I'm referring to myself in a learning capacity here, not as a teacher.

I'm such a fraud, having nearly a decade of successful teaching under my belt eh?!...

 

Lots of professions make a distinction on entry for those who can/can't spell. In the IT industry it was standard practice to give potential employees an entry test. Those whose English was good enough could join the Systems Analysis profession, those that could not spell properly had to become Programers. People who cannot spell properly can be TAs and use their enormous skills in the classroom.
I have heard a lot of teachers justify their poor spelling by saying that it puts them in a better position to help kids. Frankly, you may be employable teaching dyslexics, but a teacher is de facto qualified to teach all abilities and you will be teaching about 20% on average in your class who can spell better than you. That is a ridiculous situation and causes the profession to lack respectability.
I don't think anyone needs 100% perfect spelling record, but there are some teachers who clearly should not be teaching, or at the very least not allowed to progress up the chain where their disability is a problem to the entire organisation. It is the responsibility of the poor speller to have a strategy to show it does not affect their teaching - eg - spellchecking and getting their stuff proof-read. I frequently did this for a dyslexic colleague when I worked in IT - this meant that none of her emails or documents went out with embarassing spelling. That is a sensible way to deal with a problem - not just spell poorly and excuse yourself by saying you have dyslexia.
"I can't spell but I'm an excellent teacher" is an oxymoron.

 

How do you know all of this? Are you married to a scientist or something?

 

I know a dyslexic MFL teacher. His spelling and grammar in French and German is spot on - he gets brain freeze on English words though and loses his keys a lot!
I know a dyslexic English teacher. His plans are thorough and he has special softwear on his laptop to help with spelling. His classes, statistically, make better progress that the other 5 English staff. He's creative and hammers home punctuation and spelling in his lessons and follows many of the dyslexia friendly practices recommended by the BDA and other dyslexia groups.
I know a PE teacher who walks with a stick.

 

Pedant's ?