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Post by Kath on Mar 22, 2023 18:59:00 GMT
I have to get this out here.
Spelling mistakes I've encountered this week:
dellicut
guffment
holisitick
simtoms
There have also been grammatical errors to make you weep, outright plagiarism and one person told me they hadn't handed in their essay on time because they'd been told by their dermatologist to spend the weekend lying on the kitchen floor to cool down the rash that had flared up with the stress of having an essay to write.
I'm not cut out for this. At work I'm a calm, kind, listening sort but sometimes the stress of having to be that way when what I really want to do is yell 'Get a grip!' is just too much.
If anyone wants me I'll be wibbling in the corner.
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Post by daves on Mar 22, 2023 19:12:23 GMT
Need the old fashioned school master, gown, mortarboard, and cane. Especially the cane.
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Post by zou on Mar 22, 2023 19:17:46 GMT
I've spent numerous hours this week sifting job applications. Some absolutely amazing examples of "that'll do, no need to pay heed to the red-underlined words in the cv" as well as general lack of attention/care in the applications.
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Post by kate on Mar 22, 2023 19:31:33 GMT
Dare I ask what qualification they are studying for?
Took me a while to decode guffment. Ha! Descriptive at least.
Poor you. I couldn't do it. I'd be bald.
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Post by spinno on Mar 22, 2023 19:32:28 GMT
Correctness in grammar and spelling is not necessary. As long as the reader gets the gist then "its grate"
Sadly the grating is of the annoying type. I understand the issues of dyslexia but is everyone a sufferer?
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Post by Kath on Mar 22, 2023 19:33:12 GMT
I've spent numerous hours this week sifting job applications. Some absolutely amazing examples of "that'll do, no need to pay heed to the red-underlined words in the cv" as well as general lack of attention/care in the applications. One of the things I find so hard to understand is the sheer volume of students who on reading an essay question, come to me and say "I don't know what I have to do." Even if their lecturer has been very kind and broken things down to a list of tasks, they still seem to struggle. Twice this week I've had to go back to the question and point out that although they have 'described' whatever it was, they have not applied nor evaluated it in any way. I get blank looks at this point. Years ago, I read my eight year old's homework on 'The Victorians' and she'd done some lovely illustrations and then written: 'Times were tough in Victorian times especially for the poor and for women. Some people found their lives improved with the industrial revolution and some didn't but I'm sure you know all about that already.' I feel as if some of the students I support have never passed that stage! |
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Post by squeamishossifrage on Mar 22, 2023 19:37:47 GMT
The rule that disallows you from being judgmental is the reason such ignorance persists.
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Post by dreampolice on Mar 22, 2023 19:45:51 GMT
Correctness in grammar and spelling is not necessary. As long as the reader gets the gist then "its grate" Sadly the grating is of the annoying type. I understand the issues of dyslexia but is everyone a sufferer? My daughter has mild dyslexia. Anything that needs to be totally right is generally sent to us and it is proof read for her and corrected. She really struggled at uni when it came to essays (luckily as she was doing art, there weren't too many) but it really caused her stress. The uni used to offer extra curriculum lessons on how to tackle essay writing and break down what they were after and how to construct the essays. It helped her. |
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Post by Kath on Mar 22, 2023 19:46:19 GMT
Dare I ask what qualification they are studying for? Took me a while to decode guffment. Ha! Descriptive at least. Poor you. I couldn't do it. I'd be bald. Various. This week has been mainly Access students (so in fairness they've been out of education for some time or maybe didn't do so well in education the first time round), as well as social sciences and horticulture. Most of the students I support have some kind of learning difficulty or mental health issue and I do get that for a lot of them, dealing with that was more than enough so their school education suffered. I do also sometimes get spelling mistakes that make me laugh out loud. (The soldiers being mascara'd in WW1 probably shouldn't have made me laugh but it did.) Generally, I have a lot of patience for those who are trying and who work to overcome the obstacles they face. There are a minority who are only 'studying' for the bursary or the student loan they know they'll never have to pay back, and who take up an inordinate amount of time and resources with very little to show for it. I dislike laziness and cheating much more than someone being ignorant of the rules of English grammar. Underneath all my bluster about being unable to let rip is also an acknowledgement that some of my students are actually very vulnerable and I worry about them a lot. I can't talk about them anywhere external to work as it would not be appropriate but being the shoulder to cry on for a domestic abuse survivor or someone with PTSD is draining. I have to take my stress release where I can get it! |
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Post by willien on Mar 22, 2023 19:46:27 GMT
I agree with Squeamish. If people never get frank honest feedback then they need never face their shortcomings. Ever thought that some of these people simply should not be in any form of academia or at least be in a lower tier?
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Post by dreampolice on Mar 22, 2023 19:54:46 GMT
When I was divisional Sgt, I used to read statements that some officers had written be it their own or taken from witnesses. Some were truly appalling. It was embarrassing.
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Post by Kath on Mar 22, 2023 19:59:02 GMT
The rule that disallows you from being judgmental is the reason such ignorance persists. Well, not really. I am allowed to point out mistakes and my role is to guide people to better performance with the application of study skills and reasonable adjustments or assistive technology as required. As I said in my other post it's really the ones who are 'at it' that are the most annoying. For some of my students, getting to their classes at all is a big achievement and I have had to amend my perception of what counts as 'a win' in a lot of cases. Yes, it would be great if I could tell you that all my students will be leaving college this year with HNCs or whatever and progressign on to work or university. But not all of them will. Some will have gained a bit of self confidence or picked up a skill they didn't have before. Some will go on to uni or work. Some may just be about ready to accept that they need more help. And I will feel quietly proud, in spite of the spelling/grammar, to have had a bit of hand in that. In the last few weeks I've had to make two safeguarding reports, set someone up with a disguised app that they can use to note instances of domestic violence to take to a custody hearing, listen to a compulsive liar telling me the tallest tales you've ever heard, hear someone tell me they are suicidal, report instances of self-harm, proofread essays on topics I know nothing about, sit in a disciplinary meeting where my student was the aggressor, congratulate a student who at the start of the year worried she was 'too thick' to do her course but has now been given an offer at Stirling University for a degree, make endless appointments for another student who just kept not turning up, try to keep a parent from completely taking over their adult child's life to the extent they wanted to sit in the classroom and show the progression board which bits of someone's essay were actually my work. It's exhausting! |
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Post by peterob on Mar 22, 2023 20:02:04 GMT
I have to get this out here. Spelling mistakes I've encountered this week: dellicut guffment holisitick simtoms There have also been grammatical errors to make you weep, outright plagiarism and one person told me they hadn't handed in their essay on time because they'd been told by their dermatologist to spend the weekend lying on the kitchen floor to cool down the rash that had flared up with the stress of having an essay to write. I'm not cut out for this. At work I'm a calm, kind, listening sort but sometimes the stress of having to be that way when what I really want to do is yell 'Get a grip!' is just too much. If anyone wants me I'll be wibbling in the corner. Maybe I'm just old but I wouldn't call marking incorrect spelling as being "judgemental" - there is no exercise of opinion involved, it is just plain wrong. I must admit that, when I was at school, it was a requirement to have the pocket oxford dictionary on the desk at all time for reference. The only excuse for incorrect spelling was if the word was not in the dictionary. I admit that I do still slip up on certain spellings but a greater number of mistakes come from "auto-spell" substituting an inappropriate word. I turn off all assist of that nature when writing formal reports. I can generally see a spelling mistake or grammatical error when I proof-read. I make many more errors writing posts on this (and previously AP forum) because of auto-spell and because it is linear work - I don't proof-read as I would a report. |
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Post by zou on Mar 22, 2023 20:23:08 GMT
With the job applications you can tell the 'only applying because the job centre made them do it' a mile off. Some are shocking, but every so often you get one from someone who really should know better which is just as bad. Highlights today... briefly describe how your knowledge, skills, and experience meet the job criteria: "you can trust me, I was in the army."
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Post by willien on Mar 22, 2023 20:31:12 GMT
With the job applications you can tell the 'only applying because the job centre made them do it' a mile off. Some are shocking, but every so often you get one from someone who really should know better which is just as bad. Highlights today... briefly describe how your knowledge, skills, and experience meet the job criteria: "you can trust me, I was in the army." "Spud goes for an interview" (Trainspotting), counts a a classic film scene. |
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