Author Topic: Holey Cwap (Read 8168 times)

pooka · « **on:** October 09, 2009, 10:52:16 AM »

I was grading spelling tests at 4th grade today, and I was deeply disturbed by several of the bad results. I mean, my child only got 10 out of 20, so it was apparently a list of words the teacher was counting on the parents to make the kids study. But it was so much worse than than.

I hope the explanation is that there was a chain of 5 kids copying off each other, each one doing it a little less perfectly until you got to a point where only the first letter and general length of the word was right. It's kind of devastating to think someone can get to 4th grade and spell so poorly. I would guess 12/20 was about average, with a few outliers on either end. There were children who got 1 and 0 on this test. The words I can remember were:

Adjustment
idly (the most correctly spelled word)
lonely
solvable (I would have missed this)
preoccupied
envious
insist
decision
motorcycle
rearrange (probably the most misspelled word)
Treasure Island (my kid was one of a few kids who missed this because it was written on the wall... sigh)
latitude (I might have missed this)
longitude
courageous

And then there were three bonus words: immense, treacherous, and mischief. I'm not sure what made them bonus, but almost no one got them.

I couldn't really detect a theme to this spelling list, and maybe there wasn't one. Maybe my memory of how well one should be spelling in 4th grade is distorted. I graded the math papers and the performance was a lot closer to what I might expect. When I gave them back to the teacher I mentioned they were better than the spelling tests and the teacher said she didn't know why the kids were having such a hard time, worse than last year. I don't know. Maybe it's some unintended consequence of core curriculum education, whatever the heck that means.

I do recall that we had a separate textbook for spelling in 4th grade. I'll have to ask my child about that.

The Genuine · « **Reply #1 on:** October 09, 2009, 11:29:36 AM »

I would have gotten those all right.

Where do I sign up to re-enroll in 4th grade?

Brinestone · « **Reply #2 on:** October 09, 2009, 03:45:22 PM »

I don't remember my spelling lists in fourth grade, except I think the word cemetery was on one. I remember the mnemonic still: in a cemetery, you might say "Eee!"

The Genuine · « **Reply #3 on:** October 09, 2009, 04:56:01 PM »

I have a distinct memory of learning how to spell "friend" in the third grade. I think my teacher's name was Mrs. Burke. I kinda had a crush on her.

Anyway, I learned it by pronouncing it in my head as "fry-end."

pooka · « **Reply #4 on:** October 10, 2009, 03:09:25 PM »

Yup. I thought about it, and I was in a magnet program in 4th grade.

sweet clementine · « **Reply #5 on:** October 11, 2009, 01:11:49 AM »

I have a distinct memory of forgetting how to spell "of" in fourth grade for about 20 minutes. I'm pretty sure that's when I first realized I would get dementia one day

pooka · « **Reply #6 on:** October 11, 2009, 05:27:36 PM »

And yet your recall of that event is most promising.

sweet clementine · « **Reply #7 on:** October 11, 2009, 11:00:56 PM »

Not at all. My grandma can still tell you stories about when she was three years old, and then turn around and call my mom to tell her that there is a strange man in her house who wont go away...turns out to be her husband of 40 years or so.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #8 on:** October 12, 2009, 02:32:16 AM »

Quote

I don't remember my spelling lists in fourth grade, except I think the word cemetery was on one. I remember the mnemonic still: in a cemetery, you might say "Eee!"

And I can still remember my mnemonic for spelling "analysis": If your sister tells you that she needs to go have a rectal analysis, you ask her, "Anal? Why sis?"

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #9 on:** October 12, 2009, 09:10:28 AM »

That's awesome.

My friend mnemonic (again from fourth grade, which appears to be a particularly formative age for most of us) was "You can play with your friends on FRIday, which is the END of the week."

dkw · « **Reply #10 on:** October 12, 2009, 09:57:58 AM »

I don't think I've ever used a mnemonic for a spelling word. (Other than the very generic "i before e except after c.")

This might have something to do with why I am such an extremely poor speller.

The Genuine · « **Reply #11 on:** October 12, 2009, 11:23:49 AM »

I have to think of a Keanu Reeves movie to spell "mnemonic" right.

Farmgirl · « **Reply #12 on:** October 26, 2009, 11:48:52 AM »

My second son posted this on his FB page today.

He reads a lot of fanfic and reviews for anime. He found this little gem. He does say that the writer of this piece is "mentally handicapped", so he is forgiving of it -- but wow! I'm amazed we could read it. Definitely so dyslexia issues with this writer. (either that, or it is a really good put-on act by someone)

Case of the Ordinary Shooting

Porter · « **Reply #13 on:** October 26, 2009, 11:51:45 AM »

I smell a fake.

rivka · « **Reply #14 on:** October 26, 2009, 12:09:02 PM »

As do I. The main thing that makes it hard to read is the addition of an e after each other vowel. Hardly a pattern I'd expect if the supposed provenance were true.

pooka · « **Reply #15 on:** October 26, 2009, 12:44:15 PM »

They can spell "know" but not "murder". I think the writer tripped up there.

pooka · « **Reply #16 on:** December 18, 2009, 11:08:53 AM »

Today I was correcting a short answer test on Robin Hood. Question 6 was "What was the sorrowful Minstrel's problem?" And the answer is that the woman he loved had an arranged marriage in order to keep her land. I accepted many variations on this, but the one that made me laugh out loud was "He smelled."

rivka · « **Reply #17 on:** December 18, 2009, 11:15:41 AM »

How did you end up grading this test?

pooka · « **Reply #18 on:** December 21, 2009, 12:21:27 PM »

I marked it as missed. I'm not the teacher, so I try to be consistent. They had missed a lot of other questions, unfortunately.

rivka · « **Reply #19 on:** December 21, 2009, 01:17:13 PM »

I wasn't clear. I assumed you marked that answer wrong!

What I was asking was how you got roped into this duty to start with.

pooka · « **Reply #20 on:** January 14, 2010, 08:28:04 PM »

I volunteered to help out around the classroom on my day off, and what they could use help with was grading papers.

In other news I was helping my 6 year old spell nickel and we had to stop and circle the "digraph", she said.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #21 on:** January 15, 2010, 07:30:29 AM »

Quote

I don't think I've ever used a mnemonic for a spelling word. (Other than the very generic "i before e except after c.")

This might have something to do with why I am such an extremely poor speller.

Me too, and me too.

Where I went to school the kids were so poor, we couldn't afford mnemonic devices.

Scott R · « **Reply #22 on:** January 15, 2010, 08:10:13 AM »

We were so poor, we couldn't afford the silent m in mnemonic, much less the device!

pooka · « **Reply #23 on:** January 22, 2010, 10:40:30 AM »

There was a hysterical answer on the Robinson Crusoe short answer. If I could only remember what it was. Oh. The question was why Robinson didn't return to Hull after his first disastrous voyage. The correct answer would be that he didn't want to return a failure after his parents had opposed him leaving in the first place. One kid wrote "because his body still wanted to be a sailor." I kind of have to wonder if there was some metaphor used in the text that gave rise to that answer.

So do you guys think it's pretentious to refer to bleu cheese? I tend to think of it as a convention of the culinary industry. Is there such thing as fromage bleu or do they have several dozen other names for it if you're actually in France?

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #24 on:** January 22, 2010, 03:18:02 PM »

There are several dozen other names for it if you're actually in France. Like the Eskimos and snow.