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Academic Discussions => Teaching => Topic started by: Cheerful on October 03, 2019, 12:29:30 PM

Title: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: Cheerful on October 03, 2019, 12:29:30 PM
What does it mean when a student spells his/her own name wrong on a paper?
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: Parasaurolophus on October 03, 2019, 01:04:46 PM
*studies shoes*
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: wellfleet on October 03, 2019, 03:59:26 PM
Sloppy typing?
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: Hegemony on October 03, 2019, 04:05:35 PM
It means they have a learning disability.  My teenage son regularly spells his name wrong. If you say, "Can you see someone spelled wrong here?", he will identify it about a third of the time.

If his experience is anything to go by, it will also mean that he has had years of teachers slighting him and responding harshly, believing that he's slacking, that he's lazy, that he's too stupid to bother teaching, and that, to quote one of his teachers verbatim, "We figure what's the use, because somebody always has to be the dumbest kid in the class."  So it also means that he expects to fail and he doesn't expect that he needs support or that he will be granted support, much less sympathy or any kind of recognition that he's trying really hard.
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: Cheerful on October 03, 2019, 05:24:11 PM
Thanks for the enlightenment, Hegemony.  All the best to your son.  May he persevere and get the courtesy and support he deserves.

I'm stunned at the quote from the teacher.  Seriously?  In 2019?  A public school?  So sorry.

I would never chastise someone for such a thing.  I won't go into details but the case that motivated my post wasn't one of a learning disability.  My innocent attempt at light humor failed.  Sorry I ventured back to "the fora" after time away.
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: Hegemony on October 03, 2019, 06:17:58 PM
Cheerful, it sounds as if you feel we responded harshly or inappropriately, and if I have that right, I apologize.  It's hard to tell from a single sentence what kind of tone is being set.  I thought it was a genuine question.  And of course my anger stems from the shoddy way my son has been treated, and I didn't mean to seem to be directing it at you.  I do sometimes hear people exclaim things like, "Who would ever do [whatever thing]??" and my son, who does whatever thing often, is sitting right there, so I think I start out rankled with these kind of questions, which is not always appropriate.

If you're talking about a president of the United States, well, I do think that sometimes someone has to be the dumbest kid in the class.  Or in government.
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: namazu on October 03, 2019, 06:23:34 PM
Quote from: Cheerful on October 03, 2019, 05:24:11 PM
I won't go into details but the case that motivated my post wasn't one of a learning disability.
Well, you can't very well leave us hanging like that!
Was this a Fake Jayk [sic]?  Someone impaired by substances?  Other?

(And welcome back.)
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: ergative on October 04, 2019, 12:48:03 AM
It could also mean that Keighleigh got sick of her parents' kri8tive ethos and is trying to take back control of her life.
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: craftyprof on October 04, 2019, 06:09:35 AM
This is one of my most common typos.

Autocorrect has mastered the art of turning "teh" back into "the" for me, but leaves me hanging when I transpose the last two letters of my name.

I'm sure it's something to do with the relative dexterity of my non-dominant hand, but it's super awkward when people watch me type.
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: ciao_yall on October 04, 2019, 06:52:10 AM
Quote from: ergative on October 04, 2019, 12:48:03 AM
It could also mean that Keighleigh got sick of her parents' kri8tive ethos and is trying to take back control of her life.

I have a slightly unusual spelling of my first name and I did not like being different. In the second grade I went through a phase of spelling my name the "normal" way which, for some reason, really got my mother upset.

My dad shared with me that when he was young, he did not like his name "Alan" and started spelling it "Allyn" to be cool.
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: marshwiggle on October 04, 2019, 07:10:45 AM
Quote from: ciao_yall on October 04, 2019, 06:52:10 AM
Quote from: ergative on October 04, 2019, 12:48:03 AM
It could also mean that Keighleigh got sick of her parents' kri8tive ethos and is trying to take back control of her life.

I have a slightly unusual spelling of my first name and I did not like being different. In the second grade I went through a phase of spelling my name the "normal" way which, for some reason, really got my mother upset.

My dad shared with me that when he was young, he did not like his name "Alan" and started spelling it "Allyn" to be cool.

Does your Dad, by any chance, have a pretty common last name? Since I have a last name that I always have to spell out for people, I would never give a kid a hard-to-spell FIRST name on top of that.
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: wellfleet on October 04, 2019, 08:24:55 AM
I often mistype the first letter of my first name, replacing a letter to turn my name into a common and not complimentary adjective. I usually catch it, which is good, because spellcheck absolutely won't. I have sent emails signed "adjective," though. More often than I like to admit.

And mean teachers suck.
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: ciao_yall on October 04, 2019, 10:05:06 AM
Quote from: marshwiggle on October 04, 2019, 07:10:45 AM
Quote from: ciao_yall on October 04, 2019, 06:52:10 AM
Quote from: ergative on October 04, 2019, 12:48:03 AM
It could also mean that Keighleigh got sick of her parents' kri8tive ethos and is trying to take back control of her life.

I have a slightly unusual spelling of my first name and I did not like being different. In the second grade I went through a phase of spelling my name the "normal" way which, for some reason, really got my mother upset.

My dad shared with me that when he was young, he did not like his name "Alan" and started spelling it "Allyn" to be cool.

Does your Dad, by any chance, have a pretty common last name? Since I have a last name that I always have to spell out for people, I would never give a kid a hard-to-spell FIRST name on top of that.

No. I think he just thought of himself as more complex than a basic Alan.

It was probably the first time I saw my dad as a complex person with an inner reflective life. One of the few times, actually.

Our students often experiment with name spellings and nicknames. Another wrinkle is our Asian immigrant students because the Romanji system of representing their names is either inconsistent with precise pronunciation or doesn't look jaunty enough, so they fool around with Lung, Leung, Lyung, Layung, etc.

Speaking of immigrants, we have many who are illiterate in their native languages or don't know the data we often use for identification, such as date of birth. Name spellings and dates of birth then vary as they settle into a new identity.

Or they are using a friend's greencard data for some registrations but not all.

Recently we had a student who was legally a 3rd but our magic registration system couldn't recognize III so the student is in our system as Firstname Lastname Iii. 
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: Cheerful on October 04, 2019, 05:57:45 PM
Thanks, namazu and Hegemony.  I sincerely appreciate what I learned from your posts on this issue, Hegemony. 

Quote from: ergative on October 04, 2019, 12:48:03 AM
It could also mean that Keighleigh got sick of her parents' kri8tive ethos and is trying to take back control of her life.

Haha!  Also enjoyed others' contributions, thanks, Chearfull.  : )
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: onthefringe on October 04, 2019, 07:11:45 PM
Quote from: craftyprof on October 04, 2019, 06:09:35 AM
This is one of my most common typos.

Autocorrect has mastered the art of turning "teh" back into "the" for me, but leaves me hanging when I transpose the last two letters of my name.

I'm sure it's something to do with the relative dexterity of my non-dominant hand, but it's super awkward when people watch me type.

+1. Approximately 60% of my emails end with the phrase "Thnaks, Frineg"
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: KiUlv on October 19, 2019, 01:10:05 PM
I have an unusual first and last name, and spell check always thinks I'm spelling one or the other wrong. Auto-correct often tries to change my last name to a common word that is one letter off. And I have a tendency to type too quickly and misspell my first name on my own. I'm used to checking it, but sometimes I miss it.
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: apl68 on October 21, 2019, 10:48:48 AM
Quote from: KiUlv on October 19, 2019, 01:10:05 PM
I have an unusual first and last name, and spell check always thinks I'm spelling one or the other wrong. Auto-correct often tries to change my last name to a common word that is one letter off. And I have a tendency to type too quickly and misspell my first name on my own. I'm used to checking it, but sometimes I miss it.

My (quite common) last name has a couple of variants, but the way I spell it is by far the most common.  This makes me wonder whether those who have the less common variants ever have spell check problems.  Or maybe spell check's generous enough to accept all of them.
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: mamselle on October 21, 2019, 12:17:00 PM
I don't have so much trouble spelling my name.

But when I sign off on an email, my "Best" often comes out "Beset."

I suspect at some points I've forgotten to correct that, leaving people to think things are even more dire than I complained about in my note....

M.

Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: apl68 on October 22, 2019, 09:24:26 AM
Quote from: mamselle on October 21, 2019, 12:17:00 PM
But when I sign off on an email, my "Best" often comes out "Beset."

I suspect at some points I've forgotten to correct that, leaving people to think things are even more dire than I complained about in my note....

M.

Or maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you something....
Title: Re: Spelling 101 -- Your Name
Post by: mamselle on October 22, 2019, 05:43:57 PM
Indeed...

;--}

M.