Mama Diaries

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Mama Gets an "F"

It's pretty much universally known that my handwriting stinks.  (And if you didn't know that, now you do.)  My students are always saying that they can't read my writing.  Even my son's second grade teacher commented on my poor penmanship.  It's bad when that happens!

So yesterday, I wrote the word, "Excellent" across one of my student's assignments.  The student, a third-grader, said, "Mrs. Ellis, why did you write, 'Elephant' on my paper?"

"That doesn't say, 'Elephant.'  It says, 'Excellent.'"

The girl frowned.  "That's not how you make an 'x.'" She took a pencil and demonstrated how to properly make an "x" and how to properly write, "excellent."  "Now you try," she said when she was finished.

I took the pencil and did my best to write legibly.

The girl looked at it when I was done.  She shook her head.  "That's still not right!"  Then she took the pencil and gave me a big "F-" at the top.  "You might be a good music teacher," she said. "But you need to go back to school to learn how to write!"

Uh.  Okay.

38 comments:

  1. That's why I don't write in cursive anymore...

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  2. that is quite unusual, shouldn't you have a calm and practised hand due to all the violin playing? :)

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    1. No. I have a spastic hand from all the notes I whip through! ;0)

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  3. lol elephant from excellent, wow it has to be bad. Mine stinks but I can make an x at least

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  4. I would love to see your handwriting based on the girl's interpretation of the word "excellent". This girl sounds pretty funny. :)
    ~Jess

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  5. I bet the little girl loved assigning you a grade. All students should give their teachers grades. And they should be able to do it anonymously. Heh-heh-heh. ;)

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    1. I should've listened to my dad. He told me that a long time ago! ;0)

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  7. My son plays violin and his handwriting looks like a serial killer's scrawl. He will only do cursive if forced.

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    1. Haha! I know a lot of violinists. And we all have horrendous cursive!

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  8. That must have been a bit depressing, but she did only have trouble reading one letter and she said you were a good music teacher so maybe she tried to cushion her comments a little. D

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    1. Depressing? Heck no. I'm kind of proud of it! ;0)

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  9. Sounds like you need to be a doctor! I actually read that several thousand deaths are caused by bad penmanship each year though. So maybe not. I also read that bad handwriting usually means that you're extremely intelligent because your hand can't keep up with your mind.

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    1. Oh. Yeah, that explains it. Thanks. I feel so much better about it, now! ;0)

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  10. My students don't understand my cursive at all, but I can't help it. I write in cursive, plus it's not the neatest penmanship.

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    1. It's funny how we lose our ability to write neat as we get older!

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  11. The Hurricane's handwriting is illegible. I told her for many years that her writing was bad enough that she could go to medical school.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. I would definitely qualify for medical school, based on my writing!

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  12. With that kind of handwriting, you should have been a doctor!!

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    1. Yep. I'm sure I'd be making a lot more money if I had done that!

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  13. The other day I received a text from our administrator wanting me to decipher a word I'd written on the project board... I'm there with you and the bad handwriting

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  14. So funny! Especially since the younger generation should realize that handwriting is becoming less important with each year, thanks to computers.

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  15. I honestly don't think instruments help at all. I know that the violin hasn't helped me a bit in terms of handwriting.

    www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

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    1. If anything, I think they make your writing more sloppy. ;0)

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  16. Kind of funny when the student gives the teacher a failing grade for penmanship.

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