It’s hard to know where to start with this story from KXAS-TV. It illustrates any number of proofreading lessons: how easy it is to miss a humdinger of an error, how difficult said error can be to rectify once it has been spotted and the potential cost involved. I think I’ll leave it to the original reporter, Andrew Tanielian. A Texas elementary school is correcting a spelling mistake made when it changed its name nearly nine years ago. Sunrise Elementary School in Fort Worth added "McMillan" to its name in the 2003-2004 school year -- but also added an extra "i." The school changed its name to honour its first teacher, Mrs. Mary McMillan, who eventually became principal. A relative recently reached out to the Fort Worth Independent School District to say it had bought an extra vowel. Everything had the incorrect spelling of "Sunrise-McMillian" instead of "Sunrise-McMillan," including the lettering on the building, printed signs, vinyl congratulatory signs, logos and Facebook. "Oh, I was kind of shocked," said Ernie Johnson, who waters the grass on school grounds and never knew the spelling was wrong. "I hadn't paid it any mind." Ever since hearing from McMillan's relative, the school has been correcting the error. But the name is in many places people easily forget, such as business cards, visitor's passes, certificates and digital signatures embedded in email. The school is taking the corrections with the right balance of seriousness and humour. Principal Marion Mouton and his staff keep finding misspellings to correct. "Our day-to-day things that we just take for granted now and, as we're coming up with it, we're seeing 'OK, that's something else we need to fix,'" he said. The student body as a whole hasn't been told, though some may know. Once more misspellings are corrected, the school hopes to turn the mix-up into a teachable moment on how to take responsibility, correct an error and move on. When visiting her class, teacher Jouet Dotson came up with a quick brainstorm on how to teach the new, correct spelling. "You know how we say there's no 'i' in team?" teacher Jouet Dotson brainstormed. "We could say, 'Well, [at] Sunrise-McMillan, we're a team, so there is no 'i' in the last part of McMillan.'" The Fort Worth ISD isn't saying how much it will cost to fix all the mistakes but did say it's exhausting all resources to try and keep costs down.
0 Comments
|
Details
Testimonials
“I am one of those many fools who paid a huge amount of money for a useless course. This book... has opened so many doors for me. I now look on Mike as my mentor as I embark on a career. Thank you Mike.” Emma Steel, Proofreader and International Structural Editor. “ I thoroughly enjoyed the course and am so glad that I decided to take it... the whole experience was invaluable. My proofreading service is now well established and your course played no small part in getting it off the ground.” Hache L. Jones, Proofreader. “I'd just like to thank you first of all for writing such a great, straight forward eBook, and then going above and beyond what I would even expect as a customer by providing us, completely free of charge, updated versions months later!” Rachel Gee, Trainee Proofreader. “What can I say? Worth every penny and then some! God Bless! This a fabulous course.” Teresa Richardson, Proofreader. “As someone who has effectively been proofreading for thirty years, I found Mike’s No-Nonsense Proofreading Course an invaluable introduction and a very useful practical guide to many aspects of this discipline. I can wholeheartedly recommend it as the ideal starting point, and much more besides.” Jeremy Meehan, Proofreader. Blog AuthorMy name's Mike Sellars and I'm an experienced proofreader and the author of The No-Nonsense Proofreading Course. Click here to find out more about me. The No-Nonsense Proofreading CourseA Fraction of the Cost of Other Proofreading Courses NOTE: Stock is currently limited to 10 per day, so we can continue to deliver exceptional after-sales service, answer queries and provide open-door support. Credit card and PayPal payments accepted. “As someone who has been proofreading for 30 years, I found Mike’s course an invaluable introduction and a very useful practical guide to many aspects of the discipline. I can wholeheartedly recommend it.” Jeremy Meehan, Proofreader. Still want to find out more? Click here. Proofreading Categories
All
Proofreading Archives
July 2024
|