Keep Calm and Head to an English Class

Well social media has been a blast lately am I right?  From the overused Minion memes, (that quite frankly are just weird), to the comments section where on any given day you can find an expletive laden, misspelled, insulting, all in caps “rebuttal” to an article, one thing has become quite apparent to me.  Everyone needs to calm down and take a really great high school English class.  Why?  Glad you asked dear reader, read on!

I’ve been teased for a few years over my insistence that grammar needs to be correct, even when on Facebook.  Which is fine, I don’t mind being called the Grammar Snob.  However recently someone who loves me said that they were afraid I was looking elitist regarding my grammar.*  (Specifically when I back up a friend on Facebook, and then someone who can barely spell or capitalize goes on the attack.  I’ll admit I go for the jugular first-if you can’t be bothered with capitalization and you’re busy attacking anyone who has a different opinion that you, I will pick on your lack of capitalization.)  And for a split second I was worried.  Was I being a jerk?  Should I not care that much about grammar? And then I smacked myself.  Of course I should care!  Writing is permanent.  Sure, you can delete something, but when you take the time to write something, there’s a sense of importance, urgency even.  (And yes this is also true for social media!)  Why is it elitist when we insist on not only doing things correctly, but when we value people who are smart?  In school we want to sound smart, so why does that change when we leave the classroom?  Shouldn’t we try to act smart outside of the classroom?

Why else should we turn to ELA classes?  For accountable talk stems.  What?  I’ll explain.  Lately I’ve been using these great little stems in class for my more spirited classes; the students who will go to bat about Amir’s choices in The Kite Runner, or the students that can’t understand why Penelope’s dad is such a jerk in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian.  (And yes, there are students out there that are this passionate about literature!)  Everyone wanted their voice heard, and sometimes it would get a little heated.  So I started handing out stems, and displaying stems.  “I disagree because…” “I understand…” “So what __________ is saying is …”

At first I was afraid that my students would sound too wooden.  However, it has given us mature, vibrant, and diverse discussions.  Discussions where all ideas are shared, and where everyone feels they have value to add to the conversation.  We need this outside the classroom.  We need this in social media.  Lately all we hear is how protesters are whiny, and locally we keep hearing such awful things about children that I won’t even repeat what is being said about them.  Wouldn’t it be great if social media platforms had accountable talk stems pre-loaded in the comments section?  Maybe as adults we could learn to speak as respectfully as my students. (They're teenagers by the way! Aren't they the ones who are supposed to be disrespectful?)

I became an English teacher because it was the coolest job out there where I could live in the world of writing, literature, and share that love with others.  It also teaches us empathy.  You can’t study To Kill a Mockingbird and not feel for Boo Radley.  You can’t study Romeo and Juliet and not see how blind fighting accomplishes nothing.  Or Night and see how devastating the Holocaust was. These are all stories I have taught, or will teach this year.  I have had amazing conversations with students about the themes in these stories.  I have seen students cry at the injustice these stories highlight.  Online we see a barrage of nasty memes, we read comments that you wouldn’t dare say to someone in person, and hostility can run rampant.  Online people seem to have lost their ability to empathize.  Maybe as adults we should slow down and pick up a book every once in awhile.

Yes you can get all of this in an ELA class; grammar, how to speak with one another, and empathy.  It’s a nice reminder for us as adults.  Writing correctly isn’t only for the classroom, we can disagree without yelling, and sometimes we get so wrapped up with ourselves and our problems that we forget there’s a whole world out there with concerns and problems, and maybe a little empathy would go a long way.  So keep calm and got to an ELA class.  

’s a great deal for taxpayers.

*As for what spurred this entire post, I am not upset with the person who made the initial comment.  In fact, when it was said it began with “I agree with you, but…”I just don’t want that person to read this and think I was upset!  

Paying the DMV in Pennies

By now many of you may have heard about the man who delivered his taxes in the amount of pennies, which took five wheelbarrows to bring in.  Of course you saw cheers from hard working taxpayers about this move, because let's face it, who hasn't thought of delivering their bills in a snarky manner?  Upon reading articles about this I learned that the man who did this delivery was angered over where to send the taxes for his son's Corvette, as he has four houses he wasn’t sure where to have the Corvette registered- yes epitome of first world problems. From here a web of misplaced anger began and he ultimately sued the DMV when he couldn't get the phone number for the DMV.  Now I am certain all of that was annoying.  This was his justification for carrying in 300,000 pennies and having two clerks (who by the way look like they are someone’s grandparents)  count the pennies for 12 hours.  And it’s not like they were already in rolls, Stafford made sure to break the rolls the night before his stunt.  But these two public servants did their job and counted 300,000 pennies from a very bitter man.  Why?  Because it was their job.  As public servants, they have to do ridiculous jobs at times because well that’s how we keep this country running.  And some people, people like Stafford, seem to think that the word “servant” in public servant means just that; if you work in government you are a servant to the people and therefore not due any respect or consideration by fellow citizens.  

This is my issue with Nick Stafford and people who think like him.  (I mean my other issue is the whining over his four houses and Corvette, but I digress!)

People who work in the public sector are under immense scrutiny.  Yes, the DMV clerks I mentioned above, but there are other groups of people that work in the public that are frequently maligned.  And one group in particular is my focus; teachers.  Think of another profession where every detail, benefit, or decision is so closely scrutinized by the public.  School closed due to weather?  Kids should suck it up and deal with the cold.  Teaching methods?  Well in the past we didn’t do it this way why change it?  Summers off?  Must be nice to only work half a year.

Never mind that if given the chance an adult wouldn’t walk to work in the snow.  Or the fact that as education professionals we have not only gone through school with our main focus on how to each students, but we are constantly attending professional development workshops so that we can stay on top of the technology and research out there to help our students, And as for working only half a year, since I became fortunate enough to be a public school teacher I have worked more 12 hour days, more family vacations, and spent more time working at home than ever before.  (And I love every second of it!) We’re said to be puppets of our union, only care about the money, and don’t understand real work.  I’ll be honest, I love my union-they fight for our kids.  I’m not one to complain about money-I never will when it comes to teaching because it isn’t about the money!  It’s about my amazing students I am blessed to spend my days with!  And as for not knowing real work?  I get to work and immediately become consumed with worrying about my students.  And honestly with some kids, that worry carries throughout my evening, and the weekend!  I help students write papers, read critically, and provide a space where they can talk about anything they need to talk about.  

And that's just the teaching profession.  I'm sure DMV clerks have  along list of complaints; long lines, grumpy people, a ton of paperwork.  The town tax collector?  I'm sure they have a few tales to tell of people yelling at them, or laws they have to follow that they may not agree with.  The sanitation worker who literally takes the crap no one wants.  But they do it.  They go to work, and do their job, even though it isn't glamorous, and frequently is the butt of jokes or viciously maligned online.  And these people, these neighbors, are not at your beck and call.  You are not Daddy Warbucks and they are your signing house staff.  They're Americans; moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles...the list goes on.  And without these people who would ensure the roads are in order, or take your trash, or educate your children?  Let
s try to not malign these people online, and maybe when we go to the DMV we can smile, or if we meet a teacher maybe we can ask them about their profession, not hurl accusations.  And for goodness sake, let's not pay our tax bills in pennies.  Remember, they have a job to do as well, our job is to not be a barrier.  So for 2017, let's try to see less Nick Staffords in the world, and more understanding.

A picture of pettiness

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