Uproar on FB

Holy cow, friends, did I ever start an uproar on FB that I did not intend!

Yesterday was crazy, in that I did not know whether I was going to start my Adult Education English class that evening or not until… 1:30pm, which is just a few hours before class starts. I’ve taught the class enough times it wasn’t hard to pull up my notes & print out the documents, but it was stressful trying to get in touch with day school (what the Adult Ed calls the regular high school people) guidance counselors. One had just returned that day from maternity leave, and that’s why no one was clear re: her students. And my boss is gone for the week, so I was basically doing his job.

Anyway, the class was fun, and I left feeling like we had established a rapport as a group, and they had been introduced to my teaching style and the kinds of things we were going to be doing. The thing is, the class is from 5:30-8:30 – two of the four students have already been in school all day (they’re in day school – one is doing credit recovery to make up for failing last year’s English class and the other needs credit to graduate early); another I don’t know what he does, but he lives with his grandparents and helps them a lot, and works at a restaurant – he’s trying to earn a GED but needs to increase his skills to potentially pass the test since he dropped out at 15 (he’s an older teen now); and the other student (50+ years old) flagged for 9 hours that day (stood by the side of the road and directed traffic). Anyway, to sit for three hours – reading/writing, which typically my students don’t love and/or feel inferior about – is challenging.

So I really try to make it fun and engaging, especially in the beginning. For example, this is my intro to grammar:

I explain what a “Dear John” letter is to the younger folks, and then I hand them each ONE of these two slips of paper. Either

Dear John,

I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we’re apart. I can be forever happy – will you let me be yours?

Gloria

Or this one:

Dear John,

I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we’re apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be? Yours,

Gloria

And then I ask them whether Gloria wants to be with John or not. And there’s mass confusion. Then I read one, and ask if this is what is written on their piece of paper. Yes, it is. Then I hand them the other slip, and they can see that it’s the SAME exact words, just different punctuation.

It’s a fun way to get them curious/engaged and then to discuss the reasons why grammar IS important.

Another thing I do is have them fill out a Reading/Writing Survey – questions like “Why do people write?” and “Who is your favorite author?” and “Besides books, what else do you enjoy reading?”.

Seems harmless, right? Certainly not “suggestive” or anything with “sexual innuendo”, right?

Well, one of my students, the older teen young man who I’ve been tutoring – he’s super nice, always on time, very respectful and interested in getting his work done so he can move on to the next step in his life – half-suppresses a snicker while he’s working through the survey. I glance over and notice he’s on the last question. Which I know is “Besides books, what else do you enjoy reading?”. I look at him. He looks at me. He blushes. I know EXACTLY what he’s thinking. I was cracking up… on the inside. It was really funny.

So I posted that little moment on FB – as a “If you’re a boy in my class, and you blush/snicker, I WILL KNOW what you’re thinking” kind of thing. It’s part of what I enjoy about teaching – the interactions, the funny moments, and humor helps A LOT in moving a class forward and getting people to a place where they feel comfortable sharing. Which, in English class, is really important. We’re all adults. I keep it respectful – and my line is way more prude-ish and erring on the PC-side than many. I tolerate NO anti-male/female, gay, race, religion BS at all. Ever. But a double entendre here or there, among a crowd of mostly 17-20 year olds? It’s going to happen. For sure.

I didn’t even post on FB the other thing that happened. We were discussing what makes a complete sentence, culminating in the students writing sentences and sharing one they liked, which I wrote on the board. One person dictated this:

“I can’t wait to get home to get a piece of apple pie.” Which was true – Grandma had baked pie, he explained, from apples friends had dropped off. I had pie waiting for me too – peach pie I had made for when friends came over the day before. Totally harmless sentence. Little bonding moment.

Right? Hah. What I’d been doing is having the class identify the subject (I) and the verb (can’t wait) and then I was bracketing off phrases that weren’t part of the independent clause. Part way through doing this, I realized TO GET A PIECE was the phrase to bracket, along with OF APPLE PIE. He couldn’t have known that I was going to be using the sentences this way – there is no way he intentionally did anything wrong. I think quickly on my feet, but I did not realize bracketing it off would result in that phrase.

But still: TO GET A PIECE. Seriously. No one giggled about that. I promise.