2 posts tagged “writing”

This gem is courtesy of my trashcan-hucking, classroom table-upending, chest-flashing one-man wonder of summer school destruction and chaos. He’s a nice kid—just a bit wild, and lacking whatever it is that allows one to behave in a somewhat civilized manner. Sometimes, however, lacking a social filter allows one to speak seldom-heard truth.

This is from his journal response regarding a time he had misjudged someone:

A time when I misjudged someone was when I judged that people that go to ______Junior High are ghetto because my family said that most of the people are stupid and poor. I found out I was wrong. When I went to _____ Junior High to go to summer school and I now know that a lot of them are smart and look like they have expensive clothes. I also found out that it doesn’t matter how expensive their clothes are they could still be mean and stupid. I also judged that everyone was mean and ignorant. I was proved wrong by a lot of people at _____Junior High.

Keep in mind that summer school is held at the “ghetto/stupid/poor” campus, and students from the other campus, such as this articulate young man, are outnumbered 4 to 1. Also bear in mind that he is probably the thinnest and  shortest student in the class.  I had to explain his comments to a few students who stopped listening at “ghetto, stupid, and poor,” but it was worth pointing out how much guts it took for this little guy to admit the error of his unfounded stereotypes in the presence of those he had prejudged. (I didn’t draw attention to the fact that he pretty much tossed his parents/family under the bus with his confession).

I wish mom and dad could have been there to share in their son's enlightenment. I also wonder how many parents motivate their kids during the year with threats of being sent to summer school with all of the "stupid and poor kids."

Since I repeatedly claim to enjoy the subject I teach, and I supposedly enjoy reading and writing, I figured it would only be fair to lead by example. Then again, as teacher and supreme ruler of my poorly ventilated 20X30 kingdom (aka room 204), I can do pretty much anything I want. It just so happens I want to write. So for the next four weeks, I'll be scribbling away with all of my amazing students, journaling/bloggging/writing about pretty much anything I dang-well please. Because I am an English teacher who shamelessly praises the virtues of correct spelling and punctuation, I will attempt to avoid embarrassing mistakes, including but not limited to: confusing there/their/they're, saying things like "your stupid," and spelling the word "definitely" differently each time, but never quite getting it right.

I firmly believe that one must maintain a mastery of standard English. Nevertheless, words and phrases such as "dude," "bro," "sick," and "what it is" all have their very important places to fill in our daily vocabulary, and I'm not ashamed to admit they sometimes weasel their way into my writing. What it is.

I'll be writing about anything I feel like. I'll be starting off almost every paragraph with some sort of first-person personal pronoun. This is about me, what I care about, what I don't care about, and most of all, what I firmly believe in. And right now, I firmly believe my Jackson Bam has just had a bowel movement.

That's why I'm here.