Not every day is intense in the classroom. Sometimes laughing 'poil and plenty people have to lift up demself off di floor. A couple years ago I had one of those moments with a group of adult students I taught at an evening school.
It was a grammar lesson - subject and verb agreement. You know the bit where the plural subject takes a plural verb and a plural verb never has an 's' at the end unless it is spelt that way...right? Well, it was a particularly good lesson. Most students had done this before and we were simply having some revision and clearing up points as they related to irregular verbs. After all, these were adults and they were doing CXC/CSEC so verbs were supposed to be, well, simple stuff. The lesson was almost over and I was about to move into some activities and such. But a good teacher is reflective and knows continuous assessment is necessary during every lesson. I stopped and did a quick review of what we had done so far. Most displayed more than adequate confidence in what we had covered and learned.
But, students can be deceptive. So I looked around the classroom and assessed their eyes. Doan matta ow ole sumbady be, dem yeye always tell you if dem learn anyting. And sure enough there was a pair of questioning eyes. It was a question. Not an 'I am not so sure but mi fraid fi say so' look. It was a 'What di baxide you jus say to me?' question. The inquiring eyes belonged to the man who would have been voted 'Most likely to tun tief' had he graduated from high school and gotten into the yearbook. He had had some rough patches, spent a little time down at GP and was determined to pull himself up. (Guess his visit with Kid Ralph inspired greatness...thank Gawd).
I looked him in the eyes and gave him a moment to form the question properly. Then I said, " Yes, Mr. Soandso. You have a question."
"So what you really a say is dat when Bounty Killa say "I are di one." he is wrong?"
I was a bit stumped. I thought everyone knew that. Well, before I was able to respond, one nedda man buss out a big, dutty laugh. And as you know, when this happens, the ripple effect sets in. The entire class was on the floor. I couldn't get a word in. Now I know I shouldn't laugh at my students, adult or otherwise. Hell, I am the teacher. They trust me, dammit. But Mr. Nahgoajailagain had joined in the laughter. You know, that moment when a light shines in your favour and you realize the error of your way;s you really just have to laugh.
A few minutes later when everyone had picked themselves off the floor and straighten their neck ties and pencil skirts, I was able to respond. "Yes. He was wrong. What should he have been saying then?"
"I AM the one."
" Excellent. I am the one."
Now, this provided another 'teaching momen't so we had a brief discussion about idiomatic expressions and such. Sir NewlyEnlightened still seemed a bit shell shocked. So, again, my attention was on him. Shaking his head, slowly, he said, "Den a which other foolishnish dem B&*%$d C^%$$t artist yah a teach people and dem pickney, sah?"
If nothing else was learned that day, I am sure that simple (and if you ask me, very boring topic): subject and verb agreement lesson helped someone look more closely at how he processed stuff in the media. Now I or some other teacher will get another student in a Grade 7 class who understands that education teaches one how to think because his father would have taught him.
It was a grammar lesson - subject and verb agreement. You know the bit where the plural subject takes a plural verb and a plural verb never has an 's' at the end unless it is spelt that way...right? Well, it was a particularly good lesson. Most students had done this before and we were simply having some revision and clearing up points as they related to irregular verbs. After all, these were adults and they were doing CXC/CSEC so verbs were supposed to be, well, simple stuff. The lesson was almost over and I was about to move into some activities and such. But a good teacher is reflective and knows continuous assessment is necessary during every lesson. I stopped and did a quick review of what we had done so far. Most displayed more than adequate confidence in what we had covered and learned.
But, students can be deceptive. So I looked around the classroom and assessed their eyes. Doan matta ow ole sumbady be, dem yeye always tell you if dem learn anyting. And sure enough there was a pair of questioning eyes. It was a question. Not an 'I am not so sure but mi fraid fi say so' look. It was a 'What di baxide you jus say to me?' question. The inquiring eyes belonged to the man who would have been voted 'Most likely to tun tief' had he graduated from high school and gotten into the yearbook. He had had some rough patches, spent a little time down at GP and was determined to pull himself up. (Guess his visit with Kid Ralph inspired greatness...thank Gawd).
I looked him in the eyes and gave him a moment to form the question properly. Then I said, " Yes, Mr. Soandso. You have a question."
"So what you really a say is dat when Bounty Killa say "I are di one." he is wrong?"
I was a bit stumped. I thought everyone knew that. Well, before I was able to respond, one nedda man buss out a big, dutty laugh. And as you know, when this happens, the ripple effect sets in. The entire class was on the floor. I couldn't get a word in. Now I know I shouldn't laugh at my students, adult or otherwise. Hell, I am the teacher. They trust me, dammit. But Mr. Nahgoajailagain had joined in the laughter. You know, that moment when a light shines in your favour and you realize the error of your way;s you really just have to laugh.
A few minutes later when everyone had picked themselves off the floor and straighten their neck ties and pencil skirts, I was able to respond. "Yes. He was wrong. What should he have been saying then?"
"I AM the one."
" Excellent. I am the one."
Now, this provided another 'teaching momen't so we had a brief discussion about idiomatic expressions and such. Sir NewlyEnlightened still seemed a bit shell shocked. So, again, my attention was on him. Shaking his head, slowly, he said, "Den a which other foolishnish dem B&*%$d C^%$$t artist yah a teach people and dem pickney, sah?"
If nothing else was learned that day, I am sure that simple (and if you ask me, very boring topic): subject and verb agreement lesson helped someone look more closely at how he processed stuff in the media. Now I or some other teacher will get another student in a Grade 7 class who understands that education teaches one how to think because his father would have taught him.