Today’s Song: “You Don’t Make it Easy Babe” by Josh Ritter

Sometimes, being in the education concentration calls for you to step out of your adult shoes and remember what it is like to be a student. Sometimes that means developing assessment plans that will evaluate how well your students understand the material. And sometimes, that means delving into fun lessons you would pass along. At that moment while I am always thinking of how I might use those lessons, I start to remember what it was that made me fall in love with learning. What made me fall in love with the English language.

Grammar lessons renewed

I wish that everyone could take English Language for Teachers 1 (though of course it does vary by professor as with any class). Where else could you talk about the beauty of words (and of course how those words can be turned from nonsense into awesome band names), and the basics of words?

Perhaps this is just my inner word nerd making itself known to the whole world, but I find stepping back into the shoes of secondary students can be quite fun. As long as I don’t actually have to be a teenager again. No one wants that.

Alliteration and Annagrams (it’s spelled wrong on purpose)

Today, my English Language class we explored teaching grammar through the clever use of patterned poems. My favorite (or at least favorite resulting poem) was the Alliterative Character Poem. It goes like this:

Line 1: Name the character.

Line 2: use at least four words beginning with the first letter of the character’s name to tell where he/she/it lives.

Line 3: Use at least four words beginning with the same letter to tell what the character eats or does.

Line 4: Using the same letter, tell four things the character likes to do.

Line 5: The last line (using as many words with the same letter as possible), tell about some special power or talent the character has.

My end result, using a fellow classmate as a character:

Anna

Ambles aimlessly in arid Albuquerque.

Anna ate an apple (and didn’t like it).

Anna aggravates and annoys her Algebra.

Anna aims an arrow at the heart of her Evan.

Somehow, all my non-serious poetry ends up ridiculous. Until Thursday, marvelous, magnificent readers.

Poem pattern taken from Keith Polette’s “Teaching Grammar through Writing.”

Today’s Song: “I Belong in your Arms” by Chairlift

You feel it. There it is as soon as you wake up, you know it. You’re getting sick. So what do you do? Pretend it’s not happening? Down EmergenC like it’s water after a marathon? Curl up in a ball in your bed? Not likely if you’re an English major. Yeah, it doesn’t stop after high school, English classes take attendance.

No use

You wake up with a sore throat and body aches that won’t quit, and bam! You’re no longer a college student that pays rent, cooks and buys her own food, an adult. You’re a kid again, sniveling, wanting to not go to school or work and just watch cartoons all day. Unfortunately, there’s no parent to take your temperature (pretty sure I don’t even own a thermometer), or bring you soup and tea, and change the movie when it’s finished while you nap on the couch.

No, you get to go to class. And work. And be an adult, because no matter how much they like you, your roommate won’t take care of your sick, childlike person.

So what do you do?

You go to class (or weigh the consequences and how many absences you have already); you pound the vitamin C and Dayquil. You sleep as much as you can. You promise to do the dishes for a week if your roommate will make you tea.

Either way, you have to be an adult about it. Which is never fun as we all know.

Stay healthy my readers, until next Tuesday.

Today’s Song: “Fulwood Babylon” by The Long Blondes

I mentioned in my last post that I was required to read twenty-seven or so books for one class. For future reference, don’t take a capstone class if you aren’t prepared to work hard. Or fail. But other than that, they’re great. More discussion, less lecture. The projects are pretty interesting as well. In my Adolescent Literature class, I have created a blog to write about the books I read outside of class, totaling up to fifteen. Which gives me all the more reason for me to tell you in my English Major right to say: read, read, read people!

Because reading one book at a time is for wimps

I love all my readers equally, though some I’m required to love just a little bit more because they either pay my salary or created me. As such, this is the reason I give you all advice that many may never follow or you may just think I’m nuts. That may be.

Either way, I want all of my readers to have an awesome experience in relation to this wonderful little university (I actually lol’d at that and now my roommate thinks I’m even weirder now). And what’s better than popping a squat in the noonday sun at the Oval and reading one of my five star books (when winter goes into hiding again of course)? Only chocolate and it better be good chocolate.

I know, I know, school is really busy

Right now, the semester starting and teachers really starting to lay on the homework, and all you want to do is bury your head in the sand like an ostrich. Better to bury it in a book. Now, I’m giving you, yes all of you, bosses and family included, homework. To read. Find something that you’ve been wanting to read and read it. Because though I am an English major and this is a bit of a requirement, I have always known that reading is awesome! Put the textbooks, computers, and TVs away for ten minutes and read. The back of the cereal box and Cosmo don’t count. Read literary classics, read a graphic novel, read Goodnight Moon, but read. And if you can read something awesome and have it count as homework, then you’re set for life.

Oh wait, that’s what being an English major is about.

We’ve got a new schedule going on, Kelly, X, and I. But never fear, dear readers, I shall be back on Thursday with more thrilling tales of collegiate adventure.

Today’s song: “I Fought the Law” by John Lennon

A little over midway in the semester, a war starts to occur. Deadlier than Zombies vs. Humans or finals, if you win, you really win. And if you lose…well may you have a good death. Veterans fight it. Sorority girls fight it. It puts friend against friend, honor student against senior, freshman against junior. Time is crucial, each moment that passes counts. There are no peace makers in this war, just thousands and thousands of soldiers, fighting type and click.

I’m talking of course about registration

Oh dear beard, no (yes that was a reference to the bearded man sitting two floors below me). For some the war has been going on for weeks and others haven’t joined it yet. As for me, it started Tuesday at 9:20 a.m. When I was getting coffee before class. I didn’t actually register until about two that day.

So why am I comparing registration to a battle?

First come, first-served. Most of the time. Departments however like to hold their classes until after the majors register. Then it’s a mad dash free-for-all that ends pretty bloody most of the time. However. Yes there is always that ‘but,’ ‘yet’ and ‘however’ in life. However, some departments (Ahem English Department ahem; I have one bad cough there), only have like one section for a class that everyone has to take so if you’re not the first to register well then, sucks to be you. Or in my case, me. I’m not an honor student, nor do I care to be. Except when registration rolls around. 

Yay! I survived! You can too!

Tips for registration (watch my video):

1. Look at your classes for the next semester beforehand. Rookie mistake not to. It ends badly.

2. Try for sections that work with your schedule (I succeeded for the first three semesters…better than most).

3. Do you like classes grouped together or spread out interspersed with naps? My first two semesters were so organized, so simple. Now my schedule looks like a messed up turkey.

4. Waitlist what you really, really want, but schedule the classes that would work just as well. If you get through the waitlist, drop that other one and then wham! Your perfect schedule.

5. DO NOT load up on classes you only need for your major. I love English as much as the next English major (maybe more), but if I took only English classes, I would go even crazier.

6. Use your electives. Don’t leave those for your senior year.

7. Look at your four-year plan.

8. Listen to your advisor. Then get second, third, and forth opinions, and then see if they’re right.

9. Register as soon as you can (when in doubt skip that class you never go to anyway and register. What? Did I say that? Nope, you heard nothing from me).

10. Do it all at once. No dillydallying. You’ll regret it.

11. Don’t sign up for classes just to be with friends.

12. I have no clue about other departments but the English isn’t all that keen on opening sections. If need be, go there and panic enough and see if they’ll give you an override.

Until Monday (last week before Thanksgiving and it’s going to be hectic and awesome!), my, I’m sure, adorable readers. And good luck if you are fighting the battle with me!

Today’s Song: “Lotus Flower” by Radiohead

It’s no secret, I love the English language. As a writer, I love words. As a reader, I love the stories those words create. And as an English Education major, I think words are one of the most powerful, essential parts to being human. I love words. So, I’m asking you, all of you, be you young, or be you old, what happened?

What happened to the words?

Back then. Back then people valued vocabulary, not just to spout off on some random test, but they actually used it. Back then people had spelling tests and learned to spell. Back then writers were encouraged. Back then letters were written, spending time on the words. Back then people made sure their emails were just as carefully written as their letters. Back then people, people talked. They cherished their words. So what happened?

It seems everywhere I look there are grammatical, spelling, punctuation and capitalization mistakes, uncreative language, and annoying acronyms. It seems like everywhere I look, it is getting worse and worse. People who were good in school using the wrong word. People who are intellectual, and articulate punctuating their sentences with LOL’s and OMG’s. People everywhere using the wrong “your” or “there” or “to.” Forget tough words like “whether and weather.”

What happened to words? What happened to our language? I’m not asking for Shakespeare here, I’m asking for simple syntax.

I know, I know, I’m picky

But you can’t exactly blame social media. You can’t blame texting. You can’t blame technology. Because I’m a social media specialist here. I blog. I Facebook. I tweet. And I know and distinguish the difference between your and you’re. I take pride in the fact that I use punctuation in my texts. I take pride that my statuses on Facebook are easily made out and not seemingly written by a drunk two-year-old (I do not suggest that drunk two year olds is a good idea and it is something to try. Don’t guys). And I take pride in the fact that I use the same language on my blog and Facebook as I do in my academic papers. And I’m not saying I have perfect grammar. I use fragments. Frequently. But let’s just start with the basics guys.

So I’m begging you. Please, please, please start using the English language again. Because truly, it is a beautiful language and it’s astounding how much you can do with a word, a sentence, a paragraph.

Until Monday, my articulate and intelligent readers.