...and this is what you're teaching them?

[cstreit]

I was struck this morning by the image and story on the front page of our Chicago Tribune. There was a story about a guy teaching teens because he wanted to help them. Good guy obviously, went back to school after his cab-driver Dad's slaying, finished his degree, got his first teaching job.

...but I hope he's not an English Teacher. This is a cropped version of the image on the front page, where it's written "We real cool".

[speedracing944]

Is it suppose to say "We BE real cool" ?

[flatbutt]

Maybe that's the negative example?

I once had an English teacher write " jeet yet? no djou?" on the chalkboard.

[stomachmonkey]

Interesting that you did not post the link to the article where it clearly states below the picture that he is an English Teacher.

Son of cabdriver who was slain by teens finds his calling: teaching teens - chicagotribune.com

You assume he wrote it but looks like a signature below it. Could have been a student. Could be as Flatbutt says, a common example of incorrect grammer that he hears all the time.

[Talewinds]

Originally Posted by speedracing944

Is it suppose to say "We BE real cool" ?

Incorrect.

"We IS real cool."

[nostatic]

If you look at the whole photo there is a bunch of other neatly written cursive on the right side of the board (likely proper english). The "we be cool" could have been written by a student, or could have been written by the teacher as an example of current vernacular. "English" is about more than just spelling and grammar...

[sammyg2]

My daughter was complaining the other day that there were several students in her Spanish class that spoke spanish as a first language.
She felt it wasn't fair because for them it was an easy A.

I said "you're got a B in English last semester, right?"

Not sure what it has to do with this thread but I didn't know where else to put it (hey now, no need to go there )

[audiman08]

I would say a student probably wrote it. My wife teaches, and I see doodles on the board from time to time when I visit. I guess he wasn't that concerned about it.

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

I once had an English teacher write " jeet yet? no djou?" on the chalkboard.

I once had my face slapped when I asked a girl "Jew wanna dance?"

[Rich76_911s]

"We Real Cool" is a poem written in 1959 by Gwendolyn Brooks. Maybe "we" shouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly

I had to look it up, not trying to act like a smart donkey. . . I honestly don't know jack about literature.

[s_morrison57]

good point SammyG2

[cstreit]

Very possible that it was written as a title or example.

I suppose it was the irony that got me more than anything else....

[A930Rocket]

On "We Real Cool"

On "We Real Cool"

An Interview with Brooks by George Stavros

Q. How about the seven pool players in the poem "We Real Cool"?

A. They have no pretensions to any glamor. They are supposedly dropouts, or at least they're in the poolroom when they should possibly be in school, since they're probably young enough, or at least those I saw were when I looked in a poolroom, and they. . . . First of all, let me tell you how that's supposed to be said, because there's a reason why I set it out as I did. These are people who are essentially saying, "Kilroy is here. We are." But they're a little uncertain of the strength of their identity. [Reads:]

We real cool. We
Left school. We

Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We
Die soon.

The "We"—you're supposed to stop after the "We" and think about their validity, and of course there's no way for you to tell whether it should be said softly or not, I suppose, but I say it rather softly because I want to represent their basic uncertainty, which they don't bother to question every day, of course.

Q. Are you saying that the form of this poem, then, was determined by the colloquial rhythm you were trying to catch?

A. No, determined by my feeling about these boys, these young men.

Q. These short lines, then, are your own invention at this point? You don't have any literary model in mind; you're not thinking of Eliot or Pound or anybody in particular . . . ?

A. My gosh, no! I don't even admire Pound, but I do like, for instance, Eliot's "Prufrock" and The Waste Land, "Portrait of a Lady," and some others of those earlier poems. But nothing of the sort ever entered my mind. When I start writing a poem, I don't think about models or about what anybody else in the world has done.

from "An Interview with Gwendolyn Brooks" in Contemporary Literature 11:1 (Winter 1970).

[jwhcars]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Maybe that's the negative example?

I once had an English teacher write " jeet yet? no djou?" on the chalkboard.

Did you eat yet ? No did you.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by nostatic

If you look at the whole photo there is a bunch of other neatly written cursive on the right side of the board (likely proper english). The "we be cool" could have been written by a student, or could have been written by the teacher as an example of current vernacular. "English" is about more than just spelling and grammar...

or written by the news reporter or at their request

it does give one pause however...

[ZOO]

I'd be the first to argue that one can be a master teacher, and not necessarily have a mastery of grammar. Even an English teacher. Teaching is far more about student engagement and achievement than subject knowledge.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by ZOOMiata

I'd be the first to argue that one can be a master teacher, and not necessarily have a mastery of grammar. Even an English teacher. Teaching is far more about student engagement and achievement than subject knowledge.

I'd done a little bit of teaching over the years, mostly technical training.
Presenting the material clearly and in an organized fashion and being an SME is useless if the student is not motivated to learn.
The best teachers I've ever had were the ones who could motivate the students to learn, make them want to learn.

Get them excited, explain why it's important, emphasize how the student will benefit by learning something.
That's the most important part.

My kids know the speech by heart, they've heard it too many times:

You'll be on this planet for a long time.
You can take it easy and have fun for a little while but you'll pay for it the rest of your life. If you work hard and stay dedicated for the first 20 years, the remaining 60 or 80 years will be much better, more fun, and easier.
You'll have the opportunity at a career that pays very well, is more enjoyable, and provides more satisfaction. It will also mean less demeaning mindless labor and being looked down on like you're not as good as other people.
It's your choice: do you want to live a life with relative luxury, enjoyment, and freedom from financial worry OR do you want to go through life scraping to pay bills, driving an old beater car that barely runs, living in a crappy apartment with crappy neighbors, and working at a low paying job with your name on your shirt?

Your brain is a muscle.
Just like working out and lifting weights, the more you exercise a muscle the stronger it gets. Learning something you don't think you need to know is still important because it builds up the muscle between your ears and makes it stronger.
How well you do in school is what will make the difference in the rest of your life.
Work hard for a little while and you'll have a good life for a long time. Take it easy for a little while and you'll have to work a lot harder for a long, long time.

BTW both of them are doing very well in school.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by ZOOMiata

I'd be the first to argue that one can be a master teacher, and not necessarily have a mastery of grammar. Even an English teacher. Teaching is far more about student engagement and achievement than subject knowledge.

OK, can a math teacher teach if he can't add & subtract?

[ZOO]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

OK, can a math teacher teach if he can't add & subtract?

Not likely, because he or she would never have a qualification to teach math. By definition, a math teacher would be someone with the necessary qualifications.

English is a bit different -- we can speak it, even if we don't know all of the rules for it. And some of the greatest authors of all time coldn't master grammar, either. Kerouac, Shakespeare, Walker, all come to mind.