Talk the Talk

About this time two years ago I attempted a blog post in Norwegian, and I feel it’s only fair that I try to write, now, in the language with which I’m surrounded. It’s a teenager and southern and urban patois that I will inevitably blunder through.

So, imma tell u ppl about teaching at my school. You gone listen, kay?

RBG walks in. She got kicked out of another trailer into mine and she wants to hang out so she goes what up to everyone but I tell her sit down quiet and she’s so mad, she goes you so aggie, this class’s jacked up but my kids defend me: “you don’t dis on Ms. W,” and they say I’m like that lady in Freedom Writers and I’m like, “preach! … only you know all white people don’t look the same, right?” and they go, “yeah, Ms. W, we cool.” And the other kid’s still bugging out so my kids mutter, “you THOT, you so ratchet!“ Except the one kid who is so over me today because I made her put her Takis away. And one of my kids make a threat at the newcomer which I don’t allow because that’s flexin and I’m not like that, school rules for everyone. Plus nobody gets jumped on my watch. Well, nobody gets jumped on my watch no mo.

How many of you are on Urbandic right now?

The linguistic richness with which I am surrounded gives my brain a little happy buzz, now that I’ve got some basic beginner fluency down. I’d missed trying to operate in two languages at once (Canada didn’t count—Toronto had nothing good to say, anyways), and this satisfies the itch.

Kids made dating profiles for Henry VIII, to find him a wife after he divorced Catherine of Aragon. My favorite? How they responded to his “perfect date” in Ms. Congeniality-style innocence.

King Henry’s Favorite Date:

• 10/22/87
• Any day exept Monday (sic)

Or, alternatively:

• Long walks so I can lose weight

Today my lesson plan wasn’t as tight or exciting as I would have wished. Kids asked me questions in my second block that I didn’t know the answer to. Links were tentative. But, in all three classes, students were happy and polite. The atmosphere felt safe. Every child did what they had to do, knowing that something better is coming tomorrow. This is such a basic thing to have in a classroom—safe, happy children—yet after last semester, it feels like a major accomplishment.

In other news, at the staff meeting an administrator called all us who work in mobile classrooms, "you in the trailer park." It’s finally official. I teach in a trailer park.