"A True Story..."

Wow, that was hard to read. I found that if I read it out loud I could understand it better. I feel that if I where to hear a person speaking this story, I would understand it a lot better. Reading it, however, is nothing short of a headache. So many apostrophes will about make a person's eyes bug out after a while. I can't necessarily identify the exactly linguistic features that stood out to me on this one, at least not in proper linguistic terminology. It was spelled different...and it felt jouncier. Yes, jouncier. It's the only word I can think of to describe how the writing felt to me. Words like "a-lookin'" and "a-blazin'" just seem, well, jouncy. The pronunciation of words is quite clearly different in this piece, which Twain illustrated with creative spelling, which in turn made this nearly impossible to get through. I had to take a break. This thing is only 3 pages long and I had to take a break. I guess I'm not a huge fan of written dialect. That sounds narrow-minded, but I have a headache now and I'm not entirely happy about it.

What I Want To Teach

I feel that I have far too little wisdom to impart to students, considering how soon I am to be a full-fledged English Teacher. First and foremost, I suppose, I would want my students to realize that English, like every other language (excluding those that are extinct, naturally), is evolving. Seriously, "google" is now a commonly used verb. I'm actually shocked that I still get the angry, red squiggly line under it when I type it on here. Sometimes it is okay not follow exact grammar conventions. Mostly because no one actually knows what they are anymore. Students need to know what audience to write for. They must realize that if they are writing a resume, they probably shouldn't depart from the grammar they have been taught since middle school, but if they are writing a letter (or, honestly, a paper for my class) they can have a little more fun with it. Language paints a picture and if we are all coloring by numbers and following conventions, we will miss out on the beauty English has to offer. I would also like to help my students realize that dialects of English such as Ebonics may indeed be different, but that my no means makes them wrong. Many people have a mindset that if our white, male, ancestors spoke a certain way, any other way is incorrect. Well I plan on blowing that out of the water. Hopefully. I realize that my students need to know conventional grammar, and they most certainly will, but I also realize the importance in opening their eyes to the real world. The one where the pictures aren't always paint-by-number and where language is alive and growing and always maintains the potential for beauty.