Choose, or "The Twitter War"

I opened my blog to post, but then I entered into a vicious twitter grammar conflict that pulled me from my task. Is it wrong that I feel incredibly fulfilled by correcting a misused word such as "cause", which can be a noun or a verb, but not a subordinate conjunction, or "its", which shows possession, but is not a contraction of the pronoun and the verb is? Is it even more satisfying to see former and current students favorite those tweets and join into the fray? Wrong may not be the correct word. Surely, it is somewhat disturbing though.

Twitter, Facebook, and other social media provide us as guardians of the language (self-appointed and misguided as we may be) with an opportunity. I know many teachers despise the social media postings because they are so filled with inappropriate language, bigotry, and ignorance. However, my feed and timelines are not filled with such things. Sure, they are there from time to time, but the people I interact with do not post that way as a rule. What I do see is a chance to interact with people on another level, in another way. A way that they enjoy and are willing to use without hesitation. Where else can one get 15 to 20 young adults to willing read about grammar, syntax, and other writing conventions and actually take part in the discussion, even if it is just to click a star.

We have to take any opportunity we can to interact with people in a positive way. It might be clicking the star of a post or picture, letting a person know you appreciate their words or work, at least a little bit, sharing a photo from a quirky grammar and writing page so you can covertly reinforce a lesson from class, dropping a word of encouragement on Compliment Monday or as Beautiful Buhler, or congratulating a great group of guys that they have shown a tremendous amount of heart and guts so far this season. Carl Sandburg wrote a poem named "Choose".

"A single clinched fist, lifted and ready,
Or an open, asking hand, held out and waiting.
Choose
For we meet by one or the other."

I tell my kids in class not to be the closed fist, but to be the open hand. We have to be open and willing to give things a try. We ask our kids to do that every day, and we get excited when they do it. Sometimes, they are also waiting for us to follow suit. It might be something as simple as posting on twitter or facebook. But it is something.

I don't fool myself. I know that someone, many someones, probably, is reading what I post and saying, "Kohls is such a nerd. Wow." However, he read it, didn't he? He just saw how to properly punctuate a quotation.

Got you.