THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS SERIOUSLY ODD

Part of being a teacher requires that we attend meetings for professional development. Ordinarily, these meetings are a waste of time, as we are already just so professionally developed. In actuality, they are a waste of time because we aren't discussing anything new or the leaders of the meetings are beating "hot topics" and educational buzz words to death. But yesterday, during the final episode of "Big Bird and Jenny From the Block Do Differentiated Instruction", the meeting was interesting. We actually participated and it was sincere as opposed to Richie speaking up and saving us all from an uncomfortable silence and a sudden inabilty to make eye contact with anyone.

For the second year in a row, we have had to do mini-lessons on root words in an effort to improve our students abysmal vocabulary skills. We reviewed some statistics based on our kids (the program seems to be yielding results) and then discussed how we aquire language. Without boring you with the logistics of this meeting, I will get to the point of this. All the talk about language and our interactions with it got me thinking about at the prefix 'EX' (as in external, excommunication, exit, export) and the letter 'X'. Perhaps it had something to do with a guerilla warfare style attack a la Facebook the night before, but suddenly, this meeting was very intriguing and a bit stimulating to the nerd deep inside of me that I have come to love and respect.

I was married to someone else before Josh. It was a huge mistake, but nonethess a worthwhile one because it forced me to grow up, grow a set, and to confront the reasons why I my self esteem was so low. The girl (note GIRL, not WOMAN, or M'AAM) I am today is 360 degrees from the girl I was then, and I have been told that at times, I am force to be reckoned with. That is a compliment, by the way. But anyway, back to the wasband. I was with him for 7 years to the day prior to our wedding and married to him for a bit over a year on paper. His family is part of my history, and vice versa. For me, Facebook is one part world where I get to speak to my real friends everyday and one part world of fake friends who help me rack up my numbers in the total friends column. I think it is cool because it lets you place 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, but you are the starting point. I also love that I have been able to reconnect with people from college who kind of got lost at the wayside when reality took over and I was unable to sync the past with the present. I discovered on Facebook family members from the past and they discovered me too. Needless to say, my narcissitic, psychotic, manipulative, douchebag of an EX (i was actually very nice just now) discovered,after about two years of online interaction/noninteraction, that I was FB "friends" with his kin. So, in a serious of nasty and disgusting emails a la FB, he accused me of this and that, blah,blah, blah. The whole thing was quite entertaining for my friends and me, but the point is,the English language does make sense, despite it's crazy rules. 'EX' and 'X'----ex-husband, ex-wife, ex-BFF(A.E) all carry a negative connotation. We know this because the prefix -EX means out or out of. Exes are out of your life. When you get an answer wrong on a test, you put an X through it. When you cross something off of a list with an X, you are done with it.

So, I have begun a new love affair with the English language,reminiscent of the day Mrs. White, my first grade teacher, told us that after lunch we were going to begin learning how to read. I literally skipped out of school that afternoon....
But the point is, vocabulary is aquired best and makes the most sense when we can figure out a way to relate it to us. I am clearly unable to relate to the EX I just described, as it is difficult for me to do so with mental patients that are not on their meds anymore....See how easy that was!And now,i must EXit.