“Me and my brother were late to school.”
“This photo is of me, Kayla, and Lauren.”
“Me, Shirley, and Jane want to do our project on Monday.
Is anyone else seeing and hearing “Me and _____” (fill in the blank) repeatedly? Without question, I have more students uttering this solecism today than I have had at any point in my career.
When I first started teaching 30+ years ago, I often heard students utter “Me and ___,” but these students were not academically advanced students or students who were planning to attend college. Oh, how things have changed.
Today, I have to correct Advanced Placement students who not only utter “Me and _____” when they speak but also write it in formal papers. I know this probably sounds like an old English teacher concern, but I have reached my limit.
I don’t usually correct a student’s grammar errors in front of other students, but I’m making an exception on this one.
Years ago while I was teaching a grammar lesson, a student blurted out, “But that don’t sound right!”
I immediately stated to the student, “Don’t ever determine what’s proper according to what sounds right to YOU!” When so many people continue to make the same errors and students hear the error repeatedly, they think the error is correct.
I don’t want to embarrass kids, but when so many of even our best students think it’s okay to say “Me and ____,” it’s time to circle the wagons and take a stand.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Edie Parrott
2 comments on this topic
28. January - 9:52 am
Actually I think a teacher humiliating a student in front of the class is the worse thing the teacher can do. There are other ways to get across a message, and certainly better ways than focusing on one particular person in front of an entire class.
The best advice a professor gave our class on the “Me and______,” issue is to take the other person out of the equation. In other words, “Me and Bob went to the store.” If you take Bob out of the equation that sentence would read, “Me went to the store,” and not too many people I know would ever agree on the correctness of that sentence. The taking the other person out of the equation is easy on some sentences, maybe not on others, depending on how the sentence is structured I guess, but every little tip helps.
28. January - 10:19 am
While I agree that humiliating a student is never good, when so many students make the error, I do think it’s time to correct the error in class. I teach the same example that you provide, and that works wonders with student writing. Too many of them, however, say it repeatedly. The only way we are going to break them of the habit is to correct it repeatedly.
28. January - 9:52 pm
I agree. I came from the ‘old school’ ways of learning where it was thought to be proper to humiliate a child into learning the correct way to use grammar. I am an Early Childhood Educator….I teach children by speaking properly….We as teachers also must know how to teach etiquette, manners, and empathy at the same time.
Learning should feel like an epiphany to a student….and we must be able to know how to make others ‘feel intelligent’ in the process. I believe that’s possible if we care to make it possible.
29. January - 8:38 pm
I correct my students’ grammar when possible because I have found two things to be true:
1] It helps! Students don’t always know that they are making an error and benefit from having a nudge in the right direction.
2] They are almost NEVER embarrassed by it. I have taught a variety of levels including incredibly gifted/advanced students, and I have never seen a student become embarrassed or upset because I corrected their grammar. I try to be as polite as possible in correcting the student, and in a discussion, I never interrupt a student to make a correction; sometimes in the middle of a discussion I choose to not do so. Every once in a while I introduce a grammar mini-lesson on common errors, and once I have done the mini-lessons, it becomes even more appropriate for me to correct students’ errors. I consider it part of the learning process, and a nice method of indirect formative assessment.
30. January - 6:42 pm
Of course we should correct and nudge. Would you rather learn be taught how to cross a busy street or left on your own to learn how by trial and error?
I’ve just completed an article citing 21 assumptions that most of us make with respect to teaching grammar and then I follow with 4 simple steps that ensure you are teaching a balanced and effective grammar program. I would love to read your readers’ reactions. Find the article at http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/grammar_mechanics/how-to-teach-grammar/.
30. January - 10:39 pm
Tonight, my nephew just started a Facebook group with a misspelling:
“Staying awake very late than only wanting to sleep in the morning.”
Normally, I try to ignore his posts, riddled with typos and text-speak. But I had to say something. His reply? It’s Saturday, his friends are twelve, and they don’t care. He put in added mistakes to explain this, just to upset me (I hope).
31. January - 10:21 am
Theresa, I would have corrected him also. While it’s true that many students don’t care about grammar and spelling, I think we have to show them that many of us do care. It’s easier to get kids to pay attention to grammar and punctuation in the beginning instead of having to correct them after they have totally ignored grammar and spelling for years.
31. January - 10:31 am
Thanks, Mark. I hope a few readers will take a look at your site and respond.