Who is this "Lynn Prevatte"?

On a personal note, I am just an ordinary girl. I was raised in an enlisted Navy family, and I was fortunate enough to travel. I grew up, married, and had two children (more beautiful than you could ever imagine!)

Neither of my parents were college educated, and NO ONE in my house knew anything about how to prepare for, apply to, or be accepted by a college. What's worse, no one could have explained how all of those factors affect who we all turn out to be and what opportunities we lose when we aren't shown the way.

So, after working twice as hard to get through college (holding at least two jobs at a time just to stay in school), I became an eighth grade English teacher. Over the first seven years, I realized that my students who came from families where mom and dad were not educated beyond high school were almost certainly locked out of postsecondary education - not because they weren't smart enough, but like me, no one was able to show them what to do and how to pay for it.

In 2003, I became a National Board Certified Teacher. That same year, I was fortunate to meet Dr. Dennis Carrol who taught my Pre-AP Vertical Teams workshop. After four days, he took me aside and said, "Lynn, would you like to do this?"

Well, of course I would! And, I did! I became a College Board consultant in 'English Pre-AP Vertical Teams', and later, I added 'Rhetoric' to my endorsement. All of the sudden I was presenting to groups of parents, teachers, administrators, and other consultants from all over the country who wanted the same thing I did: opportunity for kids. . . all kids: rich, poor, or somewhere in between.

In 2004, I was fortunate enough to travel to Japan for a Fulbright Memorial Fund three-week study of that country's education system. You know what I discovered? The United States of America has the greatest education system in the WORLD! No matter who you are, no matter where you were born, YOU can earn a college degree!

Now I spend a great deal of time committed to raising the bar. In my own district, I am working to educate students and parents about the opportunities that go with taking and passing Advanced Placement exams. At a young age, students should KNOW what rigor feels like, and they should understand that rather than being afraid of it, they should embrace the payoff. Everyone who knows me should know that I believe that the bar can, and should, be lifted - that if we water down education, we are destroying what should be sacred in this country: excellence.

Presently, I am working on my Master's Degree in Instructional Systems at Florida State University with the hopes of moving into full-time consulting.

I hope this blog will provide an opportunity for people to find and spread information that will open doors. What I find in my travels is that we're all afraid to talk about what's REALLY important. HOW do we talk to parents? WHAT do we say to kids who aren't working hard enough? WHEN is it right to ask a teacher, "Do you even LIKE kids?"

I love this quote: "Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people." -William Butler Yeats. You won't find many people who can speak as "ordinary" as me! I can tell you what "poor" feels like, and I can tell you what "excuses" sound like! Neither will bring much peace to your life.

So, that's me, and this is my forum for you!

Picky. Picky. Picky.

As I kick off my blog, I feel it's necessary to explain the name - all great names began with a great story.

Pre-AP English, 2006. As always, I've been horrified as to how far back I have to go to reach their grammatical expertise -- falling somewhere between having a simple understanding of how nouns differ from verbs but not quite reaching the level of understanding that the basic structure of a sentence rests on its subject and predicate.

Argue if you must that there is no use for teaching grammar in the 21st century. Who REALLY cares anymore? My dentist wants to "insure" my satisfaction, and CVS won't "except" Medicaid. Emailing and IMing have reduced the magnificent 'I' from a proud personal pronoun to the ranks of one-half of an indefinite pronoun looking for a 't' to make it a real word.

All I can tell you is that good writing relies on three basic principals: sentence variety and fluency, ideas expressed with voice, and word choice. (Let's just pretend that organization, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation really DON'T count). Without subordinate clauses, sentences can't be complex. So, you can't incorporate an appositive? Your ideas sound like everybody else's. And, if the verb you choose to hold together that perfect sentence belongs in the "Am, Is, Are, Was, Were, Be Linking Verb Song" you learned in the second grade, then say good-bye to the "punch" you meant to make.

This morning, I scanned the 'Daily News' for sentences to use in the pop quiz. Recently, I realized that I probably needed to make a distinction between verbs and infinitives - a common error - so, I was looking for sentences that contained long verb phrases and more than one "to" plus a verb (an infinitive) to test their knowledge of the difference.

Well, there IT was - an irony beyond comprehension: "It is the policy of the Daily News to promptly correct all errors that appear." While making an effort to assure readers of accuracy, the writer (the PAID writer) did a great job exampling how good grammar isn't even important to those who make the written word a livlihood. Yes, that's right kids. It's a split infinitive!

We haven't seen the likes since Trekkies proclaimed their intention "to boldly go", but it's an error all the same.

Impressed? Neither were my students . . . the principal, the guidance counselor, the bookkeeper, the cafeteria manager, the janitor . . . however, both English teachers next door were ecstatic beyond words - I imagined they looked like two ornothologists sighting the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker for the first time in fifty years!!!

It's confirmed. English teachers really are nerds, huh?