Spost
I was grading the Room Procedures Exams today, which I grade immediately when students are finished. They work on another assignment while I move around the room and grade the exams right in front of them. This way, I can ask for clarification, which is especially important for my English language learners.
Anyway, one of my students (NOT an English language learner) had this response on a question about how to clean the bookshelves: “…your spost to have everything in there organized.”
Ignoring the improper use of your, I turned to my student and said, “Spost?”
She said, “Yeah?”
“SPOST isn’t a word.”
She tilted her head to the side for a moment, deep in thought. Then, with her headstrong, middle school attitude she exclaimed, “Yah-huh… because how come I use it then?” Then she gave me a face as if to say “Duh!” because in her mind she had just completely explained the new existence of the word “spost.”
Rather than rush to the phone and call Webster’s Dictionary with the new news, I used my red felt-tip pen and wrote “supposed” under her word and also added an ‘re to your. She gave a sigh and rolled her eyes because, obviously, my grammar is much much better than hers.
Then, I went to the next student, whose paper told me that, when a student spills something on the floor, he is “sposta getta mop to pick it up.”
Man… I sure have my work cut out for me.