One of the tenets of linguistics is that all language forms are equal, communicatively capable, and worthy of respect. Given this premise of equality, what does one make of "Standard English (SE), the dialect elevated above others in the American school system, the dialect that students most likely consider "correct" and "proper." In this article, the author reports on the need to "unpack student's reactions" and how she managed to do this during a year-long fellowship program. Working with peers, an exploration was begun for possible causes of poor student performance on the standard/non-standard dialect units project. The author reached the conclusion that creating more opportunities to learn about students' prior knowledge and redesigning course material had opened the door of understanding that students bring to learning and "their" need to challenge language assumptions.