A teacher should know the following things about AAL: 

1)​ AAL is rule governed and systematic
                -"African American Language-referred to by a number of names, such as African American English, African American Vernacular English, Black English, and Ebonics-follows a set of linguistic rules (Linguistic Society of America 1997; Boutte 2008, Kinloch 2010). Many African American Language speakers and their teachers are unaware that AAL is not "broken English." Such misconceptions about AAL are pervasive and longstanding (Bouttte 2008). For example, some AAL features (e.g., using terms like swag or saying, "You don't have no...") are mistakenly thought to be slang or grammatical errors (Boutte 2008), when in reality, AAL follows a set of rules for sounds, grammar, and social usage (Smiterman [1977], 1986, 2006, Linguistic Society of America 1997; Rickford 1999, Alim & Smitherman 2012). (Boutte, 2015, p. 38). 

2. AAL and Standard English are Parallel Language Systems 
             -"Because African American Language has linguistic structures and rules, it should be thought of as a prallel language to Standard English instead of somehow lower on a hierarchy of language systems (Smitherman 2006) Viewing AAL and SE as parallel languages means that both are valid in their own right" (Boutte, 2015, p. 38). 

3. AAL speakers benefit from specific strategies and approaches
          -"In general, 4- to 8-year-old who are AAL speakers benefit from literacy straegies that are tuaght in very visible and explicit way (Delpit 1995; Lapp & Flood 2005). Thus, for students trying to acquire proficiency in an unfamiliar diale t or language, the importance of explicit guidance, scaffolding, and practice cannot be understated (Delpit 1995; Fogel & Ehri 2000)" (Boutte, 2015, p. 40). 

4. 99% of African Americans will use AAL some of the time 

5. African American Language originated in West Africa 

Why is this important? 
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Teaching and learning AAL is important The following video details the story of Rachel Jeantel, close friend of Trayvon Martin and the prosecution's star witness in the George Zimmerman trial. Rachel Jeantel gave her testimony in African American Language. She was bashed on social media for her so called "ungrammatical" speech and also extremely misinterpreted by the jury, who did not understand her language. As teachers, we can change this kind of tone in our world. We can teach people to value and understand the beauty and brilliance of African American Language. 

"Although African American Language speakers are rarely viewed as bilingual and biliterate in early childhood classrooms, they are as capable as other emergent bilingual/bidialectal and biliterate children. Even linguistis who consider AAL to be a dialect and not a language agree that it is linguistically strong and is one of the most complex English dialects in the United States (Alim & Smitherman 2012).