As a brand new high school English teacher I have been humbled by the information passed along to me from my students. Although I was excited, apprehensive and somewhat devastated to begin this new role, I have simplified my feelings into one word: Awe. It's been one week since entering the classroom and I have learned a few things that Harry Wong never bothered to cover. First thing: high school is a completely different beast than middle and elementary, BUT--I think I love it . . .
My school happens to be very diverse but they don't know that. We are made up of 1/3 Latino, 1/3 black and 1/3 white. Socioeconomics range from poverty to fully-loaded-SUV-driving sophomores. Many students are not documented and they are eager for you to know that. There is a chicken factory down the road that lures any kid 16 and older to come to work full time. I'm not quite sure what this factory produces but if I were you, I wouldn't be eating chicken McNuggets ever again. Ever. Siler City (the location of my school) is not really a city. It consists mostly of a fast food strip that has bullied its way between thousands of acres of farmland. Super Wal-Mart is also there. Enough said.
I have learned that having students write me a letter in the 3rd person (Seinfeld episode: Jimmy) is one of the most non-threatening ways to get them to tell me everything. When a student draws a Star of David on their notebook, homework, body etc. They are not professing their devotion to Judaism: they are a Crip. (as in the Bloods and Crips) The super-hero Spiderman spider web, also not a testimony to their animated superhero obsession . . . I have learned that these gangs in Siler City are physically harmless. The kids who get dumped by their fathers reach out for male bonding and role models, since they won't find them at the Super Wal-Mart.
I have learned that my teacher's desk can be a safe haven for an ADD student to do his best work. (Just make sure there is nothing personal written on the desk calendar . . .) If you ask the students to read quotes from literary figures posted around the room, and then have them write what they think might come next, you will find wisdom that is usually reserved for Ivy league graduates. If you set the bar high some students will jump; if it's too low they will stumble and trip.
If a student insists of being called "Bubba", that's OK. Call him that, even if you fake a southern drawl. Be idealistic, if you are not then they won't be either. It's OK to let them know when you are disappointed; it's also OK to let them know how fabulous you think they are.
When you promise to give an "energetic" reading of the Iliad, make sure you practice beforehand at home. Those Greeks had a bad habit of using big words that don't exist anymore.
And finally, when you ask students to research specific time periods on the internet DO NOT LAUGH when they come to you excitedly and tell you that Hitler was ruling Rome in 400 B.C.E. Bite you lip, take a deep breath and make a mental note to switch the syllabus so Night comes next and Julius Caesar is last.
