A young English teacher in his first year at Wyandotte was in the middle of teaching when a man walked into his classroom. (I say "man" not "student" because this guy was 6 feet 5 inches tall, full beard, and a black trench coat that hung to the floor.) The young teacher asked apprehensively, "Sir, can I help you?" And the man responded in the lowest, gruffest voice you can imagine, "Yeah, I'm in your class." The young teacher responded with a look of surprise and asked the student his name. The student responded, "You can call me Lurch." (Don't forget the rough, low voice coming out of this student as well as his appearance.) The young teacher responded to this by saying, "Well I don't have a Lurch on my list. What's your name?" The student responded by saying his name is Jordan Sands (name change!) and then asked what he should call the young teacher. The young teacher responded, "Well my name is Mr. Riss." And what comes next is probably the best part of the story. The student responded to that by saying, "Well I'll call you Killer. Where should I sit?" And the young teacher responded with, "Anywhere you want!" At this point the rest of the class has heard this exchange and can't contain their laughter anymore. And for the rest of the year, without fail, Lurch called my dad Killer.
I heard this story for the first time a few days ago. Turns out Lurch was 20 years old and was trying to get his high school diploma. He needed half of a credit of English. Lurch only lasted 6 weeks in my dad's class...not enough for his diploma. It was after Lurch dropped out that my dad found out he was a known drug dealer. Not incredibly suprising considering the area. So while I enjoyed hearing about the exchange between my dad and Lurch, it still brought home the fact that the students I'll be teaching are coming from a completely different world than myself. It'll be hard in the beginning...I'm a white girl from the suburbs...I don't know anything about their lives...but I'm willing to learn.
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