Overheard a moment ago at the end of my 5th period class:
Tariq: "Miss, I'm gonna start calling you Shaniqua. No, Shanaynay."
Me: "Oh yeah? Why is that?"
Tariq: "'Cause you is the 'hoodest white girl I know."
Me: "Wow, thanks Tariq. No one has ever said that to me before."
I try to connect with my students, to work and interact with them in such a way that they don't see me as some uppity white woman who's trying to teach them a brand of literacy that they can't relate to. I want to create a teacher-student connection that makes it easy for them to become better readers.
But I didn't see myself as being 'hood. Oh well. Maybe it's a good thing, after all.
I'm struggling to keep the laughter contained so my coworkers don't think I've gone over the deep end!
ReplyDeleteShanaynay's cousin, JNice (Ms. Easton if you're nasty)