Twenty
tolife
“I didn’t choose this
career; it chose me.
I was young and
wanted to teach and
make a difference.
I just ended up behind
the fence not realizing
where I was. Now
I am happily serving
twenty to life.”
Tim Bunch
For 16-year-old Brandon, life behind the razor
wire at the Department of Juvenile Justice was
characterized by isolation, loneliness and fear.
But thanks to English instructor Tim
Bunch, Brandon found his voice through
poetry. Bunch, who earned a master’s in secondary education at USC in 2005, has taught
English and social studies and managed the
Communities in Schools Program, a nonprofit partnership with juvenile justice, for
20 years.
He credits a sociolinguistics course at USC
with changing his approach to teaching teens
like Brandon.
“[The professor] Tracey Weldon really challenged my thinking about language,” Bunch
said. “Language connects us to family and
culture. It isn’t about Standard English or
African American English dialect — it is about
both. Any dialect that is part of who you are
needs to be honored.”
By respecting his students’ culture and experiences and creating a classroom environment that allows for standard and non-standard
English, Bunch has engaged students in positive ways. “It was amazing
how they became more open,” Bunch said.
Brandon wrote a poem that expressed his feelings about a class study of
Sharon Draper’s novel “Forged by Fire,” a story about a young boy’s struggles
amid domestic abuse.
When Bunch told Brandon that his poem needed a revision, he said the
boy’s expression turned to defeat until Bunch explained that it was a sentence
written in standard English that needed revision.
Bunch then gave Brandon a typed copy of his poem, which he said
Brandon proudly clutched for the rest of the day.
“I have found that through writing what they know, it helps them to be
trusting and become open so that life change can take place,” Bunch said.
“My core belief is that we are all valuable human beings. These boys have
done heinous things, but it doesn’t change their value.”
Know a Carolina grad who is passionate about his or her work? Let us know, too, at [email protected].
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