My Boo Radley

I have thought about this for a very long time, and I have finally realized that my Boo Radley would be my old band director, Mr. Grostick.
When I first met Mr. Grostick, I didn't know what to think of him. He was quite mean and very loud. I hated the fact that he was getting away we punishing our band, and none of the other teachers were doing that to us. Also, in band we have had a new band director each year, so the behavior of the class was getting out of hand. Everyone thought that they were able to get away with being bad, because of how our old teachers disciplined us. 
So we started making fun of him and telling crude stories and jokes about him behind his back. We didn't understand him, so we thought the only way to "connect" with him, was on the immature and mean level of bullying. I never wanted to understand who he was or anything else about him, because I didn't trust him. I thought that maybe he would be like the other teachers and be gone within a year.So, I decided that maybe I should try and be nice and help lead the class so that we actually learn something during that period for the rest of the year.
 I talked to him after school one day, and he realized that I didn't like him but was making an effort. He agreed to apologize to the class and try to make the period better. The only thing that happened was more harrassment and people being kicked out. So I tried to contact him again, through email, and this is where I think that my scenario is similar to Scout's and Boo's. Scout would try with Jem and Dill to get Boo Radley to talk with them, but he wouldn't. I tried to talk to Mr. Grostick about the class, but nothing he was doing affected what was still an on-going issue.
Finally, one day I decided to talk to band. I basically said, "You guys need to grow up and try and help Mr. Grostick make this year easier for all of us, or this year is going to suck". Also, I had the vice principle and principle talk with the class and Mr. Grostick about each of their behaviors. This helped a lot. As soon as Mr. Grostick showed some compassion and the other students showed some respect, they were able to connect with him on each of their own levels, everything went a lot more smoothly. All because they got to know him, got to understand him a little bit better.
That's all it takes, is some listening skills and respect, to create a better situation, out of one that has no control at all.