David Hancock

English/Debate

Mr. Hancock grew up in Tooele, Utah, where he learned to read early due to the efforts of a wonderful teacher who lived up the street. Once he able to read, he spent much of his youth "with my nose in a book reading anything that I could get my hands on!" he related. "One summer, I read over one hundred novels." In first grade, David read J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Madeline Le'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time; he says that those two books gave him a life-long love of fantasy and science-fiction, as well as a love of science and history. In high school, he expanded his reading list and tackled John Milton's Paradise Lost and Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. David credits those novels with introducing him to Literary Classics and opening his eyes to the great writers of the past.

Mr. Hancock attended Brigham Young University, Provo, and received his Bachelor of Arts in English degree, and then attended the ìJ. Reuben Clark Law Schoolî as well, receiving the degree of Juris Doctorate, cum laude, in 1994.

While at BYU, he was approached by a beautiful girl named Elizabeth Harrison, who asked for help with an English class. He was delighted with the opportunity to help, and seven months later, they were married in Salt Lake City. He says, 'We continue to have a lot in common, including a love of reading and literature, English degrees, and five children." Besides his family, David says he has a number of hobbies and other loves. Obviously reading is one of them, and he particularly enjoys fantasy and science fiction novels, although thoroughly enjoying novels by Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, as well. He loves to write. He loves to cook. He loves to teach. And last, but certainly not least, he loves golf.

After graduation, he and his family moved to California where he practiced law at a large Southern California law firm for nearly fourteen years. As a litigator and trial lawyer, David learned many lessons about writing, speaking and persuasion that he feels are important for the teenagers of today to learn. David began teaching at Rockwell Charter High School in August, 2008, and taught English 7, English 8, and English 9 classes. During the 2009-2010 school year, Mr. Hancock is teaching English 9, English 10, and Debate.