Jeff Duncan-Andrade is a leader in education in the San Francisco-Oakland area. I admire the issues he brings up and him as a person. Thank you Jeff for your enlightening work. He talks about trauma among urban youth and how precious they are. We need to look at these aspects of education as well--the obstacles, the trauma, the conditions that kids have been burdened with. Here is one of my favorite talks by Jeff--it made it to Ted Talks--Roses in Concrete.

 How do we pay attention to these students who have been traumatized? We try to find their strengths. We encourage them to work with their peers. We give them a sense of worth and connection. Violence comes into our lives in so many ways and it takes generations to change, and violence is transnational, and the damage done, I believe, becomes part of our bodies, our cells and is manifested in various ways.

Linda Hogan, the Chickasaw writer, explains this idea in many of her books--that the violence done to Indians is part of their bodies, not just psychically but physically.

Our precious Oakland kids are surrounded by violence. Think about it! How can they calmly attend school and sit in a lecture without having any feelings or "odd" behavior?

Jeff Duncan-Andrade's book called What a Coach Can Teach a Teacher is a great book to read about teaching. He talks about group work and peer work in a big way. Not every student "succeeds" in our traditional sense of the word but maybe in their own sense of succeeding or maybe succeeding is not important to them. Accepting and affirming a person for their struggles is also valid.