"And Still We Rise"

I just finished a book called "And Still We Rise: The Trials and Triumphs of Twelve Gifted Inner-City Students." It is a book by Miles Corwin an acclaimed author who was a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. He knows the L.A. area really well and is able to candidly narrate the stories of 12 High School seniors as he goes with them into the ghetto and less glamourous parts of L.A.  One of the stories he follows is a young women named Olivia as she struggles to stay in school and fights her way through foster homes until she is able to go off on her own. Another story talks about Toya a young women who took her little sister and went to a group foster home after her father killed her mother. Sadikifu another brilliant student was in a feeding group for one of the biggest gangs in L.A. and nearly escaped being convicted of a murder he didn't commit. This quote pretty much sums up the views of many of the kids in the book: "What makes South Central L.A. so complicated is the fact that good-hearted, honest people share the same streets with drug users and thieves which causes daily anxiety for those of us who want to get ahead..."(68) If I learned anything from this book it is to know our students back stories. We have a whole year to get to know as much as we can about them. In the first few weeks of school we need to find what motivates them. Maybe it is their ownership over something and keeping that ownership, their personal satisfaction of expressing themselves through music, the affirmation they get from peers when they excel in competitive sports, the need to keep their families afloat, the need to be seen, heard, remembered. Motivation can be seen very early on in meeting someone if we look at what they want to accomplish, where they are heading, and how they are getting there. This book helped me think of my survey I want to give to my classes on the first day of school. Who are you? Where do you want to go? and How can you get there? I think this last question is especially important. We can show our kids that they don't have to get there alone. I'm also grateful we don't have to do it alone. One class at a time, one student at a time, doing the best we can, really our very best. That is what this book shows in it's portrayals of struggling students and the striving teachers that help them.