by Pearl Arredondo

So I grew up in East Los Angeles， not even realizing I was poor. My dad was a highranking gang member who ran the streets. Everyone knew who I was， so I thought I was a pretty big deal， and I was protected， and even though my dad spent most of my life in and out of jail， I had an amazing mom who was just fiercely independent. She worked at the local high school as a secretary in the deans office， so she got to see all the kids that got thrown out of class， for whatever reason， who were waiting to be 1）disciplined. Man， her office was packed.

So， see， kids like us， we have a lot of things to deal with outside of school， and sometimes were just not ready to focus. But that doesnt mean that we cant. It just takes a little bit more. Like， I remember one day I found my dad 2）convulsing， foaming at the mouth， 3）OD-ing on the bathroom floor. Really， do you think that doing my homework that night was at the top of my priority list？ Not so much.

But I really needed a support network， a group of people who were going to help me make sure that I wasnt going to be a victim of my own circumstance， that they were going to push me beyond what I even thought I could do. I needed teachers， in the classroom， every day， who were going to say， “You can move beyond that.” And unfortunately， the local junior high was not going to offer that. It was gang-infested， huge teacher turnover rate.

So my mom said， “Youre going on a bus an hour and a half away from where we live every day.” So， for the next two years， thats what I did. I took a school bus to the fancy side of town. And eventually， I ended up at a school where there was a mixture. There were some people who were really gang-4）affiliated， and then there were those of us really trying to make it to high school. Well， trying to stay out of trouble was a little unavoidable. You had to survive. You just had to do things sometimes. So there were a lot of teachers who were like， “Shes never going to make it. She has an issue with authority. Shes not going to go anywhere.” Some teachers completely wrote me off as a lost cause.

But then， they were very surprised when I graduated from high school. I was accepted to Pepperdine University， and I came back to the same school that I attended to be a special ed assistant.

And then I told them， “I want to be a teacher.”

And boy， they were like， “What？ Why？ Why would you want to do that？”

So I began my teaching career at the exact same middle school that I attended， and I really wanted to try to save more kids who were just like me. And so every year， I share my background with my kids， because they need to know that everyone has a story， everyone has a struggle， and everyone needs help along the way. And I am going to be their help along the way.

So as a 5）rookie teacher， I created opportunity. I had a kid one day come into my class having been stabbed the night before.

I was like， “You need to go to a hospital， the school nurse， something.”

Hes like， “No， Miss， Im not going. I need to be in class because I need to graduate.” So he knew that I was not going to let him be a victim of his circumstance， but we were going to push forward and keep moving on. And this idea of creating a safe haven for our kids and creating getting to know exactly what theyre going through， getting to know their families—I wanted that， but I couldnt do it in a school with 1，600 kids， and teachers turning over year after year after year. How do you get to build those relationships？

So we created a new school. And we created the San Fernando Institute for Applied Media. And we made sure that we were still attached to our school district for funding， for support. But with that， we were going to gain freedom： freedom to hire the teachers that we knew were going to be effective； freedom to control the curriculum so that were not doing lesson 1.2 on page five， no； and freedom to control a budget， to spend money where it matters， not how a district or a state says you have to do it.

So in our third year， how did we do it？ Well， were making school worth coming to every day. We make our kids feel like they matter to us. We make our curriculum rigorous and relevant to them， and they use all the technology that theyre used to. Laptops， computers， tablets—you name it， they have it. Animation， software， moviemaking software， they have it all. And because we connect it to what theyre doing—For example， they made 6）public service announcements for the Cancer Society. These were played in the local trolley system. Teaching elements of persuasion， it doesnt get any more real than that. Our state test scores have gone up more than 80 points since weve become our own school.

But its taken all stakeholders， working together. Because why should our students have to go so far away from where they live？ They deserve a quality school in their neighborhood， a school that they can be proud to say they attend， and a school that the community can be proud of as well. And they need teachers to fight for them every day and empower them to move beyond their circumstances. Because its time that kids like me stop being the exception， and we become the norm.

我在洛杉磯東區(qū)長(zhǎng)大，甚至都不曾意識(shí)到自己很窮。我老爸是街頭黑幫頭目之一。大家都知道我是誰(shuí)，所以，那時(shí)我還真把自己當(dāng)回事了，我備受保護(hù)，而且盡管老爸在我成長(zhǎng)過(guò)程中時(shí)常進(jìn)出牢房，我卻有一個(gè)非常了不起的母親，一名非常獨(dú)立的女性。她在本地的一所中學(xué)工作，是學(xué)校主任室的一名秘書(shū)。所以，她見(jiàn)過(guò)所有因各種原由被趕出課堂，準(zhǔn)備接受處罰的孩子。天啊，她的辦公室總是人滿為患。

所以，瞧，像我們這樣的孩子，在校外要處理許許多多的事情，有時(shí)候，我們就是沒(méi)那份心思來(lái)集中精神學(xué)習(xí)。但這并不意味著我們做不到。只不過(guò)我們要比別人多付出一些罷了。比如說(shuō)，我記得有一天，我發(fā)現(xiàn)老爸全身抽搐、口吐白沫、 因?yàn)槲具^(guò)量倒在浴室的地板上。說(shuō)真的，你認(rèn)為在這樣的一個(gè)晚上做作業(yè)會(huì)是我最先要處理的重要事情嗎？當(dāng)然不是。

但我確實(shí)需要一個(gè)后援群體，一群愿意幫助我的人，確保我不會(huì)成為我自身困境下的犧牲品，他們?cè)敢獗薏呶?，使我超越自己的期望。我需要老師，在教室里，每一天都?duì)我說(shuō)：“你能做得比現(xiàn)在好?！钡恍业氖?，本地的初中無(wú)法提供這樣的幫助。當(dāng)?shù)貛团闪至?，教師流?dòng)率極高。

因此，我媽媽說(shuō)：“你每天要到離這兒一個(gè)半小時(shí)車(chē)程的地方去?！庇谑?，在隨后的兩年里，我就這么干了。我每天坐校車(chē)到鎮(zhèn)上富裕繁華的另一邊。最后，我就讀于一所學(xué)生成分多樣化的學(xué)校。他們中有些人確實(shí)是幫派成員，而有些人則是我們這樣十分努力想讀到高中去的學(xué)生。其實(shí)，想著法子逃離麻煩是在所難免的。因?yàn)槟阋钕聛?lái)。有時(shí)候，你就免不了做些身不由己的事。所以，也有不少老師這么說(shuō)：“她一定是讀不上去的。她不受管教。她不會(huì)有什么出路的。”有些老師甚至認(rèn)定我無(wú)可救藥了。

然而，當(dāng)我高中畢業(yè)時(shí)，他們?nèi)俭@訝不已。我被佩珀代因大學(xué)錄取了，畢業(yè)后，我回到這所我曾就讀過(guò)的母校，當(dāng)了一名特別教育助理。

后來(lái)，我告訴他們：“我想當(dāng)一名老師?！?/p>

哎呀，他們聽(tīng)到后都說(shuō)：“什么？為什么？你怎么會(huì)想到要當(dāng)老師呢？”

于是我就在這所曾就讀過(guò)的母校開(kāi)始了我的教學(xué)生涯。我真的很想挽救更多有過(guò)如我這般經(jīng)歷的孩子。所以，每年，我都和學(xué)生們分享我的背景故事，因?yàn)樗麄冇斜匾烂總€(gè)人都有自己的故事，每個(gè)人都有過(guò)掙扎，每個(gè)人都需要?jiǎng)e人在人生道路上拉他們一把。而我愿意成為那個(gè)在他們?nèi)松猛旧侠麄円话训娜恕?/p>

所以，作為一名“菜鳥(niǎo)”老師，我為他們創(chuàng)造機(jī)會(huì)。有一天，一名學(xué)生走入我的課堂，他在前一天晚上被人刺傷了。

我對(duì)他說(shuō)：“你得去醫(yī)院，或者找一下學(xué)校的護(hù)士什么的?！?/p>

可他說(shuō)：“我不去，老師，我不要去。我得來(lái)上課，因?yàn)槲蚁胍厴I(yè)?！彼哉f(shuō)，他知道我不會(huì)讓他成為其自身困境下的犧牲品，相反，我們要敦促他們向前邁進(jìn)和繼續(xù)前行。 所以，我是想為孩子們營(yíng)造一個(gè)安全的環(huán)境，想準(zhǔn)確了解他們所經(jīng)歷的困境，想了解他們的家庭——我希望能這樣做，但是，在一所學(xué)生人數(shù)達(dá)1600人的學(xué)校里我無(wú)法做得到。而且，年復(fù)一年，這里的老師更換頻繁。 你又怎么能建立師生關(guān)系呢？

所以，我們創(chuàng)辦了一所新學(xué)校。我們的新校名叫“圣費(fèi)爾南多應(yīng)用媒體學(xué)院”。我們要確保仍然掛靠在我們的學(xué)區(qū)以獲得資金和支持。但是，除此之外，我們享有很大的辦學(xué)自主權(quán)：如聘請(qǐng)教師的自由，聘請(qǐng)我們認(rèn)為高效的老師；同時(shí)，我們還擁有課程安排的自由，這樣我們就不會(huì)按教材上的章節(jié)按部就班地教學(xué)，不會(huì)；我們還可以自由控制我們的預(yù)算，將資金花在重要的事情上，而不是花在學(xué)區(qū)或州規(guī)定的事情上。

這樣，到了我們辦學(xué)的第三年，我們的學(xué)校是什么樣子的呢？呃，我們已經(jīng)使學(xué)校成為了學(xué)生每天都想去的地方了。我們讓學(xué)生們感覺(jué)到我們?cè)诤跛麄?。我們的課程嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)且貼合學(xué)生需求，他們可以使用其熟悉的各種電子產(chǎn)品。手提電腦、臺(tái)式機(jī)，平板電腦——你能說(shuō)得出的，他們都有。動(dòng)畫(huà)、軟件、電影制作軟件，這些東西他們?nèi)加小Ｎ覀儗⑦@些東西和他們的學(xué)習(xí)、生活聯(lián)系在一起——比如說(shuō)，他們會(huì)為癌癥協(xié)會(huì)做一些公益廣告。這些廣告在有軌電車(chē)系統(tǒng)上播放。關(guān)于說(shuō)服力的教學(xué)元素當(dāng)中，沒(méi)有什么能比這來(lái)得更真實(shí)了。自從我們獨(dú)立建校后，我們的州考成績(jī)提升了八十多分。

但這需要集合各利益相關(guān)者一同努力。因?yàn)?，為什么我們的學(xué)生非得到離家這么遠(yuǎn)的地方上學(xué)呢？他們值得擁有一所離家不遠(yuǎn)的資質(zhì)優(yōu)良的學(xué)校，一所他們能引以為豪的學(xué)校，一所社區(qū)也能為之驕傲的學(xué)校。而且他們需要每天都為他們而奮斗的老師，需要鼓勵(lì)他們擺脫困境的老師。因?yàn)椋菚r(shí)候要讓像我這樣的孩子不再成為非主流了，我們要成為主流。