I go to school...and teachers always try to tell you that they're right. Most teachers, that's how they think. "I'm right, so I don't have to listen to you," or "I'm the one who has the power, so I don't really have to listen to what you guys are saying." But here, when I came here, we're equals...we care about what you have to say, we see what we can learn from what you have to say as well as you can learn from what we have to say. So that was a big difference.

I think because it's like a group, you see other people with more problems than you have. And you see how they deal with their problems, and you're saying "Why can't I do the same thing?" (Marcus)

Another student made it clear why such a program can make such a huge difference:

They [LOVE] made me feel like I had worth. They always treated me with so much respect -they were always so happy to see me and so excited with the work that I did, even the few pieces that I handed in. And they started me on outreaches in September...so I've been doing outreaches now for a year and a half. They were so impressed with the way that I spoke, and presented myself, that it made me feel like I had a real purpose, that I was helping mankind in some way. And that drove me on. I found something that made me as happy as drugs had. And now I don't need drugs anymore. I've got this instead. (Clara Locey)

School activities and after- and out-of-school programs which help students who have experienced violence and mistreatment to value themselves may be fundamental in helping students to develop their own sense of worth and to avoid some of the more dangerous routes they might otherwise take to try to feel better about themselves.

Explore ways to teach that acknowledge the presence of violence and its impact on learning

Many new approaches for teaching remain to be explored in practice with youth. Exciting and creative ways forward could emerge from a school or youth literacy program taking on the challenge to work collaboratively with a team of students to identify what might make a difference. One key challenge will be to find ways to avoid confrontations around control, while still maintaining clear structure and boundaries. Appealing to students' sense of justice or fairness may be fundamental in developing systems that work creatively to support learning without leading to conflict around issues of control.