Over and over again, students described occasions where a teacher had helped them hold onto hope, build their confidence and believe they could learn.

Showing people small things, telling them "good job" when they do something. Not telling somebody "you can't do that."...keep up that type of confidence in them so that they can do it, if they set their mind to it. (Marcus)

Like the student quoted above, many argued that encouragement was the most important single factor in supporting students' ability to learn.

Focus on respect

The teacher-student relationship should be all about respect. A student will, I mean, not to sound cheesy, but just absolutely blossom and grow if they feel like their teacher will respect them even when they fail. Because everyone fails, and only through failure, and through darkness and desert do we learn and grow. (Clara Locey)

Many students spoke about the enormous difference that receiving respect can make for each student. Every respectful interaction can make a difference to any student, but for those whose self-worth has been damaged through violence, respect may be vital for survival. Pat Capponi explained what it meant to her that her English teacher treated her with respect:

Before that man, whose name is Stan Asher, no one had ever looked at me or spoken to me as though I had value. For that's the key. Otherwise, I probably would have gone on believing that I was intrinsically bad, with nothing to offer. (1992:207) (Quoted in Horsman, 1999/2000 chapter 6)

Clarissa Chandler describes how she envisages the positive interaction:

So I want to also project what I think of as a positive presence, because that is the thing that they are most likely to have not have had, so I want to be providing and contextualizing this warm experience that the trauma is most likely to have limited or constricted in some way in their lives. I want to be able to acknowledge, contextualize, neutralize and not get connected or attached to the shame or humiliation and disrespect associated with the trauma and be able to build and connect to the part of them that is alive and able to go on. (Interview, Toronto, November, 1996) (Quoted in Horsman, 1999/2000 chapter 6)

The idea of teachers and others involved in working with youth holding firm to the idea that they must be a positive presence to build and connect to the part of a student "that is alive and able to go on" is a powerful image that could guide us all.