Education is about two things—teaching youngpeople to create opportunity for themselves andteaching them to do that work responsibly—withrespect to our environment and to the myriadcommunities of people that share our planet.Anything that abridges opportunity or compromises ourresponsibilities to one another is our enemy. As such, if we arenot doing equity, then we are not doing education.This is immense work, but this work of ensuringequity and access is doable. We inherited thiscalling from our predecessors.Andwemove forwardarmedwith toolsandwithstrategies.Thisbookisfullofthem.Our journey starts with an understanding that nogreat good can be done for a people if we do notlisten to them first. Powerful teaching is rooted inpowerful listening.

So many experienced teachers used to create classroom rules and post them up onthe wall even before September started. Many of us do that today, too. In The Latin-ization of U.S. Schools, a student named Ramiro Montanez shared recommenda-tions for adults when building classroom rules and guidelines: Suspending studentsdoesn't work, and "allow students to co-construct the rules and the consequencesfor breaking them." Students should collaborate with adults to "come up with con-sequences for breaking rules" (Irizarry 2011, 165). Instead of creating rules for ourstudents, I propose that we cocreate these guidelines with students. Figures 2-6 and2- 7 are sample guidelines that I cocreated with my sixth-grade students. We use ourlarger school-wide values and guidelines for our inspiration.Classroom guidelines are very useful, not just for establishing norms, but for com-munity accountability. In my classroom, we revisit these frequently. We sit in a circleEnglish Essentials Class GuidelinesBased on PACT andCommunity AgreementsPERIOD21. Respect others by listening and beingpeacemakers.2. Stay engaged by being present, sharing ideas,asking questions, and making comments.3. Creatively advocate for ourselves and others.4. Take restorative care of our classroom andmaterials by picking up trash.5. Be a peacemaker during conflicts.6. Think before you speak, take ownership ofwhat you've done, and apologize when neces-sary. (Determined by victim(s) and witness(es))Figure 2-6 Sample Class GuidelinesEnglish Essentials Community GuidelinesBased on PACT andCommunity AgreementsPERIO031. Don't bring others down or make fun of them.Think before you speak and act.2. Listen with your whole body and participate inall activities.3. Don't interrupt others. Understand that there'sa time for talking and a time for listening. Waityour turn.4. Don't use bad language or participate in gossip.Remove yourself from those conversations.Figure 2-7 Sample Class Guidelines